How to modify H4 led to reduce glare ST1300

[RockyHayes]

Okay, I spent some additional time fiddling with the adjustment knobs and bolts last night. Photos of Low and High beams are attached.

There is a marked improvement, but I am still not entirely satisfied. Two things hold me back:
1. I would like to decipher the maximum adjustment of the left/right knobs and up/down bolts, and then set them both dead center of their travel and see what the beams look like.
2. There are a number of light 'artifacts' that are showing up in the periphery - though most of them are difficult to see in photos. It is like the headlights are going through prisms or something, scattering the light in many directions. Some of this shows up as slivers or lines of light, some of it shows up as amorphous circles. At least in the driveway, it is pretty distracting. Maybe they would not matter while driving.

So, I think I am going to mark the knobs/bolts, and document their total rotations - and center the mechanisms. And, I think I will order two OEM Hondaline bulbs to use as a fair comparison. (the halogen bulbs I removed from my bike were aftermarket, with tabs cut off - could not tell what brand) If I learn anything particularly exciting, I will post it here. Thanks!

 

[spiderman302]

Rocky:

You are now splitting hairs. The artifacts are created by a number of things in the Honda light housing. The main one is the chrome "eye brow" ring in front of the reflector. The other is the edges of the Fresnel reflector. There are faint lines caused by the up shadow. There is more but out on the road it all blends together.

I am glad that you are figuring out the left/right adjustments. I only adjusted the master up/down on the light adjust motor.

 

[RaYzerman]

Well, a package arrived in the mail today........ but, no user report from me until April or May.

 

[DeanR]

Ray, did you get the Evitek, H4 6500K kit from Amazon?

 

[spiderman302]

Ray:

You mean they do not fit in your snowmobile?......

 

[RaYzerman]

Ray:

You mean they do not fit in your snowmobile?......

I bought from Evitek directly, as they can ship to Canada a whole lot cheaper than Amazon.
There ain't enough snow to justify a snowmobile..... did you know the southernmost point in Ontario, Canada is the same latitude as northern California? But, we did get some white stuff today.

 

[beeker]

Did my install today. On one bulb the shields needed adjusting right out of the box. Easy to do, just rotate around the mounting screw until horizontal. The ST is on the center stand on a dolly so the angle is unnatural. The light is WHITE and BRIGHT. Looking forward to the first ride in a couple of months. Pics show high beam and low beam.

 

[PFD023]

I bought from Evitek directly, as they can ship to Canada a whole lot cheaper than Amazon.
There ain't enough snow to justify a snowmobile..... did you know the southernmost point in Ontario, Canada is the same latitude as northern California? But, we did get some white stuff today.

Received mine last week but similar to RaYzerman I'll be installing mine when the temps get abit warmer. I still have the constant tension hose clamps to install and really don't feel like doing any kind of work on the bike when the temps are minus 15 C and there is 2 feet of snow on the ground. North Bay tends to get abit more snow than those balmy locales in the Ontario Banana Belt.

 

[SupraSabre]

I installed them in my 2010, which is still on my operating table (HF Lift) but I tested them out and the modulate just fine. So the real test will be to see if the fans can handle the pulse. Sure do make a difference.



That's a stock bulb on the right side.

 

[970mike]

I installed them in my 2010, which is still on my operating table (HF Lift) but I tested them out and the modulate just fine. So the real test will be to see if the fans can handle the pulse. Sure do make a difference.



That's a stock bulb on the right side.

I have these bulbs in my truck and they work awesome, I replaced HID bulbs in the truck. Still have not installed the LED bulbs in my ST.

 

[SupraSabre]

I have these bulbs in my truck and they work awesome, I replaced HID bulbs in the truck. Still have not installed the LED bulbs in my ST.

Time for an Upgrade!

 

[spiderman302]

I installed them in my 2010, which is still on my operating table (HF Lift) but I tested them out and the modulate just fine. So the real test will be to see if the fans can handle the pulse. Sure do make a difference.

Glad that you got the modulator working. I tried pulsing the light manually and it flashed so I knew that it should work with a modulator. The fan will be fine and will just run at a slightly slower speed. There are no brushes and the commutation is controlled with transistors (FETS) so the fan will be fine.

 

[spiderman302]

Last night I discovered that the original LED H4 3800 (G3) bulb has it's low beam LED emitters set 70 mils above the center line of the bulb. This offset is what was causing the low beam of the 3800 LED bulb to look fuzzy. The LEDs should have been mounted on the center line. A vendor was using spacers to "fix" this soft focus problem.

I found that in my DRZ400 headlight if I put a 3 inch bare 12 ga. copper wire (or toothpick) across the bottom two slots before I mounted the 3800 bulb. The wire would tilt the led down and bring the beam into a nice focus. However even this will move the high beam LEDs lower which will move the projected high beam higher than the horizon. This IMHO is a better fix for this issue if you are still using this bulb.

Spacers may still be needed for other reflector/lens used on other bikes. But try the down offset before you add spacers. This should help dial in the flaw with this bulb.

