LED Headlight Install - 5th Gen

I do an awful lot of night driving and I have always had a secret desire to install 4 HID Projector kits in my 6th gen, this seems like a better alternative and I will probably be ordering a set of h7 and h4 kits in the very near future.

 

I have been trying to get the exact layout for the 6th generation VFR's. Bottom reflector takes a H4 lamp, but only the low beam is wired.
The top reflector takes a H7 lamp, again only two wires, that's OK H7s are only single filament.
Do the 5th generation VFR's have a single reflector? Only a H4 with both filaments wired?
See my thread for 6th generation LEDs. Not simple wiring, having to split a H4 kit to run H7.
I just ordered high wattage lamps for both H4 (80/100) & H7 (65), and made a new harness with relays to run all three filaments (490 watts total! 40 amps @ 12volts).
I don't intend to run the 100 watt second high beam for very long.

 

My friend Peter used to have a 32 ft sailboat here on our local lake and whenever we were mooring up to buoys on the lake it always seemed to be later in the evening. Most of the buoys are easy enough to find during the day, but as dusk begins they can be much harder to spot and we bought a hand held 2 million candle power spot beam that used one of those BIG old 6V batteries. Worked like a charm as long as you found the buoy in less than 20 minutes as the battery only lasted about that long. One summer when the bulb died on the big light (it had a dish diameter of about 8 inches) we purchased a rechargeable light that was about the size of a police radar gun and it employed a rear firing 18 W LED that was directed at a 3 inch reflector behind the diode. Sort of set up like the collector mirror on a telescope. The spot beam was rated at 5 million candle power and was STUPID bright. The main benefit other than it's luminosity was that the bluish white light emitted did not seem to be as readily absorbed by the water (ever shine a flashlight at a lake in the dark, pretty much useless) and lit up the shore VERY nicely. It would also do a nice job of lighting up areas beneath the boat close to shore so that we could look for hazards in the water. The second benefit was that the battery pack lasted FOREVER. The LED drew very little amperage compared to its halogen cousin, but when we purchased the light (about 6 years ago now) it was brutally expensive. Well worth the expense.

You would definitely want to make sure that both LED's on the H4 bulb were powered though or the low beams would not be very useful. The size and shape of the reflector on the 6th gen's is completely different so hard to say as to whether or not they would perform the same. With only the upper part of the reflector being used for the low beams on my bike the lights are still much brighter than the halogen bulbs were and they used the whole reflector. Time will tell, but so far I have to say they are a vast improvement. Since winter has hit I won't get a chance to SEE them in action on a dark, windy road, outside of town but my impression thus far is that they will work great.

 

I will go to LED's eventually, just wanted something to do.
I got frustrated with so many sites that had H4 LED's, but would not put whether they were high/low in their specs, so I gave up for now.

 

Hey Allyance

Yes, the reflector stays the same on the 5th gens for both the low beams and high beams. From the looks of it the filament on a standard H4 bulb furthest from the reflector lights when the low beams are engaged and when the high beams are switched on the filament closest to the reflector is used as well. This changes the focal point of the light source and thus the spread of the light. You still get the same spread from the low beam filament you just add a bit more spread by adding the additional filament I believe.

The LED bulbs in the kit I installed also have a different spacing on the diodes. The high beam LED is spaced a bit closer to the bulbs base (same as the halogen filament) and thus closer to the reflector. With the different spacing on the diodes on the H4 LED bulb it may change the beam pattern a bit on the 6th gen so they may need to be adjusted accordingly so as not to create too much glare for the oncoming traffic.

Would be interesting to know what the difference is like and how well the mod would work on a 6th gen machine.

 

I think that generally speaking the H4 bulb is designed for use in a headlight that functions as both the high and low beam. Why Honda chose to use an H4 bulb in the low beam on the VFR and only power one filament is a bit of a mystery to me. Perhaps they used it because it is a fairly common bulb, or perhaps so that they could used the bulb across many different bikes in their product line to keep costs down. Of course that begs the question, why on earth did they create an H4 style bulb with a different spacing on the tabs. So that you had to buy them from the dealer at a much higher price, naturally. LOL

 

Zoom-Zoom:

Which H4 LED kit did you get? Model number?

So many others that are not high/low lamps.

Thanks

 

Hey Allyance

Here is the link to the actual kit I purchased. The eBay sellers part number was MC-JW-090.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Universa...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20da90d371&vxp=mtr

When I checked the link a couple minutes ago the price was down to $79.95 + shipping.

 

Thanks, I ordered H4 set.

 

Let me know how it turns out. I would really like to know the results.

 

According to that they are using CREE CXA1512 leds and there are CXA1520 which are twice as bright. I kinda wanna do some led surgery now otstir:

 

Bingo!

Honda most likely used the dual filament H4 bulb in the two lower lights on the early model 6th gen. bikes as a matter of convenience Zoom-Zoom.

