I know its been a while, but I finally got around to installing my Fuel Moto LED bolt in headlight bulb in my 2013 Road King. This is NOT the MOCO Daymaker, nor the Truck Lite LED. Its a simple, H4 style replacement LED fan cooled bulb. What I also wanted to see was how it compares to my $8.95 Hella 80/100w bulb (with ceramic plug). Sadly, it does not. Though the LED does throw a lot of fairly white light, it does so at the expense of focus and pointless dispersion of light. At least on the headlight bucket of my 2013 Road King, all I wound up with was a giant blob of light in front of the bike. No direct area of light, no cutoff point where it could be aimed to not blind oncoming traffic, and no uniformity. If you look at the pictures you can see what I mean. The 80/100 Hella puts ALL its light into a tight, focused hot spot right in front of the motorcycle...... where its NEEDED. Just like the factory bulb. Whereas the LED just casts light. Also, much like the MOCO Daymaker, the bright is not ALL THAT MUCH BRIGHTER than the low beam, where my little hella really hits heavy on high beam. So, long story short, the H4 style bolt in LED is not very focused, throws light everywhere instead of where its needed, will blind oncoming motorists, and gets its A$$ kicked my my $8.95 Hella, especially on high beam. Is the LED better than the stock 55/60w piece of crap that comes stock, yes. But its not the best setup on the market. IMHO, if your wanting a true LED headlight, get the Daymaker or Truck Lite. But that's just my opinion.


Here is the light in question:







Here's some pictures for reference points. These pictures were taken minutes apart, tonight.


This is my 80/100 Hella on LOW BEAM. Notice how clean and focused the beam is. Just like the factory bulb, only brighter:





This is my Hella 80/100 on HIGH BEAM. Notice how the Hella just erases the wood panel dividers from the photo. All you see is a super bright white center:





This is the FAN COOLED LED on LOW BEAM:





And the LED on HIGH BEAM. Notice, very little difference. And yeah, that's really the case in real life. High beam adds very little. You can tell its there, but it does not "blow you away". Also, unlike the top photos, you can clearly see the garage door sections that were completely washed out with the Hella. Is the fan cooled LED a decent light? All I can say is I put my Hella back in and am selling the LED as fast as I can to recoupe as much as I can. Besides, I have a super secret weapon coming down the pipe that will just blow away EVERYTHING on the market now. But that's for another future thread:

 

thanks for the write up. I will keep my hella and my money.

 

Is your Hella bulb running off of a relay?

 

Relay? No, its a stock replacement H4 bulb. Its plugs right in just like any other H4 bulb. I run a ceramic plug to handle the additional heat that the bulb produces.

 

Cool man! Sticking with my truck lite, at least until we see you super secret weapon!! Good write up!

 

Hi,
Good write up,
Thanks
Mirrmu

 

Seams like that new LED is like sticking an HID in the factory bucket. I tried the HID route. It had a decent cut off but due to the fact there is no wattage difference from high to low beam (the lamp actually moves in and out to change the position in the reflector) I was constantly getting high beamed by oncoming traffic. I went with a PIAA vibration resistant lamp. It's whiter than stock. Low beam is better but high beam is a significant difference. Where did you get your ceramic plug? I hate the factory cheap azz plastic one. It's the same as the headlight plugs in my 88 GMC. It is difficult to unplug. I broke my first PIAA trying to unplug it.

 

Hmmm....waiting patiently with baited (popcorn) breath

 

Question for you, I just got the Osram 80/100 and ordered this ceramic plug off ebay. The bulb fits all the way into the female end but the male end on the plug doesn't go all the way into the factory bulb receptacle. Probably an 1/8'' or so from going all the way. Does yours do the same thing? I was thinking about wrapping some electrical tape around the plug and cover the gap. Any input is appreciated, Pat

 

YES! Thats the exact same harness I have and it does the exact same thing. You want to push it in farther, but thats all the farther it will go. But it works perfect.

Thanks everyone for the replies as well.

Buelligan666, yeah, I ran the same HID you speak of on my FatBoy. I liked it overall and it was one bright son of a gun! But yeah, BRIGHT didn't actually get any brighter, it just changed the bulbs angle of attack. I never had a single issue with that HID, but I had it wired so I would not turn it on till the bike was running to avoid start up spikes. I didn't have it long enough to have long term results, but I thought it was a darn good investment. My brother runs the 6000K version and I do NOT like it as much as the lower 4300K I ran. To me, his 6000K look too blue, and my 4300 was really, really white. But thats just me.