Welcome to the forum.
It would help if you posted what motorcycle you have...ST1100 or ST 1300.
Replacement Headlight Bulbs
- Thread starter bstig60
- Start date
It would help if you posted what motorcycle you have...ST1100 or ST 1300.
Hi Everyone - new to the forum and am swimming in a sea of awesome information. I've owned two ST's now - an 1991 ST1100 which I had for 10 years, and now a 2009 ST1300 ABS. I want, badly, to put in LED headlights. I've been reading a ton of posts about the F2 H4 LED's and I'm still just a little confused. Not being a mechanically inclined person I rarely work on my own motorcycle, but I have replaced the headlamps before on both the 1100 and 1300. I have two questions:
1.) Does anyone have a current link to buy the highly praised Evitek F2 H4 bulbs? I just want to make sure I'm buying the correct thing and I've found far too many products that claim to be F2 H4 bulbs...but I'd prefer to go with the ones spiderman302 recommended.
2.) I've seen mention of the fan and the rubber boots on the ST1300 - is this something you can install without having to take apart the bike or does it require a decent amount of disassembly and re-assembly? I may be inclined to find someone in the Seattle area I can pay to install them if its the later.
Thank you in advance and again, thanks for all the awesome information here! Next challenge...windshield recommendations!
Cheers!
1.) Does anyone have a current link to buy the highly praised Evitek F2 H4 bulbs? I just want to make sure I'm buying the correct thing and I've found far too many products that claim to be F2 H4 bulbs...but I'd prefer to go with the ones spiderman302 recommended.
2.) I've seen mention of the fan and the rubber boots on the ST1300 - is this something you can install without having to take apart the bike or does it require a decent amount of disassembly and re-assembly? I may be inclined to find someone in the Seattle area I can pay to install them if its the later.
Thank you in advance and again, thanks for all the awesome information here! Next challenge...windshield recommendations!
Cheers!
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In order to have enough room to work, and to be able to see what the heck you are doing, it's best to remove the fairings, as you do for most other routine maintenance. No further disassembly (other than removing the old headlight bulbs, of course) is needed.
Evitek's name as it appeared on the PayPal invoice for my bulbs is Guangzhou Evitek Electronic Co. , Ltd. I emailed Cindy directly to place my order: <cindy@evitekhid.com>.
From initial contact to completion of order process was about two hours, including a couple delays on my end because i was not watching my email every moment. In my opening contact I mentioned "I am interested in getting a set of the F2 LEDs for my Honda ST1300. It takes H4 style bulbs, as I am sure you already know". That's all the technical info that was needed- she had it from there.
Be mindful that the bulbs took a month to arrive. There really is a "slow boat from China", evidently, and not just a figure of speech. Cindy told me that would be the case so I was forewarned but it was still a tough wait. I ordered on 6/22; they shipped 6/26 and arrived at my door probably three weeks later.
Welcome to the forum.
You'll find all the answers to your ST questions here.
Most of the members here who've looked at alternate light have BTDT with HID and have moved on to LEDs.
It is unfortunate that manufactures like to keep the temperature for most LEDs at 6500K or higher. I'd say that's for the dweeb appeal – 'Dude! Blue lights are cool!' I'd like to have some a little warmer but it with a good LED (F2) the light pattern works well even at 6500K though I'd like something closer to 5000K.
Those were the days my friend. I thought they'd never end. But they have. LED installation is so much easier than the kludge that's HID. The LEDs draw less juice and are by and large more reliable. The turn on and off immediately and reliably and have proper driving and passing beams. And they'll only get better.Bat66 said:
There may be members here who are still using HID but I think most have moved to LED. There's no reason to leave HID if it works for you. I thought about HID but by the time I thought about thinking of getting serious — LEDs started to look very reasonable. So I followed the path of least resistance.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Here is a link and they currently have 12 in stock;
Safego 72W H4 Hi/Lo Car LED Headlight Kit Bulbs Super Bright LED Chips 9003 12000Lm(6000lmx2) Auto Bulb
The above link is from the first post in Spiderman302's original thread about the F2 LED bulbs- H4 LED - 2018 Evitek, F2 replaces G6
You can replace the bulbs by reaching in between the fork and the fairing and turning the forks as required for clearance. It is a little fiddly but since you have already changed the bulbs before you know how the retention bail and the rubber boot are positioned so you should be OK.
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Thank you so much!
Fantastic! Thank you! I just placed my order via Amazon and they'll be here Friday! I even have a buddy who's willing to help me with getting them installed.
