LED headlight

Technical stuff specific to the V and Xtra raptors
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shedmonkey
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LED headlight

Post by shedmonkey »

Hi folks
Anyone recommend an led conversion for the headlight on a V ?
Which type did you go for (external heat sink?) and is it any good?
Thanks
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V4mp
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Re: LED headlight

Post by V4mp »

I bought mine from here http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/
Headlight rubber seal needed some cutting, except that its straight plug and play.
Its really bright, I haven't ride in the dark, but I don't think its worse than original.
Don't ride faster than your angels can fly !
nickst4
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Re: LED headlight

Post by nickst4 »

The Cyclops ones are the best I've seen, but way more expensive than ones that do a decent job and still produce that eye-catching white light. You can buy in braid-heat-sink units from China for £12 a pair, whereas Cyclops fan-cooled ones sell in the US for $64 each and I don't know of a UK outlet so have to have supplies carried over in hand luggage!

First of all, identify the type of bulb needed, eg H1, H3, H7 or H9 and go looking on ebay for the different brands. Avoid those that just look like drag-race Christmas tree starting lights without any means to cool them, because the power will be very low, whatever the seller claims! :nod:

LED rules, OK.

Nick
shedmonkey
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Re: LED headlight

Post by shedmonkey »

Ok thanks nickst and v4 will check those out.
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Re: LED headlight

Post by nickst4 »

While we're on the subject of headlamp bulbs for V-Raptors: does the dip beam unit stay lit when you put the high beam on? If it's like other Cagiva and Ducati twin-optic bikes, the answer may be no.

It's quite a simple matter to introduce a diode link in the 'bar switch to do this, so that the foreground stays lit well when you go to high beam. Here's a pic of the diode in position on my Ducati ST3. You can afford to do this with LEDs because their power consumption is lower than that of halogen bulbs. I'm not suggesting that you do this for daytime-running cos you'll have all the other road users, me included, cursing you for blinding them!

The Raptor just has a single H4, of course, and LEDs are generally rigged so that both beams are combined for 'high'.

Nick
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nickst4
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Re: LED headlight

Post by nickst4 »

I wrote the note above about switching beams while under the impression V-Raptors had two headlight units within the cowl. Very diplomatically, no-one told me I was a twit, being as how I now see that they have one bulb, presumably an H4. :oops:

Nick
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