Swapping to LED headlights

Nightmare

Nightmare

Joined
Oct 10, 2025
Messages
48
Location
Calgary
Bike
2008 ST1300
I'm thinking about replacing the headlight (and marker lights for aesthetics) mainly to reduce the power draw of the electrical system since I will be running heated gear, heated grips, GPS, phone charger and Rostra cruise control.

I would love to hear about your experience of doing the swap (there's a nice article that JayBear wrote up on the forum) and your thoughts about fanless vs fan..ed? bulbs.

I am considering these headlight bulbs:

MotoMaster 9003 OEPLUS® LED Headlight Bulb, 6000k Cool White Light, 2-pk​


or these, but not sure if its worth the 50% higher cost:

9003 Sylvania ZEVO® LED Headlight Bulb, 6000k Cool White Light, 2-pk​


and these marker light bulbs:

194 Sylvania ZEVO® LED Mini Bulb, Super Bright, 1-pk​


This should get me another ~70w of power (about 11% of the total alternator output).
 
Last edited:
I put full led's in my 1300. Process was easy, once I stopped trying to do it with the headlight in the bike. Tail light bulbs can also be a PITA in the bike.

Proper LED's matter, so the the emitters line up in the headlight to use the reflector properly. If not, you are just puking out light and even with more light you could have less usable light.

FYI your links don't work for me.
 
Good points! I installed LEDs in my car for more light, took me probably an hour to re-align the bulbs properly to get maximum light and not blind oncoming traffic.

I edited the post with the names of the bulbs instead since crappytire doesn't want to use a simple URL...
 
The F2's are excellent. The F3's are also excellent. I got mine from Cindy in China.
Email is on the St-owners site.
 
FYI, Spiderman told me that the F2, F6, etc. designations were Evitek's nomenclature and not an industry wide standard. He also reinforced that lumen claims were often inflated and we are better off going by the wattage drawn by the lamp. LEDs are putting out around 125 lumens per watt, some cutting edge examples might hit 150 lumens/watt, but that will more likely be hype. Higher color temp lamps put out more lumens - well to put it another way, multi color temp fluorescent lamp replacements will have a higher lumen output for the higher color temperature settings.
 
Andrew thanks for the assist with the links!

As far as light output goes, I'm hoping for at least the same as the standard halogen bulbs as I pretty much never ride in the dark (its light outside here well into the evening). Before I go through the effort of replacing the bulbs I'm going to try and measure the actual power draw to see if the manufacture claims are accurate.
 
Obo said:
I put full led's in my 1300. Process was easy, once I stopped trying to do it with the headlight in the bike. Tail light bulbs can also be a PITA in the bike.

Proper LED's matter, so the the emitters line up in the headlight to use the reflector properly. If not, you are just puking out light and even with more light you could have less usable light.

FYI your links don't work for me.
Click to expand...
Obo, sounds like pretty solid advice to remove the headlight assembly, especially since JayBear's instructions have you removing the windscreen, at that point its 2 bolts, 8 screws and 2 push pins to remove the upper cowl then 4 more screws for the headlight assembly.

Did you have any issues with orienting the bulbs correctly? The bulbs I put in my car were a pain, as I had to reorient the bulb in the holder/socket to align with the reflectors inside the headlight assembly.
 
I didn't have any orientation issues. The bulbs I had pivoted in the housing, so you just had to ensure they were vertical, which the detents in the housing allowed. You will need to snap off the 2 lower tabs on the h4 housing, but that doesn't really effect anything.

Do you know if you have OEM bulbs in the bike now, or did someone already do the H4 halogen upgrade?
 
I haven't gone full LED on my bike yet but I changed the two position lights and the headlight bulbs and the turn signal bulbs without removing the headlight shell. I'm not the only one but removing the shell is an option.
 
If you do LED for the turns, remember to replace the flasher with an LED friendly one. If not you'll get a hyper flash. Don't bother with load resistors.

I went with switchback LED's for the front turn signals (white/amber) and clear turn signal lenses as I preferred the look. I also added in a set of fork mounted Zmoon driving lights to help make that triangle of light. Just checked Amazon.ca and they are about $30 for the pair.
The under mirror LED's were on my DIY mounting brackets, which there's a sticky of here.

1768582371177.jpeg1768582386089.jpeg
 
Obo said:
If you do LED for the turns, remember to replace the flasher with an LED friendly one. If not you'll get a hyper flash. Don't bother with load resistors.

I went with switchback LED's for the front turn signals (white/amber) and clear turn signal lenses as I preferred the look. I also added in a set of fork mounted Zmoon driving lights to help make that triangle of light. Just checked Amazon.ca and they are about $30 for the pair.
The under mirror LED's were on my DIY mounting brackets, which there's a sticky of here.

1768582371177.jpeg1768582386089.jpeg
Click to expand...

I used your mounting bracket technique for conspicuity lighting. Thanks for the idea, it works really well.


motorcycle led spots.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Obo
Obo said:
I didn't have any orientation issues. The bulbs I had pivoted in the housing, so you just had to ensure they were vertical, which the detents in the housing allowed. You will need to snap off the 2 lower tabs on the h4 housing, but that doesn't really effect anything.

Do you know if you have OEM bulbs in the bike now, or did someone already do the H4 halogen upgrade?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if they are OEM or aftermarket (I assume aftermarket). They are "Phillips Halogen RA/ED 12V 45W/45W U" bulbs
 
I just swapped out the headlight and marker lights to LEDs, its pretty easy all things said and done (one you have removed the cowling that is). New bulbs are a LOT brighter than the halogens that were in there, at least with the bike off. I had to trim the bottom 2 tabs on the locking ring, and use a pair of channel locks to push the bulbs into the locking right and turn them to the correct orientation.
 
Billy Collins said:
I’m going to do the same for my 2012. Where is a good source for the led friendly relays? Any particular part number?
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the flasher for indicator lights? I don't have a link, but just looked on Amazon - there are lots of 'electronic flasher for LEDs' available.
 
Obo said:
If you do LED for the turns, remember to replace the flasher with an LED friendly one. If not you'll get a hyper flash. Don't bother with load resistors.
Click to expand...
All this. I did the same. I think I got my flasher relay superbrightleds.com. Someone got the same from Amazon. I paid $5 with some bulbs so shipping was free. It was plug and play.

A couple riders here said they like the hyper flash as it's more conspicuous than the regular turn signals. It works for LED bulbs because of their instant On/Off cycle allows them to reach full brightness. But it makes me nervous. LOL.

IIRC the four-way hazard flashers don't hyper flash because four LED bulbs are flashing not just two. But then hyper flashing hazard lights might not be a bad thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom