I got the 69 L5t back from the shop. Riding at night I really noticed the little bulb just doesn't do much.

I was wondering if a modern LED would show up better? Or am I looking at something more drastic?

It has a 12v 25/25w 2 point contact bulb.

I was looking at this one. It has the same sorta setup on the connection end. and seems to want to fit in the housing.
E bay bulb

Any thoughts would be great. If i commute in it i will end up night riding so a good light would be great.
Thanks!

If you haven't done so already, use the "Search Forum" button above to check out previous threads on this topic - it comes up quite regularly!

I just picked a few LED bulbs that might fit so. ill Just try them out.

The bulb thats in there is more suited i feel for a tail light. or a flash light of yester year.

I'd like to see what you come up with... not much info on the pre-enduro 12 volt models that have replaceable headlight bulbs... LED seems a natural for these DC systems as the generator doesn't put out a lot and LED's don't need a lot of power... curious about the beam pattern..

I'm sort of thinking that the dc generator can pump out plenty of grunt when required so you could run whatever you want. Years ago i ran a high output [60/55 by memory] on my RT1 & using an XJ600 headlight assembly [huge light on those]. That's a long story so won't go there, but on yours when using any bulb with that fitting yours takes just point it at the wall & see if its focussed [concentrated] as we had lots of trouble back in the 70's & 80's with cheapy terrible bulbs where the filament sat either too far back or too far forward in the bulb glass [can't remember now]. Seems silly but made a hell of a difference to the light. With a good quality bulb it was concentrated to a point [sort off] but with the lucky dip of a box of bulbs we ended up with you'd likely get the light just everywhere but nowhere useful.

^^^ Yes, RT325 is talking about "focal point" of the reflector... the light source (in the old days, the bulb filament) needed to be located in the center of the reflector and at a precise depth. Too far in or out and even if the bulb is super bright, the beam pattern is garbage (rubbish) and the headlight almost useless for seeing the road. That's why I was wondering about the beam pattern with an LED replacement bulb.

Ok first testing night. Got the 2 LED bulbs I ordered. Theses are kinda super cheep ones from some random Chinese maker.

these are our 3 the stock standard. A long one with 2 little LEDs in a front and 4 sets of a few. The smaller one has 4 in the front and 4 sets of 3 on the sides.


standard.

Warm glow with a flat line galaxy shape. Its not super bad. But if the high was not on its almost not noticeable. A bicycle LED unit is brighter(if I didn't have high on) .

Long

This is a odd + shape and its miserable in all directions. The glow area is larger but the length of the bulb doesn't direct much into the reflector so its not as good as stock. might be good length ways in a turn signal.

Short

WOW what a improvement. Bright white light. X pattern so not to go up into the sky to much. Strong center with the 4 LEDs in the center unit. Its shorter so more of the LEDs shine into the reflector. Wile this is a close to the garage test ill drive around with it it see how far it actually projects.

I decided to try a LED tail light as well I got a PhilIps White. (I know the box ses red I took those back). The box tail light has no reflector or shiny surface in the back so light being cast back kinda just gets eaten up.

the normal stock ones are dual for break lights. and the Phil's are 3 sets of 3 LED.


Stock bulbs from a bit away. break off. Sorta a orange warm glow. In all directions. But at distance quickly fade away. No light really makes it to ground.


LEDs yes its closer than the other one. BUT its easier to see the V pattern this one makes. NOTE, how bright the ground is yes I have other light sources turned off way brighter than the warm glow. ! One trouble is no LEDs face out. and with no reflector it can't project much light back. NOTE, this is with breaks off. SO! much more bright, only 3 of the 9 are on when the break is off. All 9 come on when you break. Id say these are worth it. and 23$ gets you a spare.

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