As you know the dual filament H4 bulb has a small light reflector shield beneath the low beam filament which blocks light from hitting the bottom surface of the reflector dish. Since no light reflects off of the bottom surface of the reflector dish the low beam filament cannot throw light down the road it can only throw light directly out in front of you.
The high beam filament on the other hand is unrestricted so light can reflect off of all surfaces of the reflector dish and because it's also a higher wattage and higher light intensity it can throw a brighter light much further down the road.

Honda simply needed to use the lower wattage/lower light intensity low beam filament in the H4 bulb for the low beam lights on the early model 6th gen. bikes and the dual filament H4 bulb was existing technology. I gotta believe that the Honda engineers must have thought to themselves why reinvent the wheel and design a new two terminal lower wattage/lower light intensity single filament light bulb with a small reflector shield in it when there's an existing readily available light bulb already out there that will do the job.

Just because the H4 bulb has a terminal on it for the high beam filament doesn't necessarily mean that you need to use it,right?

 

You know Stosh, in all the years I have owned bikes (the last three being VFR's of varying years) and changing out blown bulbs, I have to admit never having paid attention to what you just showed me in that picture. I honestly never noticed that there was a shield behind the low beam filament. Makes sense now as to why the LED doesn't use the lower LED when the low beams are engaged. Even with a standard halogen bulb, not that much light would hit the lower part of the reflector any how. Interesting. Ya learn something new every day. WHEN you pay attention that is!!

When I first went to install the lights I plugged in only one light to test the bulbs (not in the reflector) and turned it on to see how it worked. I thought to myself, "Crap, something is wrong, the lower LED isn't working." Then I switched bulbs and plugged the other in to the ballast and same thing happened. When I switched on the highs and both lit up, I felt greatly relieved. Didn't think that I could possibly have two bulbs with burnt out LEDs in the same location, so I thought it's ok, they're designed that way. Now I think I understand why. Thanks Stosh, YOU DA MAN!!!

Of course the mere fact that I have performed an upgrade that YOU, the almighty STOSHMONSTER found interesting, well that in itself is, well, flattering to be honest. I have always admired your bike and thought to myself, "Gee, this guy knows just about everything."

Hopefully once winter ends and the warm sun of spring takes hold of these fine northern lands, I will be able to engage the flux capacitors and hit 88 mph. And while doing this, my greatest hope hope is that (other than changing time zones) I will be able to see FAR ahead and around.

 

Stosh is correct, the shield provides the sharp cut off of the low beam. I've upgraded my bulbs to higher wattage, add a heavier gauge harness with relays. I can now turn on the second filament, which puts out a wide pattern, not even the same as the H7 high beams. I do not think the reflector in the 6th generation was designed to be used for a high beam. I am waiting for higher wattage H7s, then I will post pictures of each pattern individually (I can do that now with the fuses I put in).

 

I thought I would post up that the link I provided to the eBay seller I purchased my lights from has HUGELY increased his price from 74.95 on Dec 27 th to $179.95 as of today. WTF. Don't know what the deal is here but some internet searching for "H4 LED automotive headlights" brings up a number of different options on eBay.

I did send the eBay seller a question regarding his price increase and am awaiting his response. Don't know if I'll get one, but it never hurts to ask. If not then I found these two other alternatives.

This one shows a Cree CXA 1507 chip instead of the CXA1512 chip in the kit I purchased originally and is a 6000K bulb temperature instead of the 5000 K bulb.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-CREE-LE...n-White-6000K-High-Power-1800LM-/400567471660

The second is from vleds.com and it uses the same CXA1512 LEDs but is rated at 2000 lumens instead of 1800. Not necessarily a bad thing IMO.

http://www.vleds.com/bulb/h4-cxa-2000lm.html

Both kits look nearly identical to the one I purchased as far as the lights and ballasts go.

 

Zoom-Zoom:

I ordered a set at the $74.95 price, but an email this morning saying there was an "inventory problem" and they would take another week, I cancelled and requested a refund.

Now I read your post and it all makes sense, he didn't want to sell at that price. If there is a problem with refund I will report him to eBay.

 

Maybe you'll get lucky and they will refund you the new purchase price.

 

I ordered the set from this seller
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Car-Truck-H4-1800LM-50W-Cree-LED-HeadLight-Head-lamp-H-L-Beam-6000K-/321266368487?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4accf7bfe7

And just a thought , the manual lists headlights bulbs as 12V, 45W/45W. Isn't that H7 bulbs specs? H4 has 12V & 60W/55W. I also checked the bulbs on the bike & they are H7's...So they are the stock ones & people switch those for H4's to get better lighting I would assume .

 

You got a good price!

 

Nice score there Nookiaz. Let me know you like them. Be good to get a few differing opinions.
The stock Honda bulbs are 45W/45W but that is a specific style Honda H4 bulb and it employs a different spacing on the positioning tabs. Most people change the factory bulbs out and replace with a standard H4 bulb and remove two of the mounting tabs so that it fits in the headlight housing. You will need to remove two of the tabs on the bulb of the kit you ordered in order that the bulbs fit the housing.