My motorcycle prior to the lighting change.
I ride a lot at night and many times on roads that are not well lighted. Through the years, I have tried numerous lighting improvements, many of which I first became aware of through their use on other vehicles such as cars and trucks.
Passing lamp with a performance bulb.
In April of 2012 I installed a 7-inch LED headlight made by Truck-lite in my 2009 FLHT Harley. It replaced a higher wattage bulb than came as stock on the motorcycle, and it was such a great improvement even over that, that I wrote a Tech Article on it for Bikernet.
You can read that article at:
http://www.bikernetbaggers.com/pages/Truck_Lite_For_Motorcycles.aspx
Passing lamp with a stock bulb.
I have been using performance bulbs in my passing lamps, and though it was an improvement, it still left a lot to be desired. As a matter of fact one failed in a short period of time and I replaced it with the stock one until I could get another.
That’s when I found out that Truck-lite had come out with a 4.5-inch LED lamp for the passing lamps. Since I was so pleased with the previous light from them I bought a set.
LED packaging from an auto-parts store.
Like its big brother the lamp produces a white light closer to the color of daylight and greatly improves visibility. I should note the LEDs are bulb free and are solid state and encapsulated in a hardened epoxy, to resist damage from shock and vibration resulting in up to 50x longer life than incandescent lamps—amazing.
Description on the back of the box.
Back of Truck Lite passing or spot lamp insert.
They are easily installed on 2005 and up Harley- Davidsons with just a screw driver, plus they use the Harley connectors. It can be used on earlier models by cutting off the connector and adding matching connectors to those of the lamp removed.
The lamp is part number 80275 and you can find out more about it and all their other products by going to:
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/GenericView?storeId=10001&langId=-1&pageName=/home.jsp
Stock insert removed.
Stock lighting connector.
On the upper right corner of the link you can find a dealer near you. The lights are also starting to appear with motorcycle distributors. Do some shopping around. You can save a lot of money over some of the lighting prices being offered by other sources.
New Truck Lites installed--simple.
These bulbs really work, and since I see better, of course I ride faster and safer because of them. I live to ride fast, don’t ya know.
--ROGUE
Can you see us now, Rogue?
Sidebar:
The Truck-Lite running lamps only draw 0.7 Amps and that is a considerable drop from the standard bulb or the halogen replacements.
The Running Lamps are designed for later model Harleys and have the new connector, but they can be used on earlier models by removing the connector and replacing with the earlier style.
These lights provide superior lighting at very low amperage draw and make them a life saver for some of the earlier low-amp alternator and generator model Harleys.
As mentioned in the previous article on the Headlight, it only draws 3.6 amps on High Beam and 1.8 amps on low.
