I agree that Chinese knockoffs are junk, but i still think the margins on those bulbs is enormous. We don’t have inspections but the police can pull anyone over at any time and require immediate inspection. 6000K super bright bulbs at night will get their attention especially if not aimed correctly. If they were 3500K non blinding and identical beam pattern it would draw less attention. That said i would prefer to have legal bulbs, and it is possible, though the retrofit market is apparently not big enough to convince Philips and others to make their bulbs compliant. AFAIK in Canada they don’t actually need to to do much beyond self certify, but if they self certify non compliant bulbs they could face consequences when caught.
A few years ago I got banned from CPF because I was modifying the H4 leds in my bike to make them work correctly…. rule 11 So I went elsewhere. Progress was made on a more friendly site……
Here is a link to the most current H4 led. I think it has a lot of promise. Those of you who are looking for a Led bulb that creates the same pattern as the original halogen bulb.
I think it is important to spread the word and I thought some of you would want to know……
That makes 2 good kits for H4 sized bulbs. I wish the other size bulbs had such good kits available.
Yes, welcome to BLF. Here only the buttholes get banned.
Heck they wanted to ban my from CPF for simply posting a review about a BLF project light…
Timley thread!
I own a Honda ST1300A (Pan European) among other bikes, and there is a couple of very active LED replacement threads on the st-owners.com forum. Recently a member posted about these very bulbs, available on aliexpress.
Honda used a proprietary tang pattern on the H4-type bulbs that results in the low-beam shield being rotated on-axis a few degrees away from horizontal. I suspect this is because of the asymmetrical design of the dual-bulb reflectors. There doesn't appear to be any "lensing", so to speak on the clear headlight cover like there is on a round headlight lens, which have multiple small "lenses" incorporated into the glass casting to control beam pattern and cutoff.
The upshot of this is, beam pattern is defined by the ST1300's reflectors. That makes light source location much more critical.
There are thin (~0.020") adapter rings that can be used on common H4 bulbs to make them fit a ST1300. This is done by trimming the two lower tabs off of the H4 bulb then inserting it into the adapter that has the correct tab orientation for the ST's bulb holders. It "works", but beam shape & cutoff isn't the same. It'll get you home if you're hundreds of miles away.
One of the issues raised on the forums is legality. In the US, Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements must be met by manufacturers for vehicles to be sold.
I'm seeing way too many vehicles that are blinding on approach because the owner installed crappy LED "upgrades" that tout a bazillion lumens, but can't be focused because their COB emitters are too large and/or in the wrong position. I fine it hard to believe the drivers of those vehicles don't notice the reduction in throw resulting from the scattershot output.
I noticed a note that indicated the linked LED bulbs had their "DOT certified" wording removed. I'm hoping that will be forthcoming in the near future. Still, cheap, poorly-designed bulbs will continue to be sold to the gullible & ignorant on fleabay.
I would dearly love to find exact replacement LED bulbs for the ST, especially, or any vehicle that uses conventional H4 halogens that are DOT approved. That being said, the linked LED bulbs can be rotated to adjust the shape of the low beam cutoff. I'm leaving it to a few of the more adventurous ST owners to be the initial testers.
The Honda tang pattern is for a lower wattage bulb (45W), Has nothing to do with the twist, many just cut off the lower tangs on the Standard H4 to fit in the ST1300. Do not use shims with the H4 in the ST1300 it is not necessary and will throw off the pattern. The F2 does not use a COB but the newest csp flip chip. It is really the Cree XD16. The F2 bulb is built to meet DOT pattern requirements. The H4 light pattern on the ST1300 will have no glare with this bulb. I have them on both of my ST1300’s… This is the bulb you were waiting for, Its pattern matches that of the original halogen bulb. The DOT legal process will take some time.
I am also happy with the F2 9006/9005 bulbs that I have in my truck. The F2 bulb is spot on, there are a few others that are close [T8, S1, DEDC, G6… ] , There is still a lot of junk…… This is why we must help each other identify what is good and spread the word…… I will not waste my time with HID’s they are now history….
