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Better lights for 10-14 MTS1200

31K views 56 replies 22 participants last post by  Damascus 
#1 · (Edited)
Well.. Im into lights and all and I´m going to take on a little Project come Thursday.
Ill be trying out diffrent conversions on the Multistrada 1200 lowbeam and see if I cant make the lights better without dazzling anyone. Now.. This test is only applicable to the Multistrada Gen2 that use H11 bulbs on the lowbeam. On the highbeam, there are some options.. Best on being to modify a H9 halogen buld slightly and use that. 600 lumens more for only 65w Power instead of 55w. Im not going to get into that part.

The Bulbs I´ll be testing are.
HALOGEN
H11 Phillips Longlife (stock)
H11 Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited (Plug and play, the brightest halogen upgrade availble)

Xenon/HID
H11 35W HID/Xenon Canbus
H11R 35W HID/Xenon Canbus (R is for reflector, suppose to cut down on glare when modifying the lowbeam)
Both kits use CN light high quality bulbs in 4300K and Canbus Slim ballasts of high quality

LED
IPF H8/H11/H16 LED Headlight conversion kit fan cooled - Newly developed and extremly well made by IPF, who are to Japan what Osram and Phillips are to Germany.
IPF H8/H11/H16 LED Foglight conversion kit no fan - Newly developed and extremly well made by IPF, who are to Japan what Osram and Phillips are to Germany.
Noname Ebay H8/H11 fan kit. - The cheap $100 or so you find on ebay/wish

Ill be checking fitment, lightpattern output and glare aswell as a subjective comment about fitting.

Tune in on Friday to see what is what!

Headlight


Did this Before using IPF H4 LED conversion bulbs for the Volvo 240 club and the results where a clear win for the IPF Fan cooled model!
Here is the stock bulb vs the IPF LED conversion kit lightpattern. (Note: EU full size H4 reflector, not sealed beam duals)

 

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#3 · (Edited)
First out the Normal, Non-R, H11 xenon bulb @35W using "slim" ballast.
The lightpattern looks pretty good, but there is considerable glare compared to the Halogen buld towards the front since both HIDs lack a shield facing directly forward




Then the R-version. The R stands for Reflector and has a shield designed to prevent glare when doing HID conversions.



The Ballast, even being a high quality SLIM version still takes considerable space. I didn find this a feasible conversion
 

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#4 · (Edited)
LED.

First off some really GOOD LEDs. These are made by Japanese IPF that have to versions in H11, aswell as H4, HB3/hb4 and H10 aswell!
The non fan kind is very effective and takes minimal space. I ended up leaving these on the bike. The come in 5000K and 6500K color.







Then the FAN model from IPF rated at more lumens, but way to Bulky for the MTS small space


 

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#5 ·
Keep in mind that a simple upgrade is inserting a diode or something simple like that (I forget exactly how and where) and you can get the lows and highs on at same time. (like the 14's and possibly on the '13's?) This makes a huge difference at night. Keep up the good work, I am subscribing.

Mark
 
#6 ·
Yeah there is a diode between the relays that kills the power to the dip beam relay when the bright comes up, reverse it and both operate at once.

The guy on another board still builds the modification harness, its super easy to install and thus completely reversable.

On the lighting tip I have HID dip, LED mains and Denali D2 dual intensity aux lights fender mounted it throws a LOT of light, and a good deal down the road with tolerable spread for mountain switchbacks.

Having all of the lights on is clutch, that couple second tease the bike gives you stock was enough to get my ass in gear.

The issue with ALL HID is space, I can't imagine where you would put all of the ballasts as there is next to no free space around the tank, I have the pair zip tied near where the lines for the oil cooler run, but with fuses and whatnot for the rest of the accessories, there just isn't a lot of space for nearly anything.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Ran out of space.

Here are the NON brand name Ebay versions.
They really leave alot to be desired.

Ebay "80W" version.. Ill let the pics speak for themselves.



Higher quality $100 or so item. More lumens, but not where you need them. Compare this to the IPF unit in my other post.





Now compare it on the wall.. Ebay vs stock Halogen
LED ebay $100 item

Halogen bulb
 

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#11 ·
I have the Hi beam 4 lights on little wiring loom (cheap Yeah thats me) works better than stock and I did upgrade the bulbs to Sylvania/Osram better brighter quality (not much brighter but better?)
For me it is about how much better for how much cost. There are some expensive alternatives that just scare me away.
Hoping the price drops continue and maybe I'll upgrade.

