Headlight LED -- F2 vs F3 vs NB35

[Andrew Shadow]

Are the F2 bulbs you linked to above plug/play replacements for the stock bulbs?

No, not a direct plug and play.
The two lower alignment tabs must be cut off so these will fit in to an ST1300 reflector. Other than that very minor detail, the rest is plug and play.

 

[Dave Pitman]

No, not a direct plug and play.
The two lower alignment tabs must be cut off so these will fit in to an ST1300 reflector. Other than that very minor detail, the rest is plug and play.

Thank you, Andrew. The bulb that needs the trim or the socket?

 

[larryg]

@spiderman302, thank you for sharing all the research you've done on these - since 2015 ( ! ).
I was an early adopter - I am still using the Evitek G6 H4s with shield...
I'm still quite happy with them, for their incredible brightness and focus. I mostly ride daytime, and the visibility (to oncoming cars) is what I value most about them.
I ride (daytime) with high beams on, but slightly tipped down. I do not get flashed by oncoming cars in this mode, they focus so well. And I'm amazed at how long they've lasted.
My question, please, is do you think it worthwhile for me to change them out for the newer F2 or F3s ?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Thank you, Andrew. The bulb that needs the trim or the socket?

Well, to be specific, it is the two lower tabs of the base that the bulb is mounted to that need to be modified.

The two lower tabs of the Honda OEM bulb base are situated at roughly four O'clock and eight O'clock. The two lower tabs of a standard automotive H4/9003 bulb base are situated at roughly five O'clock and seven O'clock. As a result, the two lower tabs of the H4/9003 bulb will not line up with the cut-outs in the ST1300 reflector that they are intended to sit in to correctly orientate the bulb. The solution is to simply cut off the two lower tabs flush with the rounded portion of bulb base.

In addition to this, if you are very anal about precision, the tabs of the H4/9003 bulb are rounded, where as the tabs of the Honda OEM bulbs are flat. To ensure correct positioning of the bulb in the reflector, the rounded part of the tab positioned at twelve O'clock, as well as the remaining portion of the two that were cut off, should be flattened so that they are flush with the surface of the surrounding bulb base so that the bulb will sit in the reflector in the same position as the Honda OEM bulb.

Truth be told, beyond @spiderman302, I doubt that the overwhelming majority of people would ever notice the difference in the light pattern between flattening these tabs and not doing so. I have installed H4/9003 bulbs in every ST1100 and ST1300 that I have owned and have never bothered with this step.

The below picture will illustrate the differences between the two bulb bases.
The two tabs with the blue arrows pointing to them are the ones that need to be cut off.

 

[Dave Pitman]

The two lower tabs of the Honda OEM bulb base are situated at roughly four O'clock and eight O'clock. The two lower tabs of a standard automotive H4/9003 bulb base are situated at roughly five O'clock and seven O'clock. As a result, the two lower tabs of the H4/9003 bulb will not line up with the cut-outs in the ST1300 reflector that they are intended to sit in to correctly orientate the bulb. The solution is to simply cut off the two lower tabs flush with the rounded portion of bulb base.

Got it. Thank you for the detail, Andrew!

 

[spiderman302]

Larry, since you mostly ride during the day, there is no need to upgrade to the F2 or F3. You or other drivers will not see much difference during the day. Better to put that money into your gas tank. I ride every night and this is the primary reason that I did the research and did the work to get myself better lighting. I knew if I could make this happen for me then everyone else will benefit. It did not surprise me how much negativity I got over this. But I am surprised that no one in the industry really tried to figure it out. (cash cow??) What is worse is how the rules are so ambiguous (which is a good thing!) that the self proclaimed experts misinterpreted what is legal or not. Example, There is NO specification that limits how bright (lux) the hot spot of the low beam should be. So if someone tells you that your low beam headlights are too bright, he does not understand the rules.......
hint:
if you look closely at FMVSS 108 low beam tables you will find blanks in the maximum colum.
Simply put --- 108 defines MAX glare, and only MIN illumination per DOT.

At the speed of Gov it will take 20 years to get this part sorted out.......
I am here to help if needed. Other wise I am too busy doing other fun/work stuff and riding as much as I can.

 

[spiderman302]

Larry, notice that you still have a CB900C. That was my first new bike, it had the Honda line faring. Loved that thing and regretted having to sell it so long ago....

 

[larryg]

Larry, notice that you still have a CB900C. That was my first new bike, it had the Honda line faring. Loved that thing and regretted having to sell it so long ago....

@spiderman302, thanks for the reply - much appreciated - and I still love riding the CB900c,. I bought it in 2010 after a long haitus from motorcycling (kids, family, etc.).
No fairing on it, but It's running great and I've put about 20K miles in those 11years, but of course the ST is my main ride....

 

[970mike]

Can you post a video of these?

Here is the video of the tail lights, brake lights

 

[st11ray]

That's pretty cool! Thanks

 

[canuckada]

There are LED bulbs that have more power than the F2 LED bulb.

F2 is 33 watts.
F3 is 44 watts.
NB35 is 44 watts.
They both produce 33% more power than the F2. So they are brighter but....

You cannot compare these by which has the highest peak brightness.
The F2 and the F3 have about the same peak brightness in the beam pattern.

In order to increase the power, they used a larger led chip in the F3.
This makes the beam pattern larger and spreads out the light.

You can see in the photos that the F3 chip and beam pattern is slightly wider and taller than the F2.
The F3 spreads out it's extra lumens on the sides of the road and has a slightly taller beam pattern.

