Topic: H4 LED bulb fitment, bucket deep enough or modify?

[Dunk]

Anyone using a quality H4 LED replacement such as Osram 64193DWNB? How it fitment with the added depth for cooling fins and fan? What reflector are you using (I'm using Cibie).
https://www.osram.us/ecat/NIGHT%20BREAKER%20H4-LED-LED%20high%20and%20low%20beam%20lamps%20(street%20legal)-Motorcycle%20lighting-Automotive/com/en/GPS01_4023346/

My Philips 55/60 H4 burned out and all I had on hand is a 35/35 so swapped that in for now, but it got me thinking about lower current draw. I'm sure the generic 35/35 bulb I installed will be underwhelming but the reduced current draw will probably be nice given marginal charging system output.

I am skeptical about performance of LED headlights in general, but I see that Osram is the first (only?) to be legal in Europe, where they generally care about quality lighting unlike DOT that madndates at least 20% of light output be up into the trees and blinding oncoming motorists. I figure it might be worth a shot since I no longer have any spare H4 bulbs on hand, and the current draw is 23/27. My concern is depth of the bulb in an already busy headlight bucket and also if enclosed and tightly packed with wires it may overheat and fail, probably not now in freezing temps but in summer 100*+ it may not do well. Maybe a hole in center rear of the bucket and route wires around it?

[Deltarider]

Last test I've read was in 2024. Best was the Osram Nightbreaker Led Pro but in my estimation it won't fit in our buckets. I am a bit conservative in these matters: I am not interested in products that may offer one advantage, but will bring disadvantages too. My old 60/55W Philips Vision Plus refuses to die and I have a dito X-treme vision as spare. Both are plug and play. Luckily my model came with an H4 lens, so no extra costs. Led may require a special lens, I don't know.
Then and above all... I don't have a problem. Halogen over a conventional 40/45W bulb is already a major improvement, a flood of light which is plenty. Then the lifetime. In over 80.000 kms I had to renew the H4 only once. That's 35 years ago. Best halogen H4 bulb will cost you $ 15,- max., the Osram Led bulb will set you back $ 79,-. I'm sorry... with a halogen success is guaranteed, with a $ 79,- Osram it is not. It's a guess, because Osram doesn't know what bucket, reflector and lens I have.
Replacing the complete headlamp by a complete Led unit is no option for me: I find the latter ugly. My motor has a face and it looks at me. A LED unit, would make it look like it was punched in the face.
Since so many in this forum complain about an insufficient charging system - a problem not known in Europe - I have posted several adaptations one can make.
Realise that for safe daytime riding you don't need bright headlights. Moderate yellow ones, like that train had, I travelled on yesterday, are better noticed.
In Holland we ride pedal bikes a lot and practically all of us have led lights nowadays. Why is it that the essential connections are so vulnerable to aging and vibrations? So many times I had prematurely concluded that the batteries were done, only to find out the lamp needed to be tapped a bit, to bring the light back on again. I hope LED headlights are not like that.

[fire113]

I use osram night breaker led for my cars but it's only legal hete in Germany if Your car is listed in combination with the correct head light number. Ther is s list on the osram led hompage.
Some motor bikes are listed too but not the CB750 K0-K6 :/ but You can buy the regular H4 night breaker.
It's not so bright as the led version but still better then the rest that I saw at the market and will fit 100% into the lamp housing.

Edit On->

I just checked the osram led page and there is a new product that will fit because it's looking like regular H4 socket without a fan.

NIGHT BREAKER ® LED SPEED 450 (SP 450)

<-Edit Off

Have a good one...Georg

[MauiK3]

I changed the bulbs in all my vehicles from Halogen to LED, so far they work great and have been holding up. For the K3 750 I have not done this. I have the little Euro light in my SEV Marchal headlight and I don't ride at night.

[piefairy]

I run LED's in my Ram, and they work great. I have an LED conversion bulb and lens with integrated blinkers on my 750, not so great. I have to ride with the high beams on if its dark out. I don't ride at night, so its not so much an issue, but I would not recommend the kit I have at least. It was a great sounding idea, but not good in reality.

[Dunk]

Not sure what's different about European bike electrical system, but I'd like to be able to use my heated gloves. Today was below freezing and dark both ways, almost 4 hours riding. I had to intentionally catch a couple red lights along the way to warm my hands, fingers crossing between pain and numb so was getting sketchy. It was worse in the morning I took the highway half the ride and could only warm my left hand. I dislike the struggle with heated gloves not being as insulated and only giving off appreciable heat at middle RPM so tend to stick with Held thick winter gloves.

