Headlight LED -- F2 vs F3 vs NB35

Larry Fine said:
It seems to me that the important dimension is from the mounting flange to the elements.
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Agreed. The important part is where the emitter sits on the bulb, the goal being as Spidey said to emulate and project the light as close to an incandescent bulb as possible. I only posted the photo to show that the dimensions of the bub (heat sink diameter and how far the fan will stick out the rear) will likely have decreased. It seems to only make sense that as things progress they will get smaller. I wasn't trying to confuse folks about bulb sizes etc as there is already a lot of confusion over the bulbs in general. (No thanks to how they are represented/misrepresented by vendors.)
 
Obo said:
Agreed. The important part is where the emitter sits on the bulb, the goal being as Spidey said to emulate and project the light as close to an incandescent bulb as possible.
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Are those numbers available to compare them?
 
Larry Fine said:
Are those numbers available to compare them?
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Spidey did a good write up about where an emitter needs to sit, relative to a standard bulb. He also did a write up on what makes for the best design in the way of thickness, emitter placement of the 2 per side, the cut offs etc. I have some of these somewhere I think for the F2 or earlier bulbs when I was trying to figure out things, but not for the F3. The goal here is to not further confuse folks like I was. I'm told the F3's are more power in an F2 body and will work fine so I'm just going with that. No need for me to confuse the issue further.

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The real difference is pointed out in the first post of this thread. The F3 uses 33% more power than the F2 but it only projects 10 % more max lux. but if you look at the beam patterns you will see that the F3 spreads out more light on the sides of the road rather than down the road. Because the F3 has a slightly wider led than the thin F2 led. A 10 or 30 percent improvement can be measured but the eye will barely notice the difference. 2 times more light you will notice and 4 times gives the wow factor. Four times is what it takes to see twice as far. Do not fret over the small stuff. We have come a long way in the last 7 years....
 
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Dave Pitman said:
@spiderman302 Are the F2 bulbs you linked to above plug/play replacements for the stock bulbs? Thank you for your expertise!

Also, awhile back I came across an LED tail light bulb replacement that also provided 3 or 5 initial quick flashes and then went to solid but I didn't save the link and can't find it now. Does anyone have any idea about that?

Thank you,
Dave
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Put these in my ST1100..I like them
 
Sidekick said:
I ordered them using the provided link and these are the ballast connector I got, returning them...
Same box and specs, did you get the same connectors?
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I did not get those connectors, mine were the correct ones.
 
Sidekick said:
Just an amazon order mistake I guess.
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These are sold for many different lightbulb configurations.
i.e. H4, H7, H11, etc..
When you submit the order, make sure that what you are ordering is for H4/9003 bulbs, not whatever defaulted on to the page.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
These are sold for many different lightbulb configurations.
i.e. H4, H7, H11, etc..
When you submit the order, make sure that what you are ordering is for H4/9003 bulbs, not whatever defaulted on to the page.
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You can't double check what is in the box before getting it?
Packaging error, wrong ballast in the box.
I got refunded by Amazon and a free set after contacting the seller as an apology.
 
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Sidekick said:
You can't double check what is in the box before getting it?
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Of course you can't, and that is not what I was referring to.
Many of the Amazon pages are for the same bulb sold in many different wiring/connector configurations for many different vehicles. I have noticed that often the page defaults to the H11 configuration for some reason. The point that I was attempting to convey is that before actually submitting the order, it is always a good idea to make sure that it is the H4/9003 configuration that is being purchased.

Worked out good for you in the end however, as free is always good.
 
I recently told a guy the same thing, make sure you specifically pick H4/9003........ a coupla weeks later he says they don't fit.... he had the H11's in hand.... reordered... H4's on the second try.
 
RaYzerman said:
I recently told a guy the same thing, make sure you specifically pick H4/9003........ a coupla weeks later he says they don't fit.... he had the H11's in hand.... reordered... H4's on the second try.
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I ordered a set of F2 H4 format LED's thru Amazon once and although the box said H4 on the outside they were not H4 format on the inside. Bad packing at the factory. Sent them back and they returned the right ones. :) It happens with lots of things which is why it always pays to check the box to ensure what you ordered is what you got.
 
Obo said:
I ordered a set of F2 H4 format LED's thru Amazon once and although the box said H4 on the outside they were not H4 format on the inside. Bad packing at the factory. Sent them back and they returned the right ones. :) It happens with lots of things which is why it always pays to check the box to ensure what you ordered is what you got.
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Now you,ve got me worrying, Obo. The box says F4 but did I actually get them?

H4.jpg
 
Put the Alla f3 bulbs in tonight,
It does not look like that rubber boot is going back on there..
With the wire coming out of the bottom, and the fan is too big to fit thru the hole, and if I make it fit it seems like it would block the intake of the fans..
Anyone else just leave that boot off?
 
I have finally gotten a chance (and it's not freezing in the garage) to install my new H4 LEDs and I see some things that I am wondering about.
Since mine's an ABS model I just tore out the whole headlight shell to make it easier for these meaty hands and old eyes to work properly.
I got the new mounting flange off the LED, have trimmed off the two bottom tabs and also have the 1100 spacer shims that are required, or are they?
Let me explain, the mounting flange thickness of old bulb is about 0.50", shim thickness is 0.035" and LED flange is 0.078".
All of them have the same outer OD on the flange it seems, if i put the new flange in first and shim on top, the retaining bail doesn't seem to touch the shim and is hard to lock in as the new thicknes is now 0.112". Mounting the shim under the new flange would space it out 0.035" back in the reflector, even harder to lock the bail, but is this what is needed for proper illumination or focusing of the LED? I'm aware that you can rotate the bulb for focusing but is depth positioning critical? Or maybe Katur (mfg of LED) changed flange diameter/thickness? Maybe I'm overthinking this?


Bulb flanges.jpg
 
The simple answer is that it is not critical.
The spacer is just about holding the bottom in place. the st1300 has an extra lip that will hold the bulb flange if you cut off the lower tabs. the st1100 does not have this.
You could just use a bent paper clip wire across the bottom slots to hold the bulb if you do not have the spacer.
The focal point of the H4 headlight goes through the high beam filament. So a .035 inch change will not move it out of focus.
It will make a very very slightly change to the beam pattern. But not much to make an un-usable difference.
 
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