Current top of the line Auxiliary light set up?

[bramfrank]

I suppose it's realized that both have reflectors inside that work with the three leds mounted on the circuit board.

The shiny material in your fixture is anything BUT a proper scientifically-designed reflector - LEDs are focused toward their tops and 90+% of the light comes straight off the front. The 'reflector' simply gathers any stray light I suppose and deflects it sort-of to the front. It doesn't mean the fixture isn't effective - but don't make the mistake of believing anything other than that the plastic lens at the front and the LEDs themselves are doing almost all of the work

I have a worklight in my tool case that has an array of 60 bright white LEDs which makes a pattern almost identical to the Kristas - and they are simply arranged in a 4 x 15 grid - so the metalic shiny piece in your assemblies are primarily for decoration.

As I previously wrote; the problem with LED and cheap HID fixtures is that you are looking right at the very bright emitter rather than at the directed light beam.

 

[Patriot]

I suppose it's realized that both have reflectors inside that work with the three leds mounted on the circuit board.

The shiny material in your fixture is anything BUT a proper scientifically-designed reflector - LEDs are focused toward their tops and 90+% of the light comes straight off the front. The 'reflector' simply gathers any stray light I suppose and deflects it sort-of to the front. .Doesn't mean the fixture isn't effective - but don't make the mistake of believing anything other than that the plastic lens at the front and the LEDs themselves are doing almost all of the work

I have a worklight in my tool case that has an array of 60 bright white LEDs which makes a pattern almost identical to the Kristas - and they are simply arranged in a 4 x 15 grid - so the metalic shiny piece in your assemblies are primarily for decoration.

As I previously wrote; the problem with LED and cheap HID fixtures is that you are lookking right at the very bright emitter rather than at the directed light beam.

OK (Mr Engineer )

"that both have focusers inside that work with the three leds mounted on the circuit board"

60 little ole leds verses 3 big ole leds, of course, is the reason

 

[bramfrank]

OK, you got me. I am trained as an engineer and I tend to look at things analytically, even though I've spent the vast majority of the last quarter century in sales, albeit technical sales of high tech wireless technology.

Consider that the light output of each of the 60 LEDs in the work light all need to be powered from a single small 12 volt battery for a claimed 4 hours. They're bright, as an array, but not as bright as the new breed of hyper-bright LEDs we have on our various lights; Glendas, Kristas, Whelen light bars and so on lighting.

Having said that, the design of the mould for LEDs is the same (in proportion, however) whether high power or not and the fact that the work light produces a fairly tightly projected ball of light, with a fair amount of scatter is simply the demonstration of the fact that;

1. The LEDs in the work light are amazingly uniform in terms of their light dispersion

2. Putting a shiny bit of metal behind the LEDs wouldn't accomplish much in terms of directing the light any better - that would require a concave reflector - and then, there is so little light directed sideways and to the rear that it would be a waste of materials.

3. You can't look directly into the thing, even off axis somewhat without squinting because you are looking directly at the emitter itself.

4. The thing cost me $8 shipped in from China as a sample - production quantities cost about half that.

5. There is HUGE profit in LED based devices.

Now they DO put a lens in front of the diodes in the Kristas - but you still get to look into the emitter, which is why you have to turn them down - they are blinding.

 

[Joe2Lmaker]

Just tell me how I can get these without donating an organ:

 

[Bungie]

Just tell me how I can get these without donating an organ:

Nobody said it had to be one of YOUR organs.

 

[dcarver]

I suppose I should read this entire post - but my old fashioned, POS Solteks just work. Installed in 2006, they fire up every time and blaze a sun trail in the darkest of night. Yes, they are too bright for oncoming traffic in low-slung vehicles. But I rarely run in that enviornment - for full on lighting, at speed, in the deepest dark of night. - I dare to compare.

 

[Patriot]

OK, you got me. I am trained as an engineer and I tend to look at things analytically, even though I've spent the vast majority of the last quarter century in sales, albeit technical sales of high tech wireless technology.

5. There is HUGE profit in LED based devices.

Now they DO put a lens in front of the diodes in the Kristas - but you still get to look into the emitter, which is why you have to turn them down - they are blinding.

