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fitted new headlights


KAMIKAZE

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hey guys

 

was keen on a bit of night riding so i thought i would fit some new headlights to the shee

 

the lights are led spotlights 25W each (8 leds in each)

took just under an hour from start to finish to fit these lights

 

few small mods required, i trimmed the bottom of the light and the tops of the factory light mount so they bolted up to the factory spot and using the factory mount

i also used the plug of the stock lights

no more high/low just on or off now but that doesnt matter

 

lights were only $50 each and i like the look of them, there also only about 2inch thick

 

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i tried to get a pic of them in the dark pointing up the street but its raining now so thats not happening

when the bike idles they do flicker a touch but after a few revs they are bright as fuck

took it for a small spin up the road and they work mint, all in all for $100 bucks super happy with the result and time/effort taken to fit

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Did you do the dc conversion?

X2. If not, they won't last very long at all...

 

Those lights are available on eBay for relatively inexpensively. The problem with them (1) optics quality, and (2) they are all 3w LED's, which are less efficient than high power LED's.

 

I had a set of those in Euro beam here for testing, and I found that they were VERY bright, but didn't quite throw the light the distance I wanted. I had a difficulty finding the lights in anything other than a flood pattern. What I did find in a Euro was too "flood-y" if that makes sense. I bet they'd do good in tight trails and stuff where you don't need to project light 100yards or so.

 

 

Edit: If you didn't do the DC Conversion, let us know how long they last. I'm not being a dick, I'm honestly curious to see how long they last. I've never had the balls to run my LED lights on AC current...

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X2. If not, they won't last very long at all...

 

Those lights are available on eBay for relatively inexpensively. The problem with them (1) optics quality, and (2) they are all 3w LED's, which are less efficient than high power LED's.

 

I had a set of those in Euro beam here for testing, and I found that they were VERY bright, but didn't quite throw the light the distance I wanted. I had a difficulty finding the lights in anything other than a flood pattern. What I did find in a Euro was too "flood-y" if that makes sense. I bet they'd do good in tight trails and stuff where you don't need to project light 100yards or so.

 

 

Edit: If you didn't do the DC Conversion, let us know how long they last. I'm not being a dick, I'm honestly curious to see how long they last. I've never had the balls to run my LED lights on AC current...

 

ive had an LED tail light on my banshee for a few years now, well before i ever did the dc conversion. it flickers a bit at idle but otherwise no issues.

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Nah I didn't do the dc conversion just chucked them on to see how I go

If they blow i will just get some more no big deal ha ha

 

As for the light they do the job for exactly what I need and there cheap enough to not worry if they get broken or damaged

 

I guess I will update after a few rides b see what's happened

 

What do you think will happen Matt they will just pop one by one or the lights will just shit them selves straight away?

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Nah I didn't do the dc conversion just chucked them on to see how I go

If they blow i will just get some more no big deal ha ha

 

As for the light they do the job for exactly what I need and there cheap enough to not worry if they get broken or damaged

 

I guess I will update after a few rides b see what's happened

 

What do you think will happen Matt they will just pop one by one or the lights will just shit them selves straight away?

burst into flames. Take out your whole electrical system, then turn your banshee into a blaster.

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ive had an LED tail light on my banshee for a few years now, well before i ever did the dc conversion. it flickers a bit at idle but otherwise no issues.

The LED's used in tail lights are typically <1/2w. Low power LED's generally are fine on AC current since they don't produce any heat.

 

Nah I didn't do the dc conversion just chucked them on to see how I go

If they blow i will just get some more no big deal ha ha

 

As for the light they do the job for exactly what I need and there cheap enough to not worry if they get broken or damaged

 

I guess I will update after a few rides b see what's happened

 

What do you think will happen Matt they will just pop one by one or the lights will just shit them selves straight away?

Exactly! Thanks for being the guinea pig for us. :rotflmao:

 

AC current alternates back and forth. If you imagine a hose filled with water, and it's sloshing back and forth. That's AC current. DC current is water flow in one direction only. LED's by definition are diodes. (Light Emitting Diode). Diodes, by design, only react when electricity flows in a single direction. When LED's are powered with AC current, they are actually flashing. They're flashing fast enough that the human eye can't see it, though. Typically HOUSEHOLD AC current (in the US) is 110vac @ 60hz. That means it's passing by the diode 120 times per second (Back and forth). Naturally, since LED's only "ignite" in a single direction, the lights flash at a rate of 60hz.

 

There is some discrepancy about how many "hertz" the human eye can see, and often times it is quoted in FPS (Frames Per Second) rather than Hz. A common number you will find is 25-35 FPS. That being said, an LED powered by 60hz of AC current flashes twice as fast on average, than the human eye can distinguish. A common rule of thumb is "brightness beats darkness". Meaning, even though the human eye can see ~25 FPS, you will still be able to see a light flashed ONCE for 1/200th(200hz) of a second. Ive heard some people even say you can see a light flash for 1/1000th (1000hz) of a second, and I don't doubt it one bit.

