The subject of LED headlights has been coming up again. I have tried a few setups on my Jeep and have a nice setup on my bike. The best solution for my Jeep is different than my bike due to the complex electrical system of my Jeep. Rather than getting into that, I'll stick with the bike

When it comes to headlights, cheap LED's are not worth it. The same could be said of cheap HID systems that drop into the buckets designed for regular lights. It has to do with focus, distribution, dispersion, and a whole lot of factors that are complex enough to make your head explode. For those that are interested in such things, candlepower forum is a good extensive resource.

I am not going to get into halogen vs hid vs led or other technology. I am not associated with brand or website and I don't sell any lighting products. I am just an ordinary guy that has spent a lot of time reading and researching as well as testing and figuring stuff out. In other words there is no need for me to post anything about parabolic equations. This is just a condensed simplified conclusion of what works described in bang for the buck terms.

The two top brands in LED headlights are Truck Lite and JW Speaker. Lots of companies make knock offs based on one of these two brands. These two brands take different approaches. There are also a lot of brands that are just building LED headlights that just put out bright light with no engineering, standards, etc. so that $10 LED headlight is probably worth $10 if you are lucky.

Truck Lite and JW Speaker are both good companies with good products. JW Speaker costs almost twice what Truck Lite costs and is different but about equal to Truck Lite. The exception to this is a new product by JW Speaker that adapts to your lean. More about that later.

My choice obviously for my 95 Heritage is the three piece Truck Lite kit. The lowest price I have been able to find consistently is from Drive Train America right here.

http://www.drivetrainamerica.com/tru...5-pass-lights/

That $335 gets you the main 7" headlight and the two 4.5" passing lamps. They last so long that you probably will get rid of your bike before they go out. The headlight pokes out about half an inch or maybe a little less when installed and looks like crap. This is easily remedied by installing a frenched trim ring which looks great.

I rode out to a very rural road 35 miles south of my house at about 2 this morning to get these pictures. The picture that is just about solid black is to demonstrate how dark it is with the bike turned off. These are raw pictures with no photoshopping or anything. No flash or anything was used. Pictures were taken with an iPhone 6. I wish the fender tip lights and other lights would not have washed the picture out as much but I am not a professional photographer.

 

Here is the link to the pictures

https://www.hdforums.com/g/album/6070948

 

My turn signals, fender tip lights, and tail light are all circuit board inserts I got from Custom Dynamics. Cheap knock offs have been to known to fail prematurely.

The low beam of the truck light is on the top half of the light and high beam is on the lower half. On high beam, both the upper and lower halves illuminate.

So you might be asking what is the downside? LED headlights produce a flatter beam pattern. What this means is when you lean, the beam of light leans with you, creating areas of darkness that were previously illuminated. Some people call this the horizon effect. The first time you encounter it it might freak you out. I have gotten used to it and it is no big deal. Besides, I ride with my passing lamps on to illuminate the sides of the road a little bit better.

JW Speaker has a product out called adaptive lighting. It compensates for the bike's lean by illuminating different portions of the light depending on if you are straight up or leaning and the direction you are leaning. A 7" JW Speaker adaptive LED headlight with this technology is currently priced at $800 for one headlight only. That is a lot of money for a headlight and that technology is still only first generation. In a few years, they will likely have a better, more refined version that will come at a more realistic price.

Also worth noting is LED headlights are less forgiving in terms of aim. If you lowered your bike or altered the suspension or suddenly am carrying a much heavier load, adjust your headlight aim. It is very simple. It is more critical to get this right with LED headlights than regular lights because they are more directional and the beam is flatter.

Another benefit I have noticed is that street signs seem to reflect the light better from these LED lights to the point where they look like they are glowing.

All in all, I feel much safer riding at night and at this point would never want to go back to regular lighting.

