800 Lumen is how much?

[TwoSmokeDS]

Hi.
I want to blast down county dirt roads at night. My bike has some really awful aftermarket headlight. How bright is 800 Lumen LED light (12V battery powered) compared to a regular motorcycle headlight?

Like this...

Trail Tech Equinox LED lights are built rugged and off-road tough. This brand new LED technology outputs 800 lumens in a tight, well-designed form. Their focused, forward lighting allows extreme visibility in night-time conditions. They’re bright too; 800 lumens produce a lot of light. A button on the back swaps between high, medium and low output - allowing you to either conserve battery life or all-out assault the night. Hardened glass lenses, vibration isolation and machined aluminum bodies help them to have a hardy lifespan.
•Kit includes: One Black LED light, handlebar & flat surface mounts, & wire harness.
•Works with all Trail Tech's specialized mounts; Flat surface, solid post, handlebar or helmet.
•Switch between high, medium and low beam.
•800 Lumens.
•15° beam angle.
•Draw is 12w on high, 6w on medium, and 3w on low.

[hizzo3]

That is like asking how much power a gas engine makes.

Lots of things come into play. Beam pattern is most important. Efficiency is next (800 at the light source aka raw lumens vs usable lumens).

Considering I've done my fair share of back road riding at night. A helmet light would be nice, but you can't use it with oncoming traffic. I'd say upgrade your bikes forward lighting first (aka primaries) then move to aux lighting. Can you post a pic of your current lighting on your bike and I can give you a few pointers.

Lastly, what is your price range?

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[M38A1]

Picked this up from a Bimmer forum:
Source:
http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthr...t=74544&page=4

Stock H4/H1:
55W H4 low beam: 1000 lumens
60W H4 high beam: 1650 lumens
55W H1: 1550 lumens
Total low beam output: 2000 lumens
Total high beam output: 6400 lumens

+50% H4/H1:
55W H4 low beam: 1150 lumens
60W H4 high beam: 1900 lumens
55W H1: 1800 lumens
Total low beam output: 2300 lumens
Total high beam output: 7400 lumens

Rally bulbs:
90W H4 low beam: 1620 lumens
130W H4 high beam: 3250 lumens
130W H1: 3400 lumens (estimated)
Total low beam output: 3240 lumens
Total high beam output: 13300 lumens

HID:
35W HID: 3200 lumens
55W HID: 5000 lumens
Total low beam output (35W HID): 6400 lumens
Total high beam output (55W H1 + 35W HID): 9500 lumens

http://www.danielsternlighting.com
http://www.ddmtuning.com/products

The higher wattage rally bulbs are still no match for the raw light output of HIDs, but I went with rally bulbs for a few reasons:

- more natural light output characteristics
- increased high beam output
- stick with the appropriate bulb type the housing was designed for

[Anger]

Was going to say, 800 lumens at the specs you describe would make an excellent bicycling light for night purposes. 35 miles per hour. For a motorcycle, not so much.

[TwoSmokeDS]

Unfortunately, I don't have much to work with. The headlight is a cheapy $50 Polisport, and has a 35W incandescent bulb. It's not bright enough for fast and furious riding in the dark. The tail light is LED, and draw almost no current. The problem is the stator on my KDX is only good for about 40 watt. So, I am looking for something battery powerable to light up the dirt road for only about 2 hours. Hence, the 35mm Trail Tech 800 lumen light. And get 10 1.2V 2500mAh NIMH AA batteries, which should last 2 hours.

I would probably need to buy 2 of these lights. And carry 10 AA batteries per light. At $110 per light, it might not be a good idea afterall.

[jcyuhn]

Originally Posted by Anger

Was going to say, 800 lumens at the specs you describe would make an excellent bicycling light for night purposes. 35 miles per hour. For a motorcycle, not so much.

I agree. I have a 500 lumen LED headlight for my bicycle. It's fine for riding at 25MPH. But for something with a motor; I don't expect you will it to be enough light.

[hizzo3]

Originally Posted by TwoSmokeDS

Unfortunately, I don't have much to work with. The headlight is a cheapy $50 Polisport, and has a 35W incandescent bulb. It's not bright enough for fast and furious riding in the dark. The tail light is LED, and draw almost no current. The problem is the stator on my KDX is only good for about 40 watt. So, I am looking for something battery powerable to light up the dirt road for only about 2 hours. Hence, the 35mm Trail Tech 800 lumen light. And get 10 1.2V 2500mAh NIMH AA batteries, which should last 2 hours.

I would probably need to buy 2 of these lights. And carry 10 AA batteries per light. At $110 per light, it might not be a good idea afterall.

New Led head lamp conversions pull <25 watts and put out similar to HID. Reason being LED is more efficient converting raw to usable than HID.