Kevcules
Site Supporter
These will fit 1100's? Are the adapter rings needed?
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Q1- Yes, with the two lower tabs cut off.
Q2- Yes.
So on a 2006 ST1300 I just have to cut off two tabs? Does it need an adapter ring? I'm being hard headed by staying with factory and have decided to go with LED if I know it's going to be reliable. The ad says -40 to +80 degrees, so what does that mean for Summers in the south, will they overheat?
I live in the Phoenix area. LEDs abound with no problems.
Our temperatures reach just above 120F.
Go ahead with your LED purchase.
st11ray
2006 ST1300
I live in Charlotte. Never had any problems with my LED'S. And no, you don't need the adapter shims for the 1300.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Cut off the two lower tabs and leave the tab at the twelve o'clock position as is. No shims are required.
I suspect that the temperature range quoted is in degrees Celsius. That equates to -40 to +176 degrees Fahrenheit.
After 3,000 miles (about 5 months of riding, followed by three months in the winter isolation booth), one of the two low beam emitters on the left side bulb of my Evitek F2s quit. I dug into it to see why, and I do not think it's a manufacturing problem, but rather a result of my installation. I somehow routed the pigtail from the bulb so that it made a hard right-angle bend immediately upon exiting the fan housing.
When I did that, I created an opportunity for abrasion (see photos) that ultimately must have led to a conductor breach. So the moral of my little tale of woe is: be careful how you install them.
In addition to my original reply above, I offer this installation tip: you can pull the base plate off of the rest of the emitter and fan assembly, and install it first (after you remove the two lower tabs, of course). That makes putting the wire retaining bail into position MUCH easier! Then, you can push the emitter/fan assembly into place.
Start here, and install the base plate into the empty cavity. This is the left side headlight.
Close the wire bail to lock the base plate into position. There's only one way it all fits together..
[EDIT: in the following posts it seems there's a better way to do the next steps. I've left the original info in place since the ensuing discussion references it, but I don't think this is the optimum configuration. See post 39, below, for the updated installation.]
Push the emitter stub through the hole in the base plate. When correctly oriented you can feel the bearing click into the detent hole.
Run the power pigtail from the fan assembly through the center hole of the rubber boot, and seat the boot home. Try not to bend or kink the pigtail or you may end up with the same abrasion problem I had.
Et voila! All done. Repeat on the right side.
When I did that, I created an opportunity for abrasion (see photos) that ultimately must have led to a conductor breach. So the moral of my little tale of woe is: be careful how you install them.
In addition to my original reply above, I offer this installation tip: you can pull the base plate off of the rest of the emitter and fan assembly, and install it first (after you remove the two lower tabs, of course). That makes putting the wire retaining bail into position MUCH easier! Then, you can push the emitter/fan assembly into place.
Start here, and install the base plate into the empty cavity. This is the left side headlight.
Close the wire bail to lock the base plate into position. There's only one way it all fits together..
[EDIT: in the following posts it seems there's a better way to do the next steps. I've left the original info in place since the ensuing discussion references it, but I don't think this is the optimum configuration. See post 39, below, for the updated installation.]
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Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
I have not seen the newer F2 bulb installed before. I have the older G6 bulbs. The fan on the G6 remains on the outside of the rubber boot where they have ample air supply. From the pictures above it looks like the fan assembly on the newer F2 bulbs ends up inside the rubber boot. Is this correct? Is there any concern for sufficient supply of air for cooling?
At least as I have mine now it is inside the boot. I looked, casually, to see whether it had to be that way and didn't see an obvious way to get it outside the boot. Bike is still apart so I'll go see if I can do better. Watch this space for updates...
That said, I'm not sure whether I want the fan to be separated from the bulbs by the boot. I'm not real clear on the airflow pattern so I dunno whether the boot would deflect / interfere with the fan output or not. Perhaps @spiderman302 can provide some "illumination" on this?
So, I went back and tried putting the boot in place before installing the emitter / fan assembly. I like that better- thanks for the suggestion. It looks much cleaner / better and although it still puts a hard bend in the pigtail I hope the boot will hold it snugly enough, and provide a modicum of cushioning, so that vibration will not lead to the same abrasion that did in my first bulb.
One reason I didn't do that (install the fan through the boot) on my original install was that I didn't realize the base could be separated. Without that vital piece of information, there was no way to get everything in place and secured by the bail. Hence my supposition that having everything inside the boot was how it was "supposed to" be.
Yes, that is the correct install with the fan outside the boot.