[dmac601]

Hello fellow riders! I recently purchased a 2002 GL1800. I have been given a set of H7 led bulbs. I want to install them on both the high beams and the low beams. The cooling fan ass'y is a little large for the retainer spring and the rubber boot seal.
Has anyone here been successful in installing them?

 

[Dan18960]

Hello Dmac and welcome to the forum from southeast Pennsylvania.

You post you were "given" the LED bulbs, I would look at purchasing a set from Electrical Connections / Lewis Preston's company. I have a 2004 and had their LED's installed. Lewis' LED upgrades are set to go into the Gold Wing sockets with no modifications and line up with the existing headlight projection reflectors.

My concern when I went to the LED's was the riders ahead of me being blinded or irritated by bright headlights coming from my bike. I rode an evening right after I had them installed and the brightness was fantastic - and the lining up with the existing Honda headlight aiming showed it was not broadcasting light all over ahead of me.

https://electricalconnection.com/index.php/product/led-headlight-bulb-h7-honda-type-gl1800-f6b/

 

[montero1]

I second Electrical Connection, I had them install the fog lights and High Beams this Summer at Americade. I already had the low beams. This thing lights up the night. In my VFR1200, I had PIAAs installed, low and High. Seem to be same quality, very bright.

 

[Andy Cote]

Welcome to the forum. Where are you from?

If you read thru the posts on this site I think you will find that the older fan cooled bulbs perform poorly in the GL1800 and are a step down from original halogen bulbs. Consensus agrees with above that specialized bulbs are a better choice. Current production bulbs by EC are very good as well as those from Southern California Motorcycle Gear (SCMG). You will need four bulbs for a complete change over although you can do highs and lows separately and at different times.

 

[KYWinger]

, I would look at purchasing a set from Electrical Connections / Lewis Preston's company
https://electricalconnection.com/index.php/product/led-headlight-bulb-h7-honda-type-gl1800-f6b/

+1 on EC LED's; I have them as well and I could not be happier.

 

[OKWing]

I installed some of the first available H7 LED's about 4 years ago in my high beams. They are still working well. With that said, it did require trimming the rubber boot, installing a rubber grommet, and a spacer. It was a bit of work. Below is a pic of the modified boot.



I recently replaced my low beam HID's with the Electrical Connection LED's. Couldn't have been easier. EC has a well designed bulb. Like others have said, I'd recommend going the EC route.

 

[jtdunc]

Electrical Connections makes fine equipment and I've installed plenty on my GL1800.

One EC LED H7 kit includes two bulbs.

Is that all that is needed? One for low and one for the high beams?

 

[Steve F]

Electrical Connections makes fine equipment and I've installed plenty on my GL1800.

One EC LED H7 kit includes two bulbs.

Is that all that is needed? One for low and one for the high beams?

If you're going to do the high beams too, you need two kits, there are four bulbs total. BTW, I agree with EC's LED's.... I have them and they're great.

 

[Andy Cote]

While I have had good success with Electrical Connection products, I have two issues with the LED headlight bulbs.

Mine were a contest prize but EC was negligent in actually providing the bulbs to the contest holder. Contest holder finally ordered a set thru a Goldwing parts retailer. I purchased a second set from SCMG mostly based on above but also for my own comparison.

From a product design perspective I prefer the SCMG for ease of installation. You'll appreciate the difference if you have installed both. The separate shim ring for the EC bulb is IMHO a design flaw. The high beam bulbs are hard enough to get aligned and held in place and the locking hook snapped while working blind with big hands. The extra loose piece does not help. High beams are not easy in any configuration but this design makes a difficult job more frustrating.

 

[jtdunc]

If you're going to do the high beams too, you need two kits, there are four bulbs total. BTW, I agree with EC's LED's.... I have them and they're great.

So why doesn't EC have a complete set of 4 bulbs for a complete upgrade of your low and high beams?

 

[Steve F]

So why doesn't EC have a complete set of 4 bulbs for a complete upgrade of your low and high beams?

You'll have to ask them. I would think that most people will only be replacing the low beams because 1)they have burned out and 2) because the high beam replacement is such a PITA and no one wants to deal with it.

 

[OnTheFence]

So why doesn't EC have a complete set of 4 bulbs for a complete upgrade of your low and high beams?

Because these are Goldwing headlights. That means half the people want high and low, the 2nd half only want low, the 3rd half just wants one bulb. And the 4th half wants analog L.E.D. ....

The packaging options are just too costly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jtdunc]

So is the consensus to just change out the low beams as they're always on and easier to change?

 

[Big_Bird]

There is no consensus. But, yeah, sure.

 

[Addicted]

I put in 2 sets (hi-beam and low-beam) of Electrical Connections LED bulbs on my 2006 about a year ago. I also replaced my headlight assemblies because they were really yellow and looked bad. What a difference!!! AWESOME LIGHT! Glad I did this because I ride in the dark every morning to work.. (35 miles).

 

[SteveU]

I had originally installed the EC LED low beams and was highly impressed with them over the stock halogen. I ordered both another set of EC LED bulbs for the high beams and some under the mirror brackets and 2 1600 lumen LED pods for them. Good idea to have an air filter on hand and change it while the shelter is off. Pretty much a day project but when I was commuting 70 mi home at night on the highway I never felt like I was over driving my headlights @80 mph and considering I live and ride thru deer country that was important to me. Nice thing is, I have over twice the light of the stock halogens and use less power which is easier on the charging system. The EC bulbs are 24 watts each for 96 watts and the pods are 20 watts each for 136 watts total compared to 4-55watt halogens at 220 watts total, that 84 watts will run my Gerbing heated jacket or close to it in the colder weather. I'm very happy with the EC bulbs and the fact that they are plug and play, no modifying anything so if I ever decide to sell the bike I can put a set of halogens in it and not have to buy new rubber boots.

 

[Pointwithinacircle]

The EC, H7 bulb lists a color rendering of 6000k. How does the color rendering compare to the stock GW bulb?

 

[Elwood]

The EC, H7 bulb lists a color rendering of 6000k. How does the color rendering compare to the stock GW bulb?

LED is the one on the right of the bike, stock halogen in the yellow looking one




https://gl1800riders.com/forums/5-g...cal-connection-led-headlamps.html#post5523913

 

[mwinfidel]

Are the EC LED's actually brighter?

 

[mwinfidel]

I would love to see some pics of your bike with the new lights. I want to have more than enough light if I need them.