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LED Headlights

53K views 96 replies 18 participants last post by  Daphnethewonderbike 
#1 ·
Anyone have any opinions or suggestions on LED headlights? I have a 2002 Vulcan 1500 classic. Want to try to fit an LED headlight in for more light. Don't really want HID, because I don't want to do any extra wiring.
 
#2 ·
A buddy of mine switched all of the lights on his Harley Ultra Classic to LED - lights him up nicely, and lights up the road nicely - plus cut his electrical consumption in half . . . Of course it cost him around $2K to do the whole bike . . .
 
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#3 ·
i switched out all my bulbs on my mean streak to LED's
cost like $50

$2,000 for leds wtf?!?


as for led headlights you dont want to do that, they wont light up the road for crap. they will look good during the day but thats about it

you want HID's in the headlights.

i have HIDs on my bike and on my car. as for "extra wiring" its easy as hell

plug bulb socket into ballast, ballast to hid bulb. done

order the slim hid so it will fit in your headlight. its what i did
 
#4 ·
i switched out all my bulbs on my mean streak to LED's
cost like $50

$2,000 for leds wtf?!?


as for led headlights you dont want to do that, they wont light up the road for crap. they will look good during the day but thats about it
He did a lot more than just swap out bulbs - He replaced ALL lights with LED light assemblys - All DOT approved lighting - I have ridden in the dark with him The headlights and spots light things up very nicely - This link is for the Harley Head/lights & spots (Add $100 to each for the Harley name), but Kury makes them that I am looking at for my Voyager head and spot lights . . .

http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/...4302514675&bmUID=1325201720559&bmLocale=en_US
 
#5 ·
doing a hid kit is totally different then getting a full led headlight. i believe the 2k spent on parts and labor. leds last longer and also give off more light than hids. run on extremely low power.

but the best thing a normal person can do is upgrade their stock bulb to something with more wattage or get a xenon. the next step after that is to get hids. then the real deal is leds
 
#7 ·
His is stamped Harley Davidson & looks like the one I linked . . . I'll check it out - He also changed out all the running/turn lamps, tail & brake lamps and all the lights on the tour pak . . .
 
#8 · (Edited)
Sounds like he has the JW/Speaker LED headlamp made for Harley's, if you buy the LED from Kuryakyn, it will be the Truck-Lite and you have a choice between the Phase 6 or 7, have a look at these links.

http://www.lrsanitary.com/0/leds.pdf

http://www.lrsanitary.com/0/leds_update.pdf

Phase 6 below: 10 LED Arrays
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...10001&storeId=10001&productId=64057&langId=-1

Phase 7 below: 2 LED Arrays
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...01&productId=92025&langId=-1&catentryId=92026
 
#10 ·
Well, I replaced my driving lights with the Sun Spot Motorcycle Driving Light. They are not cheap, but a very easy and VERY bright replacement. Then I ordered the Trucklight/Kuryakyn Phase 6 LED Headlight.

The issue with the headlight is you need some type of adapter to change the headlight on a 2002 Vulcan 1500 Classic. I ordered the Adjure Adapter ring. It is supposed to be universal with Vulcan. Ran into a little issue with it, but I think I have a solution. Then I will pop it in and know for sure if better or not.

I do have to say the replacement Sun Spot LED driving lights are super bright. I have used them at night, last week, and they really lit up the road. Especially road signs. They were nice and bright. Very easy to install, but not cheap.
 
#13 ·
forget LED headlights, they don't put out enough lumens to be of any use at night, daytime visibility by on-coming traffic is ok but night time is bad, just use H4 bulbs
 
#16 ·
#22 ·
here is the headlight link on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KNDWQ96/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Here is the link for the passing lights
The first link is for the chrome ones and the second link is for the black ones(I am thinking of changing them to match the headlight)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B3774LG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FD6B0V8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the link on ebay for the adjure headlight ring for metric bikes

Adjure T70RGA Metric Headlight Ring Adapter | eBay


The install went fairly easy but the only glitch was the mount for the headlight adjustment on one side, There is no mount for it on the light, I looked it over and used nylon zip ties to secure the adjuster to the light, worked out perfect just took a few minutes to figure out the zip tie setup. Overall the entire process took about 1 hour from start to finish.
 
#23 ·
That's great, I appreciate your help. I really like how it looks and very well may end up going with this option. So the only hang up was an issue with the headlight adjustment on the adapter ring which was solved by a zip tie? What about the wiring? I assume it's probably not a plug and play option with the factory headlight wiring.
 
#33 ·
Yup that is what my 02 1500 classic looks like.

Mark or measure your 2 adjusters for depth before you remove them. it helps when putting it all back together to be really close.
Go here and you can see and read the install instructions, really easy to do
http://ep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/yhst-38432223971026/UniversaIHLA.pdf

It does work out real well, Then I purchased a road king light bar and cut down the side rails and installed the LED driving lights and visors, ran it to a relay and separate switch and all is great.
I will keep an eye out on the thread to follow along and advise if I can.
 
#39 ·
so, the only problem I had was that there was no piece of metal for the second spring adjuster to go into. So, it's just sorta "loose". I use quotation marks for that because the for screws that hold the adapter ring to the adjuster bracket hold it in pretty tight. The beam looks pretty good, but I may have to adjust it - first night ride will be tonight.

Thanks a lot for your help, Steve
 
#40 · (Edited)
I used a few nylon ties around the adjusting screw to the bracket and pulled it tight, It holds solid and I can adjust it if needed.
I pulled mine out and took a few pics of how I did it.

look close and you will see the nylon ties, if you can blow it up you will see some writing in red.
[URL=http://s411.photobucket.com/user/sforge/media/DSCN1580_1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp199/sforge/DSCN1580_1.jpg[/URL]



Hope this helps
 
#41 ·
I used a few nylon ties around the adjusting screw to the bracket and pulled it tight, It holds solid and I can adjust it if needed.
I cannot promise but if I get chance to pull mine out tomorrow sometime I will take a few pics and post them so you can see what I am talking about.
Yeah a picture would help. I tried using a zip tie to the nears piece of metal, but it was actually the hole that is used to screw in the whole assembly to the bike...

The only thing I'm noticing is that it's shaking quite a bit at idle - is that normal? Or will attaching the other adjuster spring going to remedy that? Going on my first night ride tonight, will take pictures and report back.
 
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