Still running old halogen headlight in my 1990 XL 883. Just put a new one in from auto parts store, approx $10. bucks. I never right at night anymore, and like bone stock as possible.
Lol you post an exhaust video right when I'm looking at exhausts, and then this video right when I'm thinking about an LED headlight. I love this channel so much.
Does anyone else remember when switching to halogen WAS the upgrade? For a while I drove a lot of cars made in the 1960s and back in the 80s a Halogen upgrade was the way to go. A lot has changed over the years.
I do remember. Replacing my car headlights with HID, a few decades ago. I wasn't impressed with the HIDs though. LEDs are a game changer. Thanks for a great informative, video.👌
I have the Sun pie version. I know it’s not the best out there. But my daughters got together and gave them to me as a present for my birthday. They got me the main headlamp and auxiliary lights and they work great!
3 months later and I got the Truckmall 7" headlight for my SG. Wow, no comparison at all with stock. Simple installation. And the new look of the front end is so cool. Made a huge difference in my view. Thanks again.
I did just that. The hard rubber solution. The flickering was horrid before. In the winter we‘re taking the bucket apart to see if we can remove the flexible mounting. Biggest problem was the non exiting room in the bucket for bike-sided and lamp-sided plug. We cut the former.
I just put in the Custom Dynamics dual Pro Beam in my new Roadglide ultra. The difference is like night and day. Just amazing. Now it matches every other Custom Dynamics lights I have on my bike..
Great tech Video, this will video will possibly save a bikers life , for just swapping the headlight out to a LED. You hit the nail on head when you stated factor headlights are not bright enough. Your do it your self videos will help the biker’s save a ton of cash while upgrading his or hers bike. Thank you for sharing this information. Ride safe my friend.👍🇺🇸👍🇺🇸
Thank you I appreciate, I didn't realize how bad the stock lighting was as far as being seen till my wife got her bike. She has the 48 were the turn signals double as brake lights, we ended up switching her bike over to all LED lighting. You could barely see her tail lights running down the road at night.
The headlight on my Harley Breakout wasn’t much better than a candle. One of my first mods was to swap out the headlight for the HD Daymaker . It’s absolutely insane how much better it is. All of my bikes are 100% LED now . The safety factor alone is well worth it . I love riding at night , especially now !
You ain't kidding, the stock headlights are awful. A lot of people hate the LED lights since they are so bright when you meet one oncoming, biggest issue is they don't get adjusted properly.
I bought a genuine H-D "Daymaker" for my Iron 883, it was expensive at £400 in the UK, but it certainly lives up to it's name, it changes night to day.
Yeah Harley's lights are not cheap at all, whew I can't believe that want $400 US here for one. Now they are coming stock on the new motorcycles, softail and touring.
I just bought and installed a 7 inch headlight on my road king. Looks exactly like truck malls and same box/ instructions and it was $70 on Amazon(I deleted the passing lamps/ blinkers and bar so only needed the headlight) it's a crazy difference and wish I'd done it sooner. any one thinking of doing it needs to just go for it. You Will not regret it
I still run the old halogen. I don't do much night riding anymore. Maybe an hour before sun up when all is quiet and cool time of the day. All these new headlights on cars and trucks pretty much blind my old peepers. And God forbid I meet a jacked up truck running a bar full of led's across their bumper and even on top of there truck. What can I say, I live in red neck country. I have considered going to a led on my Evo but I'm not in a hurry. Maybe when the halogen burns out. Loved the video!
Couldn’t wait. Your damn video made me want it now! 😏 Installed the Truckmall last night as well as the passing lights. Easy and look awesome. Those night rides on 14A from Deadwood won’t be so dim.
Awesome video, man! I've been thinking of upgrading from my oldtimey headlights being that almost all my bikes have antique tags. That should give you an idea of my lighting situation. This was so informative.
My FLHX got the light emitting diode treatment before I did anything else. JW Speaker Adaptive 7 inch headlight and Custom Dynamics signal light inserts. Safety first! Thanks for the great content!!
Great video. I had my light on for over a year without the halo working. After your video I got it working now. You should connect yours it’s a lot more light for the cars to see. Thank you.
Headlight on my list for Sturgis. One week! I did install a cheap version LED and it has a parasitic elect draw that drains the battery in 2 days. I keep it plugged in but it’s PITA.
It's not a parasitic draw, the replacement light uses more power than your stator is capable of producing and your battery is not getting charged because of it
Ha this is about the only video of yours that didn't get me to add a bunch of new parts to my wishlist......mostly because I just went to Amazon and bought it, and while I was at it I got the led turns signals and tail lights too 😂. And I wonder why I'm divorced 🤣😂.
