I've found a 30W H4 LED bulb that works well in the Vectrix. It's a drop in replacement and gives a very similar beam pattern to the original bulb.
It is far brighter and illuminates the road much better than the original.
This is the second LED bulb I have tried, the first one was quite bulky with a cooling fan, and didn't give the correct beam pattern.
The beam pattern from original filament bulb, dipped and full
The new LED bulb
I have installed the DIY ICM software so I don't get the flashing dash board indicator .
Yeah they are a copy of a copy the Philips X-Treme Ultinon one, but the heatsinking is inadequate. I tested them for a while before going to a HID projector.
Discussed in depth here - https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/leds/64558-testing-the-cn360-h4-led-headlight-bulb-philips-x-treme-ult...
That said, the original beam pattern is woeful on these headlights - no width and patchy. With the LED its now brighter, narrow and patchy. I've got a HID projector retrofit on the car, and am used to much, much better lighting.
I'm looking at something very different to these - there is a H4 HID Bixenon micro projector that beats the pants off these. With a decent ballast (I'm using a DLT F3 fastbright) they are brighter than the (2) halogen projectors on the wife's Mazda 3. Good width (you can see off to the sides of the road now) and a decent highbeam.
These are the little buggers here - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131931245027?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=431273051742&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
The beamshots in the auction are legit. They are far, far brighter than they have any right to be. Leaves halogen and LED (and HID H4 kit bulbs) in the dark. I'll post some photos showing each bulb, with lux readings as well when I get a chance.
Ah interesting, these are working well for me, maybe I'm riding in a cooler climate.
Those Xenon buggers are 55W, what is the maximum the DC/DC can tolerate.I understood it was quite low powered so didn't want to go over the original rating.
Yeah it tends to test things out here in Aus - I had problems with them strobing on hot days/afternoons.
The Xenon bulbs can be run on a 35W ballast - 55W would be pushing it on the stock 150W DC DC converter I agree. I'm using a 35W ballast, I think 55W would be risking heat damage to the headlight.
Haven't even got the bike blue slipped yet (Would you believe they've held the bike for 8 days now, and now want it until tomorrow? Not sure I'm ever going to use Sydney City Motorcycles again.), but I'm already thinking about mods.
The search facility is really difficult to use here, but from what I have read, is that changing the bulbs often triggers a warning on the dash. But I couldn't find any conditions about what makes it trigger (lower load? higher load? what difference?) and when you need to reflash to mask the warning.
I had noticed that the headlight was pretty... underwhelming, and is likely to be one of the mods I'd like to do first. Any tips?
Thanks.
Yes...install an LED and a modified ICM that stops the dash light flashing. You can even get cruise control!
I fitted similar to this
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/80W-8000LM-KIT-H4-HB2-9003-Hi-Lo-HID-White-6000K-Car-CREE-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-x2-/281781827096?hash=i...
actually, these are the exact ones.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/80W-8000LM-Kit-Car-CREE-LED-Headlight-Bulbs-H4-HB2-9003-Hi-Lo-Beam-6000K-Pair-/281724136831?hash=item...
I ended up making a dummy load using some resistors and a heatsink from Jaycar - its outlined in another thread about LED lighting.
Cool. So whatever the power drawn is, add additional load to get to at least 35W, and it shouldn't complain. Good to know.
Just picked up the new plates an hour ago. All good to go now.
Better save energy and install ICM code from Fran.
That firmware solves the blinking light problem.
I'm using one of these ones:
Doesn't have active cooling and it's of type "all in one piece" (driver is included in the lamp)