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Best H7 Bulb?

C

craydds

Member
My H7 low beam is out again. It has happened twice. Both times I was on a closed course, riding cone patterns all day, i.e., slow riding, little airflow. I am assuming that heat killed the H7's. Just a guess, but what else could it be? Replacing the bulb is a PITA. Does anyone have a recommendation for a tough, heat resistant, long lasting, H7 low beam bulb?
 
I have had them last a year and I have had them last 2.5 miles. I surmise it’s luck.
OM
 
Sylvania Silverstar have always worked well for me.
I assume you know NOT to handle the bulb with bare fingers. Even a bit of oil on the bulb will cause it to fail prematurely.
 
craydds said:
My H7 low beam is out again. It has happened twice. Both times I was on a closed course, riding cone patterns all day, i.e., slow riding, little airflow. I am assuming that heat killed the H7's. Just a guess, but what else could it be? Replacing the bulb is a PITA. Does anyone have a recommendation for a tough, heat resistant, long lasting, H7 low beam bulb?
Click to expand...

If you have owned your 2019 three or four years two bulbs in that time sounds about right.
 
Thanks for the input, my amigos. I had a Sylvania SilverStar in my toolbox, so I installed it. Ordered an Osram Night Breaker from Wunderlich so I'll have a spare bulb, just in case.
 
I must have the best H7 bulb in my 2003 K1200RS ever made. It's the original bulb and now that I've bragged about it, it's sure to fail on my next ride. :brow
 
Geeze... the original H7 low-beam factory bulb in my 1150RT lasted a bit over 50,000 miles. A cop in Montana actually pulled a U-turn just to stop me and tell me it was out! He confirmed that it would be OK for me to ride with the modulated high beam until I got to the Sturgis shop (Missoula was the wrong direction for me). Other on-coming m/c riders waved frantically; guess they didn't know the law or just thought I didn't know.
Got another "BMW" bulb and it's lasted about 40,000 miles so far, but I've installed a LED there just for the current savings, and keep the "old" bulb in a padded film canister as my spare.

Two things generally kill bulbs (and other electrical things) - heat and vibration; "spikes" at turn-on or a poor voltage regulator may also be contributors.
 
My 02R1150RT also went for many sMiles before replacement (which was easy) but my 14R1200RT went through bulbs about at 10,000 miles and a real bitch to change, the Philips long life did the best. I had enough of that and went LED...
 
I was out riding last night and I had the thought again how really poorly the low beam lights the road on this bike, a 14 1200RT. High is really very good, but low just not lighting the road well and I have the osram bulb in it and it’s on the third h7 already so I am pretty good at changing them out.

Not too sure if I just live with it, try the led route or just get a set of aux lights, which is what I did with my 03 k1200gt and found them very helpful.
 
davemoto said:
I was out riding last night and I had the thought again how really poorly the low beam lights the road on this bike, a 14 1200RT. High is really very good, but low just not lighting the road well and I have the osram bulb in it and it’s on the third h7 already so I am pretty good at changing them out.

Not too sure if I just live with it, try the led route or just get a set of aux lights, which is what I did with my 03 k1200gt and found them very helpful.
Click to expand...

I have upgraded to LEDs in the two K75s and still need to do the K1 and K1200RS. I don't do much night lighting but the LED bulbs in the K75s are amazing! Much like installing driving lights. However, it took me several tries to get there. Headlights are designed around the filament placement in the bulb. Most LED replacements do not correctly duplicate the filament position so you get a very bright light (sometimes going in the wrong directions) but not a lot more visibility. I was able to find a correctly designed LED H4 replacement and was much, much better than the three other designs I tried first.
 
Pauls1150 said:
Two things generally kill bulbs (and other electrical things) - heat and vibration; "spikes" at turn-on or a poor voltage regulator may also be contributors.
Click to expand...
Seems like the H4 bulbs in my R90S have lasted a very long time. I use a very high watt - supposedly "illegal" - bulb. The H4 is powered directly from the battery using the Eastern Beaver relays - https://easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html . On my R1250RT I've gone through two H7 bulbs within a relatively short time period.
 
craydds said:
Seems like the H4 bulbs in my R90S have lasted a very long time. I use a very high watt - supposedly "illegal" - bulb. The H4 is powered directly from the battery using the Eastern Beaver relays - https://easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html . On my R1250RT I've gone through two H7 bulbs within a relatively short time period.
Click to expand...

I've some experience with the Eastern Beaver headlight relay setup, and it deserves probably most of the credit for the long life of your bulb. Halogen bulbs need at least 12v to generate enough heat to vaporize from and redeposit material on the filament. I've not seen a BMW airhead stock headlight wiring which supplied 12v to the headlight, but the Eastern Beaver kit does, which also makes the headlight brighter. The example I saw was a dramatic improvement.
 
On the average, The RT's low beam H-7 last me about 15k mi. After it quite scaring me, I have memorized the little icon along with the yellow ! triangle, and just run the high beams, until I have a day to need the mental frustration of working with one hand, blindly, and backwards while seated with my knees to my chin.
What is the LED replacement?
 
ramble said:
On the average, The RT's low beam H-7 last me about 15k mi. After it quite scaring me, I have memorized the little icon along with the yellow ! triangle, and just run the high beams, until I have a day to need the mental frustration of working with one hand, blindly, and backwards while seated with my knees to my chin.
What is the LED replacement?
Click to expand...

I chose this one, more expensive than some but came with many good reviews and I wasn't feeling lucky.

https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/48-Platinum-H7-LED-Headlight-Bulb_p_86.html
 
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