I think HIDs are still necessary especially with a lot of newer cars that have the backside of the bulb fully enclosed. LED bulbs require much lower temperatures so they have to have the back area open for air to circulate. If you don’t have air circulating, the only alternative is to go hid as they can withstand the same high temperatures as a filament style bulb.
It has been some time since I visited the bulb design of the ST, and I obviously didn't remember things correctly. Some of the text below is copied from a post I made to the ST Owners forum.
When a bulb went on my ST a few years ago I researched this as best I could. Below are pics of an OEM Honda ST1300 bulb and a typical H4 side-by-side. The Honda is on the left.
I keep a small inventory of H4's, because they fit our '93 CB750 Nighthawks and the Kawasaki Z-1's in which I've installed aftermarket Halogen headlight assemblies. There are two physical differences that I've been able to ascertain:
1)The positions of the tangs. The pic of the two bulbs side-by-side clearly show that the tabs that are at approximately 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock are angled differently between the two bulbs. The bulb on the left is OEM Honda. The bulb on the right is standard H4. Also note that the top 12 o'clock tab on the OEM Honda bulb is slightly wider than the standard H4.
2) Not as apparent, and difficult to photograph, is the fact that the glass body of the OEM bulb/filament assembly is rotated slightly clockwise on it's vertical axis, relative to the 12 o'clock tab, because the rectangular cutout in the steel base where the glass envelope enters the base is, also, so rotated, pointing to about 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock. The two new OEM bulbs and the one I removed from service all exhibited this rotated orientation. All of the H4 bulbs I checked were true to the 12 o'clock/6 o'clock orientation. The result is a slight clockwise rotation the bulb/filament assembly relative the flat in the steel base.
The on-axis rotation is obvious, but why is it present? My best guess is to modify the resulting beam patterns. It'd probably be a subtle difference, but we all know how, uummm... precise mama Honda likes to be about such things.
But...
If we look at the bulbs as installed in the headlight assembly, we see that the flat in the hole of the reflector in which the bulb base seats is not oriented exactly plumb horizontally. It's rotated slightly CCW relative to horizontal, resulting in the bulb/filament assembly being returned to the 12 o'clock/6 o'clock orientation relative to plumb vertical! This would seem to negate the need to have the bulb/filament rotated in the base if the flat in the reflector hole had been exactly plumb horizontal to begin with. It would also cause a standard H4 bulb to be rotated slightly CCW relative to vertical (11 o'clock/5 o'clock). I don't know what, if any, noticeable effects this may cause in the resulting beam pattern. If anyone has an explanation of the bulb/hole rotation I'd like to hear it.
I do acknowledge that a shim will shift the beam slightly. Posts by other ST owners indicate that the stability of a standard H4 bulb that has had it's tabs removed is unstable in the mount.
In hindsight, one thing I didn't do was to photograph both bulbs from a horizontal perspective when they were side-by-side, to ascertain the relative orientations of the low-beam shields when the bases of both bulbs were aligned identically. I'd like to know the on-axis position of both shields relative to the 12:o'clock tabs. That knowledge would simplify determining if the LED F2 shields would be properly oriented for the ST's reflectors.
What I'd like to see now is a side-by-side comparo of a standard H4, an OEM Honda ST1300, and an F2 LED, to ascertain the relative positions of the shields.
Sorry for the hijack. We now return you to our regularly-scheduled thread.
Maybe Honda just wants you to buy their expensive bulbs? IDK. Lol
My VFR700 uses the standard H4, so I haven’t had that problem.
Do the Honda bulbs say they are H4, or are we just assuming this? Maybe they have their own name like H4H?
