KymcoForum.com
Scooters - 125 to 300 => Downtown 300 => Topic started by: kneeslider on September 23, 2016, 04:18:39 AM
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Hello,
I would like to convert my headlights from halogen to LED bulbs.
In the market now, they have those ones with the ballast built in with fans and heat sinks at the botton portion of the bulb.
I am not sure how it is behind the headlight housing. Is there a cover or rubber cover? If there is, is there anyway to not have it or else the larger 'bum' of the LED's will not fit.
Thanks.
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My concern primarily would be the electrical. Originally the bulbs are only 35w each, some of those kits are in the 80w or more range and insanely bright. I saw one kit, link below, that is a 40w bulb that might be ok with stock wiring. Of course there is always the DOT light approval issues, tickets just waiting to happen.
https://www.amazon.com/Street-Headlight-Conversion-Daylight-Rainproof/dp/B01EPJUWHW/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1474616204&sr=8-14&keywords=h7+led+headlight+bulb (https://www.amazon.com/Street-Headlight-Conversion-Daylight-Rainproof/dp/B01EPJUWHW/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1474616204&sr=8-14&keywords=h7+led+headlight+bulb)
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I fitted one of those to my 500 and it had a rubber grommet on the original, which I could not use on the led bulb due to it's huge bulbous end(the fan part), so I used some foam rubber sheeting, wound it into a tight circle to be the same the diametre as the original grommet.
That covered the end of the globe.
I then stuffed the excess cabling and original fitting in there too, and sealed it up with some refrigerant pipe sealer tape (really sticky and stretchy)
Obviously a real mcguyver story, but since it is out of sight, it is out of my mind, as more immediate important things take precedence.....
It has been on for 6 months now , with zero issues.
Sent from my Samsung Note 3 with Tapatalk
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LED bulbs have a large heatsink built into the base, sometimes with a cooling fan. There is a large rubber cup which seals the back of the headlight bulb socket, I'm not sure it's a good idea to prevent circulation of air around the heatsink.
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Actually the one I linked too states water proof so that cup may not be necessary other than to keep water buildup from the lens assembly.
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I'll be getting those rated 35w or below so I do not overload the electrics.
My concerns are:
1) water proofness of the projector enclosure
2) space constraints behind the LED bulb as the rear end is now bigger, is there room for the fan to work?
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OMG.
How do you fit your hands behind the headlights to reach the darn bulb???!!!
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You have to pull the front Tupperware. Not a fun job.
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Tupperware?
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Sorry, terminology used around these parts for the plastic cowling etc..
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I managed to squeeze in the led bulbs but I an not convinced they are 'locked' in.
I still can't find the notch in which the 3 tabs sit in, maybe because the tabs on my led bulbs are plastic and slightly thicker.
But anyways, here are the 2 pics before and after.
The led bulbs seem to have a dark spot right in front of the bike but has much better light spread.
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Is there aa link to the specific bulbs you used? also did you replace both high and low beams?
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I used these:
https://www.nighteyeled.com/ (https://www.nighteyeled.com/)
They are H11 but are the same as H8.
I only replaced my low beams which in my region are the projector headlights.
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id be interested to know how you got the headlights out. i have not yet investigated this.
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I didn't remove the headlights. I did however:
1) removed the rubber covers at the rear of each headlight unit
2) removed subsequent bulb
3) took loads of time trying to get the led bulbs back in
4) tucked the rubber covers and extra wires back into any secure crevice that I could find
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I managed to squeeze in the led bulbs but I an not convinced they are 'locked' in.
I still can't find the notch in which the 3 tabs sit in, maybe because the tabs on my led bulbs are plastic and slightly thicker.
But anyways, here are the 2 pics before and after.
The led bulbs seem to have a dark spot right in front of the bike but has much better light spread.
Have you tried adjusting the headlight aim? There's horizontal and vertical adjustments behind the headlight assembly. You need to remove the entire front end to get to it though. It's really no big deal, takes maybe 20 minutes to do. I'm using the Cyclops adventure sports led bulbs, I use them on all my bikes. Don't buy the chinese knock off's, get the original/best! I have them on both the low beam/high beam, big improvement over stock. Where I live the projector is the high beam and the reflector lens is the low beam. Here's what the low beam look like. I'll try to get some pics of the high beam projector, and both of them on at the same time. It really lights up everything in front of you. My only complain is that the high beam no longer has a hot spot for seeing at long distances, it's now a very crisp flood light.
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/kevinheaven/20160815_002131_zpsmoichk7l.jpg) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/kevinheaven/media/20160815_002131_zpsmoichk7l.jpg.html)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/kevinheaven/20160815_002100_zpsbxlz2ckm.jpg) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/kevinheaven/media/20160815_002100_zpsbxlz2ckm.jpg.html)
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That looks good. Yes I have adjusted them vertically, but I am unaware there were adjustable horizontally.
