LED Headlight Upgrade with DRL!

[ThePowster]

Evening chaps 

I've been er.. busy. 

So I wanted to freshen up the Nighthawk's headlight with an LED upgrade with daytime running lights to really give it that Tron look.

So I purchased an LED headlight and offered it up and saw it wasn't going to fit. So I got the dremel out and just started going at it cutting bits out. At this point I was passed the point of no return as I'd cut out the original plastic headlight holder for good 

I also installed some handguards which also work as DRL's and indicators.

After making up some wiring and crimping on some connectors, the long and short of it is, it worked first time and it looks baaaad asssss 

I do have just one problem and that is the headlight is far, far too bright, even in daylight it's blinding, so I've got to find a way to reduce the power output.

So without further ado, cast ya eyes on something that's never been done before 🤘

Gentlemen, I give you, the LED Hawk

[ThePowster]

[mollusc]

I will need to dig a bit, but LED headlights on the 700S have been done before.  Someone even came up with some templates for 3D printing a mounting bracket in case you weren't able to fabricate one yourself.
When I find the info I'll post it in case there's anything useful you can make use of.
LEDs are normally fixed output, so there mayn't be much that you can do about it being too bright.  Are you sure you don't have the high beam hooked up instead of the low beam?

[Larry Fine]

Maybe it needs to be tilted downward.

[ThePowster]

Morning fellas.

Oh wow I didn't know this has been done before, I'm pleased to hear it though. Yes.if.you manage to come across any info at some point I'd love to read it.

This headlight has nothing on the rear to attach it to anything. The way I installed it was careful dremmeling until the headlight almost fit in the hole, then I forced it and prized the fairing and pop, in it went. There is a slight recess on the light and it's holding it super tight, so much so that I'm confident you don't need any glue.

It's not ideal because anyone else wanting to do this will also need to fluke it with just the right size so it holds itself tight, take too much material off and you're screwed.

With the brightness, the light is fixed in place and cannot be tilted but it looks fine, the problem is the output it's blindingly bright even in day no matter.what angle.or how far away you are. Apparently this is common on some.led.lights and there's are solutions out there 👍

https://fliesonthevisor.com/dimming-led-auxiliary-lights/

[mollusc]

So according to several people in the 700S group on Facebook, any 4x6" LED panel should fit.  Someone has even produced a set of files for 3D printing the brackets to hold one in place inside the headshell, but it should also be possible to fabricate something oneself.
I'm sticking with a Silverstar for now, but may upgrade to an Auxbeam LED drop-in at some point.

[ThePowster]

Similar to the back of mine. There is simply no way of attaching anything to this one. So for me it was a case of making the hole just the right size so it pinched it all the way round mega tight. This could be glued if felt necessary. But for this style headlight there really isn't much mounting choice.

[Larry Fine]

Are there no LEDs that are direct replacements for the sealed beam?

[ThePowster]

My particular unit is fully sealed, should anything go wrong I'd have to replace it.

[Larry Fine]

I'm talking about a replacement for the OEM sealed-beam headlight.

(I've only owned round-headlight bikes (up until I got the STs))

You make it sound like they're the same size, but not a direct swap.

[ThePowster]

Oh I see. I think mine is 7x5 so it's bigger and doesn't fit in the fairing at all. Once you Dremel the interior plastic away, the bit that holds the original headlight then you're just left with a hole, that hole needs to be reduced with a Dremel for the 7x5 to press into. If it's right enough it will get a good hold.

It's not ideal but because this headlight doesn't have any fixing points on it your own option is this and maybe glue.

It looks bad ass and I wouldn't change anything about it. The only thing I need to do moving forward is get an LED power reducer fitted and I want to play with the wiring so with ignition on all I get is the outside DRL and the DRL handguards, I then want to be able to switch to low beam and then main. But that lot is going to take some thinking and learning about wiring. Lots to do yet.