LED headlight conversion? vs HID kit? R100RS

[ricochetrider]

Looking to upgrade my 89 R100RS headlight and also to reduce electrical usage (as a side benefit,not the primary objective). Was reading some talk about Native (brand?) LED bulbs, and somebody piped up saying Denali has as complete plug-&-play LED headlight insert, their M7
scroll down the page:

http://www.denalielectronics.com

This looks like a great idea! But I've read that LEDs need to be cooled, that some full units such as this come with small cooling fans, read stories about fan failures.... plug-&-play bulb kits need space, apparently, which may or may not be available... All this leads me to wonder if this LED technology needs to be better sorted? If it needs just a little more time before it's "just right"? (as an aside, I have a high output Surefire LED flashlight I use for work and that sucker gets HOT QUICK) Obviously, inside the shell, inside the RS fairing body and behind the glass there's going to be just about zero airflow.

Meanwhile, back at the proverbial ranch, HID kits are "old" technology by now, probably a dime a dozen and not expensive. (vs 429.00 for the Denali M7 replacement headlight unit)
I guess the ballast requires some fitment, but all or most is known about the HID kits... yes?

Anyone gone down the LED rabbit hole yet?
Anyone running HID kits in an R100RS?

Your knowledge & experience, &/or opinions welcome.

Thanks.
Have a great day.
Tom

 

[franko]

Hi Tom: You might find some info here, https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthrea...-replacement&p=1067886&highlight=#post1067886 As has been stated in the thread, yours is a Mono shock, probably not many wires in the headlight shell.

 

[20774]

Then there's this:

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?83876-R100GS-headlight

Found that by click on the link below to the tag cloud.

 

[robsryder]

I have an LED headlight in my 77 R100RS. It has a claimed 1000 lumen [lm] output low beam and 1200 lm for high beam. The bulb was a direct replacement for the incandescent bulb (the part with three tabs is removed from the bulb and secured with the wire clips, then the bulb is inserted and given a slight twist). The bulb that I am using has a braided mesh heat sink and was obtained from Superbrightleds. The bulb works well and provides good illumination of the road and is quite visible from the front of the bike. A link is below, although this bulb is no longer offered by this company.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-with-flexible-tinned-copper-braid/2221/4993/

Following is an offering of a H4 bulb with the braided mesh heat sink from Amazon, but the claimed light output is about 4000 lm with a power consumption of 36 W. This is much brighter than I am using. I tried a 4000 lm bulb in another bike and it was so bright that on-coming drivers flashed their lights at me and one guy (that I chatted with later) said that he was blinded by the light and could not see. I subsequently returned to the 1000 lm bulb.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NADD02E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Following is an offering for a H4 LED bulb with the fan-cooled heat sink inside the headlight reflector that has a claimed output of 2000 lm and uses 20 W. I will experiment with this bulb in several bikes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C1AOSVS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

On my 77RS, I am also using 2 running lights attached to the front forks. These lights have a claimed output of 1800 lm (combined ?) and a power consumption of 10 W each. Link for these follow -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VL4H78W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[ricochetrider]

Thanks guys!
FWIW, I did make an attempt to search for threads on this before posting.... Alas, I failed miserably it seems! But the provided links do "illuminate" the LED situation quite nicely, thanks very much -and pardon the pun!