# Let there be (LED) light!



## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

My 2011 Nissan Cube’s headlight enclosure was in bad need of resurfacing and the low beam bulbs were weak. I got them refinished today and celebrated with a set of Hikari LED bulbs. For anybody with non-LEDs, I highly recommend them. Installation is decently easy. The only thing you have to account for is making sure the boot that keeps debris and moisture out of your housings doesn’t smother the heat sinks on the backs of the bulbs.
Any other drivers with some low/high beam upgrades? Successes? Failures? How about handheld LED spotlights and/or high intensity flashlights they like using to spot addresses, etc.?


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## ariel5466 (May 16, 2019)

I hate it when the car driving behind me at night has LED lights...


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

ariel5466 said:


> I hate it when the car driving behind me at night has LED lights...


They usually install them without properly orienting/aiming them. This set fits perfectly into the same enclosure as OEM bulbs. No scatter, no blinding other drivers. Lots of truck/Jeep drivers also love those obnoxious high-intensity LED strips. Even in daylight those things are blinding.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> My 2011 Nissan Cube's headlight enclosure was in bad need of resurfacing and the low beam bulbs were weak. I got them refinished today and celebrated with a set of Hikari LED bulbs. For anybody with non-LEDs, I highly recommend them. Installation is decently easy. The only thing you have to account for is making sure the boot that keeps debris and moisture out of your housings doesn't smother the heat sinks on the backs of the bulbs.
> Any other drivers with some low/high beam upgrades? Successes? Failures? How about handheld LED spotlights and/or high intensity flashlights they like using to spot addresses, etc.?


I use L.E.D. brake, turn signal. Lights because . . .
I got Tired of Changing them !

For Uber & Pizza the majority of my driving is at night.
Went through 3 brake lights on my left rear before i switched.
Havent changed a bulb in years !


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## ariel5466 (May 16, 2019)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> They usually install them without properly orienting/aiming them. This set fits perfectly into the same enclosure as OEM bulbs. No scatter, no blinding other drivers. Lots of truck/Jeep drivers also love those obnoxious high-intensity LED strips. Even in daylight those things are blinding.


Yes, it's the worst with higher-up cars like trucks and Jeeps. So many times I'd be driving down I-95 at night and some truck with LEDs shines his lights right into my mirrors.


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

ariel5466 said:


> Yes, it's the worst with higher-up cars like trucks and Jeeps. So many times I'd be driving down I-95 at night and some truck with LEDs shines his lights right into my mirrors.


Cars keep getting bigger and ground clearance keeps getting higher. It's like a contest. Pulling out of parking spaces in anything but my bike is getting to be a challenge.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

My first motorcycle had 6v electrics. Riding at night was scary; couldn't see a thing when there were no street lights.


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

The Gift of Fish said:


> My first motorcycle had 6v electrics. Riding at night was scary; couldn't see a thing when there were no street lights.


Holy shit! Mine has LED high/low, LED dynamic cornering lights that react to lean angle to shine brilliant light through the turn. How did you get anywhere at night?


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## oldfart (Dec 22, 2017)

My Ford Explorer had HID bulbs. I had a parking lot mishap that popped off the bumper cover. I was able to fix that with a little epoxy and a can of spray paint .. or so I thought Turned out the headlight enclosure was cracked. A couple of thunderstorms later and the water drowned the ballast. It was going to cost $1200 at a ford dealer to get it fixed so I did what you did. I ordered some LED lights. I couldn't figure out how to splice into the wire harness so I connected them directly to the battery with a toggle switch on the dash. But I had no high beams so I added a pair of off road led spots. And I also converted the fog lights to led.

I carry a cheap little led flashlight Now but I have my eye on an $80 light. Maybe next month

My next project will be to convert the lights on this thing to led


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Holy shit! Mine has LED high/low, LED dynamic cornering lights that react to lean angle to shine brilliant light through the turn. How did you get anywhere at night?


