New cheap lights

[atavar]

Some of you might remember my tales of how much I loved my $15 Walmart driving lights with their 100W Halogen bulbs on the Norge.  When I lived out in the sticks and most of my driving was highway they worked great.  Alas, after moving to the big city I found those power hungry bulbs actually ran the battery down in stop and go city traffic so I had to tearfully replace them.  Gone are the days of spotting deer in the ditch at a half a mile.
What I did find to replace them is a pair of nice 10W CREE LED's that purport to put out 1800 Lumens each, and after mounting them up I believe the claims.  These little things are brighter than the Norge high beams, which are no slouches themselves.  Needless to say I have aimed them a titch lower than the low beams so as not to blind the cagers. 
These lamps have nice unobtrusive black 3" cast aluminum housings with a half decent mounting and pre-sheathed wires. 
I haven't gotten a chance to play with them on the road yet, as it has been raining steady, but so far I am happy.
Oh yeah, remember how bloody cheap I am?  The pair was $16 $29 on Amazon. (The price went up since I ordered mine)
Pardon the crappy phone pictures









Stock Norge lights


With New lights

[twowings]

Wow!  Cleared for landing....

[atavar]

I do have them wired through a switched relay so I can select OFF, ON with low beams or ON with high beams.  That can be handy for different driving conditions.

[Wayne Orwig]

What I did find to replace them is a pair of nice 10W CREE LED's that purport to put out 1800 Lumens each,

You can't get 1800 lumens from a 10 watt die.

Don't get me wrong, I have the cheapo LEDs from E-bay and Amazon on all three of my motorcycles I like them. You get a great amount of light for the $$$$$. But I hate when they stretch the facts beyond belief.

I run mine during the day on a dimmer for visibility. Then at night I use them at 100% when the high beam is on, to get the drunks to dip their lights.

[atavar]

Yeah, I don't have a way to measure the numbers but I suspect you are right.  1800 lumens from these little units would probably require refrigeration for cooling.  lol

[steven c]

 Are these the one's?
http://www.amazon.com/Motorbike-Motorcycle-Excavator-Bulldozer-Courtyard/dp/B00E0LI09S/ref=pd_sim_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41vEXFJ9ONL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1RGSZ9DDVKF06RSX2VND

[atavar]

Are these the one's?
http://www.amazon.com/Motorbike-Motorcycle-Excavator-Bulldozer-Courtyard/dp/B00E0LI09S/ref=pd_sim_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41vEXFJ9ONL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1RGSZ9DDVKF06RSX2
Different vendor, but they look the same.  Click on the first picture of my post to link to the Amazon page for the ones I got.

[rodekyll]

The one consistency in LED and HID lighting is the blatant lying in the promotional material.  The sellers have no regard for either truth or plausibility.  Check out a pair of 30w LED spotlights closely:  It's 30w COMBINED DRAW on your electrical system, not 30w output per bulb (watts output is meainingless, but the legacy comparative we understand), as you'd expect from honest packaging.  In other words, a 30w kit contains the same dies we're discussing here -- they're using the consumption figure as an output value.  Another big lie is the light's service life.  They claim 22 years or somesuch nonsense.  I say nonsense because if you chase the asterisk to the footnote it says "Lasts 22 years if used 10 minutes per day" or some equally weasely disclaimer.  Finally, the suitability as 'outdoor' lighting often assumes (in the footnote) that you've got the light inside and protected from the elements and it just shines toward the outdoors.  Not so good on a motorcycle.

I have 35w HID lights that also claim 1800 lumens.  I can guarantee you they don't do that well, and I absolutely guarantee you that they'll bleach out any 10w LED die you've got.

[Chuck in Indiana]

It isn't right, but it is a basic truth. "Salesmen have a license to lie." 

[drlapo]

I have the same lights on my Tiger.
I used bicycle reflector mounts to mount them on the engine guards.
Total investment with switch is $26.

[charlie b]

Until those things got cheaper I could beat the price with my flashlights (3 for $20 at Costco).  But, have to factor in the voltage reducer I had to make for them to work with the bike and the two pipe clamps I used for mounting :)

Yep, LED sellers lie about almost everything.