 

Now, being that the Banshee stator fires it's electronic pulses at varying speeds based on RPM; at idle, you are probably seeing 15-20hz of electronic pulses. The Banshee stator has 6 poles on the stator designated to the lighting circuit. These poles make up one half of the stator (We'll call it the right side). The left side of the stator is made up of the ignition circuit. If Yamaha had alternated the poles, ie (ignition, light, ignition, light, ignition, light, etc) the frequency at which the magnet passed over each pole, it would have increased the hz, or frequency electricity is transmitted. Since the lighting circuit is only HALF of the stator, it's got half of a rotation with NOTHING going to it, slowing down the pulses of electricity. The power produced by your stator alternates between ignition, and lighting every rotation.

 

Even after converting to DC current, you will still get pulsing DC current, because of the issues I noted above. This is called "Dirty DC current". The only surefire cure for this is to run some sort of buffer between the stator, and the lights. A battery or capacitor, for example, would store up enough energy to slowly and steadily release power to your lights, and completely eliminate the flicker that you see at idle.

 

 

Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone... I tried to put everything into terms that most people could understand.

 

 

 

 

About your lights blowing up, they'll probably just burn out in a relatively short time. I've powered several of my 3w individual LED's when I was trying to build a tail light without a DC conversion, and they last about 15 minutes of riding. Once the RPMs came up, and stayed up, they overheated and smoked themselves.

 

Hopefully you have much better luck. It'd be pretty cool if those lights work on AC, because I can get them VERY cheap, and can probably keep them in stock for less than $40 per light.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The LED's used in tail lights are typically <1/2w. Low power LED's generally are fine on AC current since they don't produce any heat.

 

 

Exactly! Thanks for being the guinea pig for us. :rotflmao:

 

AC current alternates back and forth. If you imagine a hose filled with water, and it's sloshing back and forth. That's AC current. DC current is water flow in one direction only. LED's by definition are diodes. (Light Emitting Diode). Diodes, by design, only react when electricity flows in a single direction. When LED's are powered with AC current, they are actually flashing. They're flashing fast enough that the human eye can't see it, though. Typically HOUSEHOLD AC current (in the US) is 110vac @ 60hz. That means it's passing by the diode 120 times per second (Back and forth). Naturally, since LED's only "ignite" in a single direction, the lights flash at a rate of 60hz.

 

There is some discrepancy about how many "hertz" the human eye can see, and often times it is quoted in FPS (Frames Per Second) rather than Hz. A common number you will find is 25-35 FPS. That being said, an LED powered by 60hz of AC current flashes twice as fast on average, than the human eye can distinguish. A common rule of thumb is "brightness beats darkness". Meaning, even though the human eye can see ~25 FPS, you will still be able to see a light flashed ONCE for 1/200th(200hz) of a second. Ive heard some people even say you can see a light flash for 1/1000th (1000hz) of a second, and I don't doubt it one bit.

 

Now, being that the Banshee stator fires it's electronic pulses at varying speeds based on RPM; at idle, you are probably seeing 15-20hz of electronic pulses. The Banshee stator has 6 poles on the stator designated to the lighting circuit. These poles make up one half of the stator (We'll call it the right side). The left side of the stator is made up of the ignition circuit. If Yamaha had alternated the poles, ie (ignition, light, ignition, light, ignition, light, etc) the frequency at which the magnet passed over each pole, it would have increased the hz, or frequency electricity is transmitted. Since the lighting circuit is only HALF of the stator, it's got half of a rotation with NOTHING going to it, slowing down the pulses of electricity. The power produced by your stator alternates between ignition, and lighting every rotation.

 

Even after converting to DC current, you will still get pulsing DC current, because of the issues I noted above. This is called "Dirty DC current". The only surefire cure for this is to run some sort of buffer between the stator, and the lights. A battery or capacitor, for example, would store up enough energy to slowly and steadily release power to your lights, and completely eliminate the flicker that you see at idle.

 

 

Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone... I tried to put everything into terms that most people could understand.

 

 

 

 

About your lights blowing up, they'll probably just burn out in a relatively short time. I've powered several of my 3w individual LED's when I was trying to build a tail light without a DC conversion, and they last about 15 minutes of riding. Once the RPMs came up, and stayed up, they overheated and smoked themselves.

 

Hopefully you have much better luck. It'd be pretty cool if those lights work on AC, because I can get them VERY cheap, and can probably keep them in stock for less than $40 per light.

 

props for the very informative explanation :clap: now i feel smart..........:wacko:

Edited by shakar
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