| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
OK, I'm going to swap in a spare headlight assembly to see if the reflector is any better than the crap that I have on the bike now. It's labeled "USA" on the housing, build date is late '05. Which side (brake or clutch) is the low beam? | ||
| Vortec57 |
clutch is low. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Thanks. Waiting for some 35w/3500LM LED H7s to show up, then going to swap everything at once. In my still-nervous-after-plugging-bambi-at-70 this spring, I want as much light up front as I can get! | ||
| Froggy |
Clutch low only if you drive on the left side of the road. For us Americans, the low is on the brake side. | ||
| Court |
Joe .... what lights did you order? You’re lots smarter than I and I’m going to replicate your bike. :-) | ||
| Vortec57 |
Froggy, your right, Must be all those drugs I never did. rat, I converted to LED bulbs. HOLY CHIT do they throw out the light! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Don't replicate just yet - let me get 'em installed and see what I've got. (this is Joe, hedging his bets!). I'm hoping these work out because I REALLY need better lighting in my CR (also H7 bulbs), and on that one there's really no place to mount any aux lights. So I'm hoping to have found some nice H7 capsules here...I'll keep everyone posted. I did add a pair of nice inexpensive LED aux lights, toggled with high beams: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4D-Lens-Motorcycle-LED-Sp otlight-fit-Yamaha-Honda-Suzuki-Harley-Davidson/32 2580448370?hash=item4b1b4b0472:g:foQAAOSwdGFYwQ87 Nice brightness, SUPER-pencil beam. With my 1125 mirrors, I don't have turn signals on the cowl anymore so I put the aux lights in the turn signal holes. Simply wired into the highbeam wire, so no separate switch. | ||
| Ratbuell |
 | ||
| Court |
Yeah . . . you should get it sorted out before you come do mine. . . . hahahahaha | ||
| Etennuly |
What the hell??? Did you wash it? Looks too clean! Lol | ||
| Ratbuell |
Oh HELL no. But I did make some clean spots by accident when I did the service. | ||
| Ratbuell |
So far, I like... Small install, even with fans:  Dark garage:  Low beam:  High beam:  We'll see how they do on the road this week... | ||
| Buellhusker |
how did they do in the dark???buellhusker | ||
| Ratbuell |
I've been so busy, and working so much, I haven't even had time to put the lights in the bike - much less ride the damn thing. And, I'm getting old. Used to be, I didn't mind. Nowadays, I don't mind getting caught in the cold if I'm already out...but I start out in the cold less and less often now. Maybe the diesel Jeep with heated seats, heated steering wheel, a 19 speaker HK stereo, and awesome fuel mileage has something to do with that... | ||
| Ratbuell |
Installed and test-ridden. The bulbs create plenty of lumens. The reflectors and housings SUCK, and simply aren't capable of putting light downrange in a useful manner. They don't have the surface area or the design to properly focus the lights. Age? Possibly. They *look* shiny and reflective but I've done enough lighting in theatres and concert halls, and taught college-level color theory classes for lighting designers, that I know just because it looks shiny doesn't mean it sends light downrange like it should. I get a decent beam spread out of the low beam, on its own. It's an even distribution, decent enough pattern and coverage...but the lumens aren't transmitting from the headlight to the roadway. There aren't any dark spots or hot spots, but it's all just...dim. I have the LED aux projectors tied to the high beam, and THEY work amazingly well. I suspect this winter's project will be checking out projector housings that I can graft into the rear of the low beam housing, or if not projector (I'm not a fan of the hard shutter-cut at the top of projector light spreads), at least something new in a reflector setup. I know tech has come a long way, it's just a matter of fitting something into the oddly-sized Uly housing. Kawasaki makes similar sized LED units for their ATVs and side-by-sides, and Honda makes some nice setups for the Africa Twin and the CRF250 Rallye; maybe I can find a used one of those that won't cost an arm and a leg (they retail for about $300 each as replacement parts). I hate to make the Uly look like a Christmas tree, but I may well add some small single-LED aux lights to the low beam, that will go out when I go to high beam. | ||
| Court |
We've got work to do . . . . I was hoping to retain the "look" of the double bug eyes . . on the Ulysses . . .but, it sounds that doing that means accepting less than optimal lighting. This opens the discussion to what we could mount in the same space without totally trashing the looks of the bike. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Precisely my goal (along with not blinding oncoming traffic - I refuse to be "that guy", like the ones who put leveling kits on their trucks but never re-aim their headlights). I like the Big Bird look  Fortunately I have a Dremel, a soldering iron, and a spare headlight array to play with. Compared to the CR...the Uly is going to be a breeze. But after my Bambi incident in May...I must have better lighting if I'm going to keep riding. My cars and trucks all have upgrades that cook deer where they stand when I toggle the brights; I need to figure out how to accomplish the same thing in the space restriction of the Uly. The good news is, ballasts and drivers continue to shrink so fitting "stuff" on board won't be an issue at all. Just the cosmetics. The search begins. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hmm... These are hi/lo (and angel, which I may or may not use)...they say 2200lm each...perhaps one in each side of the Uly? Two low beams, 2 high beams... https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-75-Motorcycle-LED-Proje ctor-Headlight-Devil-Angel-Eye-Super-bright-Univer sal/322361151700?hash=item4b0e38d0d4:g:8ywAAOSwgmJ XxqC5 | ||
| Shoggin |
Look up "Marcel" on BuellXB. He did a write up on those angel/devil eyes and was even making them up for sale . | ||
| Ratbuell |
That might be an option for me. I'm also going to fiddle with the lamp's installed depth when I get home. I know there's a collar that clips to the reflector like the old bulb did; the new LED does a twist-lock into the collar. But...I think the collar could be installed "shallow" or "deep". I'll try swapping that just to see. | ||
| Vortec57 |
I managed to heat swear and pry my housings apart. I used some aluminum backed tape (for oven or duct repair)and was able to make my buckets shiny again. Did it way back to my firebolt before the recall. Made a huge difference in the light. Then I added those fancy LED bulbs and its quite bright. | ||
| Court |
Joe: i am with you . . . I have H.I.D. and L.E.D. lighting in all of the family vehicles except the "once a year" vintage stuff. But . . I refuse to hit a public road in this area without top notch lighting. The good news is . . . it's a pretty time of the year in the undisclosed location.  Out the window of the truck driving to work this morning . . . . | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well....back to the 55w HID low for now. Tried the 35w ballast and its just too blue. 55w whitens it a bit. These LEDs have lumens but I discovered their flaw - 2 sided source, not 4 or more. I could rotate the lit lamp in the housing and the beam would morph from a flat, foglight-style beam to a colon-looking pair of vertical dots. At least I can drive behind the HID. Its dim, but focused and usable. Actually its probably normal and I've just over-lit my truck, jeep, and van and they make the sun seem dim... But back to ten pounds of $hit in a five pound bag...er, flyscreen.  The hunt will continue but at least I can run brights all the time (whem there's no oncoming traffic), even with heat going. Hi and aux lights total 48w, next to no draw, doesn't even flicker the second green on the voltmeter. | ||
| Ratbuell |
And Court - you can light up the vintage stuff too. If they're standard sealed beam lights, get Hella e-code H4 conversion lamps. I run them in my old Cherokee and my Daytona with 55w DDM H4 HIDs and when off they look stock enough for a car show. On...you can cook deer where they stand. | ||
| Court |
I>'ve looked at a set of the Hella . . . I still have a negative ground and I have to say I have never ever been let down by my Lucas electrics . . . points, lighting or anything. |