35w headlight bulb sucks, but it's a generic cheapy. Not much light and I don't think visibility matters, had to dodge someone crossing double yellow to make a left turn, amusingly they say me eventually and reacted suddenly with screeching tires. Philips and Osram standard H4 bulbs give great light out of the Cibie reflector, but if I can burn less juice and have heated gloves I would like that.

[piefairy]

Are you running the stock rec/reg? Not sure how much difference it would make, but may be worth a thought.

[Dunk]

Solid state regulator from Oregon Motorcycle parts and factory rectifier. I do have two of the schottky solid state rectifier chips I could work up with heatsink and harness to gain a bit of efficiency for more usable watts.

[Dunk]

I ordered a open box set of two of these Osram LED bulbs for $107. I'll report back with my findings if it can be made to fit my CB750 K5. I expect to cut the back of the bucket. With a fan on the bulb I wonder how it will do getting rained on all day and with salt dust over everything. We'll see how it goes. Maybe not worse than the 35w bulb I have in there now.

[Deltarider]

I doubt that reducing the headlamp's consumption from 60 Watts to say 25 Watts, will give you room for heated gloves. Maybe you could try with a relay that temporarily switches off gloves and simultaneously switches the headlight to pilot light (aka park light or city light) when in neutral (green light on).
Got to admire your perseverance. I don't ride unless ambient temperature is > 15^o C.

[Rayzerman]

I have used a few versions of LED H4's..... just passing along that the ones with external fans are the higher output type, ones with internal fans a little less, and fanless ones are usually lower output..... all because they have differing ways of dissipating heat, required for longevity of the LED's.  I find power consumption data lacking consistency, so don't know how much wattage you'll save.  Take all claims with a grain of salt, but they are cheap enough to experiment with.

I am about to convert my CB350F to LED, and be aware there is a yellower version around 3500K that may look more authentic....... likely lower output of light.  I get these from AliExpress.

[PeWe]

If your reflector has standard halogen H4, try a LED H4.
Other car drivers suddenly noticed me with LED H4 during daylight. Ok light in the dark.

The light pattern is not that sharp. I have adjusted the angle of headlight to not blind meeting traffic. No cars that flash with hi as they do if blinding them.

I tried a yellow LED but it was too weak. Too many crazy situations so back to bright white.
Here what my CB 750 light bucket can take.

I use the version with additional electronics on the cable. I wrapped rubber tape to minimize risk for shortage together with all other connectors when squeeze all together.

My K6 also have auxillary lamps found on Amazon, seller in China. They work fine when dark. The road feels like  a landing strip. Cable with on- off switch for handlebar.
Tricky to find lower wattage. I use 15W each.  Same design easy to find with 40, 60 and 90W each. 15W really improve.

LED H4 Hi take 40W so not that much more than std H4 Halogen.

To see and more important, to be seen.

[willbird]

Not sure what's different about European bike electrical system, but I'd like to be able to use my heated gloves. Today was below freezing and dark both ways, almost 4 hours riding. I had to intentionally catch a couple red lights along the way to warm my hands, fingers crossing between pain and numb so was getting sketchy. It was worse in the morning I took the highway half the ride and could only warm my left hand. I dislike the struggle with heated gloves not being as insulated and only giving off appreciable heat at middle RPM so tend to stick with Held thick winter gloves.

35w headlight bulb sucks, but it's a generic cheapy. Not much light and I don't think visibility matters, had to dodge someone crossing double yellow to make a left turn, amusingly they say me eventually and reacted suddenly with screeching tires. Philips and Osram standard H4 bulbs give great light out of the Cibie reflector, but if I can burn less juice and have heated gloves I would like that.

I would rather be able to use all my heated gear but that is a 15A load :-). Have thought about buying a 20 amp hour LifePO4 battery just to run the heated gear on my CB750K2 $45 and 6lbs, would just run it as total loss in it's own system for just the heated gear, re charge after the ride.

Bill

[newday777]

I would rather be able to use all my heated gear but that is a 15A load :-). Have thought about buying a 20 amp hour LifePO4 battery just to run the heated gear on my CB750K2 $45 and 6lbs, would just run it as total loss in it's own system for just the heated gear, re charge after the ride.

Bill

Hmmm. Good idea Bill.

