A brilliant idea: replace conventional lights with LED lamps

LED lighting technology has become something everyday in our daily lives. Flashlights, interior bulbs, lamps, traffic lights, industrial lighting ... In all areas this more effective and efficient lighting has been immeated in front of the low consumption bulb and the fluorescent tube.

What is LED
The traditional or incandescent filament bulb works when an electric current is passed through a very fine filament, which is put to red alive, emitting heat and light. It is not very efficient, since much of the energy is lost in the form of heat and lasts little, because the high temperatures and thermal changes weaken the filament.
Without entering technicalisms we will say that a LED lamp, or rather a LED diode, works based on the photoelectric effect, discovered by Albert Einstein, and that it consists that some semiconductor materials emit light when they are crossed by an electric current.
The advantages of LED lighting are several:
-The LED is a solid state lamp, so it is very resistant to blows and vibrations and can last more than 50,000 hours.
-Apices emits heat, and consumes 10 times less energy.
-The size is lower than that of a conventional light bulb to the same luminosity, allows exaggeratedly small intermittent and pilots to be legal.
-The LED diodes are brighter than a bulb, and also, the light is not concentrated at one point (such as the bulb filament) but the entire diode shines equally. That means that we will see the gutters better and get more power in the center of the road, without dazzling the one who comes through the opposite lane.

-The light emitted in automotive LEDs is whiter, around 5500k,

Providing greater clarity and greater field depth, which makes the driver obtain a better night vision, increasing security and minimizing eye fatigue.

Solutions for custom
LED technology on motorcycles has been established in signaling devices (pilots, flashing, witnesses ...) and as prices become more competitive (we must not forget that today it is still a price of price elevated) are also introduced into the main lighting in serial models, such as in the new Rushmore family of Harley-Davidson.

Companies like Speaker and Rivera Primo have also launched their similar products.

Improving what is present
The modification that we will make in this article will be the replacement of the main lighthouse in a Softail Breakout Screamin 'Eagle model by a design of the daymaker series of the HD catalog, obtaining improved functionality and a more consistent design with the rest of the motorcycle set.

We can observe on the back of the lighthouse that is quite similar in dimensions to the original lighthouse, and its totally “plug and play” installation, we must only place a small anti -vibrations band on the back and we can already connect it.

Facility
We will start loosening the screw that holds the retention ring

And we can disconnect the original optics.

We connect the new lighthouse in the same way

And we carefully locate it in position, again screwing the hoop in its position.

To complement the modern look and improve the operation we have also replaced the bulbs of the front flashing by other LEDs.

Adjustment
We only need to verify that everything works correctly and adjust the height and position of the lighthouse, for this task it is necessary to follow the manufacturer's instructions in a very exact way.

Finally we will perform a road test, this time at night and on a known route to be able to check the effectiveness of the system and get used to the new light beam.

Frank Burguera

#mecanicaharley