Headlight bulbs

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Yes. They're is a large grommet. But if you're fitting to another bike (other that the 1200 shown on the site) there are actually lots of large grommets out there. I didn't realise it could come with one so I spent a while looking. So I think finding something suitable would neither be expensive or difficult.

Ian is right, they're pricey from solzy. But it removes any fiddling. I was lazy this time!

But you can buy two of the same lamps from here for less. Found this after buying of course!

www.hq-automotive.co.uk

The really important details are:

a) 'copper plating tech' as they're calling it - this is the key to removing the fan.
b) the white plastic adapt ring that engages with the lamp holder socket. You need this to match your lamp socket type.
c) a less apparent detail is to make sure the LED emitter is in roughly the same position (reach into the housing once fitted) as the element of the regular lamp - easily measured using the socket flange as your datum.

The grommet is the 'fiddle' factor, but I'd expect this to be easily achieved.

All hell of a lot simpler than HID and personally I think the beam is great, I still have sufficient cut-off and very white light.



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cool ill check it out.
 
Here's a couple of shots from that site I listed above.

LED headlamps.JPGLED lamp fitting.JPG

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Things have moved on very fast. My 6 months old LED bulbs have a separate electronics box which looks like a ballast. They needed a patch lead to the OEM loom headlamp (three pin) connector. With luck the integrated LED bulbs will be able to use the OEM H7 bulb connectors. One issue was lack of space for the LED heat sink so bulbs would not allow the reflector to move properly. In my case trimming the heat sink (on a lathe) solved the issue, but the smaller fan cooled heat sinks would have been no problem.

The issue with grommets is the back of the lamp casing does not have a lip to take a dome type grommet. The headlamp is designed for a bayonet type cover cap only. A soft rubber grommet needed with an LED bulb is a suck it and see job for whatever bulb you choose.
 
For anyone looking to get HID’s then don’t bother! I bought a quality set from HID50 but after a years use I was getting constant LampF errors, I replaced the battery and installed a PDM60 to alleviate startup load but the problems persisted. I had the charging system tested and always left the bike on an optimate. Add that to the impending MoT changes where a ballast unit and a non HID headlight unit will result in a failure I’ve taken both mine off. Just don’t bother messing around, install some spot lights or get a LC with the awesome LED light. If anyone wants £120 worth of ‘quality’ HID bulbs & ballasts then DM me, free collection from centre of Bristol (temple meads).
 
Had my bike mot today and running HID's asked him about rules and he said nothing in the pipeline for bikes. He just makes sure beam is a little lower than halogen.
 
My mot tester was concerned only with the light’s potential for dazzle. Dip beam cutoff and scatter basically.
To be fair we have just one headlight whereas cars have two. So doubling the light from a bike (as HID or LED will do) is only the same as most cars have.
 
For anyone looking to get HID’s then don’t bother! I bought a quality set from HID50 but after a years use I was getting constant LampF errors, I replaced the battery and installed a PDM60 to alleviate startup load but the problems persisted. I had the charging system tested and always left the bike on an optimate. Add that to the impending MoT changes where a ballast unit and a non HID headlight unit will result in a failure I’ve taken both mine off. Just don’t bother messing around, install some spot lights or get a LC with the awesome LED light. If anyone wants £120 worth of ‘quality’ HID bulbs & ballasts then DM me, free collection from centre of Bristol (temple meads).

I'm sure les will be please with this post,
Anyway I've been running hids for about 9 years and had hardly any trouble in this time, 2 bikes and my 3 series BMW, I've just had to replacen2 ballasts, that's all and they were on the gsa spotlights.
 
I had Les's HIDs and liked them. But when a burner failed (as they all will eventually) the costs of LEDs made changing to the new tech a no-brainer. Things move on. I still have the HID50s on standby (subject to a new burner) so not given up entirely.
 
I had a 50watt kit of les's on my 1150 for around 6 years. worked perfick. i sold the bike and it was still working a treat.
 
I'm planning on changing my HIDs to LED. The main beam HID ballast has stopped so I've reverted back to a halogen. The 2 x LED H7 variants from HQ Automotive look interesting as they are relatively cheap. A couple of questions aimed at anyone (Slipperyeel?) who have fitted them.

