LED Headlight Install - 5th Gen

What?? Ya only only got the H4 bulbs in so far. You slow or sumpin. Just Kidding. LOL. Let us know what you think.

 

Well, got out for a short ride in town and I'm happy with the performance of these. Instant on, high beams too. The low beams are a noticeable improvement over stock but the high beams seem to be an enormous increase, pleasantly surprised at how much light they put out. The rear on my bike is raised and the front lowered pretty significantly, I've been putting off adjusting the headlight aim for a long time, that would definitely help the low beams throw a little more light out away from the bike.


Overall a very good deal for the price at $80, thanks ZZ! :thumb:

I also looked at Kelowna, what a gorgeous city.




Question for you is: Canucks or Flames?

 

53 degrees here in sunny California, went for a short ride with the LEDs, really are brighter.

With may relay system, my high beams are still the H7, which are currently the Osram 65 watt bulbs, definitely bright, color temp is lower, so when I turn them on I can see bright, focused beam that is yellower, the when I turn on the H4 high beams (LED) as well, I can see a broader, bluer, beam.

Now, the next step, check these H7 lamps out, 3600 lumens!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pair-H7-50...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c79beb1e1&vxp=mtr

I have two LED lamps on the way in for the brake lights. soon to be totally LED

 

I have recently upgraded my tail/stop lamps in my bike with LED tower bulbs and they seem to be a bit brighter. A little hard to tell the difference. From what I understand, if you put in the LED bulb you need to match the color of the bulb to the color of the lens, so if you have a red tail light lens you need to get a red bulb.

 

Well, I can't profess to be a huge fan of hockey to be honest, but given the choice, I hate to say I usually cheer for the Flames. I lived in Calgary for 15 years and my best friend in Calgary was/is a huge Flames fan and a big hockey fan in general so most of the games I went to were Flames games. Old habits die hard. I have been to a few Kelowna Rockets games though here in town (Junior Hockey Team in Kelowna) and I would have to say the games are far more exciting with a lot better playing in my opinion.

I have lived in Kelowna now since 1996 and I absolutely love it here. The small town feel is much nicer than Calgary in my opinion and even though I could probably make more money living in Calgary, I just couldn't see living anywhere else. Being this close to a lake as large as the Okanagan Lake sure has its benefits. The lake itself is 120 km's long and about 2 km's wide on average and is certainly the main attraction for living here. Kelowna would be described as a tourist town and usually exhibits a large population increase during the summer months. There always seems to be a large influx of bikers from out of province (usually from Alberta, the province just east of BC) and it is always funny watching the tourists ride around town. They just don't seem to be used to riding on roads that are not straight for as far as the eye can see and when they get here, well let's just say the roads rarely go straight for very long.

The bridge you see in the picture is one of Kelowna's most famous features (besides the legend of the Ogopogo Lake Monster) is new as of2008 and the center section (nearly 3/4 of a km) actually floats on the lake. The previous bridge had a steel section that used to raise and lower to allow taller boats to cross from one side to the other but the maintenance costs on the lift span started becoming to great and the floating section was beginning to require tremendous maintenance. The old lift span of the bridge deck was grated steel and was a little disconcerting to cross on a motorcycle until you got used to the way the bike reacted to the grating surface. Crossing the grating was like riding on grooved pavement but a little bit worse. This was especially true when entering the bridge from the Kelowna side as you went through a tight curve in the road prior to hitting the bridge deck. Another interesting bit of trivia was back in 2003, the entire hillside that you can see on the far side of the lake in that picture was completely ablaze. The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire (as it was called) was the largest fire I have ever seen in my life and lasted for nearly three months. The lake was used as the sole source of water to fight the blaze as most all the terrain was very steep and the level of the lake dropped nearly 2 feet because of the amount of water used to fight the fire. The fire eventually destroyed 250 square kilometers (over 61,000 acres) of forest and was started by a lightning strike.