I'm trained in mech and aero engr (degrees compliments of the US Navy) plus Computer Info Processing which was to automate businesses (retired now), but I digress

course that was used back when I designed chariots and Gen II Wright Flyers !!!

cost/profit in lil ole LED devices does not compare with big ole LED devices

the cost of hardware of each big Krista LED component is $25+...so just the six of those is $150 right off the bat

 

[bramfrank]

It may have been $25 in the past, but the one-off price for 10 watt 700 lumen branded white LEDs (That's the power/luminance of the LEDs in the Krista) these days is $23 RETAIL in singles, $16 in lot 20 and WELL below $10 in high volumes - and today you can buy single 2nd tier 10 watt and 20 watt leds for less than $12 delivered if you know where to look - and pricing for production volumes are a fraction of these numbers

Today they are offering LED packages that draw 300 watts and deliver 15,000-20,000 lumens - in singles they are less than $200. Lots of heat sink and a good power supply required of course - think about what kind of headlight THAT would make!! That's more than 100 times as bright as a single H4 - but there isn't the power to run it on an FJR. As efficient as they may be, they'd probably still melt the reflector - I should do the math. It would sure light up your front yard!!

But for all of the complexity inherent to their implementation, HIDs are still more efficient these days.

 

[TriggerT]

I suppose I should read this entire post - but my old fashioned, POS Solteks just work. Installed in 2006, they fire up every time and blaze a sun trail in the darkest of night. Yes, they are too bright for oncoming traffic in low-slung vehicles. But I rarely run in that enviornment - for full on lighting, at speed, in the deepest dark of night. - I dare to compare.

Um, and the broken sub-frame issue? I am not real keen on taking the entire front of the bike apart to reinforce the mounting point. If it weren't for that, I might still consider them.

 

[Bustanut joker]

I suppose I should read this entire post - but my old fashioned, POS Solteks just work. Installed in 2006, they fire up every time and blaze a sun trail in the darkest of night. Yes, they are too bright for oncoming traffic in low-slung vehicles. But I rarely run in that enviornment - for full on lighting, at speed, in the deepest dark of night. - I dare to compare.

Um, and the broken sub-frame issue? I am not real keen on taking the entire front of the bike apart to reinforce the mounting point. If it weren't for that, I might still consider them.

It wasn't the weight of the lights that broke that sub-frame trigger.

I've seen this hanging from his lights quite often..

Now granted he refers to it as a "manbag" have you ever seen one so delicate?

 

[JamesK]

I suppose I should read this entire post - but my old fashioned, POS Solteks just work. Installed in 2006, they fire up every time and blaze a sun trail in the darkest of night. Yes, they are too bright for oncoming traffic in low-slung vehicles. But I rarely run in that enviornment - for full on lighting, at speed, in the deepest dark of night. - I dare to compare.

Um, and the broken sub-frame issue? I am not real keen on taking the entire front of the bike apart to reinforce the mounting point. If it weren't for that, I might still consider them.

Similar to Dcarver, I've had my HID Solteks installed since I bought the FJR in mid '07, they've been working flawlessly for the past 98+k miles in all kinds of terrain and conditions - no broken sub frame.

 

[TriggerT]

Good to know you haven't had any issues with them. But with at least 2 forum members having broken their sub-frame, I think I will pass on the Soltek's.

 

[e2b]

There are two different varieties available. There are the spot pattern in a 12 degree beam and a flood lamp with a 36 degree beam.

https://trailtech.net/single_hid_scmr16.html

I had the lights in the spot beam pattern. They didn't throw light everywhere...it was mostly focused on the road in front of me. And that light was unusable in traffic. I could be wrong, but I cannot imagine any 30+ watt HID aux. lamps being usable in traffic.

Of course, you'll get no argument for me that a pair of Solteks are brighter than the Krista's. Of that there is no doubt. However, the point I was trying to make was that we often have to ride in traffic and being able to dim the lights rapidly and have them go back to full tilt instantly more than outweighs any difference in lumens between the two.

Again, I understand your perspective...but I just don't believe that the value of the inherent advantages of LED's over HID's can be overstated. Damn...this is starting to sound like an oil thread. :laughingsmiley: :hyper:

The reason your Trailtechs were unuseable as that they are flood lights intended solely for offroad use - they just spray light everywhere.

