Kuryakyn LED Headlight?
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,439
Likes: 884
From: 'Noke, VA
Went around 500 miles this weekend with the new headlight, 200 or so of that at night. The headlight's a winner. Not only does it greatly extend the pool of light in front of the bike, but I had far fewer people drift over in front of me. I'll definitely be adding the passing lamps as well.
Stage III
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
Has anyone found some actual specs on the new H-D 5.75" LED headlamps (P/N 73273-11) or the 4" LED auxiliary lamps (P/N 73396-10)?
There is not much in the way of any hard info on the H-D website at all.
Not that I don't consider what others may be saying and seeing from their own direct experience, but for $399 (Headlamp) and $385 (Set of 2 Auxlamps)... I'd like to know more before plunking down that kind of cash.
Not to geek out here, but lumens are an important measurement of any lamp's performance, as well as the beam pattern. Raw power by itself does no good if it creates an unwanted hot-spot or glare. LEDs are highly directional point sources, so the design of the optics can make or break an LED.
Color temp of the light is also a good thing to know when buying LEDs... a 'cooler' color (higher Kelvin) is whiter and often better output than a 'warmer' (2700-3000K) color.
Other serious liabilities of LEDs...
• Heat Sink - an LED can have great performance specs and service life, but when integrated into a lamp, can be severly degraded by a lack of properly drawing heat generated away from the diode.
• Bad Driver - not an uncommon practice by less reputable mfgs is overdriving the LED to get higher output.
Both of these can result in shorter overall life, rapid decline in lumen maints and eventual failure.
Overall, I'm looking forward to LEDs replacing filament (incandescent) and arc tube (HID) based lamps. When done properly 10s of thousands of hours of service life can be obtained from a well designed LED system.
There is not much in the way of any hard info on the H-D website at all.
Not that I don't consider what others may be saying and seeing from their own direct experience, but for $399 (Headlamp) and $385 (Set of 2 Auxlamps)... I'd like to know more before plunking down that kind of cash.
Not to geek out here, but lumens are an important measurement of any lamp's performance, as well as the beam pattern. Raw power by itself does no good if it creates an unwanted hot-spot or glare. LEDs are highly directional point sources, so the design of the optics can make or break an LED.
Color temp of the light is also a good thing to know when buying LEDs... a 'cooler' color (higher Kelvin) is whiter and often better output than a 'warmer' (2700-3000K) color.
Other serious liabilities of LEDs...
• Heat Sink - an LED can have great performance specs and service life, but when integrated into a lamp, can be severly degraded by a lack of properly drawing heat generated away from the diode.
• Bad Driver - not an uncommon practice by less reputable mfgs is overdriving the LED to get higher output.
Both of these can result in shorter overall life, rapid decline in lumen maints and eventual failure.
Overall, I'm looking forward to LEDs replacing filament (incandescent) and arc tube (HID) based lamps. When done properly 10s of thousands of hours of service life can be obtained from a well designed LED system.
Stage III
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
Watts = Volts x Amps
The Truck-Lite specs for the 7" headlamp is 4.5a (54w at 12v) for the high beam and 2.5a (30w at 12v) for the low beam, assuming no other loss through the system.
A 50% decrease or more in power usage is not uncommon when converting from traditional light sources to LED.
In a municipal, commercial or residential application, the high initial cost of obtain LED lighting is often justified through decreased power consumption and the resulting reduction in utility rates, as well as increased service life (less maints) over the life of the installation.
With a motorcycle, you don't pay for the electrical power per se as the bike generates it's own, so there is no 'payback' in that aspect. What you do get is a reduction of power consumption through your system to possibly add other components, reduced battery drain when the motor is not running, increased light output (and safety), fewer failures and replacement costs.
The Truck-Lite specs for the 7" headlamp is 4.5a (54w at 12v) for the high beam and 2.5a (30w at 12v) for the low beam, assuming no other loss through the system.