Holy shit that thing is so bright! The halo is almost blinding. I may have to unhook it. The halo is only on with the low beams though. Not sure if I did it right but if I unhook it I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Ok so I watched your video again and I did get it right, but still I think that halo is gonna piss people off
Yeah use HOGLIGHTS here in Australia. Three bikes so far. My Dyna Fat Bob with the twin headlight is awesome. Previously here in Australia it was cyclops.
Thanks bud ; ✊👍🏻👌🙏🏻 Noticed the Andrews t. I just got Andrews 34 tooth trans pulley for my softail. What a nice piece and $150 instead of $2000 for 6 speed overdrive. Excited to get it in on and cruise rpms like 6 speed . The Michelin commander 2 tires are the bomb . Way sticky and hold road like no tomorrow. Many thanks for the tip . I older and night driving not as good anymore. $ 42 Amazon ? Sold !!!-
By watching your videos & Party on forever videos and Saddle Tramps videos a person can save a lot of $$$ by repairing and upgrading their own bikes. Thanks and ride safe my friends 👍🇺🇸👍🇺🇸
HAHAHAHA!!! I found it!!! You do have a video on changing out the stock lights for led!! All the other videos I found were just not clear at all, and you always seem very poignant and clear on your videos and I just dig that. Plus I subscribe to your channel lol
They are basically a clone of the Hogworkz and Harley Daymaker lights. They work great though, I have similar light in my wife's bike she's been running for 5 years without any issues.
Hey Guy, Thanks so much for this video about the three prong connecter not seating totally, I wrapped in Black tape also, seems to work perfect, but I was nervous to do this until you gave me great confidence!!. Ps I watched your other videos and you have saved me a lot of bucks...thanks for taking the time to do all these...
I got some cheap ebay ones for my fatbob. The plugs didnt fit and it needed a dremel to make them fit properly but abit of heat-shrink and solder and they are so much better than stock. Id recommend changing lights, especially if you do night riding.
@@GixxerFoo They did but they didnt fit, i wonder if its because i have an American import and the normal ones here have different headlights. On low beam only 1 headlight works and on mine both do. But it was easy enough to fix
Great Video!!! I see you fixed your shelf. LOL I went with the Revco ones. Just plug and play. Wanted to keep the original look of the head light and passengers lights I'm not a fan of how the new ones look and I try to avoid night ridding when I can. People don't see you in the daytime how they hell will they at night.
Thank you, yeah finally got that shelf done. It took long enough lol, I don't like riding at night mych either myself. The deer are bad enough out where I am and the people don't help much either.
I just bought one of these but also has the turn signal lights. So 3 spare wires, red, green, blue, without any description of which one is the DRL and which are the turn signals. Yet to pull my original off to see how I can accommodate and other items I've found similar to work out how to connect have different coloured wires which.
I know these LED headlights put out a lot of light. They can also do a good job of blinding oncoming traffic. Every time I see someone installing one and complaining about how bad halogen headlights are I wish I could make them use an old sealed beam headlight. The old sealed beam lights when they got old would sometimes be only a little brighter than your marker lights and just about as yellow.
The biggest issue with the new LED lights is that people don't adjust them properly after they install them. The old housing is going to be adjusted to the halogen lights output. Sticking an LED in there is going to light people up in the oncoming cars. A properly adjusted housing with an LED provides quite a bit of clarity at night without blinding people.
I'm going to get a headlight. Older eyes fighting death ray car lights limit me to daylight, dusk riding. I don't want a light bar, looks too busy. Tired of not night riding. Good vidio.
I stopped riding at night 20 years ago from a combination of pot holes one of which caused a bent rim and instant blow out at 80 mph on my old KZ 1000 and 4 deer hits 2 by car & 2 by tractor trailer. Not my bike luckily but that was enough. I have 2 Harley’s , a shovelhead & 2015 RK. the shovel light is horrible but the RK isn’t to bad. The only time I ride in dark is on a early morning ride to the mountains for maybe a hour before sunrise and I constantly look for deer. Oh did I mention PA. Is I believe number 1 deer hit state or it was at one time not sure now but it’s definitely in top five. Be careful out there guys 👍
I have looked at four or five videos of guys installing these things. In every one of them, the headlight drops out to reveal a completely empty headlight bucket save for the three little wires running to the light plug. I drop mine out of my 2003 Sportster, to find enough wiring to connect Hoover Dam to Las Vegas, along with two big fat square plugs each the size of my thumbs along with the three little wires going to the headlight. No force on Earth could shove that fat new LED headlight in where the stock light was. It's like I live on another planet sometimes.
I have a LED device that directly replaces the halogen bulb in the original light case. With it, the classic look is retained and nobody realizes it a LED light until the motorcycle is turned on. I think it is much, much better than the multibeam that you installed. I know because I had it installed in my Softail. Just as the multibeam is a night and day difference to the halogen bulb, the LED "bulb" is the same difference to the multibeam.