The standard H4 has a 10 degree tilt to the left side. The parabola projects a reverse image. Light low to the left projects hi to the right. This is to illuminate signs on the right side of the road. Motorcycle head lights removed this tilt and is why the top tab of the bulb is at the 11 o’clock position. As such the now level low beam glare shield will down spill 7.5 degrees to the left and the right. If you look at the photo of your headlight reflector you will see that there are horizontal lines, except the ones radiating from the bulb, they are both dropping 7.5 degrees. With a halogen bulb the low beam will illuminate above these 7.5 degree lines. Motorcycles are set up to have a flat beam with no tilt. The Evitek H4 F2 bulb is fully tilt adjustable so that it could be used in cars in either countries where they drive on the right or left side of the road….
The shields on the Evitek H4 F2 look symmetrical so you simply set the bulb so the heat spreader is vertical on the ST1300. I look at the beam and adjust it flat. As an experiment I twisted it, to make a little up tilt, to light up signs but I found that it was not necessary….
The fully enclosed headlights are to keep water out of the halogen or HID bulb. The hot bulb will shatter if they get wet. the LEDs do not care if they get wet so you do not need the back cover, or you could drill some holes for ventilation. If you like HIDs that is your choice. They do what they do fairly well. I can give you a long list why I would rather not.
Spiderman302, are you suggesting that the Honda bulbs are tilted in order to create a flat cut off line?
It’s really the reflector shape and bulb mounting hole that dictates whether the cut off line is flat or tilted. Honda could have achieved the same results using a regular H4 bulb (and they have on other models of bikes). So it still doesn’t explain why they made a new type of bulb base.
Maybe it’s the lower wattage that they are trying to force on people? They don’t want people to go up to a 55w or higher. Why, maybe legal reasons?
In my Drz400 the top tab of the h4 is also at the 11 o’clock position, it too makes a flat beam pattern, so it is not just Honda. by making the beam flat they can ship their bikes to either left hand or right hand driving countries….
The bulb base is H4 — p43t and the low power H4 — pX43t.
You can thank DOT for the low power 45/45 bulbs, there are even 35/35 watt bulbs too on scooters.
The 45/45 bulbs are on dual headlight bikes since a pair of 60/55 are too close and might cause too much glare……
Yes. legal reasons…
Excellent news.
I’ve been using copper-braid cooled LEDs from Nite-eye for the last couple of years, and the reason I chose them at the time was both for the restricted space cooling and the placement of the LED elements. At the time, the market was flooded with crappy COB-type H4s and having been bitten once by one of them, I’d no desire to throw more money down the drain. Actually, the COB-type H4 is proving useful in an off-road auxialiary lamp, so not totally wasted.
My experience with the Niteye has been good, with a fairly nice beam pattern and little to no wasted light shooting into other road users’ eyes, but I was hoping for an improvement to come along. Looks like the F2 might be it.
Now, if the F2 comes out with copper braid cooling, that would be perfect.
As I run a series of old snotters, with fairly asthmatic charging systems, the low current demand of LED headlights has opened up the option of using a pair of LED-retro-equipped driving lamps.
I’m currently running the main H4 (with Nite-eye), and another H4 Nite-eye in a 5.25” hi/low driving lamp that can be independently switched in (it then goes hi/lo in sync with the main lamp), and on the high circuit there’s a 27W spot worklamp with a decent throw.
There’s now a huge amount of light being thrown down the road in front of me, which is a bonus on the back roads around here, as I never know what I’m going to run into - more light, better warned. The nice thing is that on seeing approaching traffic, I hit the dip button and I know for certain the oncoming driver is not being inconvenienced.
I have a pair (two pairs actually) of 7” Fireball spotlamps, which will take 7” H4 reflector units… they’re going on next, in place of the others.
A decent exploration from Big Clive…
He makes a very good point at the end about most of them being over-driven to get as much bragging power out of them as possible (allowing for the BS factor, of course), which is why I select more honest ones rated at 20W or so, in the hope of them lasting a while.
Those M1 H4s look like just I have been waiting for.