A 50% decrease or more in power usage is not uncommon when converting from traditional light sources to LED.
In a municipal, commercial or residential application, the high initial cost of obtain LED lighting is often justified through decreased power consumption and the resulting reduction in utility rates, as well as increased service life (less maints) over the life of the installation.
With a motorcycle, you don't pay for the electrical power per se as the bike generates it's own, so there is no 'payback' in that aspect. What you do get is a reduction of power consumption through your system to possibly add other components, reduced battery drain when the motor is not running, increased light output (and safety), fewer failures and replacement costs.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 277
Likes: 0
From: Central Ohio
http://www.jwspeaker.com/catalog/for...odel_8700.html
I've got the whole HD LED setup (100% LED bike now). The HD LED headlamp and passing lamps are worth every penny. I've had them for over a month now, and spend at least a couple hours on the road each night. The amount of light, and quality of light, is astounding. The headlamp being a projector lens rather than a reflector takes a bit of getting used to, much the same as the HID unit would.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 277
Likes: 0
From: Central Ohio
Rear turn signals:
http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US
Front signals:
http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US
I've got them on, they look great and are very bright.
Road Captain
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 675
Likes: 3
From: Newport, Wa
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6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
LED Comparison
I have the HD LED setup (all LED bike now), the headlamp is a J.W. Speaker Model 8700 ('customized' for the MoCo). I've been trying to find someone with the Custom Dynamics/Kuryakyn/whoever else one willing to do a side by side comparison.
I do know that going down the road at night, I haven't seen any vehicle that lights up the road as well as my bike does now (and my headlamp and passing lamps are properly adjusted, no unfair advantage from aimed too high lamps). Comparing to the light put out from all the bikes, cars, trucks, vans, semis, etc, I have been on the road with at night I have better coverage and brighter light than all of them so far (about three weeks worth of comparisons). Seeing the light they have in front of them, then pulling even with them it is easy to see how much better the light from this LED setup is. Some of them even have HID or LED lamps themselves. The setup the MoCo is offering is worth every penny, based on the quantity and quality of light put out.
I do know that going down the road at night, I haven't seen any vehicle that lights up the road as well as my bike does now (and my headlamp and passing lamps are properly adjusted, no unfair advantage from aimed too high lamps). Comparing to the light put out from all the bikes, cars, trucks, vans, semis, etc, I have been on the road with at night I have better coverage and brighter light than all of them so far (about three weeks worth of comparisons). Seeing the light they have in front of them, then pulling even with them it is easy to see how much better the light from this LED setup is. Some of them even have HID or LED lamps themselves. The setup the MoCo is offering is worth every penny, based on the quantity and quality of light put out.
Cruiser
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: albuquerque , new mexico
Total amps draw of light and electrics
according to the custom dynamics 4.5 amp high beam and 2.5 amps low beam
kuryakyn dont say but should be the same food for thought H.I.D shows 35 watts which works out to 2.9 amps a stock 60 watt halogen is 5 amps and a 100 halogen is 8.3 amps...from what harleys said F.I. bikes get the 45 amp stator and the rest get 38 amp i also run full electrics ( pants , vest, gloves) add up to about per gerbing is 2.2 amps for gloves , 6.4 for heated jacket , 4.5 for heated vest, 3.6 for the pants..i know some one in here will dispute this all but i pulled it from online from vendor sites just as info for comparison
kuryakyn dont say but should be the same food for thought H.I.D shows 35 watts which works out to 2.9 amps a stock 60 watt halogen is 5 amps and a 100 halogen is 8.3 amps...from what harleys said F.I. bikes get the 45 amp stator and the rest get 38 amp i also run full electrics ( pants , vest, gloves) add up to about per gerbing is 2.2 amps for gloves , 6.4 for heated jacket , 4.5 for heated vest, 3.6 for the pants..i know some one in here will dispute this all but i pulled it from online from vendor sites just as info for comparison