Now 33% more light over the F2 is a barely perceivable improvement.
When I swapped in the F3 in place of the F2, at first, I did not think there was any improvement.
It was not until I got out the light meter and made measurements that I found there was a 20% improvement.
I then ran the F3 on the left side and the F2 on the right side of the bike, then I could just notice the slightly broader pattern of the F3.
Look at the size of the patterns in the photo. These and more patterns can be found in a video from Headlight Revolution. Thanks Chris!

I was a little concerned that the F3 ran hotter and had a smaller fan and heatsink.
But after six months, 200 hours, 7000 miles of riding it is holding up, the red plating did not fade.
We will see if it makes it through the heat of summer.

There is also the NB35 which uses two rows of three LEDs in the chip. This makes a taller beam pattern but not wider.
This type of beam is better for off road or rough roads where the rider wants to see more of road closer in.
However close in light does reduce the ability to see far down the road.

I think that the F2 still has the best long distance beam pattern.
The F3 is a good improvement by putting more light on the sides of the road and a little more on the road.

I included a picture of the B6 LED. It has a wide thin beam. It did a great job of really lighting up the sides of the road.
However, it did not have the focus or the power of the F2, so it did not really get us to 300 feet.
It was a science experiment that helped to get us here.

This is where the LED can be so much better than the halogen bulb.
The old halogen system had to super focus all of its light to barley reach 150 feet of road on low beam.
A tiny spot of light is fine if you drive on flat, straight roads.....
The halogen low beam fails to give enough light to travel safely at 70 mph.
This is why the halogen low beam pattern is so poor.
The F2 solved this problem by providing the necessary Photopic lux at 300 feet, The reaction and stopping distance required at 70 MPH.
This is the prime reason to upgrade to LED's. Glare is minimized by design equivalence!

Again, the improvement is slight. Do not let it make a hole in your wallet like It did mine. I do not make any money on this.
This information is here for those who want to upgrade to LEDs and are wondering which is the best. The answer is no.
These are all good, but slightly different. Choose the one that fits what you need for your riding environment.

It is good that we now have more choices.
If you have the F2 then save your money for gas and ride on......

My apologies in advance if my question is a daft one but....
I can find F2 and F3 bulbs in several different places, but I am a bit confused about the wire connection to the bulb and the tab compatibility for the ST1100s. Can someone suggest a specific link for an F2 or F3 bulb which is plug and play for the ST? Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[mjc506]

None will be plug-and-play for a US bike* - you'll need to clip the tabs (at least, maybe also add shims for the ST11). But if you get a 'H4' kit, the connections should match right up and plug in without modification.

(an EU or UK bike has 'real' H4 bulb housings, but the USA bikes have Honda's version with different tab spacing. It would be entirely possible to fit an EU headlight to a USA bike, but this seems like overkill, and the beam pattern may or may not be entirely legal. That said, the EU beam pattern is probably better than the DOT beam pattern, but that opens a whole can of worms going back to sealed beam headlights...)

 

[canuckada]

Thank you Matt! I ordered the adapter kit today ( https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07M5HYSMQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and will order up a pair of H4 bulbs in due course. It is odd that the bulbs used here in Canada aren't more closely aligned to that used in the EU but I guess much is driven by the DOT. Thanks for your input. Cheers from the "Wet Coast of Canada"

 

[mjc506]

Enjoy your new -found ability to see at night

 

[Nexus]

I ordered the adapter kit today ( https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07M5HYSMQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and will order up a pair of H4 bulbs in due course.

I like those. I simply snipped the post on my LEDs and called it a day. That seems like a much better solution, even though I had no problems. I need to replace my bulbs, one of them is starting to go, and I think I'll use this as well.

 

[ST Gui]

Those "adapter rings" aren't needed for the 1300 though they do make life a little easier. I just snip the two bottom tabs and I'm done. They are needed for the 1100 though.

There is one company that does make a plug n play LED bulb for the North America 1300, so I imagine it'll fit a North American 1100. It's a basic LED bulb base that has a removable tab ring with the option of ordering an ST1300 specific tab ring in its place for a few dollars more. So I believe it should fit the 1100 as well.

But that's all moot since you've ordered the rings from Amazon. You're gonna love LED headlights.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I like those. I simply snipped the post on my LEDs and called it a day. That seems like a much better solution, even though I had no problems. I need to replace my bulbs, one of them is starting to go, and I think I'll use this as well.

There is no need for the adapter rings on the ST1300, and you should not use them. They will cause a change in the lights focal point, however minor it may be, because the bulb will not penetrate in to the reflector as far as it is supposed to.

It causes the same issue with the ST1100 of course, but they are required because H4/9003 bulbs will not fit properly in the ST1100 reflector without these adapter rings. The ability to use the LED bulbs far outweighs any change in focal point that most will never notice anyway.

 

[spiderman302]

Andrew is correct that the adapter ring is only necessary for the 1100 and not the 1300. it only helps with the mounting of the bulb with the cut tabs.
The thin plate will make a slight change in focus that will not be noticed. If anything it might improve it.

 

[Sidekick]

Dumb question, sorry...
Looking on Amazon for LED bulbs is very confusing, a plethora of choices and brands.
Sometimes just few words about the chips and barely enough information beside the type of connectors.
Is there any way to identify visually or by standard F2, F3, N35 (H4 9003) led bulbs?
Thanks!

 

[Honda-st-team]

GREAT POST !!!!!