New LED's for the NT

[mikesim]

If you will recall, I posted in March about Sylvania introducing an LED for H7 applications. I got a set and was disappointed to find out that the way they were constructed wouldn't allow them to be used in the NT due to the hold down wire bail interfering with the bulb. I emailed my buddy at Sylvania and told him about my issue. He said they were aware of that shortcoming and were reengineering the bulb for that reason. I just got the new pair today and it looks like they will be a perfect fit for the NT. The metal base with the alignment tab is now separate from the bulb. You simply install the metal base and secure in place with the wire bail. Then insert the bulb and twist to lock it into place and connect the two wires. There are alignment marks on the bulb/base to make sure it is aligned properly for correct optical performance. They also have a five year warranty which is great. I have been leery of installing some of the Chicom bulbs I have seen on the net, but I have a great deal of confidence in Sylvania. The bulbs are made in Italy BTW. I plan on installing them on Traveller this weekend and will report back.

Mike

 

[Phil Tarman]

Looking forward to your report, Mike. How can you identify the re-engineered bulbs from the original?

 

[mikesim]

Phil, they have a different part number and come in an orange box. I will post the part number tonight.

Mike

 

[Brillot2000]

Here's a link to my online photo album showing the installation that I done over a year ago on NaTalie. HONDA NT700V LED Headlight

The H7 LED units shown in these images were purchased from Amazon for about $20 for the set of 2. I also found some dust covers to prevent junk from getting into the headlight assembly.

Here's a link my original thread on the subject. NT700V LED Headlight Conversion For Under $30

 

[NewTo700V]

Just be advised, I'm pretty sure LED drop in bulbs are not DOT approved for Halogen bulb reflector housings. The reason being the reflectors are engineered for the light source being from a pinpoint filament location. LEDs can come close to approximating this location, but not exactly. As a consequence there will be varying amounts of glare depending on what LED bulbs or reflector housing they are in. Any state with safety inspections could take issue. I played around with LED drop ins a few years ago, from what I saw I'm going to stick with Halogens in a Halogen housing. To do LEDs right you need a dedicated housing engineered for them.

I looked at one of Sylvania's H7 LED kits and they say they are for fog light applications or off-road headlight. They aren't approved for on road headlights.

 

[Brillot2000]

Just be advised, I'm pretty sure LED drop in bulbs are not DOT approved for Halogen bulb reflector housings. The reason being the reflectors are engineered for the light source being from a pinpoint filament location. LEDs can come close to approximating this location, but not exactly. As a consequence there will be varying amounts of glare depending on what LED bulbs or reflector housing they are in. Any state with safety inspections could take issue. I played around with LED drop ins a few years ago, from what I saw I'm going to stick with Halogens in a Halogen housing. To do LEDs right you need a dedicated housing engineered for them.

I looked at one of Sylvania's H7 LED kits and they say they are for fog light applications or off-road headlight. They aren't approved for on road headlights.

This discussion has come up once before and is duly noted.

I can only speak for myself and from my experiences. The light pattern is close to that of what it replaces. The only difference is that headlight aim needs to be readjusted to bring the beam back into a position that will not cause other drivers any issues, oncoming or in front of you.

There are tons of people that put in aftermarket lights, HIDs or LEDs that do not adjust their aim. These folks are annoying, but not enforced by any local law enforcement here in So Cal. I do not know what to tell you other than everyone has to be responsible for their actions and take a risk based on their own decisions. That's how life used to be like. We did not need warning labels to tell us not to iron a shirt while wearing it.

Warnings are just that warnings. It is only information if we decide to ignore it, it is on us and nobody else.

 

[RedLdr1]

Warnings are just that warnings. It is only information if we decide to ignore it, it is on us and nobody else.

In this case that is not necessarily true. It is more "on" the driver blinded by cheap non OEM HIDs in non-HID reflectors. They are the one who can't see...

 

[NewTo700V]

The fact you have to crank the headlight adjusters down is because the reflectors can't properly handle the scattering glare. By pushing the aim down you still aren't properly controlling the light, you've just succeeded in pushing the glare ball lower towards the road. Having a bright ball of light in front of your bike might look impressive, but it's actually going to ruin your eyes ability to pick things out farther down the road.

I think a happy medium can be had between not irritating other drivers and wanting more light for aspects of night time riding. I fitted 3 inch LED spot pods wired to their own handlebar switch. I use them for backroads, or other instances where I want more light but I'm not staring down other traffic (rounding a dark exit ramp for example). If they're on, my left thumb is covering the switch to shut them down quickly if I see a sign of oncoming headlights. The actual headlight assembly is still fit with the stock halogens.

