I happened to run across these on Amazon.com. They are 12V LED flood lights that only pull 2.5 watts. If you used two of these they would be super bright, and only pull 5 watts. Check them out and give me some feed back.
Posted: 12:20 am Apr 25 2010
by Indawoods
120V? I don't see where it says 12v....
Posted: 02:10 am Apr 25 2010
by kywoodsrider
I looked up the power supply for this system. All of these low voltage systems are 12V.
I think I am going to try to take a piece of aluminum sheet and mount two of the MR16 led bulbs in it and bolt it in place of the stock headlight. Here is a link to the bulbs I am talking about.
This would be 6 watts of LED lighting. I have a 5 watt LED flashlight that I use at work. It is super bright and is plenty enough light for a dirtbike.
Posted: 08:46 am Apr 25 2010
by ihatefalling
Keep us updated. I've been thinking about fabing up an LED headlight but haven't got around to it yet. My thought process was to mount a Cree or Luxeon on an small round aluminum chip that will fit in the existing headlight, power it with a small nimh or lion pack thru a buckpuck.....but I still don't know enough about it. One could create that system for $40?? and it would be real bright and never burn out.
LEDs are making a lot of progress. Surely it won't be long till they are more mainstream and the bright stuff is cheap.
Posted: 08:55 am Apr 25 2010
by muddertrucker
But cheap is what it is! I went through 3 of the cheap led 1157 bulbs before deciding to switch to the 15$ model 3 years ago and it's still holding up. Wonder if these house lights will.
When it comes to lighting threads i'm always interested, just don't have the time to experiment myself. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
I don't even ride in the dark
Posted: 04:05 pm Apr 25 2010
by kywoodsrider
Are you using that 1157 bulb in your stock housing? How bright is it?
Posted: 04:31 pm Apr 25 2010
by muddertrucker
Stock housing with a modified socket. To be alowed in the trail system around here you need a brake light, but it is near useless. You can see it ok at night but during the day you have to pay close attention.
Supirior bright leds has a buch of different bulbs, some with like 32 leds in it. Mine has 7. The shipping is just too high and none are available localy. Maybe some day i'll change.
Posted: 09:18 pm Apr 25 2010
by kywoodsrider
My other idea was to try to use this bulb in the stock housing.
I've tried similiar MR16 led bulbs in a UFO light with poor results. The H4 led I tried in a baja designs headlight was even worse. They're great for tail lights and turn signals, but don't seem to be there yet for headlight applications.
muddertrucker wrote:Stock housing with a modified socket. To be alowed in the trail system around here you need a brake light, but it is near useless. You can see it ok at night but during the day you have to pay close attention.
Supirior bright leds has a buch of different bulbs, some with like 32 leds in it. Mine has 7. The shipping is just too high and none are available localy. Maybe some day i'll change.
Same results I had with the cheap (Autozone) 1157 LED's. However, I did get them to be bright enough on my street legal KDX for daylight use here in AZ.
I removed the factory socket completely, then wired two of the 1157 LED bulbs in facing straight to the rear. Pointing to the rear is key to getting them to work well IMO. In the end, it works great. It is very bright, I have had over six months of hard riding on them without a failure, and I still use the factory stator w/30watt HL bulb with no dimming.
Posted: 12:20 am Apr 27 2010
by heckler
Coming from the mountain bike world, I've done a lot of extreme DH riding at night in the winter.
We use helmet mounted headlights. Period. Mounted to the helmet, the light will shine where you look, and not bounce around on the trail.
Mounted to the front end, the light will not aim down to see the ground when it drops below you, and it will aim off to the side of the trail when your bars are turned.
HID or the new LED lights. I have a Light in Motion HID and a Niterider HID. Both are awesome on their own, and when I mount both to my helmet, I have daylight. They're pricey, but really extend the winter riding season after work.
