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5W CREE 6000K Pilot Light Bulb (Gen 1)

Paul D

Paul D

Joined Jan 2015
552 Posts | 45+
Midlands (UK)
Tired of the standard, insipid, pointless, 5W5 5W, always on pilot light bulb on my Gen1. It was about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

So just replaced it with a 5W W5W CREE LED bulb (6,000K).
- Bought from Fizzmo eBay seller (not advertised, but contact him direct). Cost £6.99 each. You can get cheaper units from China if your prepared to wait, but then Fizzmo come with a years warranty which he honours.

Now it emits nice bright white light which raises bikes visibility in the daytime, as well as at night. :thumbup

PS: The bad news is I also bought a cheaper £3.50 pair of 1.5W CREE W5W bulbs for the car, but the Patterdale Terrier managed to get the pack from my workbench and chewed them to bits before I'd realised. Now he's really in the doghouse! ;)
 
I pay no attention to the "pilot" light as my dipped beam is always lit....
Gray
 
Gray, mine was too, although I swapped out my 'always on' std switch unit for a Mille unit with headlight switch - primarily to aid cold starting in winter. Now only my pilot light is 'always on'. But even with headlights on (which I always do when giving it some muscle) the 6000k 5w pilot light will catch the eye of other drivers (I hope!!), without being annoying (like so many after market white/blue car headlight bulbs are these days).

Incidentally, 6000k white lights are best for being seem, but poor for lighting up the road. The yellowish 3000k bulbs are much better for visibility, so better for the headlights & main beam.

TK,
- Will post a pick at next opportunity.
 
Front bulbs are easy to change. Just remove 4 cockpit fairing bolts, gently lower fairing unit, disconnect one connector cable. Pilot light bulb is a friction fit via rubber tube surround. Pull out w5w and push in replacement.

If you have an LED or LED/CREA bulb, it is polarity sensitive, so check before giving fairing back in place.

Headlight bulbs are behind the river boots, which just pull off like car headlight boots.

PS: when tightening fairing bolts, I use a screwdriver arrangement to the Allen headed socket. And only do up hand tight to prevent fairing cracking.
 
Photos of 5w CREA LED pilot light, as requested. Taken 2hrs before sunset, with various headlight combinations for comparison. Definately a big improvement on the standard bulb, and should increase visibility to other road users.


IMG_20150919_180330.jpgIMG_20150919_180324.jpgIMG_20150919_180302.jpgIMG_20150919_175718.jpg
 
Paul D said:
Photos of 5w CREA LED pilot light, as requested. Taken 2hrs before sunset, with various headlight combinations for comparison. Definately a big improvement on the standard bulb, and should increase visibility to other road users
Click to expand...

Looks like that poor bike has wet itself
 
:lol. Front was covered in fly splats, so gave screen a quick clean for sake of the pictures! Would have done the whole bike except didn't want the good lady catching me, as she reckons I'm always washing the bike, and she'd be having me do the car too! ;)
 
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Just attaching a few more photos, taken before sunset (previous set were taken when it was nearly dark, although cameras settings makes it appear lighter).

They help show how much better the 5W CREA LED bulb is than standard. A lot depends on cameras settings, but it should be clear the LED enhances the bikes visibility, even with headlight on.

The first pic is LED only. 2nd is with headlight on.
PS:

IMG_20151223_161014.jpg
IMG_20151223_161040.jpg

PS: If anyone needs to replace the std 5W5 bulb, definately worth considering a 5W CREA if they want something more functional, especially if they have headlight switch fitted.
 

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