question about l.e.d lights & requirements

[mxdad316]

I have a 2001 300xc, with 2k-2 stator. I want more light, no intrest in dual sporting just off road. I have seen a lot of l.e.d. lights on e-bay I thought about trying. One kit was shaped like the headlight lense itself with 5 or 6 led's in it, & I kinda liked it. What would be involved in installing this in place of the stock headlight? I read a lot of posts about the floating ground mod, & I'm not sure if I would have to do that for what I want. I remember reading someone (GMP maybe?) wanted to put a couple of led spots on with a capacitor & no battery but I never heard if it was done successfully. Any info is appreciated!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/15W-CREE-LED...#ht_1309wt_912

[GMP]

I wound up selling my LED driving lights with my Ducati, so never got a chance to try it. It should work though. What is the rating of the LED lights in question? The VisionX lights I had were 10W each, and very bright, like a 50W halogen. Voltage range was wide as well, from 9 to 30 VDC, as they had their own built in controller. I would try it this way: Get a Trailtech rect/regulator, it will save the trouble of making your own. Don't worry about floating the stator, just keep the DC side isolated from frame ground and you will be fine. You will have to experiment with some large electrolytic capacitors on the output of the regulator to get a reasonably clean DC level. I'm guessing 1000uf +. Idle will be worst case, high RPM easy to filter because frequency is higher. It will also depend on the controller in the LED emitter. You could also use a small 12V NiCd or NiMh battery pack in place of the capacitor, as they will effectively function as a filter.

[mxdad316]

That particular setup had 5-3 watt bulbs, There may be better options too. If I added the regulator/rectifier and did not use a capacitor or battery would there be any issues other than light fluctuation as rpm's went up & down?

[GMP]

Many of these new high output LEDs are not simply LEDs, they have a control ckt built in. Much would depend on the tolerance of this ckt. You could just go for it and get the biggest cap you can fit. The big ones have screw terminals. You can't hurt anything but your wallet by going too big. If there is no controller then a filter cap would not matter much at higher RPM. Being these are only 3W each emitter perhaps they are cheap and simple, also maybe not so bright. My lights were close to $100 each with a much more sophisticated single 10W emitter and controller, VERY bright for a single light. I find it hard to beleive you will get the same for $30.

[PEB]

I bought a couple cheap cree led lights off ebay. They work as well as my buddies high dollar HIDs in the woods. I bought two lights and four batteries fro $150. I mount them on my helmet and they light up the night!

[roostafish]

I use a Magicshine light, marketed to mountain bikers. It's 900 lumens, a single LED in a very small package, mostly heat sink. It is $89 from www.geomangear.com

It's cheap and works great. Henry mint extra. Battery powered. Just an option.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[GMP]

Most of these single LED 900 lumen lights use the same emitters, and are in the same price range. The Visionx did not come with a battery but with a very nice waterproof modular connection system, quality cables, and an alloy(heatsink) waterproof enclosure.

[PEB]

I bought one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CREE-XML-XM-...item5655929ced


And one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-3x-CREE-...item19d7a827d5

They are cheap rugged and work flawlessly. I have found the batteries work longer after the first cycle or two.

[jgas]

Those Cree lights are getting better all the time. I have a 1500 lumen rechargeable hunting tactical flashlight that is easily good enough to tape on the bars and do medium-fast singletrack on, even do 55 on the highway. Only lasts 1.5 hrs per charge though. www.cheaperthandirt.com has some seemingly good deals on rechargeable flashlights, up to 1700 lumens for under 100.00, some with 1 yr warranties. I really think that one flood and one spot flashlight, 1700 lumens each, would be pretty good, maybe even good enough for the highway at 45mph or so. Not cheap, but real easy. Flashlights and duct tape like we did when I was 13. Back then I rode 70 down the highway like that! But I also had night vision back then, and carried my balls around in a wheelbarrow, my brains in a thimble.

For a cheap easy more permenant setup on a dirt bike, here's a couple easy solutions for 1.5-3 hrs of light: Buy a deep cycle, rechargeable battery for kids toys such as those kids 3 wheelers and battery powered tricycles. 50-75.00 depending on size at WalMart or such, or online for less. It acts as a rectifier/ballast and power scource. They are about half the size and weight of a small bike battery and the important part is rechargeable. You can easily tie strap it inside the air filter box, or around the frame and to the left side panel (if you don't mind drilling a couple holes for HD zip ties). It will power one 35 watt HID for about 1.5 hrs give or take. When it starts to dim, shut it off or you'll burn out the HID bulb. Your 2k2 will power one 35 watt HID pretty well at full brightness, but you will need a rectifier/ballast unless the HID has it already. For fast single or two track riding I seem to need 2 lights. One spot shining far out, and one flood up close. My 2k2 would not really power 70 watts of HID. I burned out a couple bulbs finding that out. It looked bright at higher rpms, but dimmed at low rpms. For a race it may have worked, but not with the regular stop and go of trail riding, then hauling, etc.

I've heard that LEDs are not so easy to burn out with no ballast so might be better for direct wiring to a dirt bike without a battery? They are slightly less efficient than HID though.

I am going to next try a 50 watt HID with ballast, off of the 2k2 which it should handle, a 35 watt LED or HID off of the rechargeable battery, and carry the big flashlight for backup. I also usually carry one 250 lumen plastic cheaper (30.00), flashlight if all else fails. But I'm a little paranoid since having to walk out of Brock Creek and leave my bike overnight when 2 light scources failed. That 250 lumen flashlight will get me home at slow speeds, it sucks but it works. That night at BC the flashlight bulb had gotten busted in my fanny pack, it was light scource # 3, so actually 3 failed.

I should have my GG set up as listed above for a DS ride later next month, I'll let ya'll know if my redneck engineering works. This time.

For a decent taillight, attach a bicycle LED light to the rear fender. About 10 bucks, and far brighter than the stock EC taillight.

[mxdad316]

Thanks guys, great info! This is exactly what I need to know. This past weekend I used two 100 lumen led flashlights attatched to the chin bar of my helmet with heavy duty velcro. I also had another 110 lumen light made to wear on your head installed under my visor. It worked good enough to ride with guys that had hid helmet lights and trailtech headlights. It was ok, the little one under the visor did the best, & they all came from Home Depot along with the velcro strips for around $40.00. It may not look professional but it works & it is cheap. I'll post a pic later this weekend. My bike currently has a 25 watt bulb that really was useless in comparisson to the helmet lights. That's the next project.