[Deltarider]

I don't know what the situation is in other parts of the world, but Europe is being flooded by cheap Chinese products. This is what's behind it. If you, as a company in Europe, want to manufacture and sell products, they have to comply with EU rules. There are all kinds of institutions that test products and you will find their logos or abbrevations on all consumer goods. You have C E, TÜV, VDE, STIVZO, ABE, there are lots of them. Other institutions shield the consumer market from products made by forced labour (Uyghurs), child labour, etc. Even when companies like Philips have products made in China, they have to comply with EU rules. Consumers so have certainty the products are safe, comply with legislation, come with instructions for use and offer warranty. In Europe a product sold without warranty, is considered to be a non product. China has found a way around this and has been exploiting this loophole for years now. If there's no European brand involved, you can order whatever directly from China through platforms like Aliexpress, Temu* and Shein, even when the products do not comply with European standards. If they have a brand at all, the name can change overnight and there's no guarantee whatsoever The result is a flood of products that are unsafe and can cause fires (multiple cases with phat bikes). Most products from China won't live long. Chinese enterpreneurs are not interested in establishing a brand, let alone a reputation; they are in for the quick run, more like gamblers.
Europe has just begun to fight this flood of products which have in common that they are not worth the packaging they come in: it's just a waste of raw materials. China knows that in the West people can be addicted to buying stuff to fight of depressions.
There's nothing wrong with a product manufactured in China as long as the mother company like Philips, is behind it. If not, it's a gamble, wild west.
For my needs, there are plenty products I can choose from that comply with rules, are safe and come with clear instructions and have a warranty. What else could I want?
* Breaking news!!! This morning Temu offices have been raided by the EU on suspicion of state support.

[PeWe]

China also marks products with CE which is not any proof of quality or follow any regulations.

But the chinese cheap LEDs on my bikes work fine. Headlight as well as rear with good brake light.

Be aware of CE markings.
https://www.kimuagroup.com/news/differences-between-ce-and-china-export-markings/

 CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that a given product complies with European regulations on marketing and selling products within the European Union, the Chinese CE marking is simply a way of indicating a product was manufactured in China.

[Deltarider]

Thanks for posting that, Pewe. I had already started to look for it. You have C E and you have CE. The first indicates the product has been made in compliance with EU laws, the latter means: Chinese Export. That imitation was done on purpose and millions have been fooled by it.
Here's a question for you all. If you consider buying products from the P.R.C., ask yourself if you would order your engine oil from China.
I have been tempted to buy a sparkplug tester from China. Only to open it and find out if there's a solid state driver in there that I could use for my homebuilt coil tester. http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,206147.0.html * I could not make myself ordering one. Can a product be any good, if it's been made by someone who has good reasons to hate his boss?
* Much to my disappointment I have received no answers to my question in the last line of that post so far. Come on, all you electro engineers!

[MauiK3]

PeWe, can you remind us what headlight you are using? Not much room in there. Curious.

I think the Chinese have the ability to make both good/better/best products depending on what they are asked to make and what price point they are targeting. Not to get political but that seems to be the case no matter what manufacturer anywhere is being discussed. Some don't ever compromise and some compromise if they are asked  just so they can be competitive.

Have to pick and choose. I recently borrowed a friends Vevor drill bit sharpener. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. Some stuff is is just junk.

[PeWe]

Here is the first LED H4 I used. Over 10 years ago! Time runs too fast.
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,144133.msg1639790.html#msg1639790

Same bulb I showed in the previous photo.

High Quality High Power H4/9003 LED 30W 6000 K Lumen Head Light Lamp
like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Quality-High-Power-H4-9003-LED-30W-6000-K-Lumen-Head-Light-Lamp-/371394571989?hash=item5678d76ed5




Next type was this, box only. It is red, slightly taller. 2 bulbs in it. That's why 80W. 2x40

Found photos on the red bulb.
Still in the bike
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,193317.msg2257638.html#msg2257638


Another link

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,163490.msg1884251.html#msg1884251

This might be something to test.
https://ebay.us/m/74fVKH

Specifications:
Quantity: 2pcs
Plug Type: H4 HB2 9003
Chips Type: CREE ZES LEDs Chips
Power: 30W

[Dunk]

I would rather be able to use all my heated gear but that is a 15A load :-). Have thought about buying a 20 amp hour LifePO4 battery just to run the heated gear on my CB750K2 $45 and 6lbs, would just run it as total loss in it's own system for just the heated gear, re charge after the ride.

If I could find a rack that might work pretty good. I should measure current draw of my gloves.

[PeWe]

15A is much power.
Theoretically 1 hour with a 15Ah battery.

You need to upgrade the charging system. Modified one to get 32A out using R6 parts as forum member Anders has done.
Messnermoto has an add about his CB750 cafe racer that has an R1 charging system.