The new Evitek G6 H4 LED bulb has the low beam LED emitter on the center axis of the bulb and does not exhibit this problem. This is another reason the G6 H4 is a better bulb.

Yes, the high beam LED is mounted slightly lower than the low beam LED.

Be sure to twist the fan back 15 degrees CCW to make the beam level.

 

[SupraSabre]

Last night I discovered that the original LED H4 3800 (G3) bulb has it's low beam LED emitters set 70 mils above the center line of the bulb. This offset is what was causing the low beam of the 3800 LED bulb to look fuzzy. The LEDs should have been mounted on the center line. A vendor was using spacers to "fix" this soft focus problem.

I found that in my DRZ400 headlight if I put a 3 inch bare 12 ga. copper wire (or toothpick) across the bottom two slots before I mounted the 3800 bulb. The wire would tilt the led down and bring the beam into a nice focus. However even this will move the high beam LEDs lower which will move the projected high beam higher than the horizon. This IMHO is a better fix for this issue if you are still using this bulb.

Spacers may still be needed for other reflector/lens used on other bikes. But try the down offset before you add spacers. This should help dial in the flaw with this bulb.

The new Evitek G6 H4 LED bulb has the low beam LED emitter on the center axis of the bulb and does not exhibit this problem. This is another reason the G6 H4 is a better bulb.

Yes, the high beam LED is mounted slightly lower than the low beam LED.

This is all Greek (or is that Geek) to me! As long as it shines forward and I can see the road, is as about technical as I get!

 

[MaxPete]

Glad that you got the modulator working. I tried pulsing the light manually and it flashed so I knew that it should work with a modulator. The fan will be fine and will just run at a slightly slower speed. There are no brushes and the commutation is controlled with transistors (FETS) so the fan will be fine.

Thanks SupraSabre and Spiderman: that is great news as I am a big fan of modulators. I don't want to hijack this thread but, I would like to describe my experience with modulators as they are closely related to the whole topic of headlights.

While riding in Los Angeles in the early 80's I installed a gizmo called a Q-Switch on my GS850 and was amazed at the decrease in attacks from cages. Many people would pull up beside me at traffic lights and ask "what's going on with your headlight?" The key thing is that they saw me, they took notice and they didn't do anything stupid - which was my entire goal. I only had one encounter with an LEO and he was cool with it when he realised that I meant no harm and that it was a safety thing. More recently, I have checked (VERY) carefully and modulators are fully allowed under the law in both Canada and the US (per FMVSS108 in the US and the CMVSS108 here) as long as certain technical specs are met (related to pulse frequency and intensity and a photosensor to disable modulation at night).

Anyhow, great work on these new bulbs and thanks for the clarification on how they work with modulators.

Pete

 

[SupraSabre]

Thanks SupraSabre and Spiderman: that is great news as I am a big fan of modulators. I don't want to hijack this thread but, I would like to describe my experience with modulators as they are closely related to the whole topic of headlights.

While riding in Los Angeles in the early 80's I installed a gizmo called a Q-Switch on my GS850 and was amazed at the decrease in attacks from cages. Many people would pull up beside me at traffic lights and ask "what's going on with your headlight?" The key thing is that they saw me, they took notice and they didn't do anything stupid - which was my entire goal. I only had one encounter with an LEO and he was cool with it when he realised that I meant no harm and that it was a safety thing. More recently, I have checked (VERY) carefully and modulators are fully allowed under the law in both Canada and the US (per FMVSS108 in the US and the CMVSS108 here) as long as certain technical specs are met (related to pulse frequency and intensity and a photosensor to disable modulation at night).

Anyhow, great work on these new bulbs and thanks for the clarification on how they work with modulators.

Pete

Well, the one thing I'm not certain about is if the LED would satisfy the "...as long as certain technical specs are met (related to pulse frequency and intensity and a photosensor to disable modulation at night)" The LEDs are Full on/Full off. But I don't think any cops will hassle me over them as lone as I'm smart with them. Like using Low Beam in less lighted areas and such. We'll see!

 

[beeker]

Has anyone else who installed these bulbs discovered a need to raise their headlight after installation? I am thinking that the new lights are 'illuminating' the need to raise my adjustment .... which may have contributed to poor lighting with the old bulbs last year. I can clearly see where the low beams are shining on the road about 15-20 feet ahead of the bike ... even with the adjustment motor in the highest position.

 

[spiderman302]

I had to lower my beam when I installed LED headlights. There is a screw adjustment for that in the middle marked in yellow.

 

[beeker]

I had to lower my beam when I installed LED headlights. There is a screw adjustment for that in the middle marked in yellow.

Set mine last night. 12 mil socket on a collection of extensions. Not a lot of force required, turned by hand. The adjuster is accessed from the right side in the photo but is actually pointing down along the left fork tube (7 o'clock in the picture) and can be seen by looking up from the ground with a flashlight.

 

[chazglenn3]

I also had to lower the beam when I installed these in my FJR1300.