Motolights

[ralwhite]

I've been looking into auxiliary lights for my 1200RT. I'm considering Motolights' LED lights which have a smaller housing and can be mounted in the fairing and the 50 watt halogen lights. I've read a lot of posts highly praising the LED's but I have also stumbled into some criticism alleging that the LED lights cause interference problems with BMW bike radio systems. I called Motolights this morning and spoke with a very friendly chap who has been with the company over 10 years and claimed that he has never come across this issue. I also spoke to a BMW Motorrad dealer (who shall remain unnamed) who claims the LED lights do not work with BMW radios because of interference. Has anyone heard about this? My interest in aux lighting is more for increased vision for pot holes, cracks and other road hazards at night and less for visibility by others. Assuming the same beam spread, am I correct in thinking that LED's are more suited for visibility by others and halogens work better for illuminating the road surface?

 

[lkraus]

I cannot think of any way that LED (light emitting diode) lights could cause radio frequency interference. The electronic ballasts used with some HID (high intensity discharge) lamps might cause RFI, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule and can probably be dealt with by using quality units, relocating the ballast and/or adding an RFI filter. Both LED and HID lights are different from halogen lamps. I tend to think of potholes and cracks as items to be avoided at close range, so any of these three types of lamps could work for your purposes.

 

[LngRdr]

I've got the the high output LED Motolights and don't notice any radio interference. Not that the new RT's have a stellar radio but that's another subject.

 

[ralwhite]

I contacted Motolight again this morning and was assured that the latest generation high output LED lights do not cause radio problems. I think some of the older ones did. However the high output LED bulbs do not fit into their mini housing so they can't be mounted within the fairing on a 1200RT. A caliper mount is probably better anyway. I'm still considering all options. I'm just a little leery whether LED lights will be the best choice.

 

[smartin108]

I cannot think of any way that LED (light emitting diode) lights could cause radio frequency interference. The electronic ballasts used with some HID (high intensity discharge) lamps might cause RFI, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule and can probably be dealt with by using quality units, relocating the ballast and/or adding an RFI filter. Both LED and HID lights are different from halogen lamps. I tend to think of potholes and cracks as items to be avoided at close range, so any of these three types of lamps could work for your purposes.

The only possible interference I can think of is if the LED's are dimmable. The dimmer circuitry would vary the pulse width at a frequency that MIGHT cause an issue.