Sorry that I haven't earned your trust. I'll try harder

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 04/20/17 at 10:37:46:


My uncle put 2 on his Impala back in '64!  

Well I had a go at it tonight....eventually I got something I can live with.

First - I tried 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.  I poured in enough to cover the glass, I put in a rubber stopper to seal it off, then I swished and shook.  I dumped the alcohol out, then used my air compressor to blow things out and dry it thoroughly.  It looked pretty good at the first glance - when I put the bulb back in and got the bulb running - I could see some white streaks.

Second - I tried one of my wife's cotton face scrub pads (don't tell her), and I wet it with the alcohol and used a wood stick to rub the pad around on the lens to see if I could get the streaks off.  Even though the test of the pad showed it to be lint free on the outside of the glass - it left some lint behind and it showed on the glass when the bulb was put in and lighted up.  There was also some trace of haziness in the corners of the flutes in the glass.

Third - I put in some alcohol, and used a new 1" paint brush to move the alcohol around on the glass.  Then a dumped out the alcohol and used a lint free gauze rag to try and dry the inside of the lens.  When I put the bulb in there were still some streaks on the glass and the reflector.

Fourth - I used Bike Bright cleaner.  I put in enough to cover the glass, used the 1" bristle paint brush to scrub the backside of the glass, then dumped in a lot of distilled water to dilute the Bike Bright, then dumped it out and rinsed and sloshed with distilled water until I could not see any more bubbles.  Then I inserted a micro-fiber towel and moved it around inside the light housing until things were dry - then I used an old hand held hair dryer to be sure the inside was dry.  I put the light in - and the darn thing looked pretty good!  I waited for the roads to dry as we had a brief rain shower, and when I went to go for a test ride I saw the light was fogged up inside.  I went for a ride and most of the moisture inside the glass had gone away.  When I got home I took the light out and brought it inside the house - I will leave it in my car tomorrow (solar oven) to make sure it is dried out completely.  Next time I will clean the glass in the morning so I can let the light sit in my car all day.

I will do a Technical Article and post it with the results I had.....maybe I can save somebody the first three steps.  

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 04/20/17 at 19:12:11:


I am not going to pour carb/fuel injector cleaner into my headlight!

https://www.berrymanproducts.com/products/gasoline/b-12-chemtool-carburetor-f...

I will tell you what I am thinking about doing.  The headlight fogged up in about 100 miles of riding - which most likely was no more than 4 hours of riding time (curvy back roads).

I am thinking that I should put the LED back in the light housing, hook it up to a battery and charger......and let it run for a full day and see if the headlight is all smoky again.  (The light was already dirty once.....so I likely can get it clean again).

It would be nice to know for sure if the self contained LED was the cause of the smoky film inside the light.

Unforeseeable unknowns,, bummer.

This is what the headlight looked last week - after I had ridden the Ninja Cafe' about 200 miles.  It had started out as a brand new headlight, and it was clear when I put the LED bulb in.


I was able to get the lens clear.  I put a few oz. of Bike Bright cleaner in the light and swished it around.  I then used a 1" bristle brush to scrub the lens through the small hole where the bulb inserts.  I then put a rubber stopper in the hole, and shook the light.  I then added distilled water, put the stopper back in and shook some more.  I then dumped out the soap, and I kept rinsing with distilled water until no bubbles could be seen.  On the last rinse I filled up the lens with distilled water, and started with the lens facing down - and I slowly tipped the light so that the sheet flow of water off the lens and reflector left no drops of water behind....this took about 4 minutes of careful tipping.  When that was done I set the light in the sun to dry.  I figured I was done - however when I put a bulb in and turned on the light - I could see a small haze and horizontal lines where the water level was as I was carefully dumping the water out.  I then pushed a micro-fiber towel through the hole and used a wooden dowel to push the rag around....and the lens was finally clean, and I reinstalled the LED unit.


I then hooked the light up to a battery and charger....and let it run for the rest of the day.  The smokey haze started to be noticeable in about 1.5 hours, and In continued the test for about 11 hours.  I would switch the power to the high and low wires throughout the day so that both LED's would be in operation.




I put the LED in the clean reflector, and connected it to a battery.  In about an hour I could see that the smokey film was starting to develop on the inside of the glass.  By 4 hours it was really noticeable, and I stopped the test at 11 hours....and it is really fogged up.  I switched the wire of the high/low beam every hour so that I cycled between them during the test.

I cleaned up the light again yesterday, and then I installed an Silverstar Ulta Halogen bulb.

I will contact the seller and see what they will do - hopefully they will let me send it back and get credit on a different type of LED....one without a fan inside the headlight!