1. With the bulk of the LED bulbs working being at the back how do you get your finger in to located the original bulb spring clip? Do you install the H7 adapter first then fit the LED bulb into the adapter? But what holds the bulb in?
2. Do the grommets shown on the HQ site fit in place of the BMW plastic rear headlamp covers?

Any information gratefully welcome. My bikes a 55 plate 2006 R1200GS.

Mark
 
I'm planning on changing my HIDs to LED. The main beam HID ballast has stopped so I've reverted back to a halogen. The 2 x LED H7 variants from HQ Automotive look interesting as they are relatively cheap. A couple of questions aimed at anyone (Slipperyeel?) who have fitted them.

1. With the bulk of the LED bulbs working being at the back how do you get your finger in to located the original bulb spring clip? Do you install the H7 adapter first then fit the LED bulb into the adapter? But what holds the bulb in?
2. Do the grommets shown on the HQ site fit in place of the BMW plastic rear headlamp covers?

Any information gratefully welcome. My bikes a 55 plate 2006 R1200GS.

Mark

I had an LED in mine and the bulb clipped into the adaptor so you could remove it if needed. However the previous owner had ham fisted it in upside down somehow so I had to take the headlamp unit out to change it when it failed!

Other than that issue it was plug and play and I’ve now got a warranty replacement bulb to fit at some point as the failed LED was only 9 months old.

I did get flashed a lot with the LED fitted and I don’t get that with the high grade halogens I have in at the moment.
 
I had an LED in mine and the bulb clipped into the adaptor so you could remove it if needed. However the previous owner had ham fisted it in upside down somehow so I had to take the headlamp unit out to change it when it failed!

Other than that issue it was plug and play and I’ve now got a warranty replacement bulb to fit at some point as the failed LED was only 9 months old.

I did get flashed a lot with the LED fitted and I don’t get that with the high grade halogens I have in at the moment.


Thanks for the info. I guessed that there must be a way of fitting the LED units that uses the H7 adapter fitted first and then the LED bulb goes in. Re getting flashed by other road user.. I think that with HID's or LEDs it's best to get the headlight set correctly... It's good to be seen but not good to dazzle the oncoming traffic. What LEDs did you use?

Mark
 
My LED bulbs had H7 fitting. They just dropped straight in. A much bigger issue was closing the headlamp case as the head sink sticks out of the back. You need a suitable soft grommet.
My headlight has a repaired height adjuster that won’t set the beam quite low enough. Fixed by packing the underside support peg/grommet to slightly increase the down angle. That also fixed the annoying headlight wobble.
Beam focus is excellent BTW.
 
Update:

Thought the following might be an interesting update.

On Friday I made a trip to roughly Ashford (couple hundred miles round trip). Glorious weather, clear skies. I'd guess 22° in the morning. Return trip was clear motorway all the way and a bit warmer, 24°.

In the last 15-20min heading home, back in london and moving traffic, but slower. I got home just in time to get a "Lamp F" warning. Sure enough, the dip beam was off.

My thought about it overheating was confirmed when i checked about 15min later when it was back on again.

So my thoughts are, there's no way this lamp is gonna be working in Italy in a few weeks!!!

Looks like a rethink is needed.



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I was worried about fitting a led as a dip beam so i fitted an HID.

The HID-50 dipped beam was good. The LED is slightly better focussed.
Both are hugely better than the OEM halogen.

The LED is slightly more blue so the HID is a little better at providing light the eye can use.

Cheap HIDs are often poorly focused.
Cheap LEDs? Who knows how long they will last.
 
Update:

Thought the following might be an interesting update.

On Friday I made a trip to roughly Ashford (couple hundred miles round trip). Glorious weather, clear skies. I'd guess 22° in the morning. Return trip was clear motorway all the way and a bit warmer, 24°.

In the last 15-20min heading home, back in london and moving traffic, but slower. I got home just in time to get a "Lamp F" warning. Sure enough, the dip beam was off.

My thought about it overheating was confirmed when i checked about 15min later when it was back on again.

So my thoughts are, there's no way this lamp is gonna be working in Italy in a few weeks!!!

Looks like a rethink is needed.

Any update on this? Did you get this sorted? I’m thinking of buying the Solzy H7 Kit for my TC and I’ve emailed them due to some website ordering issues but have yet to get a reply.
The HQ-Automotive options look very similar but are they Canbus-friendly?

Cheers,
G
 
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