One of the best things about living here is the lengthy riding season. Even throughout the winter there are many days when you can ride, but being in a valley it can be hard to leave the city as the elevation change on both sides of the city (about 500 to 1500 feet each way) can cause significantly differing road conditions. My friend Peter and I used to have a 32 ft sailboat that we moored at one of the local marinas and a great deal of time was spent on and in the lake. We sold the boat when we discovered after Peter's son was born that we just weren't using the boat enough to justify the $4000/year it cost to leave it in the water. Since it had a 7ft deep keel and weighed 15,000 lbs there was no taking it in and out of the water. We have been considering getting another boat now that both our kids are a bit older but we thought this time around we might try a patio type boat so that we could do a little tubing and water skiing while still having a lot of deck space.

Really glad to hear that you have a good opinion of the lights as well Cap'n. Nice to know that I wasn't blowing sunshine up the rear ends of everyone else, being the only other opinion. The fact that someone else has discovered similar findings makes me feel so much better about the mod in general. I look forward to hearing a few more reports.

 

I received permission from the site member to post his comments about his install of the LED kit on his 4th gen. Below is the original PM that I received from the member on VFRD.

Hi, I had purchased that same light system about the time you first posted your write-up, which was very informative.
I finally got around to installing it and have commuted a few days to work.
So far I'm impressed by the amount of light and the added brightness. I'm sure it is more "annoying" or brighter to oncoming cars, but not blindingly like most aftermarket HID kits.
With there being almost no moon now I'm hoping to get a few darker rides up into the hill areas around my home to really see the difference the LEDs make. I usually try not to ride at night if at all possible, but as it's dark when I leave for work and then dark by 6pm it's not really possible.
Thanks for your timely writeup and I'll keep you informed on how I like the system on my 4th gen vfr.
I do need to adjust the lights, as I really haven't messed with the headlight alignment much. Also as I had the entire from cowling/fairing off it seems to be sitting slightly lower than before.

After receiving this particular message I sent the member a reply asking if would mind clarifying his comments about the apparent "annoying" brightness in regards to the oncoming traffic. Just to clear up whether he thought that the lights created too much glare or excessive light bleed from the reflector.

I might not have stated what I meant correctly. I don't think the added brightness is annoying to oncoming traffic at all. NO one has flashed me and when I was behind cars I never saw anyone flip their rear view mirrors. So I doubt it's "too bright" or there is a lot of stray light blinding others.

My headlight and top fairing seems to be slightly downward from where it was. I did see the alignment posts and got them lined up. I'll have a look to see if the grommets are still in there though. Thanks for the tips.

As for where I placed the ballasts, I just stuck them onto the sides of the light housing, much like you did. I looked at the areas available and I liked it. But I should have trial fit them again after I had decided I wanted them there because I put them too far back and they almost interfere with other things on the bike in that area. I may move them onto the "back" of the fairing, near the lights. The wires will still reach the stock connector and the fan and led.

I'm not one to take step by step pictures and properly document my progress. But I will take some pictures of the on the road light. But as you probably know pictures really don't show the difference in light output.

I really like how the reflective distance is considerably longer and I can see much further ahead and things show up much quicker. The light pattern is definitely different, I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but it definitely casts more light in front of you.

From the sounds of his message, the install of the LED lights was also a benefit for this owner as well. It is good to know that the install went well for another owner and the owner of a 4th gen as well. Sounds like the benefits LED kit appear to extend to the 4th gen VFR's as well.

If anyone else happens to perform the upgrade, please post up your findings and comments. The more comments and opinions we can gather, the better we will all be able to judge the benefits of the modification.

 

I understand, not much of an American football fan myself. But big hockey fan since the Sharks came around in '91 and lifelong fan since the '95 2OT 7th game playoff win against the Flames. Still waiting for the Sharks to take the cup, before I take leave of this earth hopefully!

[video=youtube;pT4mFuLcLQM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT4mFuLcLQM[/video]


Think I'll have to put Kelowna on my to-do ride list, looks like a beautiful city and countryside to ride through, and a 120km lake to go around!