I have a 2013 CR-V that I want to have better lighting. I have one question about the M1 - will it work properly with the daylight running mode of the H4 in the CRV?
Another question or two. I also would like better lighting from the backup lights and the brake lights. This manufacturer seems to make quality products. I have yet to find brake light bulbs that people actually liked. And backup bulbs. Evitek has a huge variety of bulbs. I tried paging through it, but it is somewhat difficult to understand what each bulb really is because of chigelish.
Has anyone found bulbs suitable for my applications on their web site? Info would be appreciated.
JDM Astar on Amazon. Nice bright bulbs. The 3157s in red are even brighter than the 3357 hotwires I used to run (40W vs the usual 32W). Nice “snap” to them, fill the whole lens with nice even light.
My only gripe is that at least as far as ambers in front, there’s not much difference between low and high, specced at 3:1 whereas I’d prefer something like 10:1, as in make the low even lower to increase the contrast between parking lights and actual turn-signals.
The red ones in back are perfect, though. Taillight is fine, brakelight is much brighter, so good contrast.
Yes! Lightbringer suggested the JDM Astar brand almost a year ago when I converted two of my vehicles to LEDs. My friend immediately converted his vehicle after seeing mine. Between the three vehicles, I count 40+ JDM Astar bulbs still working flawlessly.
When you replace your turn signal bulbs with LEDs, the lower current draw of the LEDs will cause the flasher relay to think a bulb is out and will blink your signals very quickly. To prevent this ‘hyperflashing,’ you’ll need to modify or replace your flasher relay.
I modified my vehicles’ relays because I wasn’t satisfied with the ‘LED-friendly’ ones I tried. See my post here.
Is Evitek the manufacturer behind JDM?
Lightbringer - I am not sure how long ago your suggested lights were acquired. LEDs continue to improve.
I am impressed with the quality Evitek is producing. So I am particularly interested in their products at the moment.
Holy Cats… that’s a lot of bulbs!
I decided to pick’n’choose which bulbs I’d use where. JDM seemed to have the best as far as red/amber xx56/xx57 bulbs, but for side-markers, some stacked 5050s work great, and at a fraction of the price. 
Side-markers are either 9- or 13-chips, forgot which, which fit because they went in lengthwise, not straight-in. Reverse lights I tailored to the fixture. One is rear-firing, so a set of bulbs in an Al can and aspheric lens on top does the job great. Other one is a short-but wide reflector, so a bulb that shoots from both “sides” directs all its light at the reflector, nicely filling it. Same with the ambers right next to it.
Interiors, older car I already did up in CW, the only bulbs back then that were available. Newer I did in all WW, for that nice “warm” color.
Rear turn-signals (amber) in the newer car are sensed, but not turned on/off by relay, so I gotta put a parallel resistor across it… barely. The current it draws is juuuuuust about at the threshold where the DIC (driver info center) pops up a “check right-rear turn signal bulb” warning, but sometimes it doesn’t. So you don’t need the idiotic 6Ω resistor which is pretty much the full load of a hotwire bulb, but something lots smaller, and cooler. Plus, a resistor that size will still show okay even if you remove the bulb, defeating the purpose of the warning. So you size it to only draw enough current to fool the sensing circuit.
I kinda like the fast-blink in my older car, so I’m leaving it as-is. Just the popup nastygram in the newer one bugs me, so I’ll (eventually) throw in the resistors. Got ’em now, just didn’t yet bother installing them.
Unno, a while back. The ones I got, I’m happy with, so I’m not going to “upgrade” them unless one/more croke.
Only exception would be the rear ambers, if they’re significantly brighter and also draw a bit more current, ironically, so I wouldn’t have to do the resistor mod.
They were xx57s, ie, high+low, so after checking to make sure that high+low and just high were the same exact brightness, I wiggled off the leads for low and one of the grounds, to avoid any “CK” vs “standard” socket issues. Either it works (leave it) or doesn’t (reverse it).