Thanks for the very interesting thread!!!
Good Stuff.
 
#20 ·
I rode with Osram Nightbreakers for 5 years on mine and the diffrence is noticable on low beam.
On highbeam, I would DEFINATLY say that an upgrade to H9 bulbs (see my post above) is the cheapes option, also nearly plug and play. Getting 750 Lumens more then the stock H11 on highbeam is well worth doing even if our a cheap bastard.

Givven that the stock highbeam in H11 does 1350 lumens and the H9 does 2100 lumens for only 10w extra draw... Yeah. Your going to be adding about 40 meters range and probably 10-15 meters width to your lightpattern. 40 meters range is your stopping distance from 80 KPH.

Now imagine you get caught riding home after dark in the fall. Say.. Late September
Suddenly..
 
#12 ·
Thanks a lot for the (very) informative post. I see that you comment on the fan equipped LED lights as being higher lumens output but bulky. First of all, by bulky you mean that you just had a hard time fitting them, or didn't they fit at all in the end? And second, the pictures suggest that the fan model show a lower lumen output and a (maybe) pattern that seems a little bit worse than the fanless model. Is that just the pictures or is the impression I have correct?

Thanks
 
#13 ·
Actually the Fan model of IPF has a higher Lumen rating then the NON-fan model.
Non-fan model - 1300 lumens per bulb - 12w rating
Fan model - 1800 lumens per bulb - 20w rating

To give some perspective, The H11 Osram nighbreaker unlimited bulb is rated at 1350 lumens @ 13volts. And thats just it.. The Halogen bulb is relient on a high, but not too high, voltage and also degrades over time. Osram says its 1350 lumens in testing +/-10%.
Having ridden with this bulb for 6 years and the LED´s for afew Days, I can say that the the LED@ 1300 lumens is brighter and has better spread. The biggest increase for me has beem how wide the LED´s shine.

The "bulb" (for lack of a better word) was easily fitted for testing puposes, but Im not sure that the big fan sticking out the back would fit on the right side on the bike.. The left side has abit more room, so I think you could move some wires around and get it to fit, but the right side is a no-go unless you hack up the small compartment there. I wouldn´t have an issue doing that, since I never keep anything other then some spare foam plugs there.

The beam pattern does seem better in the pictures on the non-fan model, but Im not sure that is the real world case. When checking the lightpattern on the wall, both seemed to have a very clear cut off. I´ve seen this fenomena in the H4 buld IPF offer aswell. A clear hotter spot straight ahead on the non-fan model, but the fanned model seems to spread the light better.
Cant say either way..
I´d purchased the non-fan model for the bike and got to loan the fan model from a friend. Had I done it all over again, I might buy the fan model actually.. And hack the storage on the right side and be done with it.

Oh.. and I´m replacing my H11 highbeams with some H9 bulbs. They get 1800 lumens a piece at 65w. Just need some slight changes to the socket
 
#16 · (Edited)
You could ABSOLUTLY do it with both the fan and the non-fan model.. But the problem comes att full steering lock. The LED "bulb" housing sticks out 35mm for the non-fan and 51mm on the fan model. That means that at full lock, the forks will come into contact with the fan model at the very least. Don´t actually know if the non-fan model would fit.. Hmm.. That´s something I´ll have to try out..
Im talking IPF now ofcourse. Givven the light ouput and ligthpattern on the ebay items, they are total crap and Im not going to cheap out on ebay stuff when IPF offer a 5 (!) year warranty on their products.


The H11 IPF LED comes in 6500K (white with a hint of blue), 5000K (chalk white) and 2400K (yellow)
I went with the 5000K option, but the 6500K option is best if you want to match the colour with the parking/running LED light on the MTS.

I´ll check on fitment with the non-fan model and get back with a result. If it works, Im gonna order up a set I Think. I´ve gone the H9 route for now.