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[focus frenzy]

Originally Posted by hizzo3

New Led head lamp conversions pull <25 watts and put out similar to HID. Reason being LED is more efficient converting raw to usable than HID.

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The truck lite LED headlight I have in my SV has two diodes and uses 26 watts on low and 52 watts on high, the HID system it replaced used under 30 watts but put out a lot more light.

The led is way more durable and should last way longer.


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[KenH]

Bad news. there is no cheap fix. I converted the 35W incandescent on the CB550 to HID with excellent results. It wasn't cheap, but it was well worth the money. Because lighting is a critical safety issue it really is foolish to cheap out on effective illumination. With only 40 watts to play, I'd lean towards an aftermarket H4 composite headlight with a "bi-xenon" 35W HID conversion.

Cheap HID conversions use a conventional element for high beam and HID only for low beam. The bi-xenon HIDs use either a movable reflector system or actually relocate the arc within the bulb to provide high and low beams. The reflector systems seem to be fragile. Those that actually move the arc seem to be more durable. I've run all three types on T-dub and the movable arc type is by far the best performer. T-dub comes with an H4 as OEM and was an easy upgrade. The TW headlight bulb also patterned very well (no spurious upward glare for oncoming drivers on low beam) with the bi-xenon type of conversion. The CB's aftermarket conversion headlight did not have quite the cut-off in low, but needed to be aimed lower on low beam to keep high beam properly aimed. Low beam was still many times better than the 35 watt incandescent.

HIDs come in other colors besides annoying blue. Color is described as "degrees Kelvin" or "Kelvin". The best performing color is white, which is in the 4300 to 4800 Kelvin range. Lower Kelvin numbers will be yellow to amber and function very well in fog lights. Higher Kelvin numbers will be blue to purple and do not provide as much illumination your eye can actually use. Tinted lights will illuminate objects that do not reflect the color of the bulb. With blue bulbs, red objects will look black or grey and will not show up well. White light includes a broader spectrum of light colors (there really is no such thing as "white" light) and will better illuminate a wider range of object colors.

Expect a 35W HID to provide 6-8 times as much illumination as your 35W incandescent. You will not regret your investment.

[hizzo3]

While many have gone the route of the h4 hid, I will express my concern regarding using this in a halogen reflector.
A std DOT approved halogen reflector is typically faceted instead of a continuous curve. This is done to put light at specific points in the beam pattern. A down side to this approach is that typically more light 'spills' over the cut off. The light spill is in direct relation to the lumen output of the bulb. That said, a DOT faceted reflector may only be 75% efficient at controlling the beam (for sake of argument and easy math). That means 25% of your light is scattered all over where you don't need it. For a halogen putting out 1000 lumen, that means 750 down road, 250 scattered, some of which goes into oncoming traffic. The ratio stays the same when you move to a HID bulb. 3200k bulbs toss out 2800 lumens at 35 watt (YMMV depending on more factors than I can list). We'll round this to 3,000 lumen for sake of easy math. That is 2,250 lumens down road :thumbup:. However that is also 750 lumen scattered. Looking at he halogen output, you might as well be driving with your highs on while driving at night. This is why you get dazzled at night by some of oncoming traffic with the h4 HIDs. Using a wave type reflector (continuous curve) will reduce this glare/scatter, but it will still be present. There are only a handful of DOT approved reflectors. This is why some that go to H4 HID go back to halogen. The glare impacts your night vision. More on this later.

Solution: retrofit! By using a DOT approved projector, with an approved D2S bulb will not create the same glare effect. Also, you will be DOT legal and won't have to worry about state cut down on the issue. Cali is doing is, and Texas is teaching for it (my brother just completed his inspector training, essentially, if you find a ballast and not a projector = fail). Also in favor of the projector argument, they are more efficient with where they put the light.

I think I may put together a lighting thread to cover all of this with data.

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[KenH]

Hizzo, it is true that later H4 OEM and conversion lamps throw light above the cutoff. Some government dipstick thought this necessary to illuminate overhead signs on hoghways even though other regs prohibit radiation above the cutoff on low beam. Then the government required the backwards 6-shape lighting pattern many vehicles are cursed with today--the roght side of the pattern throws a tall beam and only the left side of the pattern has any cutoff at all. These headlights suck because you cannot see anything in the first lane to the left when on low beam untill withing a few yards. Typical government.

The TW does not have the sign illuminating feature and projects a very sharp cutoff all the way across. The ancient Hella lamp on the 550 is the same way but has a wider angle between high and low beam. The more contemporary retrofit lamps with plastic lenses all suck. Some HID work lights only have a single beam but do have a flat cutoff and would makle great low beams if properly aimed.

I expect most states already have regulations regarding extraneous illumination above the horizontal on low beam. Enforce the regulations alteady on the books rather than create another bunch of laws that will be no better enforced than requiring effective mufflers.

