Main beam? what does it do?

[Santa-2512]

For a main beam, its not very good.

I have converted to LED's which gives a good coverage,

But the main beam does feck all.

Looking at the headlamp

its probably due to the fact that there is no seperate provision to adjust the main beam height.

all it does is add some infill to the low beam. No extra push out beyond the current beam pattern.

I'm guessing some addtional spots are required?

Anything around cheap and cheerful.

Do people have them set to augment the low beam, or to give a longer lowbeam/ highbeam combined pattern.

Or just set them for high beam only

Ideally i dont want an addtional switch, as its another thing to get left on, go wrong etc

How difficult is it to wire them in with the exsisting stuff ?

 

[Mistacat]

The stock main beam is neither use nor ornament.
As a low cost option I use a pair of Hella ff50 halogen spots, run from a relay triggered by the main beam feed.
The feed to the relay needs to be direct to the battery via a fuse.
I have compared the the light output distance as quoted by Hella against some very expensive high end LED spots and was quite surprised by the results.
I have been using them for 70K miles and still find them more than adequate.

 

[Wreford Miles]

I find the main beam fine and through the winter I commute on unlite no traffic backroads where I like a good main beam...

take your LED out of your dip beam point it up higher because you now have a more accurate cut off and realise that your LED main beam is very good when you don't have an overpowering dip (when LED) distracting your eyes to the foreground when you need to be looking into the distance.

It's easy, it's works but it's often ignored because of the desire to farkle and gaze into an LED/HID pool of dipped beam and go wow...

...people are putting farkle ROI over setting the lights up to be useful

 

[Santa-2512]

I find the main beam fine and through the winter I commute on unlite no traffic backroads where I like a good main beam...

take your LED out of your dip beam point it up higher because you now have a more accurate cut off and realise that your LED main beam is very good when you don't have an overpowering dip (when LED) distracting your eyes to the foreground when you need to be looking into the distance.

It's easy, it's works but it's often ignored because of the desire to farkle and gaze into an LED/HID pool of dipped beam and go wow...

...people are putting farkle ROI over setting the lights up to be useful

I think i get what your saying, use filament for low beam and LED for main.

Yes i can see the logic in that, but if you read my original post, there is no extended throw for the main beam.

So using your method, i will get a dim foreground but when i use dip/main LED, all this will do is fill in the dim foreground, it might make me think wow , but i,m

still in the same position, dip and main have the same cut off?.

My dip beam is set correctly btw.

 

[Andi_archer]

Which LED unit are you using and given your using it in a headlight designed for fillament bulbs its probably scattering the light due to the position in regard to the reflector?
What budget are you considering for additional spots as they can run into hundreds for the good stuff?

 

[robb]

I have led on dip for visibility and osram nightbreaker on main beam for distance. The main works better with a "proper" bulb

 

[Bendy toy]

Which LED unit are you using and given your using it in a headlight designed for fillament bulbs its probably scattering the light due to the position in regard to the reflector?
What budget are you considering for additional spots as they can run into hundreds for the good stuff?

The headlight works fine with HID so LEDs with smaller emitting area are no problem.

My LED H7 bulbs cost me <£50 a pair!!! Worth a punt I thought. They are even lower cost now.

The LED emitters are positioned at the same height as the halogen filament coil and are only slightly larger area. The low beam cut off is not quite as sharp but you would need to park an LED headlamp alongside to notice. The LED is MUCH brighter but dip is not dazzling. Saying that the Les Wassal HID burners were also non dazzling in the same lamp housing.

Main beam is well focussed for range but as already said the angle is wrong so you can never get full use from the OEM main beam.

The issue as already documented is the need to seal the back of the headlight housing. LED bulbs carry a heat sink on the back that has to be in free air. Some are fan cooled.

The spot lamps I posted a link to earlier cost about £20 a pair. Ridiculously cheap so they must be rubbish(?) Again worth the punt.

They seem to be machined from billet aluminium and very solidly made. The chrome plate on the bezel flakes off during the first winter of use but its easily peeled off and painted. The light output is a well focussed square shape beam that will light the hilltops miles away. They have an annoying auto strobe function, but the fix is documented on YouTube and easy to do.

They are bright enough to set one slightly high. Then you don't loose headlamp range when the bike leans into a bend.

 

[Wreford Miles]

I think i get what your saying, use filament for low beam and LED for main.

Yes i can see the logic in that, but if you read my original post, there is no extended throw for the main beam.

So using your method, i will get a dim foreground but when i use dip/main LED, all this will do is fill in the dim foreground, it might make me think wow , but i,m

still in the same position, dip and main have the same cut off?.

My dip beam is set correctly btw.

There's not a great deal of difference between dip and main but it's deffinatley there, if it's not on yours it would make me think that your LED bulb is not working well in the main reflector....

That said I do set my dip beam as high as I think I can get away with, again a filament bulb allows you to get away with this

 

[Andi_archer]

I got a set of these for the DRZ I only fitted them the other day and yet to try at night but they seem OK
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pa...-SUV-ATV-4WD-4X4-Offroad-LED/32629284976.html

 

[Bendy toy]

When my HID burner packed up I put the original Halogen bulb back into the headlight. Turning off a dual carriageway into a lay-by I nearly hit the kerb because the light was so horribly bad. BMW fitted the auxiliary headlights because the main light is frankly crap.

I have two pairs of these. Those on the bike have done two winters and still working fine. The other pair are still boxed and ready. The quoted wattage is halogen light equivalent. Electrical power is 30 watts.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-125W...874918&hash=item4d47880d42:g:0qwAAOSwNKRXjHsW

They also exist without the OTT housing.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Moto...319271?hash=item58eaf927e7:g:b-EAAOSw42dZCvov

And another version has a halo ring to provide daylight marker lamps.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-125W...511974?hash=item25d6619f66:g:VcIAAOSwjL5ZEoDj

 

[Bendy toy]

I got a set of these for the DRZ I only fitted them the other day and yet to try at night but they seem OK
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pa...-SUV-ATV-4WD-4X4-Offroad-LED/32629284976.html

Beam angle may be an issue. Many have a 30 degree flood cone that will cause dazzle. I had this issue with the 4 emitter type that used to be commonly on eBay. They could perhaps be improved with a fresnel lens to bend the beam.

 

[KP100]

I got the U5 spots. But the strobe and 3 function settings make them useless as motorcycle lights. Which is a pitty because they seem to have a great range.
I know there is you tube vids on how to fix this, but the circuit on my ones seem to be different. (No U2 chip) Until someone comes up with a fix, the are no good. Its a bit of a crap shoot when ordereing them as they seems to be slightly different versions.

I have these which are great. I would recommend. 30 degree but still light the way very well. Better than the main beam on my VW Golf . https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fre...32560177409.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Hx9HAy

 

[Bendy toy]

The U5 strobe feature on mine was VERY easily disabled. The videos on You Tube show removal of the chip and also cutting a link on the circuit board.

This bloke blathers on for 5 minutes to say the fix for non U2 chipped lights is to solder a 10K resistor over a certain capacitor. There are other probably better videos.