@@GixxerFoo I forgot to mention that some adaptation needs to be done in order for the LED "bulb" not to bounce, so it becomes a kind of strobes. That is because the main case, the hollow one, has a rubber mount that dampens adequately the halogen bulb, but because the LED "bulb" has a stronger and more focused beam, the light case really needs to be fixed to the main case, via taking out the vibration isolation sandwich mini mounts and leaving no gaps between the light and main cases. It's really a pain in the * s * to get it done correctly, but once achieved, it illuminates like a sun glowing out of that headlight. Zodiac sells that LED "bulb" (I didn't purchased mine from them however). Cheers.
My pleasure! These are well worth the money compared to the cost of Harley's lights and even some of the other aftermarket units. Been running one on my wife's bike for 5 years and zero issues.
My "stock" headlight has a bulb that works well--it came "standard" on the '05 Touring models--when my high beam is on, I can see a long way down the road, even when traveling rather quickly. I put HD fog/driving lamps on top of my engine guard, and ANY TIME I'm gonna roll out, those lamps are ON, before the bike goes into gear, even in the daytime--at night, it's like a "moving wall" of light! Many times at night, with just the low beam on, I've had vehicles flash their lights at me, thinking my high beam was on. Of course, I always SHOW them my high beam, for a second or two; it happened even before I put those lamps ON the bike... lol
Running the dogs during the day isn't a bad idea at all! I tried the high dollar halogen bulbs and they worked better, but the issue was getting them to last. They burned out pretty quick even thought they were brighter and cleaner light.
@@GixxerFoo I had a guy blow a stop sign, 2:25AM, Sunday, in a rural area of Northern Michigan, as I approached the intersection he came to. I turned down my bright, with my left turn signal on, to turn South--he was facing North--I thought he was stopping, but he did the "rolling stop" thing--I went in front of him, headed for the ditch, so I wouldn't be in his path anymore! Down the hill, into a recently planted corn field, with water sitting on its edge. Having ridden dirt bikes a bunch back in the day, I tried keeping the bike moving, turning her South--the mud screwed me, filling my tires' grooves. Down I went, bending a front fender & handlebars. By the time I crawled on all fours to the road (the slope was that steep!), the car that ran me off the road was gone. It bummed me out, to lose about 3 weeks of prime riding weather. Wall of light was the "rule" I implemented after that incident, for obvious reasons... lol
Damn glad you're okay, 🤔 2:25 am on a Sunday and guy bnnn runs a stop sign... makes me wonder where he came from 🤷♂️. After riding dirt bike for years l always keep a finger on the front and brake clutch. 😄😂 never read to slip the clutch on a Harley but old habits die hard.
Great price seems like a solid unit. Unfortunately it's not available, and they don't know if it ever will be again. Maybe do a video on one that you can actually buy ?
These units are honestly all the same on Amazon, here's another option for a 5 3/4 inch headlight. www.amazon.com/Funlove-Headlight-Harley-Davidson-Motorcycles/dp/B06ZYJHT3K/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=5+3%2F4+led+halo+light&qid=1617852404&sr=8-5
You got a real good point, the older bikes the headlight bucket is where all the wiring was housed. I remember those days of stringing the nest out the front and getting it all straight.
I would have to say that is the one draw back to the led lights, I don't ride in the snow or ice much though lol. I can honestly say the LED light wouldn't get hot enough to overcome ice on the front end, maybe with the high beam.
Gixer fo fo, lol whats up bro, I always use Truck lites in my bike they make the Kuryakyn phase 7 lights, they are great when lined up proper. also you can buy colored protective film for the passing lights from Lamin x I have yellow film on my passers
All those LED headlight units are not all the same. If you go on Amazon or eBay you'll find them with various watt rating's. H4 headlight bulbs are typically 55/60 watts and if you have a modern bike it has a stator with rotating magnets to produce power to run your lights and keep the battery charged. That type of stator produces full power all the time so the regulator controls voltage and current by converting excess power into heat and dumping it overboard via the heat sink on the side of the regulator. If you burn out a headlight bulb this adds power the regulator must deal with and so you could eventually burn it up. If you use an LED headlight that uses less than 55 watts you could have regular problems. If you use an LED headlight that takes more that 60 watts to operate you could end up with a dead battery because the stator simply can't provide enough power to charge the battery, run the light's, and any accessories you've added like an audio amplifier. On Amazon and eBay the typical watts consumed by the majority of LED headlights is 80 watts or more. I've seen some rated as high as 120 watts. Just be careful about what you select and it's watt rating's to see if it is what your electrical system can handle.
That's a good point, they usually do pretty well though with the LED light installed. My wife's bike has been running one for 5 years now without issue.
