LED Headlight- anyone try one of these on a Gasser?

yellow = ~12VAC
yellow/green = ground (engine and chassis)
white = low beam
blue = high beam

As to full loss, I mean that a portable battery carries all the load and just runs down until it's flat (typical bicycle use). I use the 8 cell ballistic battery mounted in the stock GG location. It is the largest lithium ion battery that will fit in the available space. I wanted the maximum cranking power for the estart. I made up a new wiring harness and used the white wire from the stator as my power source. The yellow stator wire also connects to the reg/rect but is not used for anything. Thus everything on my bike is DC powered. This was done because the PWM module requires DC.

When I did the work early in 2011, there were few choices for LED lights. Since then lots of choices have become available. Some style of unit with selective emitter combinations (like your bulb) would be easier to do than what I installed. I definitely wanted dual lights.

The GG stator has rather feeble output when it comes to adding electrical accessories. I also put on Oxford heated grips. I think their maximun draw is 4 amps. The LED lamps also draw about 4 amps (100% setting). So I can run either accessory at moderate power, but the battery will slowly run down if use both together. The same thing happens with either one at full power. Both at full power would run the battery down quickly.

So if I night ride with the lights at full power, I'm good for about an hour before the battery is too low to crank the engine. It's not a big deal since I have the kickstarter. None of my buddies are keen on night riding, so I don't get to do it often.

The guys I ride with are 10-20 years younger and if I can get 60 miles of forest riding out of them, I consider it to be a good day. If find a lot of guys will go out and ride hard for a few hours. I prefer to ride steady and spend the whole day. Once the temperatures drop in the fall, most guys just put their bikes away.

This year, winter came early and I used the grip heaters for the first time. This really showed up the lack of electrical power. So I will be installing a 250W stator next spring.

http://stores.advmonster.com/led-lights/ model 30 is closest to what I have, although mine are the flood pattern. The model 30 housing is nice and compact, and I wanted the parallel sides so it was easier to machine up a mounting clamp. The model 44 is the current replacement for my lights. It has 4 emitters instead of the 3 that mine have. I'm not sure if it is the same housing.

http://www.lights.skenedesign.com/IQ_175.shtml is the PWM dimmer unit.
 
Great discussion, thanks for confirming the wire colors.

Grip heaters would be a nice addition but as you mentioned stator output is precious on these bikes. I guess when I say a "total loss" system in reference to the 2k3 stator charging the starter battery I mean a "unavoidable attrition" system haha. I'm not sure what the correct terminology is.
 
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So my bike doesn't have a blue wire that I could easily locate behind the headlight mask, I look forward to the next tear down so I can better familiarize myself with the wiring.

As such I just used a small screwdriver and a pair of needle nose to lift the small retaining tab on the bike's white wire headlight plug and moved it from the white rectifier wire to the blue rectifier wire. The result was a much better pattern with all three emitters lit.

The fender shadow Neil refers to is obviously there but the fill on the sides is much improved. This light plus a helmet light is all I'd really need to feel perfectly comfortable on the trail.

There is too much light in my neighborhood and I don't have a plate so I'll have to wait to get out on the trail to judge the throw of the light.

I think the picture definitely shows a difference but the change in person is much more noticeable.

 
That's a pretty good patttern considering it's the stock housing. That bulb is an excellent upgrade. I have my lights set slightly lower since I ride single track. The blue wire would normally come from the headlight switch if you had HI/LO capability.
 
This bike is single track only, but I don't want to try and aim it in my driveway, never seems to work once I get out on the trail.

Also, our single track has more open sections and sharp elevation losses/gains where the higher aim comes in handy. I'd guess you folks have more dense trees and tight turns where the low aim would be better.

I'll just go out by myself one of these nights and do some fiddling. The tool-less adjustment on the stock light will be quite nice for that.

I don't have high low (yellow 12V AC in, to white low beam out on/off only) but what you say makes a ton of sense now that I think about it. Maybe it's time to upgrade my switchgear.

We'll see how the bulb lasts but for the price I'm thrilled with it's performance.
 
Got some night riding in today finally. I was only using the stocker with the LED insert. The picture doesn't really do this light justice, it was very usable for a decent pace on tight single track. A helmet light and I would have been set to jet. Huge improvement over stock.

 
So I can't leave well enough alone and saw a pattern from a KTM 690 stock housing using the cyclops bulb. The throw and pattern was much better with the giant 690 reflector.

I just so happen to have a 2012 690e headlight mask and housing sitting dusty on the shelf and the fender pins for the gas gas just to happen to fit right into the light housing. The housing also happens to be the same color and general shape as the stocker, just much bigger. Not gonna taint my gasser with Orange filth.

I'll try to adapt the upper rubber clampers to work with it and see what I can come up with.
 
Well, it's a little odd looking but the optics really make a difference so I think it'll stay for now.



Totally aimed way too high here, but the throw and pattern is so much better.

 
With the bulb in the KTM housing sitting higher than the stocker, looks like quite a bit less shadow from the fender as well.
 
Maybe. I think a lot of it was the light was aimed too high to be useful in the bush (thanks for that phrase Australians). I've still some tweaking to do but pulled my rear suspension down last night for service so it'll be a while before I can get real world feedback.
 
That's a useful improvement in light pattern. You can always carve up the KTM mask or frankstein the housing into another mask. The new setup doesn't look that bad to me.
 
I'll take a note of that, thanks for the heads up. I'm going to make sure I get a gap in there for it.


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