[hizzo3]

Cali will issue tickets for anything questionable. Then again they have more of a tuner issue than we do here. Essentially you can't do anything to your car out there unless it has stamps galore.

To the OP:
I still think the trucklite 7" round sealed beam is your best option given the amount of wattage you have. According to the datasheet, it will fit your application 'just right'. CRI rating of LED is better than HID too, so the light thrown will work better with the eyes. Plus then you won't have to run into the 'crap my waist pack battery died' and limp it home.

HID will usually pull 42-48 watts for a 35 watt bulb unless you get a modified ballast, but then the build will be at a lesser wattage too.

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[KenH]

There are now a couple different LED replacement lamps. Most pull about 35w on low, 50+W on high. Prices run $250+ just for the lamp. Expensive, but might be the last headlight you'll ever buy. The polycarbonate lenses are practically indestructable. Truck-Lite was the original, but there are now competitors. I've seen 7-inch round and the large rectangular lamps.

You could use your stock headlight for low beam and a couple LED driving lights for high beam blasting down the dirt roads. Could be a cheaper alternative.

[hizzo3]

He only has 40 watts to play with on his KDX

Truck lite 7" round. 46 watts on high. 24 on low.
Put on a voltmeter to make sure you aren't over drawing. Depending on what dash lights you have, you could swap to led to save a few watts to dump into forward lighting. I assume you've already looked for stator/rectifier mods to squeeze out a bit more?

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs...2025&langId=-1

Watts = amps × volts. That is why on he truck lite as volts go up amps go down. It has a good regulator for the LEDs inside



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[KenH]

Hizzo, your link is not the same Truck-Lite LEDs I have. Must be a newer , more efficient version with such low current draw.

[focus frenzy]

the current phase seven (7th revision) truck lite LED has some problems I discovered actualy running one.

while truck lite sells them for motorcycle use (the kuriakin is a truck lite) they were not designed for use on a motorcycle the light pattern is questionable for a car. on low beam it puts out a very wide rectangular pattern with layered levels of brightness. the extra wide pattern cuts down on the amount of light straight ahead. it also has a sharp cut off off of dead center, you lean the bike over to go around more than a slight curve and you loose light in the curve. in a car two together would produce nice light.

now on highbeam when the second mega LED is on the light output is good because both LED are on and you have a blend of this low wide low beam and the narrow long throw high beam together for good coverage.

the HID system I used to have on the bike was selected after much research and still required modification to get to work correctly. its light output pattern very closely matched the stock halogen with the exception of the light out to the sides was better with the HID and on high beam it threw enormous light down the road a long ways.
the cut off line on low was the same.

the HID lamp I used was the two position one that uses a electromagnet to move the lamp between the exact same spots the light comes from in a halogen lamp and that is key when selecting a HID kit. most of the ones people use are generic single beam and the position of the lamp is not in the same spot as the filament in the stock halogen lamp and they end up with poor light on the road and irate oncoming blinded drivers.

[BexarWolf]

Originally Posted by TwoSmokeDS

Unfortunately, I don't have much to work with. The headlight is a cheapy $50 Polisport, and has a 35W incandescent bulb. It's not bright enough for fast and furious riding in the dark. The tail light is LED, and draw almost no current. The problem is the stator on my KDX is only good for about 40 watt. So, I am looking for something battery powerable to light up the dirt road for only about 2 hours. Hence, the 35mm Trail Tech 800 lumen light. And get 10 1.2V 2500mAh NIMH AA batteries, which should last 2 hours.

I would probably need to buy 2 of these lights. And carry 10 AA batteries per light. At $110 per light, it might not be a good idea afterall.

http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hst...met/Detail.bok

1000 Lumen Cree XML-T6 LED
50,000 Hour LED life
180 minute run time on High Beam (100%), 6 hrs on mid, and 12 hrs on low with included 8.4v battery pack
Can also be powered by your vehicles 12v system (requires wiring harness)*
4 Modes: High, Medium, Low and Flash
Multiple settings makes it perfect for night rides at your favorite trail or as a safety light for your evening commute
Can be mounted on your handlebars,crashbars or your helmet with included hardware
Illuminated Switch makes it a snap to turn on your light in the dark
100% waterproof (not just water resistant like similar lights on the market)
Just 388 grams (Light Head(133g /4.5oz), Battery Pack and Battery Mounting Bag(255g/ 9 oz))
Set Includes LED Light Head , Battery , Charger , Handlebar Mount and Helmet Mount with Strap
Durable Black Anodized Finish
1 Year Warranty

[Mellow]

The new Baja Design SIIs are looking very nice... 900 lumens per LED..

http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/139959/b351ff3d64/ARCHIVE