Jockey's headlamp

[bike grim]

I have one of these fitted and it's really good but the bulb ( H4 fitting 35/35) seems to be sapping energy from my battery on DC. Has anyone fitted an LED type H4 without melting the plastic lense?

[Knowledge]

I know I have a very niaive understanding of LED lamps, but I thought the whole idea was that they turn more electric into light, than it does heat. Therefore any LED lamp should produce more light and less heat than any traditional incandescent lamp. Therefore, it should not burn out the lens.

Having said that, I'll put two opposing points here.

First, lots of LED lamps for sale on eBay seem to have very high wattages, with heat sinks etc. Suddenly, wattages for LED lamps seem disproportionate. I don't understand.

On the other hand , I have two LED spotlights in my GP headset that I use for my dip and main beams. Despite being hidden away inside the un-ventilated headset, and with cutdown cooling fins, I don't have any uses with a 9w and a 27w LED spotlight lighting my way (very good, actually) or burning out.

[Tractorman]

I have one of these fitted and it's really good but the bulb ( H4 fitting 35/35) seems to be sapping energy from my battery on DC. Has anyone fitted an LED type H4 without melting the plastic lense?

I run a more powerful headlight bulb, rear and two 6 watt sidelights and mine holds up ok. What system are you using and what battery do you have.

[coaster]

If you already have the Jockey's light unit, it is very straightforward to fit an HID headlamp conversion. The HID puts out the equivalent light to an 80+ watt halogen but only uses 35 watts of stator power. The first one I did is on my Jet and the HID cost £5.99 from China including shipping (ebay). The second one is in my LiS and is a slightly more expensive and better made unit and was in fact part of a kit I bought for my classic car but couldn't use. I paid £24.99 for that kit which came with 2 HID lamps, 2 Ballast units and a wiring harness and relay which aren't needed for a bike. This way I have spares which will take no longer than a light bulb to change The light output is beyond anything you will have seen on a Lambretta and my battery charges at 14.2 volts with the lights on.

That said, the Kockey's kit comes with a 35 Watt lamp so providing you have an LED rear lamp, there SHOULD be enigh power to keep the battery charged. But if you have fitted a 55/60 watt H4 then the stator won't generate enough electricity to power it at anything less than about 4.5k to 5k RPM. Get hold of a voltmeter and connect it across your battery, then rev the engine up. with and without the lights on and see what the voltage is doing.

[Fast n Furious]

I've yet to find a BA20d or an H4 LED that projects light correctly onto the reflector in dip mode. Additionally there is very little chance that is will deflect slightly to the left either so the beam points toward the kerb as it should.
I bought and tried various Chinese sourced bulbs last year and eventually gave up. The technology is moving at lightning pace though, so maybe in a year or two?
I also found that LED light doesn't project onto the road like incandecents and HID's do
55/60W bulbs are a bad idea with the plastic boxenstop units. The excessive radiated heat will destroy the reflector. So don't go above 35W thermal watts.
I can however endorse Coaster's comments regarding HID conversion with a Jockeys Boxenstop headlight. The improvement truly is a revelation. Finally, a Lambretta you can be really be comfortable with driving in the dark. Excellent dip to beam projection and they point slightly to the left as they should. ( I wonder if the Jockey's sold to our continental cousins deflect to the right? Hmmm)
However, if your charging system cannot supply enough current to run your current 35W bulb and maintain full charge of the battery then you will need to sort this out before considering an HID conversion cos they draw 35W also. If the voltage falls too low with an HID it will just shut down. Not what you want on a rainy night on a dark road that you don't know eh?

[lofty]

I always though the 'dip' function on lambretta headlights neither went left or right, but simply up and down..

hence there is no difference in standard headlight units, they are all the same for UK models as well as continental..

and similarly I have seen none of the newer aftermarket or improved models being offerd in left hand drive or right hand drive versions..

Perhaps someone can illuminate me (illuminate, get it )

[Donnie]

I have one of these fitted and it's really good but the bulb ( H4 fitting 35/35) seems to be sapping energy from my battery on DC.

This is only a problem if you are experiencing this on a wassel conversion.

I'm assuming you're not running "DC" to the battery via the regulator believing this is proper DC?

[bike grim]

It's a varitronic full DC conversion with Wassel and I use a lithium ion battery. I have had a word with Capt Pugwash and am re checking the conversion as it's only putting out 4 amps but I wanted to experiment with a headlight that didn't take as much juice from the battery

[Fast n Furious]

I always though the 'dip' function on lambretta headlights neither went left or right, but simply up and down..

hence there is no difference in standard headlight units, they are all the same for UK models as well as continental..

and similarly I have seen none of the newer aftermarket or improved models being offerd in left hand drive or right hand drive versions..

Perhaps someone can illuminate me (illuminate, get it )

Headlamps that are designed for use with Hi/Lo beam switching using pre-focused bulb designs like the BA20d and H4 fittings locate with a slight offset from vertical center, so the reflected light from the tiny reflector in the bulb doesn't reflect directly upward, its at a very slight angle. Continental lights have the offset the other way.
Lambretta headlamps with BA20d bulb fittings are a bit naff even with a bright bulb. A lot depends on who made the headlight, who made the bulb and who made the bulb holder!

The standard lammy headlamp produces a diffused convergent beam which isn't the best design for a headlamp.
The Jockeys has a parabolic reflector design which isn't diffused by the acrylic glass. A parabolic reflector has the characteristic of reflecting rays parallel to the principal axis when a light source is placed at its focal point, irrespective of where the rays fall on the reflector and thereby produces a bright parallel reflected beam of constant light intensity.

[MK Monty]

interested in the variotronic conversion to get it to work with the wassel. Do you have to modify the stator eg add the extra wire. Also concerned that the headlight is draining the battery a it should be running off the stator with the battery acting as a top up not the other way around. Reminds me of a conversation I had about full and half wave rectification and how these wassels will never work on a Lambretta

[Wack]

All you need to know here, viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4551&p=36567&hilit=varitronic+dc#p36567