Slowly! It was a 1978 Suzuki GT50. 3bhp of raw power. 35mph top speed; 45mph going downhill if the wind was behind me. Number of times it got me laid: 0. But it was my first bike; and I loved it.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Slowly! It was a 1978 Suzuki GT50. 3bhp of raw power. 35mph top speed; 45mph going downhill if the wind was behind me. Number of times it got me laid: 0. But it was my first bike; and I loved it.
> 
> View attachment 506636


weed eaters have Bigger Motors now !


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

oldfart said:


> My Ford Explorer had HID bulbs. I had a parking lot mishap that popped off the bumper cover. I was able to fix that with a little epoxy and a can of spray paint .. or so I thought Turned out the headlight enclosure was cracked. A couple of thunderstorms later and the water drowned the ballast. It was going to cost $1200 at a ford dealer to get it fixed so I did what you did. I ordered some LED lights. I couldn't figure out how to splice into the wire harness so I connected them directly to the battery with a toggle switch on the dash. But I had no high beams so I added a pair of off road led spots. And I also converted the fog lights to led.
> 
> I carry a cheap little led flashlight Now but I have my eye on an $80 light. Maybe next month
> 
> ...


Was it just bulbs or did you use the full HID enclosure? The scatter from a regular enclosure would be brutal.

I am trying to recall whether LEDs were installed on a Zimmer update I saw recently on a show. You should be able to find something that'll work properly on that.



The Gift of Fish said:


> Slowly! It was a 1978 Suzuki GT50. 3bhp of raw power. 35mph top speed; 45mph going downhill if the wind was behind me. Number of times it got me laid: 0. But it was my first bike; and I loved it.
> 
> View attachment 506636


Wait. Is there no rear brake on that or is it just very hidden behind the sprocket? The bicycle-sized chain is great.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Hmmmmm . . . 
Weedeater outboard boat motor . . .

Hmmm . . .











Monkeyman4394 said:


> Was it just bulbs or did you use the full HID enclosure? The scatter from a regular enclosure would be brutal.
> 
> I am trying to recall whether LEDs were installed on a Zimmer update I saw recently on a show. You should be able to find something that'll work properly on that.
> 
> ...


Bikes had rear DRUM BRAKES BACK THEN !


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

tohunt4me said:


> Hmmmmm . . .
> Weedeater outboard boat motor . . .
> 
> Hmmm . . .
> ...


Yeah, but I don't even see that.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Yeah, but I don't even see that.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Wait. Is there no rear brake on that or is it just very hidden behind the sprocket? The bicycle-sized chain is great.


Drum brake on the rear. Cable operated disc on the front.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Slowly! It was a 1978 Suzuki GT50. 3bhp of raw power. 35mph top speed; 45mph going downhill if the wind was behind me. Number of times it got me laid: 0. But it was my first bike; and I loved it.
> 
> View attachment 506636


For balance, have you ever got laid because of another better bike?


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Drum brake on the rear. Cable operated disc on the front.


Who needs brakes ?


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Drum brake on the rear. Cable operated disc on the front.


Probably the same drum brakes as my Cube.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Trafficat said:


> For balance, have you ever got laid because of another better bike?


A cam in a 1200 sportster with a " fender" seat is a 2 wheel Vibrator. . . .









( " Fender"- P.O.B.)
S.Y.L.B.F.M.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Probably the same drum brakes as my Cube.


There was a risk of soiled underpants when the drum locked up in wet weather. Sometimes you'd just touch the back brake pedal and it would instantly lock. I've never had that happen on cars; don't know why it happens on bikes only.


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

The Gift of Fish said:


> There was a risk of soiled underpants when the drum locked up in wet weather. Sometimes you'd just touch the back brake pedal and it would instantly lock. I've never had that happen on cars; don't know why it happens on bikes only.


