[Aliens]

Have anyone tried to swap on H4 LED bulbs? eBay currently is full of those, mainly from CN. I'm concerned about two things, durability/quality since there is embedded vent and proper beam angle (especially low).

 

[2003_Sv650s]

Well both of those concerns are valid. I'd recommend staying away from the plug and play LED "bulbs". Either switch Halogen bulbs to "Philips Racing Vision H4" or if you're stuck on LED's then go with a quality LED unit like JW Speaker or Morimoto. The other option is to retrofit a set of projectors (HID or LED).

Durability/Quality:
There is a reason cars do not come with LED bulbs stock. They instead use a huge heat sink with projectors. I can't see those little fans (or worse the copper strips) helping much with heat dissipation. Let alone lasting for long. Right now everyone is trying to cash in on the LED craze and people are buying into it.. Pretty much everything on eBay is labeled "Cree" when most people don't know what in the world "Cree" is.. Also I would be willilng to bet that 99% of their lumen/lux (Lux is real world application) are lies.

Beam angle/Pattern:
Nope. I haven't seen a single LED "Bulb" that produces a decent beam pattern with a nice hotspot. The LED's can't emit 360 degrees of light like the halogen can. Also the LED chips are not always in the correct spot to mimic the H4 bulb.


So I'm sure someone will jump in with pictures claiming how great their's works but I'd like to see wall shots from 100ft. The issue with LED as well as HID plug and play bulbs is they scatter light instead of focusing it (The reflectors were designed for H4). The scattering creates a ton of foreground light which is the light directly in front of the headlight. While that may seem like the lights are better it actually greatly reduces your distance vision.


Here's the post I usually make on Jeep Forums about lights:

I would hate for you to spend the $$ on a set of LED bulbs that aren't going to do much for you then go right back to halogens. I'm also more than willing to answer any questions you may have related to what is below.

When it comes to bulbs you should stick with what the projector or reflector was designed for. If you think about it, there is a reason why car manufacturers / headlight manufacturers don't use these LED "bulbs". It's because they don't really work all that great.

Hxx = Halogen (ex. Hb4, H4, H1, H7, etc.)
D#x = HID (D1s, D2s, D2r, D5s, etc.)
No designation for LED Bulbs because they shouldn't be used.

I did an actual retrofit with OEM LED projectors. Here's some photos to show what OEM LED looks like. Notice the HUGE Heatsink and no use of a bulb. OEM LED also doesn't use flimsy copper strings and only 1 type uses a fan. In the second photo I removed the lens to show the LED chip.

OEM LED Output (~60ft-75ft):

Tuned LED Output (My final result ~100ft-120ft):

If after reading all the stuff above you decide to still go with LED "bulbs" then good luck! Hopefully you get a useful beam pattern that doesn't glare the oncoming traffic.

 

[RecoilRob]

Any time anyone mentions headlamps and wanting an upgrade...we always recommend adding a relay kit to supply full voltage to the lamps. The stock wiring drops over a full Volt so running relays will noticeably brighten even stock bulbs. This is even more important if you even think about running higher output bulbs...you've got to feed them.

 

[SV_Hokie]

Well both of those concerns are valid. I'd recommend staying away from the plug and play LED "bulbs". Either switch Halogen bulbs to "Philips Racing Vision H4" or if you're stuck on LED's then go with a quality LED unit like JW Speaker or Morimoto. The other option is to retrofit a set of projectors (HID or LED).

Durability/Quality:
There is a reason cars do not come with LED bulbs stock. They instead use a huge heat sink with projectors. I can't see those little fans (or worse the copper strips) helping much with heat dissipation. Let alone lasting for long. Right now everyone is trying to cash in on the LED craze and people are buying into it.. Pretty much everything on eBay is labeled "Cree" when most people don't know what in the world "Cree" is.. Also I would be willilng to bet that 99% of their lumen/lux (Lux is real world application) are lies.

Beam angle/Pattern:
Nope. I haven't seen a single LED "Bulb" that produces a decent beam pattern with a nice hotspot. The LED's can't emit 360 degrees of light like the halogen can. Also the LED chips are not always in the correct spot to mimic the H4 bulb.


So I'm sure someone will jump in with pictures claiming how great their's works but I'd like to see wall shots from 100ft. The issue with LED as well as HID plug and play bulbs is they scatter light instead of focusing it (The reflectors were designed for H4). The scattering creates a ton of foreground light which is the light directly in front of the headlight. While that may seem like the lights are better it actually greatly reduces your distance vision.

Agreed, I wouldn't recommend LED PnP bulbs. You'll also blind oncoming traffic which is dangerous. I plan on doing a proper HID retrofit into my bike. Being able to see a good distance is important when riding so having a LED bulb with a ton of foreground lighting will diminish your ability to see further ahead as your eyes will be focused on the foreground light.

Funny enough, my dad works at Cree and always laughs at how so many LED products on the market are labeled as having Cree LEDs when they clearly do not.

 

[Aliens]

Ok, I see. That was what I suspected.

My idea behind this all was to improve power saving, fuel consumption and daylight visibility (I mean me vs car drivers) since I'm driving mostly during the day. Bulbs draws constantly 110W power, with LEDs I could halve it.

I've switched to LEDs on my car with partial success. One thing is sure, LEDs beam is scattered. This makes them useless straight away. I've tried to swap for fog lamps and no matter how powerful you cram in it makes just things worse, especially in fog, also because LEDs are too white. On another hand to use those as daylight lamps were very effective.

So I thought to do something similar on my SV, but the problem is that SV does not have separate daylight lamps as my car does. I've seen some are adding led strips, but it looks cheap and emitted light is poor.

Apparently tech is not ready yet, but I will keep an eye on it

 

[HenryCost]

Guys, save me. Has anyone already installed H4 LED bulbs? I have just now such a challenge, I do not want to necroposting engage in but really need some sound advice .

 

[RioMigdal]

Dude, I really don't see the point of replacing the bulbs. If you care so much about them, just put them on and that's it...

 

[Geo Smith]

necroposting

Funny word.

 

[circabob]

I replaced mine with an off the shelf LED conversion kit from Cycle Gear. Fortunately I can bicycle to the store. It was a plug and play install with plenty of + comments from other biker friends. It was more expensive than from an auto store, but they work perfectly! Revzilla also has the kits.

 

[shredG]

FWIW,... I replaced the yellowing OEM H4 halogen bulbs with a $35 Ebay H4 LED set ( w/out realizing I already had 2 sets of similar LED bulbs br new in a box for a car I sold 2 y ago)

But its been 4 mo now and damn if these things aren't bright as all hell like proper 5k white, and so far working awesome...
they have the tiny fans in them to keep them cool, I can just barely hear them start when I flip the key on, in a quiet area. I'm almost sold, if these things last a full year + I'll be Impressed .