Great video....love it. One question....just to make sure....do you need to replace any other electronic on the bike for the headlight to work properly? I am thinking to do this for my Yamaha Virago 535 1990.
It sure will. I replaced my factory lights with some Hogworks led lights for my road glide. It’s so bright no wants to ride in front of me because I’m blinding everybody. At least I can see
I have the same issue. The light is SO bright it washes out thier lights and casts shadows. I love the light for solo riding. But, even then, I've had car drivers pull to the side of the road to let me go by... DURING THE DAY! Truthfully, the halos themselves are almost bright enough to function as headlights
I think this is a 21st century issue, I have never had an LED headlight and have never had trouble riding at night. In fact the only real problem I do get is being blinded by oncoming traffic with those new LED headlamps :)
That's a real issue, people don't aim their headlights properly. More and more people are replacing halogen bulbs with LED bulbs and not aiming the headlights. The LED bulb puts a out a lot more light which sends the beam up when the housing is adjusted for a halogen. Once you point it down where it's supposed to be they are great.
Who else here remembers why Lucas was called The Prince of Darkness I remember when the bridge bike manufacturers would buy the cheapest bulbs from Lucas and they would not even attract a moth
But did you notice that when you switch to main beam the red LED in the speedo comes on? It won't go off until you stop and switch off for a few seconds.
It sounds like the seal may be out, if it's fogging up on the inside you could try drying it out and finding the break in the seal. But with no more than they cost it would be easier to replace it.
I recently changed the headlight and passing lamps to daymakers (fake), lol on my Road King. One thing it didn’t specify was the 2 vents on the 7” and one vent each on the 4.5”. It just said please remove vent caps when using lights. DUH. So I removed all vent caps (being you can’t get to them installed) and I’ll see what happens. The plain headlight would fog up and never clear up. Looked terrible.
I have stock(head hanging low), mine don't seem to be as bad as yours.....but my riding at night, normally, is 1.5miles most of the way is 25 mph, so I don't really notice how bad they are. Friend riding behind me on his RoadKing w/daymaker was unreal how bright that thing was in the daylight, so since I've been thinking about it But not wanting to go the way of daymaker $$$$$$, I didn't know what brand to go with........I'll go with your recommendation on both bikes......that way I have somebody to blame
The Fat Bob is a 4.65 inch and they don't have that one in this brand. But here is a set with the adapters for the plugs www.amazon.com/SOYAVISION-Motorcycle-Headlights-Projector-Headlamp/dp/B07SC1BDGM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=fat+bob+headlight&qid=1618448926&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&sprefix=fatbob+head&sr=8-3.
Yeah, I believe they have the H4 plug on the head light as well. These headlights are pretty much universal as long as it has a round headlight bucket.
@@GixxerFoo Way cool. I love my 2014 and all the upgrades I’ve made to the engine and suspension. I’ve been racking my brain on what to do next. Now I know! Love your work. Great job man.
It's insane if you buy the parts from Harley, these aftermarket LED's are awesome they are super inexpensive but still quality! I've been running mine for several years now and have had zero issues!
It should as most motorcycle headlight buckets are universal with two sizes, this one and one larger one that 7 and something inches. I don't remember the exact size off the top of my head but I believe this one is 5 and something inches.
There's always the option of a led replacement bulb, it will keep that classic look. Of course when the lights are on it's gonna be clean and bright though.
One recommendation, remove the old headlight First to see what type of plug(s) you have. You may need an adaptor. No sense just getting the headlight then realizing you need the adaptor then have to wait.
My wife rides a 2017 48 and we swapped her a Sunpi headlight from Amazon www.amazon.com/Headlight-Harley-Davidson-Sportster-Headlamp/dp/B07SK22Z8H/ref=sr_1_2?crid=36V0WBQV6WM8&keywords=sunpi+sportster+headlight&qid=1652454456&sprefix=sunpi%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-2. It's been in there 5 years and 15,000 miles, still works great!
I did the installation and it worked jut fine. Major drawback. Du to the weight of the led insert and the rubber mounted light bucket on the Breakout, it throws an unbelievably strong flickering light cone on the street. Don’t look at it too long. It will drive you crazy. Any ideas for a remedy? I thought about perhaps bracing the headlight bucket with a piece of hard rubber against the fork cross brace.
I didn't have any issues with the stock rubber gasket and fitment, some rubber bushings on the bucket would for sure help if you need to dampen the vibration further.
There is no doubt that the stock headlight isn’t a great performer by any stretch of the definition. However, I will say that without spending a cent you can improve it by aiming the beam correctly. It does make a huge difference.
Funny you mentioned that, I bought a new bike off the show room floor and the first time I rode it at night the headlight on low beam was pointed almost straight up where the high beam should be. On the high beam it was like a search light lol.