Oh. It happens in this car twice a day. Not even at particularly hard stops.



tohunt4me said:


> A cam in a 1200 sportster with a " fender" seat is a 2 wheel Vibrator. . . .
> View attachment 506642


And all the oil dribbling out of the engine gets things lubricated.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Trafficat said:


> For balance, have you ever got laid because of another better bike?


Yes, your momma said that the seat was too small on my 50 for her ample proportions. She was happy once I upgraded.


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Yes, your momma said that the seat was too small on my 50 for her ample proportions. She was happy once I upgraded.
> 
> View attachment 506644


That hurts my heart.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> That hurts my heart.


Think of that poor rear shock!


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Think of that poor rear shock!


Not enough spring preload in the world to help with that.


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## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> My 2011 Nissan Cube's headlight enclosure was in bad need of resurfacing and the low beam bulbs were weak. I got them refinished today and celebrated with a set of Hikari LED bulbs. For anybody with non-LEDs, I highly recommend them. Installation is decently easy. The only thing you have to account for is making sure the boot that keeps debris and moisture out of your housings doesn't smother the heat sinks on the backs of the bulbs.
> Any other drivers with some low/high beam upgrades? Successes? Failures? How about handheld LED spotlights and/or high intensity flashlights they like using to spot addresses, etc.?


After our first car with HID's I swore I would never go back to halogens. When we bought our first car with LED lights I swore to never go back to HID's! Just make sure you properly aim your headlights... LED's are the worse when they are not aimed correctly.



ariel5466 said:


> Yes, it's the worst with higher-up cars like trucks and Jeeps. So many times I'd be driving down I-95 at night and some truck with LEDs shines his lights right into my mirrors.


You don't like big vehicles behind you with bright lights? What's the big deal??? &#128514; &#128514; &#128514;










No I don't drive on the street with all the lights blazing... that's a quick ticket! But its great for night runs off-road!


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

ariel5466 said:


> Yes, it's the worst with higher-up cars like trucks and Jeeps. So many times I'd be driving down I-95 at night and some truck with LEDs shines his lights right into my mirrors.


Yes, the only way to drive at night here is to dip the rear view mirror and to angle the door mirror all the way down so they don't dazzle you. My car has heavily tinted rear windows, so that helps too.

Other countries enforce a maximum headlight height for road vehicles, meaning that the jacked-up trucks and Jeeps can only be used off road, where their lights won't annoy road users. The same should be implemented here.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Yes, the only way to drive at night here is to dip the rear view mirror and to angle the door mirror all the way down so they don't dazzle you. My car has heavily tinted rear windows, so that helps too.
> 
> Other countries enforce a maximum headlight height for road vehicles, meaning that the jacked-up trucks and Jeeps can only be used off road, where their lights won't annoy road users. The same should be implemented here.


Spoiler on back trunk

Set perfectly to Block Headlights !


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

Fusion_LUser said:


> After our first car with HID's I swore I would never go back to halogens. When we bought our first car with LED lights I swore to never go back to HID's! Just make sure you properly aim your headlights... LED's are the worse when they are not aimed correctly.
> 
> 
> You don't like big vehicles behind you with bright lights? What's the big deal??? &#128514; &#128514; &#128514;
> ...


This is East Tennessee. Nobody writes tickets to assholes in big pickups or jeeps.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

ariel5466 said:


> I hate it when the car driving behind me at night has LED lights...


When I have this happen to me my brake lights automatically get activated.

Can't pass me? Too bad.


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## Immoralized (Nov 7, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> Cars keep getting bigger and ground clearance keeps getting higher. It's like a contest. Pulling out of parking spaces in anything but my bike is getting to be a challenge.


Yeah even the humble school buses are getting bigger and higher up these days.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Immoralized said:


> Yeah even the humble school buses are getting bigger and higher up these days.


Still no airbags !

Or seat belts !

Or child safety seats !

Government - Exempt from Their Own Rules.

