Anyone around here running LED headlights yet??

[Xpress]

Considering the advances of LED technology in the past couple of years, I figured we would see more and more people start to use LED lights for headlights. I bought myself an early gift today and got a Rigid Industries Dually LED kit, came with 2 lights and a wiring harness with a fuse. Each lamp is supposed to draw 1 amp, paralleled together for 2 amps total. From what I've seen, these guys are BRIGHT!! Can't wait to try them out tonight..



Who else? At $200 for the kit, I know they're pricey, but vibration resistant, water tight, instant on/off, these things can take a serious beating!

[oldskool83]

Looks good i like the headlight gaurd.

[Xpress]

They fit perfectly inside of that thing. I didn't really like it until I fit these lights in it.

And holy flying monkey dung batman! These lights are ridiculously bright:



I would like to fit 2 more just to get that extra light output for the sand, but for what this bike primarily sees (and what a lot of people do) these are more than enough. Definitely brighter than any 55 watt halogen headlamp, that's for sure. Infact, you can see this rattlesnake with HD clarity:

[tri again]

I thought about them too as my neighbor sells led's for
18 wheelers and on road applications so he can get anything.

I read on here that some older trikes without 'real' voltage regulators
use the light filaments as part of the current regulation design.
There's some honda story where you need both head and taillights to be working at the same time or
they'll keep blowing bulbs. Maybe it's the trail 90's.

Not sure what that means exactly, but as long as it runs good with the lights on
I guess yer ok.
They look great btw.

That snake is another reason not to put one's foot down, eh?

[H2Sbass]

The only major downside I've heard about them is that LED's won't project as far as halogens.

[gomer202]

thats sweet, looks like somebody might need some new tire

[Xpress]

^It's on the list

I thought about them too as my neighbor sells led's for
18 wheelers and on road applications so he can get anything.

I read on here that some older trikes without 'real' voltage regulators
use the light filaments as part of the current regulation design.
There's some honda story where you need both head and taillights to be working at the same time or
they'll keep blowing bulbs. Maybe it's the trail 90's.

Not sure what that means exactly, but as long as it runs good with the lights on
I guess yer ok.
They look great btw.

That snake is another reason not to put one's foot down, eh?

The bike has been converted to DC, running a trailtech voltage regulator/rectifier, and a 12v battery. The LED's won't work on the AC current most 3 wheelers are setup on. Instant on/off, regardless if the bike is running

The only major downside I've heard about them is that LED's won't project as far as halogens.

I call BS, it's all in the optics.

[kb0nly]

Dual 27w LED offroad lights, they are on the high beam circuit, when on low beam its the stock low beam halogen, when i flip to bright the stock headlight shuts off and the LED's get turned on.

As far as projection, it's all in the lens. My pair are actually two different lights, one is a flood and one is a long range pencil beam driving light. The flood really lights up the area directly in front of and to the sides and the pencil beam reaches out just as far if not farther then my stock 55w high beam did with a lot more light distribution.

Converting the trikes that were AC systems, any of the trikes that have lights but no electric start are generally AC only and yes they rely on the bulbs to regulate the voltage so if one bulb blows the other will shortly after due to the increase in voltage, isn't too hard to do though with a simple rectifier/regulator. You can use a very simple rectifier without regulation if you use LED lights that are rated for a wide range, mine are good for 10-30v, but getting a combined rectifier/regulator costs about $10-$15 and its a easy rewire.

[Xpress]

^That's not the issue at hand, the issue is the pulsing power. You need a battery to act as a filter for the system. I had that issue for quite a while, tossed a battery in and I had stable power that can operate any 12v components.

[kb0nly]

Actually you don't need a battery, a large enough capacitor across the regulator is sufficient, which most of the combo rectifier/regulator units have. Most of these LED lights have a capacitor in them as well for flicker filtering as its a common problem with them.

[Xpress]

Actually you don't need a battery, a large enough capacitor across the regulator is sufficient, which most of the combo rectifier/regulator units have. Most of these LED lights have a capacitor in them as well for flicker filtering as its a common problem with them.

While a large capacitor can help, I'd much rather run a battery. Flick the lights on/off with the bike off

[kb0nly]

Oh i agree! Just saying, if someone didn't want to run a battery or didn't have room for one a good quality electrolytic cap will do the job. Check out your local car audio place and tell them you need a filter cap, they usually have the big caps in stock to use them as a filter before audio amps. You don't need one of the huge fancy ones though, i have gotten by with as little as 500pF with screw terminals on top, but bigger is better to smooth it out.

Even a cheap 12v 7Ah gel cell battery tucked into the tool box does a good job!

[Xpress]

I'm actually using a $13 5ah battery. A 3ah battery would fit in the toolbox better, though I didn't want to occupy that space. The other issue is my Tecate isn't as reliable as I'd really like it to (still working on it) so having a battery backup to keep the light shining is pretty important.

[Xpress]

Here's a good output shot. The yellow sign mid frame is about 1000 feet out, lit up like daylight.





Very pleased with my purchase