I hope this sheds some light on the subject

 

So you don't feel as if you're talking to yourself, I'll chip in! I have the three Trucklights for my Glide, although I haven't ridden at night with them yet. I'm sure you'll all be pleased to discover that the headlight is now available with the correct pattern for low beam, for driving on the right side of the road, meaning of course the left side! Here in the UK they are almost exclusively marketted for Land Rovers and the off-road market for some reason, so a Jeep sounds like a good home for a pair.

I had one of the first H-D HID headlights, which does the same as you describe with it's dip/low beam. It had two light sources, HID for the low beam, a conventional bulb for high beam. I have described it as like riding behind a black velvet curtain, with everything below in stark white bright light, while above was almost invisible, due to the contrast. It's one of the reasons I did away with it, as the main beam, regardless of what type and power of bulb I used, added little worth having while both beams were switched on.

I have now bought and installed a pair of aftermarket LED bulbs in one of our 4 wheelers. I have avoided using them to date, having discovered they are so badly focussed as to be worthless, dazzling oncoming traffic. I bought a pair of Osram replacements for 21watt 382 single-filament bulbs, for our daytime lights. They have just two LEDs, pointing back at the reflector, so they provide a focussed light and look most impressive.

So with Trucklite and Osram we are getting some worthwhile LED technology worth having. For some time I've had LED flashers on my Glide, but don't recall which brand, they replace the entire amber unit.

 

Good stuff.

I put the Trucklites on my Electra Glide last winter, and couldnt be more pleased. Absolutely no comparison to stock.

I don't like riding at night, and avoid it when i can. Still, there are times when there is no choice.

Heading back from the meetup in Texas, I spent the night in Oklahoma and had to get up several hours before dawn to meet a friend in Kansas City. Rode about 100 miles in absolute black conditions. Really appreciated those LEDs.

I'm pretty sure i went with those based on Prot's recommendation from some time back. Thanks! Couldn't have worked out better!

 

I think it was texashillcountry that asked about LED lights in another thread not about lights about a week or two ago, hence me posting this up this morning. I think his comment was how good are they they, as in asking if they were really worth the money. To that end, I say yes for Truck Lites and no to the $800 JW Speaker adaptive lights that can sense the bike leaning.

Here is information about the adaptive light.

http://www.jwspeaker.com/products/ad...8790-adaptive/

I like the concept of it but the price needs to be reduced by 50% to 75% for it to be a viable option for me.

 

Good grief, looks darned ugly! Just as well we sit behind them. My brother has a current BMW RT twin and I'm pretty sure that has some sort of adaptive lighting for going round bends, however it is all integrated into a wide band of lights set in the fairing.

 

I have a Daymaker reflector headlight on my Softail. It's in combination with the same style (Daymaker/reflector) auxiliary lights. I have had the Speaker LEDs too (previous bikes) and they were very good as well.

The Harley lights run more money than the Speaker by a good bit. My subjective impression is the two types are equal in performance. I had the headlight on my 2014 SG before I sold it, and transferred it over to the '91 after I realized it would fit. I have the stock nacelle on the Evo; just needed to remove the stock inner 'bucket', and buy the adapter that fit the LED (about 50 bucks as I recall).

I like the lower amperage draw of these LED lights as well as how good they light up the night. I don't recall the exact figures, but the headlight draws something like 60% as much current as the stock or HID headlight bulb. The stock alternators on our 'old' bikes don't put out the juice like the newer ones, so having some headroom in the demands placed on them is a good thing.

Alan

 

...and that Adaptive headlight IS Butt Ugly. Looks like some prop out of a B-grade Sci-Fi movie (like a 'blaster' ray-gun muzzle). Cool idea though, and one that--when the price comes down--might be worth pursuing, i.e., function over form.

Alan

 

Those lights you have are really lighting up the road Prot. Very nice.

At the same time, there are less expensive alternatives that do last and work well.

I am closing in on 100k miles using DK LED headlights, driving lights and turn signals. No failures, glitches or problems of any kind, and they light up the road as well as in your pics, with no ***** nilly light spread that blinds oncoming traffic.


This photo is just the headlight, not the LED driving lights or turn signals.