 

If you ever happen to be in the neighbourhood, be sure to look me up. I'll take you for a spin on one of my favorite twisty runs. It's called Salmon River Road. Nice scenic little road in the middle of nowhere. It's a farm road with lots of twists turns and elevation changes and banked corners so the hay wagons don't tip over. Soooo much fun. Unless you get stuck behind the group rides of holiday metric cruisers and Harley's. Nothing against cruisers and Harley's but they don't exactly have a great deal of cornering clearance.

 

Just an update.

My H4 LED light kit arrived yesterday so the Ebay seller wfyb did in fact make good on his promise. :thumb:

The light kit was originally scheduled to arrive last Friday so I guess one extra business day wait was not so bad.

 

Well, just got my kit in the mail today. There are no markings & instruction booklet in the box, so no idea if it's the advertised brightness...Thank you MR. Z for posting this how-to. The only way for me to find out how bright these headlights should be is to install them I guess. Not going to happen any time soon though. The bike is hibernating in my bro's garage 'bout 40 min. out of town. Bah!

 

If your lamps look like the ones in the photo, you will love them. White & bright. See my avatar.

 

Hey Nookiaz

Which kit did you order, and which supplier did you order from? If you ordered from the same supplier that I used then your kit should be the same as mine. Maybe send me a link to the supplier that you used and we might be able to figure it out.

As as for the install, most of the kits I have seen from various suppliers all seem to have the same basic bulbs and ballasts, so the install should be approximately the same, regardless of the supplier. if you have any troubles when you do the install, just shoot me a PM and hopefully I may be able to help.

 

So far then Allyance, you are pleased?? One of the members on VFRD that did an install of the LED kit has noticed that one of his cooling fans has crapped out, so maybe keep an eye on them. It honestly doesn't really surprise me as the fans are not really protected from the elements, but you would think that someone would have thought about that.

 

Yes, very pleased, should have gone that route from the beginning. Haven't upgraded H7 high beam yet, got a new rear tire instead (Metzler M5).

 

Mr. Z, as requested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321266369115?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

No markings & no manual...As generic as it gets, but I think I got the right one, for $75, not $81 (new price) & free shipping.

 

Yep. From the looks of the photos on the link you posted Nookiaz, the whole kit looks pretty much identical to the one I purchased.

Installation is honestly as easy as replace bulbs (you'll have to snip off two of the mounting tabs on the new LED bulbs), mount ballasts, plug bulbs in to the ballasts, attach factory headlight connector to ballast and VOILA, you have headlights.

you will want to remove the upper cowl to give you more room I think, but other than that, it is really easy as far as modifications go.

 

In a effort to keep the LED suppliers up to date, here is another one that one of the members on VFRD found. It is an all-in-one bulb with an integrated cooling fan, ballasts, and wiring supposedly is just a direct connect to the factory harness. The cost is higher at $149 per pair, but looks like a good alternative as well.

http://www.lifetimeledlights.com/H49003-LED-headlights-_p_59.html

if I had not already purchased a kit and installed it, I might be very tempted to give these a try. They look like a really good alternative.

 

Yep looks like the lifetimeledlights set is a better option in my oppinion. They look of better quality also. Mr. Z. he's quite the search engine
I'm just wondering if there's enough space between the headlight housing & the instrument panel. The base seem to stick out a bit.

 

The bulbs that I installed originally stick out no further than the stock connector would have and there is probably an extra inch at least for room. From the looks of the pictures of the LifetimeLED's the base of the fan and heat sink combo starts approx where the cooling fan base would attach to the bulb kit I purchased. Judging from that I can't see the bulb sticking out more than 3/8 inch from where they sit now and that should not cause any real problems with interference. Just a guess mind you without actually getting some dimensions on the bulbs itself.

 

A quick look, it seems I have about an inch between the back of the fan and the fork at full lock, but I've got RC51 forks and triples, you'll have more offset with the stock VFR triples and maybe a little less room.