Btw, how did you disassemble the front end?
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You have to remove the windshield and the plastic trim underneath it along with some screws and nuts. Check out this thread http://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=10361.0 (http://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=10361.0)
The pictures show which ones you need to remove, make sure you remove the correct ones as shown, once you do that it takes a little bit of tugging to pull the front end off since they're locked into tabs. Actually I think you're right, there may only be vertical adjustment for the low/high beams. Here's a pic of the headlight assembly from the back. The silver piece with the phillips indent is the piece you rotate to adjust, each low beam and high beam has one next to the corresponding one it adjusts. And to answer your question in your original post, there is a rubber cover behind the headlight bulb which i'm sure you know of by now, I'm able to stuff the ballast and everything inside and pop the rubber cover back on with the cyclops adventure bulbs, not sure how large the other ones on the market are.
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/kevinheaven/20160811_185509_zps6ehb1wqj.jpg) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/kevinheaven/media/20160811_185509_zps6ehb1wqj.jpg.html)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/kevinheaven/20160811_185529_zpsbxj6djm4.jpg) (http://s3.photobucket.com/user/kevinheaven/media/20160811_185529_zpsbxj6djm4.jpg.html)
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For me my LEDs have the newer ballasts which is incorporated into the butt of the unit. I also left the rubber cover off for the fan to draw cool air to the unit.
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For me my LEDs have the newer ballasts which is incorporated into the butt of the unit. I also left the rubber cover off for the fan to draw cool air to the unit.
I did the same as you ,. de dee
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De dee, have you noticed with those rubber covers off, after riding thru a monsoon, the headlights fog up on the inside.
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I am in Canada we don't get monsoons,. unless you live on the coast, east and west,. so no fog here ,. but we have 40 below O,. Cel. or F. same temp. coldest we have so far 27 below C.., this month will be our coldest time of the year,. coldest I have seen is 60 below O F. or -54 C.,
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free bump to this thread. im looking to upgrade both low & high beams
happen to know if the high beam is the same as the low beam? h8 socket?
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Yes, they are all H8s.
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Have the xenon in the low beams for years, brighter than stock.
On a whim, I ordered 2 LED (Sirius LED H8 Size DRL Fog lite, projection bulb) to replace the useless high beams. Well, the body of the LED bulb is too fat for the black mounting bracket.
Would have to cut/drill the black mounting bracket, have not decided if I want to go that route or not.
Duh ,,, on me.
The bulb I got was for a projection fog lite. It already has the lens encapsulated for a projector. This made it too large for the black mounting bracket.
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can anybody recommend a low beam led, that lock like halogen?
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HID's definately have a larger base on the bulb, that would explain why it won't fit. Go with the current spec LEDs bulbs instead.
Have the xenon in the low beams for years, brighter than stock.
On a whim, I ordered 2 LED (Sirius LED H8 Size DRL Fog lite, projection bulb) to replace the useless high beams. Well, the body of the LED bulb is too fat for the black mounting bracket.
Would have to cut/drill the black mounting bracket, have not decided if I want to go that route or not.
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I am assuming when you want a halogen look, you want the colour temperature of the LED to be 3200K?
For LEDs I do not think they come in that colour range, in between yes (above and below), but not there.
can anybody recommend a low beam led, that lock like halogen?
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I gave up on H 8 LED,S TRYING TO GET BETTER LIGHTING , I went to a cray spot light LED ,and attached it to the side of the scooter and got much better light spred , for high-way speed, the Hal. light emits light 360 degrees to reflect light the LED.S ARE MOSTLY 2 SIDED and do not give that much better light , hopefully some one will design a better light reflector for LED bulbs
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Is there a wattage problem with these LED lamps? Lokk a little high.
I forgot about this thread. Looked at this light claim and it is questionable like all LED headlamp products. Lumens and watts do not concur and no current values given to confirm. Mostly poor syntax skills describing how great the product is.
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Surely you do not have to remove any panels to adjust the headlight beam?!
Turn bars to the side....with flashlight look up in front area behind the lights for the adjustment apparatus (a wheel?) - yes?
Use a screwdriver or small box wrench?
Stig
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On a DT300i it is a Phillips #2 and not much room. I have pictures that I will post in my LED topic soon.
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You'll need those short stubby screwdrivers.
Surely you do not have to remove any panels to adjust the headlight beam?!
Turn bars to the side....with flashlight look up in front area behind the lights for the adjustment apparatus (a wheel?) - yes?
Use a screwdriver or small box wrench?
Stig