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Replacement Halogen Bulbs and Heat Build-up in Headlight Housing

Bonaventure

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Jul 30, 2017
Messages
181
Location
USA
I think I read somewhere that you have to be careful swapping out the factory halogen headlight bulbs for higher output after market bulbs, on account of heat build-up that can actually begin to deform the housing. Referring to the ones offering up to 130% better output. There are also "race" bulbs claiming 150% improvement.

Interested in what non-LED high output bulbs guys have tried and that haven't caused heat problems.

Not interested in LED's. I don't believe in putting LED's in a reflector housing designed for Halogen light output, due to cut-off problems.

I am looking at Osram Night Breaker mainly because I believe they last longer in motorcycle applications (vibration) than other more common automotive brands.

What do you think ?
 
I think I read somewhere that you have to be careful swapping out the factory halogen headlight bulbs for higher output after market bulbs, on account of heat build-up that can actually begin to deform the housing. Referring to the ones offering up to 130% better output. There are also "race" bulbs claiming 150% improvement.

Interested in what non-LED high output bulbs guys have tried and that haven't caused heat problems.

Not interested in LED's. I don't believe in putting LED's in a reflector housing designed for Halogen light output, due to cut-off problems.

I am looking at Osram Night Breaker mainly because I believe they last longer in motorcycle applications (vibration) than other more common automotive brands.

What do you think ?

I just installed a pair of PIAA "Extreme White" halogen bulbs into my California 1400 and they're noticeably whiter & brighter than the stock bulb, I'll have to let you know if there's an issue with heat. These bulbs were sold by a Guzzi dealer "AF1 Racing" as an upgrade to the stock Guzzi bulb with no mention of incompatibility.

Here's a excerpt from powerbulbs.com

"First-time buyers of upgrade headlight bulbs often ask if these bulbs will generate more heat. The perception is that more light equals more heat. However, nowadays, this isn't the case. Lighting manufacturers have found more effective ways to increase the power of bulbs without generating any extra heat".
 
Look at the output of the bulb. More watts will mean more heat. Anything which changes the colour of the light will reduce the amount of light with the same wattage. It's a filter.
 
So how can a light like the Osram/Sylvania's that advertise 130% more light but say 55W H4 on the pkg, work any better than stock?

Need to throw more light farther down the road without melting my housing and without blinding other motorists the way LED's do when put into a reflector housing made for halogens.
 
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These LED bulbs say they utilize a new illumination technology to addresses the flawed beam pattern of LED's ... Now if they'd only fit into the California 1400 bucket.

hidextra.com/razir-motorcycle-led-headlight-kit/
 
These LED bulbs say they utilize a new illumination technology to addresses the flawed beam pattern of LED's ... Now if they'd only fit into the California 1400 bucket.

hidextra.com/razir-motorcycle-led-headlight-kit/

For $100 a bulb they better guarantee no deer hits, perfect beam cut-off, and an automatic butt wiper (for deer near misses...)
 
These LED bulbs say they utilize a new illumination technology to addresses the flawed beam pattern of LED's ... Now if they'd only fit into the California 1400 bucket.

hidextra.com/razir-motorcycle-led-headlight-kit/
I use a very similar LED in my Stelvio & really like them. Had to lower the aim just slightly to keep from blinding on coming traffic. I will admit that the pattern is much better with the low beams than high beams. That said, between those & the Denali amber LED driving lights (in place of the Hellas), the bike is hard to miss coming down the road.
 
I have just installed these two bulbs from Twisted Throttle. Haven't ridden at night yet, but the are definitely brighter.

PIAA H9 Xtreme White Plus XTRA replacement light bulb, 65watt=120watt, single PIAA.70955 1 $54.99
phpOVFGzn.jpg


PIAA H7 Xtreme White Plus XTRA replacement Halogen light bulb, 55watt=110watt, single PIAA.70755 1 $49.99
phpM4UBQc.jpg
 
These LED bulbs all seem to require cooling fans. What happens when the fan craps out?

Most LED's have a life span of around 50,000 hours, that's 13.7 years ...

As far as the fans go - I copied this excerpt from a lighting industry web site: "At the very low speeds employed in active-cooled LED lights, the life expectancy can easily exceed 100,000 hours, much greater than the life expectancy of the LED's themselves."
 
Most LED's have a life span of around 50,000 hours, that's 13.7 years ...

As far as the fans go - I copied this excerpt from a lighting industry web site: "At the very low speeds employed in active-cooled LED lights, the life expectancy can easily exceed 100,000 hours, much greater than the life expectancy of the LED's themselves."

The LED bulb in the link above has a fan speed of 7,000 rpm, not what I would call low speed. I'm not saying they would fail but...
Also the reason, other than light output, that most people install LED bulbs is to lower power consumption. You would think a little fan spinning at 7,000 rpm would negate any savings.
 
Every time I think about replacing the factory halogen bulbs I end up chickening out, on account of uncertainty of an after market halogen upgrade performing any better.

I think I'm going to leave them alone and put a pair of Denali D2 LED aux lights where the factory Hella aux lights were.
 
The LED bulb in the link above has a fan speed of 7,000 rpm, not what I would call low speed. I'm not saying they would fail but...
Also the reason, other than light output, that most people install LED bulbs is to lower power consumption. You would think a little fan spinning at 7,000 rpm would negate any savings.

I have many an old hard-drive happily spinning along at 7,200 rpm in a high heat environment for years. Yeah some fail but some just spin on forever... I have to wonder how many hours one would drive at night anyway, even if you were to drive a few hours every night for a year it's still amounts to pretty low usage. If one were to fail they're pretty cheap, just throw in a new one.
 
Every time I think about replacing the factory halogen bulbs I end up chickening out, on account of uncertainty of an after market halogen upgrade performing any better.

I think I'm going to leave them alone and put a pair of Denali D2 LED aux lights where the factory Hella aux lights were.

I upgraded to the PIAA and they are really bright, look just as white as the LED DRL's... I might put on a set of the Denali's as well, Twisted Throttle's store is right in my hometown so no mail order, I might even have them wire them up for me.
 
Are the PIAA bulbs dual filament so that hi-beam works? Stelvio takes H4.
 
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How about this set up from Aerostich? are any of you familiar with them?
aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/headlights-and-driving-lights/high-power-led-headlight-bulb-kit.html
 
How about this set up from Aerostich? are any of you familiar with them?
aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/headlights-and-driving-lights/high-power-led-headlight-bulb-kit.html
No, but I offer one of the best out there; https://gtmotocycles.com/products/led-headlight-bulbs-usa -- problem is the plastic retaining ring on the big tank Stelvios, nothing out there is plug and play. You can modify the ring yourself to accept the H4 I sell.
 
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