loss of cruise control

[SgtSlag]

Guys, I have been running LED's in my headlight, front turn signals, rear turn signals, brake/running lights, and side markers -- front and back, for several years... My instrument lights, and my CC lights, are incandescent.My cruise has had intermittent disengage issues, but it engaged. This Summer, it began working normally -- don't know why.

My headlight LED is no longer marketed. It's pattern is OK, but I avoid night riding as much as possible. It burns 35W, instead of the usual 55W -- a savings of 20W! I also use an LED headlight Modulator, which likely reduces the wattage, slightly, over time.

My highway voltage increased after the LED conversion, from 13.1 Volts(?), to 14.1 Volts! I was ready to rebuild my Alternator... I love my LED's. My first AGM battery only lasted two years. Hoping the current AGM will last five. Bike is connected to a Battery Tender, after every local ride, so the lower charging voltage is likely the culprit. Cheers!

[Nails]

I love the flat-topped halogen pattern, sharp-edged, bright, focused.

I don't really see much of a flat-topped pattern with halogen. That's what projector lamps are for. The headlamp's mirror creates any pattern, and I think incandescent bulbs (including halogen and xenon) work better with that mirror than LED bulbs do.

You do have to focus LED bulbs by turning them in their sockets to get the proper pattern, which I did.

I haven't seen this. My LED headlight had no such focus.

In the early days of HID (before dedicated vehicle applications were readily available), I know folks (like Baja racers especially) put a lot of effort into finding where to place the bulb inside the headlamp housing so it'd work right with the mirror -- and then fabbing stuff to keep it there.

As for projector adapters, I saw this on Amazon

I'm not sure what you mean by adapters. These are either replacement parts dedicated to specific vehicles or more "universal" assemblies that need to be retrofitted to the vehicle.

The "projector bulbs" listed here are new to me and look especially interesting because they might not need so much retrofitting. It'd be interesting to experiment with a spare XII headlight assembly to "adapt" it to a projector bulb, but I fear the XII's front glass will bend the light around and screw the whole projector thing up. I think these projector bulbs are for clear-front headlamps. From the reviews, they apparently work swell on low beam (when you need the sharp cutoff) but suck on high beam. So maybe rely on auxiliary lights for high beam?

Going the other way, I'm considering a xenon replacement bulb for the XII headlight, but use it only for high beam (i.e. a xenon bulb, not a bi-xenon bulb). Low beam would still have the problem of poor cutoff and blinding oncoming drivers. So, for low beam, kill the whole headlight and switch to auxiliary projector lamps. (I think you'd only need one xenon ballast for all three lamps.)

The pattern of the LED I used was so bad,

I suspect part of the problem is that LEDs have a "pattern" (where the diodes are located), but the others emit light in all directions. I bet the lamp's mirror can use the distributed source better than the LED patterned light source. But this mirror issue might not be a problem in projector designs.

[cranky]

... I've read that these scoots have a problem with headlight heat, why
most have stayed with stock.... Personally, I want broad spectrum light,
will not drive at nite' less I get forced into it, so moot point to me.....
with my LED running lights, I"m plenty visible.....

[jengstrom]

... + 1 .. do NOT like the slitty focus of the LED lights... If I ever buy a new car,
I'm screwed, 'less I can fix'um somehow....

I’m with you. I’ll buy the base model of any car just to avoid LED headlights, and there is no way I would do that to my bike. A well designed halogen headlight is, IMO, superior to any LED system I’ve ever tried.

John

[erock]

found my issue that caused the loss of my cruise control, thanks to SgtSlag. I'm still shaking my head at this one. I simply had to go back to conventional bulbs in the tail lights from the new LED's. The bike won't tolerate LED's at either end. Who would've guessed that it would render my cruise inoperative though !! Seemed like such a minor change, but I take it from my discussion with him that the electronics are sensitive enough that this change kicked it out of service. The headlight bulb change failed as well, ending up with high beams only, by default.

Sorry for the late follow-up here. Anyways, I re-installed just two of the LED tail lights, on the lower fender to try things out. Cruise still works just fine. It doesn't like all four being LED though. Just a heads up. Now to search the forum for the LED headlight mod to make those work. Thanks guys.