The reason that the Kristas (rated at 2100 Lumens) are 95% of the Trailtechs is that;

- you are comparing to a half-power (16 watt) HID throwing a rated 1850 lumens of light

- the Kristas SHOULD be brighter than the Trailtechs if we're comparing Lumens, but suffer to some degree from the lack of a proper reflector

- the ones we've discussed before are all true HIDs rated at 35 watts each - each generating 3200 Lumens, more than twice as much light as the Halogen bulbs they are supplementing (1100 Lumens in low beam, 1500 in high).

2nd gen bikes have more than enough power to run any of the lights discussed in this thread. 1st Gen could have issues if you run heated gear and other high wattage hardware.

They're all good, mind you - just mentioning this to put it all into perspective.

Just adding my 2 cents on the trail techs. Mine are mounted on Garaulds brackets I had one spot and one flood and going through New Mexico at night I discovered that the floods were way to intense to other vehicles. I exchanged it for a spot and I lowered them to augment the low beams and fill in when on high beams are on. Works pretty slick and don't have flashers from opposite directions.

 

[Patriot]

the current issue of Motorcycle Consumer News has an article on Denali LED Motorcycle Lights

so I googled and found an evaluation here:

https://www.webbikeworld.com/lights/denali-led-lights/

the lights come with two sets of lenses...spot and flood...

$300 for the lights

https://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/5224

there are two choices of mounts available...mirror mount and fender bolt mount for the FJR $45ea

 

[TriggerT]

Well, for me anyway, I think the search is over. I sold some of my old shooting items so I have enough money to order 2 sets (4 lights total) of the Krista's from the Clearwater group buy that is going on. Yeah, it is a lot of money, but I like being able to dim them during the day, and I ride a lot at night, so having a crap load of light when I want it is also a must.

I will try to post up some pictures when everything is mounted, but that probably wont be until the spring.

 

[Meltdown]

Well, for me anyway, I think the search is over. I sold some of my old shooting items so I have enough money to order 2 sets (4 lights total) of the Krista's from the Clearwater group buy that is going on. Yeah, it is a lot of money, but I like being able to dim them during the day, and I ride a lot at night, so having a crap load of light when I want it is also a must.

I will try to post up some pictures when everything is mounted, but that probably wont be until the spring.

You'll be happy with them. I still love riding at night behind mine. :thumbsup:

 

[Deacon06]

If Bungie was there then you had a set of the Micro DEs - and as you said, the difference is more than marginal - LOTS more than marginal - read my previous comment above.

And you certainly do know of a Gen-II (and there are a couple of others who have done it besides me). Ballast placement is actually very simple.. And I've got the full size German ballasts, not those wimpy Chinese/Taiwanese/Korean pieces of junk.

Could you please elaborate on how/where you mounted the ballasts? I have a Gen-II I am installing a set of Hella Micro De's on and I would love to know how you installed yours....pictures would be priceless too!! I just started this yesterday after installing Brodie's grounding harness. I have the lights mounted but that's where I stopped. I'm curious on how the wire from the lights to the ballasts is routed. Did you have to cut panels? One more question, what kind of switch did you use? I am thinking of a handlebar mounted rocker switch from Eastern Beaver. Will that work??

Thanks for any help!!

Ron

 

[Warthog34]

On the Krista's, where and how did you pass the wire from the light itself through and into the fairing? If you could post a photo that would be great. I'm getting ready to install mine. Thanks

 

[SacramentoMike]

On the Krista's, where and how did you pass the wire from the light itself through and into the fairing? If you could post a photo that would be great. I'm getting ready to install mine. Thanks

Here's where Glenn and the boys at Clearwater put mine. This was the first one, so possibly they or others have come up with other solutions, but this one works fine. The knob on the right-hand one is non-functional. That's where I had the brightness adjustment at first. Didn't like it there and now it's on the handlebar by the left grip. Much better. I tell anybody who asks that the old knob is for adjusting my mirror between wide-angle and telescopic.

The holes are drilled on the edge of the plastic, of course, so they're free of the panels for removal.

 

[TriggerT]

I plan in drilling holes in panels C and D, and inserting a rubber grommet. I found one that is just bike enough to run both wires of the 2 sets of Krista through. This is the same way I ran the wires for my PHIDs on my previous bike.

FWIW, I finally got the Kristas hooked up and turned on today. They are bright, but maybe not as bright as I was hoping. It is hard to say running them in my fairly well light shop. A night-time ride will really tell the tail, though I already like the dimmer feature.