Dave wrote on 11/04/16 at 03:19:49:


Definitely something I will need to consider.  I use the Sena SMH5-FM on my helmet and I will listen to the radio when in slow moving traffic.  One station I tune to is in the low 90's.  But with the upcoming time change I'll be commuting in the dark both directions so I may need to weigh better light against FM signal loss  

I got the new LED this afternoon.....and unfortunately it has a bit of a flaw in it.  One of the LED panels has some form of "smut" embedded into the grid.  It is centered in one of the 9 squares, and it takes up the majority of the grid.  I emailed them to see what they want to do about this defect.



The light has some interesting concepts.  The large end of the bulb is a fan, and it will be inside the light.  The result will be that the fan moves air over the "bulb", and heats up the air inside the light housing....so the entire light housing will be dissipating the heat.

The LED emitters are only on the top of the unit.  Most other units have them on the sides, with the low beam having a shield to prevent the light from going out the bottom.  Normally the bulb shines upward in the reflector for the low beam, and over the entire refelector for the high beam.  (The light shining on the upper part of the reflector is what shines downward).  In the arrangement of this bulb where light can only shine upward in the reflector - I am not sure how the high beam functions....as no light can shine out the bottom of the bulb (which is normally the part of the bulb that is the high beam).

Also.....it appears the bulb is 25W x 2 (as you can see is stamped in the aluminum), and I am not sure if only one panel lights for the low beam and one for the high beam, or if they both light up for the high beam and make 50 watts total.  (I really don't care either way....as long as the light output is significantly brighter than stock).

I don't think the low beam light on the Ninja is very good - the high beam seems to be much better.  And it doesn't help that the windshield directs all the bugs up onto my helmet face shield.

Here is the bottom of the light showing the ribbed aluminum heat sink....the fan blows air over these fins.



And here is where the small motor and fan is located:

Well I did plug it in, and even put it in a headlight housing to see what the light pattern look like - unfortunately the stock Savage bike I have is just a frame at the moment, and I couldn't take it for a spin.

I put my welding helmet on so I could look at the bulb when lit, as it is so bright you can't even begin to see the lighted panels.  Only one of the panels lights at a time - so the light uses 25 Watts for either beam.  When installed in the small Savage housing, the guard on the front of the light comes really close to the back of the glass lens, and it appears that there is only about 1/8" of clearance.  The light panels on the top make it so that the light only shines out the top of the reflector, and there is a sharp vertical cut off for both the low and high beams - the difference is that the LED panel locations result in the high beam light shining farther upward than the low beam.  The light beam for either high and low makes a pattern on the wall that is very narrow vertically - but very wide horizontally.....it should light up the edges of the road very well.

I took the headlight housing outside and tried it with both the stock and the LED bulb.  The LED is far whiter, and brighter, and I could see the wires on the distant power lines and the towers far more clearly with the LED.

The one concern I have with an LED....is the reliability.  The LED is supposed to last a very long time - but I just don't know about those tiny fan motors that provide cooling.  Where they really made to survive the kind of environment that they are being exposed to?  The fans on the back of the light will have to survive rain, cold, heat and dirt.  The fan on the inside of the bulb may have to survive through heat of operation, and the cold of winter (for those who ride all year).  I would recommend that until we figure out how reliable these are.....you should pack a standard headlight bulb in your tool kit!

I have a meeting and I won't be able to put the LED in the Cafe' bike tonight - but the weather the rest of the week looks good and I will be able to give it a try.  

The stock halogen bulb gets the glass pretty hot as is.
Don't think the LED any near as hot.
the bezel allows plenty of air thru it to keep the housing cool enough.
whether it keeps the back end of the bulb cool is another question.

If it blows air in at the base... where does it exit?

Might need to drill some small holes around the perimeter.

Tocsik wrote on 11/08/16 at 07:06:43:


The lens is glass....so there is no issue with it melting.

The only potential issue I see, is that maybe the fan airflow will be restricted a bit by the glass being so close.  The light has a 1 year warranty against defects....so keep your receipt.

It appears that more and more of the LED light bulbs are losing the little computer fans, and going with braided copper strips to carry the heat away.  I like that idea, as I just don't know how reliable and durable the fan motors are.

The next few days are scheduled to be dry around here - so I should be able to get the bulb in the Cafe' bike and give it a try (we certainly have enough darkness around here this time of year).

For the bulb I got with the brown spot on it, I got an email from ADVmonster, and they are sending a replacement unit and a return envelope.  They apologized for missing the defect.  Cool!

If they work out, I'll be having one of those..