 

[mikesim]

Just be advised, I'm pretty sure LED drop in bulbs are not DOT approved for Halogen bulb reflector housings. The reason being the reflectors are engineered for the light source being from a pinpoint filament location. LEDs can come close to approximating this location, but not exactly. As a consequence there will be varying amounts of glare depending on what LED bulbs or reflector housing they are in. Any state with safety inspections could take issue. I played around with LED drop ins a few years ago, from what I saw I'm going to stick with Halogens in a Halogen housing. To do LEDs right you need a dedicated housing engineered for them.

I looked at one of Sylvania's H7 LED kits and they say they are for fog light applications or off-road headlight. They aren't approved for on road headlights.

You are correct. At this time the Sylvania H7 bulb is not DOT approved for headlamp applications..... however.... the H7 bulb is widely used in both headlamp and fog lamp applications. With a halogen bulb, there is no differentiation as to where it can be used. When Sylvania designed the H7 LED (and other LED replacement bulbs for fog lamp applications) they designed the beam pattern to exactly duplicate the beam pattern of the halogen bulb, thus there should be no stray beams of light that would not be found in a halogen bulb. The do have a whiter color temp of 6000 degrees. The packaging states for fog lamp use only to satisfy the legalities of non DOT approval yet. Sylvania, Wagner and the other bulb manufacturers are currently applying for DOT certification for the LED offerings so I doubt that it will be long before they are truly legal. The beam pattern concern is exactly why I have held off on LED or HID replacements as I wanted to make sure that the beam pattern was correct for the reflectors on the bike. I'm confident that Sylvania engineers have done their due diligence in this area.

Mike

 

[Brillot2000]

The fact you have to crank the headlight adjusters down is because the reflectors can't properly handle the scattering glare. By pushing the aim down you still aren't properly controlling the light, you've just succeeded in pushing the glare ball lower towards the road. Having a bright ball of light in front of your bike might look impressive, but it's actually going to ruin your eyes ability to pick things out farther down the road.

My setup works just fine in my urban environment. I do not get any oncoming cars "Flashing" me to indicate that my headlight is irritating them. They are usually the ones irritating me with their headlights, halogen, HID, LED, lightbars, or etc.

I also have a set of LED Running Light installed on my bike that fill-in the where the headlight falls short. When I get to ride after dark on a dark road, my setup works perfectly fine. The driving lights do make a big difference. It's like driving in High Definition, I can see the pebbles on the road.

Another thing that the LED street lights in LA are so bright that you really do not need lights at night. I am not suggesting that anyone does this, but many people are doing it all the time when I am out at night.

I am not sure where you live. However, LA is a battle zone and being seen is key to your safety. Between Starbucks, cellphones, people shaving, applying makeup, open a beer, cutting into the carpool lane in front 10 feet away from you and etc... This certainly makes for a "Hair Raising" experience for those who are not used to this kind of chaos.

As the old saying goes. "Different Strokes for different folks."

 

[mikesim]

This certainly makes for a "Hair Raising" experience for those who are not used to this kind of chaos.

Yeah..... I remember hair!!……..
:LOL:

Mike

 

[trobinso]

HA! That's funny. Kinda like you remember when you had hormones?

 

[trobinso]

 

[NewTo700V]

I guess I'm eating my hat on this one. I finally revisited dropping LED bulbs in a motorcycle halogen housing since last trying this like 8 years ago. Those bulbs from Cycle Gear only lasted a few thousand miles before failing and glare was everywhere.

The bike I chose for this isn't the NT, but a Honda that takes H4 style bulbs (hi+low beam filaments in one bulb). A slight modification is needed to the LED mounting base, as the official Honda H4s use non-standard spacing for the bottom two alignment tabs. The solution is to just cut these tabs off on the LED alignment base.

I went with Sylvania's 9003 | H4 LED. Made in the USA, supposed 5 year warranty and available on the shelf at the local auto parts store. Holding the LED up side by side with a Sylvania H4 halogen, the LEDs are the same distance as the filaments from the base. The high beam LEDs even have a cup underneath on both sides. This replicates the shield you'll see in the halogen bulb.

I was very pleased with the results. I would say the beam is 95% of the way to perfectly replicating the halogen spread. There is a centralized hot spot where it should be and a very well defined cut off line. I didn't need to make any aim adjustments to the reflector. High beam on also sends the beam where I would expect see it from halogen bulbs.

These bulbs still use the little heat sink with built in fan like all the others I've seen over the years, so I do have some doubts about life expectancy, but as for the beam it's perfectly useable.