Driving Lights

[DennisJ]

Received the light brackets from Garauld yesterday. Hella FF50's and Eastern Beaver PC-8 still on the way. Looking forward to the installation and using the lights for the next several weeks until I pretty much quit for the winter.

 

[superfuzz]

Looking forward to seeing your install. I've been contemplating adding lights too

 

[SeattleTy]

Good luck with the install Dennis, hope it works out well

 

[Silent]

They work well with those brackets. I've been running them for a couple years now. Only drawback is the power usage.

 

[superfuzz]

I'm contemplating using Garauld's brackets with these lights to get a "okay" setup at an "okay" price rather than the high-dollar awesomeness that Clearwater's would be:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060ZB4MM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2JKNAFQMKGRR&coliid=IE04V217ZUYUK

 

[Ignacio]

I'm contemplating using Garauld's brackets with these lights to get a "okay" setup at an "okay" price rather than the high-dollar awesomeness that Clearwater's would be:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060ZB4MM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2JKNAFQMKGRR&coliid=IE04V217ZUYUK

"3 watts"? $243 bucks a pair and PIAA doesn't even claim of how many lumens? Weird. Seem like an big, expensive accent light to me.

Compared to the $160 a pair (15% less for FJRForum members) LR4 lights that are about 28 watts each, 3000+ lumens each, and smaller form factor. These seem a "great" setup for a "very good" price to me if you want to light up the road ahead of you.

 

[ionbeam]

I'm contemplating using Garauld's brackets with these lights to get a "okay" setup at an "okay" price rather than the high-dollar awesomeness that Clearwater's would be:

What mission do you envision for these lights?

I didn't see a lumen spec and at 6000K they are pushing the way blue end of white. Apparently the switch they come with won't allow them to dim so you choose to wire them to EITHER be on with low beams OR high beams.

I have a pair of little 2000 lumen (each) floods and they are way too bright to have on 100% during the day time, let alone at night. I run my ~$185 setup at 30% conspicuousness power which is slightly too much for dark but good enough for daylight use. The controller lets me adjust the brightness for normal running. Mine have a trigger wire connected to the high beams and it is like turning on stadium lighting when these go 100% power. I would say that their illumination compares very favorably with the PIAA 910s that they replace. The 910s simply blow away the LED flood lights in current consumption though

Edit: I see Iggy was here a minute earlier to say the same thing.

 

[superfuzz]

I'm just looking to add some light for riding at night; particularly for a border to border ride (Canuckistan to Mex-ee-co) I'm planning for next June. I don't need to create a wall-o-light, just some affordable (preferably LED) driving lights to extend my visibility beyond the stock headlight.

Thanks for the links, I will check those out.

I don't plan to wire them to trigger with the headlights; just to a switch I can turn on or off (no dimming necessary) whenever needed.

 

[redtail]

just my un-asked for 2 cents...

It was the dimmer that really sold me! I like the extra visibility factor provided by a triangle of lights in front. Wired with a relay off the high beam circuit and dimmer set at abt 1/3 power. I don't get flashed by on coming during the day but "bam" you got daylight when you hit the high beam!

 

[ionbeam]

^^^^ What he said. I was looking to become more visible during the day and see better at night. As I said, these little guys put out similar illumination to my old PIAA 910s when they go 100%. On low beams they make nice fill light and on high beams they light up the world.

 

[J Paul]

As the 2 above posts said-I can't imagine running at nite with just the stock headlite. Jeff

 

[Gurock]

I just tried the Clearwater light the world lights and they do. In the Arizona mountains late at night they made seeing the road easy.

 

[cosmo]

Drilled into sliders w/PIAA and worked well. When I went down w/deer my slider broke off(and light still attached)but not at the drill point but at the bolt head. Together they mashed and pushed my radiator sideways. Rode it home 30 miles, no leaks or overheating. The lights are great for distance and the side woods. Yep, I saw the deer standing, just didn't stay standing......

 

[leclairk]

The controller lets me adjust the brightness for normal running. Mine have a trigger wire connected to the high beams and it is like turning on stadium lighting when these go 100% power.

Is this the LED dimmer with high beam bypass from ADVmonster?

 

[ionbeam]

The controller lets me adjust the brightness for normal running. Mine have a trigger wire connected to the high beams and it is like turning on stadium lighting when these go 100% power.

Is this the LED dimmer with high beam bypass from ADVmonster?

Yes. I got the wireless remote control because I thought that it would be a 'set it and forget it' situation, but alas, no. I still may opt for the rotary switch. The issue is when the lights are bright enough for daytime conspicuousness they are too bright for twilight and dark running. Also, the FOB locks you into preset brightness steps whereas the rotary switch is infinitely variable. The rotary knob would need some kind of dot or indicator line added to help you see where it is set.

Since the FOB is waterproof I'm looking for someplace convenient to hang it and see how that works. In any case the install is easy and I really like the results. I still get a giggle when I hit the high beams and the world floods with light.

 

[Niehart]

I still get a giggle when I hit the high beams and the world floods with light.

 

[Chuck35]

I still haven't installed mine, but I went with the skene iq-175 controller. It allows 2 (adjustable) preset levels to be toggled with a momentary push button and has high beam bypass (either 100% or off)