LED headlight alignment

Butterthebean

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
86
Location
Temple, TX
I installed a pair of LED headlight bulbs today. LASFIT H7 3800 lumens (per bulb) from Amazon for $34.99. Here's a link. Installation was super easy. Just pull the silver retainment ring off the LED bulb and put it into place within the headlight bezel. Secure it with the retaining clip that's already there. Slide in the LED bulb and plug it in. Instantaneous super bright headlights.

I played around a little with the orientation of the bulbs.... LED chips facing side to side vs LED chips facing up and down. I like the side to side better. Both give about the same amount of light down the road on both high and low beam. But the side to side give a huge wide pattern of light across the road. More than covering from curb to curb. With the chips facing up and down, it was more of a circular pattern right in front of the bike that was wide enough, but not near as wide as the side to side. Seeing as both alignments gave the same amount of light down stream, I went with the side to side. I took a couple pics showing what each orientation looks like on both high and low on the street. My camera couldn't even take a wide enough pic to capture the width of the pattern with the side to side orientation. To give an even better demonstration, I took the same pics in front of the garage door. It really shows how different the pattern is.

One other big difference you can really see up against the garage door is the very sharp cutoff at the top of the light pattern with the bulb oriented side to side. The up and down orientation is less abrupt, but I think that's a good thing to prevent blinding on coming traffic (which is common amongst vehicles that have had LED's put in that weren't meant to have them.)

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bnschroder

2014 Super Tenere ES
Joined
Nov 17, 2014
Messages
559
Location
Atlanta
How about doing one up/down and one side/side? I put LEDs in my bike but didn't think I could rotate the bulbs, but now I need to try, though I got a different, similarly cheap, version.
 

kingfisher

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Messages
58
Location
oklahoma
Do the caps fit back on over the back side of the bulbs, or do you have to leave them off due to the size and wiring connection and need for cooling?
 

Travex

Lost is my destination.
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
832
Location
Western New York State
Nice post and pics... Thanks. Waiting for a pair of LED lamps on the slow boat. In the meanwhile, realizing the ones I bought wouldn't fit using the stock caps, I ordered and quickly received a pair of deftoner's 3D-printed extended caps. Great product and excellent representation. I'll be going side to side and I appreciate your illustrating pics.
 

WJBertrand

Ventura Highway
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
4,516
Location
Ventura, CA
Not understanding how you guys are rotating them? The base flange on the Cyclops only clips into the headlight assembly one way and then the bulb locks into the base flange with a directional bayonet type lock. It also only goes in one way. Both bulbs have the emitters at a diagonal rather than vertical or horizontal.

Are you forcing the bulb to fit into the base flange outside of the bayonet locks or force fitting the base flange into the headlight assembly outside its intended orientation?


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Butterthebean

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
86
Location
Temple, TX
Not understanding how you guys are rotating them? The base flange on the Cyclops only clips into the headlight assembly one way and then the bulb locks into the base flange with a directional bayonet type lock. It also only goes in one way. Both bulbs have the emitters at a diagonal rather than vertical or horizontal.

Are you forcing the bulb to fit into the base flange outside of the bayonet locks or force fitting the base flange into the headlight assembly outside its intended orientation?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
With this and many other LED lights, the bulb slides out of the base flange. It's a snug press fit but can be pulled out. You install the base flange the way the OEM bulb was oriented, but then insert the bulb whatever orientation you see fit. I don't know about the cyclops but you might check it to see if it's the same.
 

Cycledude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
3,997
Location
Rib lake wi
Cyclops claims the tab on the bulb should be in the 7 o’clock position. As far as I can tell Yamaha did not design the headlights with a specific position for the tab to fit into , in my opinion that’s just another one of the reasons there are so many complaints about lousy Tenere headlights, on my Honda Goldwing which uses the exact same H7 bulbs the bulbs only fit one way and the head lights work waaaaaay better.
 

WJBertrand

Ventura Highway
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
4,516
Location
Ventura, CA
With this and many other LED lights, the bulb slides out of the base flange. It's a snug press fit but can be pulled out. You install the base flange the way the OEM bulb was oriented, but then insert the bulb whatever orientation you see fit. I don't know about the cyclops but you might check it to see if it's the same.
Thanks for the reply. In the case of the cyclops bulbs the fit of the bulb into the base flange is controlled by tabs on the bulb that follow grooves on the flange and then rotate a few degrees to lock, it's not just a press fit. I assumed the other bulbs were of similar design but maybe that's not the case. The Cyclops bulbs will not fit into the flange without the tabs and slots aligned without forcing them. I wouldn't feel the bulbs were very secure if only press fitted, what with vibration, road impacts and thermal changes.

Cyclops claims the tab on the bulb should be in the 7 o’clock position. As far as I can tell Yamaha did not design the headlights with a specific position for the tab to fit into , in my opinion that’s just another one of the reasons there are so many complaints about lousy Tenere headlights, on my Honda Goldwing which uses the exact same H7 bulbs the bulbs only fit one way and the head lights work waaaaaay better.
My experience is different. I could not get conventional bulbs or the LED adapter flanges to seat fully flat without aligning the tab with the recess in the headlight assembly which is at ~7:00. Seemed very clear to me what Yamaha intended as both OEM bulbs were located that way.

Based on these two responses, in one case the bulb is rotated within the flange and in the other case the flange and bulb are rotated together relative to the headlight assembly.
 

Butterthebean

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Messages
86
Location
Temple, TX
[QUOTE="
My experience is different. I could not get conventional bulbs or the LED adapter flanges to seat fully flat without aligning the tab with the recess in the headlight assembly which is at ~7:00. Seemed very clear to me what Yamaha intended as both OEM bulbs were located that way.

Based on these two responses, in one case the bulb is rotated within the flange and in the other case the flange and bulb are rotated together relative to the headlight assembly.[/QUOTE]


That was exactly what I saw as well. The tab has to be in the 7oclock position to seat properly. Whoever installed my old halogen bulbs did not do that. They were just in there haphazardly and the clip was holding them in, albeit they wiggled badly and I could see the beam bouncing as I rode down the road. These bulbs are solid. No bouncing.

Also....yes...I've bought some CREE LED bulbs previously for another bike and they were fitted to the flange so they had to be oriented a certain way...but those were the pyramid shaped LED's. They could go in 2 ways rotated 180 degrees from each other. But if you put them in upside down and hit the high beams, it just roasted the ground right in front of the tire.

I was also a little concerned about these bulbs vibrating out of the flange so after I was satisfied with the way they fit I put a dab of heat resistant adhesive on the base of the bulb where it slides into the flange. I'll still be able to remove the bulbs, I'll just have to remove the whole flange like other bulbs.
 
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