( Hypocracy on Parade)


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

Immoralized said:


> Yeah even the humble school buses are getting bigger and higher up these days.


About 22 years ago I was on a family trip in my Blazer exploring Mexico, we were going through an area we'd never been through.

It was a paved road shortcut through the mountains from my town to Puerto Vallarta. After looking at the map I figured it would cut the trip to PV by more than half.

As we were setting out from the biggest town I happened to see a couple passenger busses with tires not much smaller than the ones in your pic.

I subconsciously thought, that's odd.

Well, the "paved" road turned out to be a dirt road carved out of the sides of mountains. Steep 4-500 foot dropoffs to the sides, trees, boulders in the middle of the road, landslides, people with chains across the road holding guns, rivers crisscrossing the road. A 40 mile shortcut took me about five hours.

It was an adventure.

All of a sudden the lifted passenger busses made sense.

Paved road my HINEY!!


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## dmoney155 (Jun 12, 2017)

Monkeyman4394 said:


> My 2011 Nissan Cube's headlight enclosure was in bad need of resurfacing and the low beam bulbs were weak. I got them refinished today and celebrated with a set of Hikari LED bulbs. For anybody with non-LEDs, I highly recommend them. Installation is decently easy. The only thing you have to account for is making sure the boot that keeps debris and moisture out of your housings doesn't smother the heat sinks on the backs of the bulbs.
> Any other drivers with some low/high beam upgrades? Successes? Failures? How about handheld LED spotlights and/or high intensity flashlights they like using to spot addresses, etc.?


LED is sooo 90ties.... I use laser beams. Blinds everyone on the road so they panic and crash off the road. Leaving me with a lot of space to ensure speedy service for pax........ the fiery crashes extra bonus as it provides added illumination and keeps wild life away. Lasers for the win!


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## Areyousure (Feb 4, 2016)

LED has revolutionized my indoor medication growing laboratory.


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## quickbeammilksop (Sep 30, 2020)

It is dangerous and I hate it when the car driving behind me at night has LED lights. car drivers use high LED lights which may cause road accident Headlights should always aim at obtaining the best visual range and visual field (side to side) as possible without blinding the traffic in the opposite direction. If anybody wanted to replace them It may cost a little bit of money to replace with LED bulbs, there are still many car owners like the high brightness and unique style. Although some shortcomings of LEDs won’t be evident immediately, as time goes by, their benefits will present as well. That you will know it is worth to replace them.


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## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

quickbeammilksop said:


> It is dangerous and I hate it when the car driving behind me at night has LED lights. car drivers use high LED lights which may cause road accident Headlights should always aim at obtaining the best visual range and visual field (side to side) as possible without blinding the traffic in the opposite direction. If anybody wanted to replace them It may cost a little bit of money to replace with LED bulbs, there are still many car owners like the high brightness and unique style. Although some shortcomings of LEDs won't be evident immediately, as time goes by, their benefits will present as well. That you will know it is worth to replace them.


New cars with HID or LED lights are not the problem... car manufactures design the headlight housing to accommodate HID or LED's so they don't blind other drivers.

It's when you put a HID or LED bulb in to an older headlight housing designed for halogen lights that are the problem. You can always spot these "cheap" upgrades... especially in really old cars that have halogen housings. Like you those who have lights like that drive me crazy!


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## Monkeyman4394 (Jun 27, 2020)

Fusion_LUser said:


> New cars with HID or LED lights are not the problem... car manufactures design the headlight housing to accommodate HID or LED's so they don't blind other drivers.
> 
> It's when you put a HID or LED bulb in to an older headlight housing designed for halogen lights that are the problem. You can always spot these "cheap" upgrades... especially in really old cars that have halogen housings. Like you those who have lights like that drive me crazy!


The good LED upgrade bulbs use shields to properly direct the light in those reflector housings. It can also be a good idea to find a surface to test them.


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