Fitting a Highbeam H9 bulb will give some more lumens. The 65w H9 is rated at 2100 lumens, alot better then the 55w H11 which only kicks out 1350 lumens even in Nightbreaker unlimited form. 700 lumens is like getting almost twice the light without having to do add aux lights or mess around with ballasts. The thing is that the H9 bulb doesnt have sheilding towards the front, so you cant use it in low beam applications unless the headlight has a shield (our MTS´s dont). The H9 bulb is very common on all Volvo´s as highbeam and is made by Osram. Just needs to be slightly altered to fit the H11 hole and plug

Modify as shown

 

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#18 ·
I used HIDs with a slim ballast, and used industrial strength Velcro to attach the ballasts to the inner surface of the fairing lowers. Plenty of room and easy accessibility. I am interested in the HID bulbs that reduce glare, although to be honest, I can stand annoying an occasional car- it means they actually see you!!!

Dave
 
#19 · (Edited)
I found my H11R bulbs on ebay of all places and decided to take a chance that the quality was good. They actually surprised me with how well they kept the light inside the wanted area compared to normal, Non R, H11 HID bulbs which glare alot more all over. Still more glare and alot more space taken compared to the LED´s, but they where cheaper then the IPF solution.. Those ran me $200 give or take a conversion (actually paid 1400SEK, but the US dollar is at ~7SEK to 1 USD, so.. Quick conversion).

HID´s do have their place. Like on the superbikes that use a projector style headlight, but on our MTS´s..
- More glare that is very intense in darkness and will anoy oncoming traffic, even in H11R (reflector) bulbs
- Takes up more space
- More prone to fail and more sensitive then LED´s (IPF´s atleast offer 9-32 volts operation)
- Long startup time in 35W ballats
+ More light in lumens then the LEDs
+ Perfect for highbeam illumination if you´ve done the Low and high together mod
+ Just like LEDs they draw less current, but be aware that the draw is over 55w on bulb startup

The IPF Leds are great in lowbeam applications, but also drawbacks
- Abit fiddly to mount the "ballast", but alot better then HIDs. about 1/3 size compared to slim ballasts.
- The Fan model is impossible to fit unless you hack up the right side compartment
- Not cheap
+ Low draw! 12W compared to 55 halogen and 35w HID
+ Lifetime service.. Will never burn out and here they come with a 5 year, "we dont ask you what happened", warranty
+ Easy peasy install.
+ No glare - Perfect throw.


That said.. since the MTS doesnt use any bulb check, you could mount some serious 70W Speed Start ballasts and 55w Speed start bulbs in the bighbeam and get ALOT of light without having to add extra auxillary lights. HID bulbs are very will suited to highbeam applications, but dont offer the quick "on-off" startup that LEDs do, whick is a downside if you want to be able to flash your highbeam. But for nighttime riding its awesome. The Halogen H9 bulb offers more lumens for not alot of bucks and zero install issues once you cut the slits off in the plug and trim the tab. Still flashes alright quickly, but it doesnt offer the crisp White 6500K or 5000K light that the LEDs or HID´s can.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Great info Anders. Just a bit of info as I’ve only skirted over the posts. Lumens and color rendering (k value) can be misleading. Blue light (which higher k temps have) stop the human iris from reaching, hence the perception that whiter is brighter and what causes glare. This is why that even at less lumens white/blue light SEEMS to be brighter.
You will notice that halogen globes either have a shield or black paint on their tops. This shields the very bright filament from blinding an oncoming driver. A simple black dot on the outside of the glass/ plastic will achieve the same thing. Retro HIDs are notoriously lacking this shielding, hence the blinding to oncoming drivers.
 
#26 ·
Thanks!
Yes, Its an intresting subject to be sure. Thankfully Im friends with the guy incharge of VisionX Europe at Rindab.. They are the EU importers of VisionX, Rigid, WARN, IPF, OWL and Lightforce. So he knows more about this stuff then I will ever know. He helped abit on the write up and we converse almost daily about this stuff.
He put me onto the new H11 and HB3 IPF non-fan bulbs with dual color. Thats going to be intresting! Also the new lowbeam fanned options that will Power out at 28w instead of the old 20w (actual draw, not max theoretical output). We are talking 2100 real lumens from 12w and close to 3000 on 28w!
 
#24 ·
Thanks very much for your research..

What's the easy button to upgrade a 2014? Without fans or ballasts? I've got so much accessory stuff heroically stuffed into those front spaces I really don't want to try to get anything else in there, no remove the tank to do any rear end remote wiring. I'm happy to modify bulbs.

I think my 2014 has LED high beam, my low beam stinks on cornering at night.
 
#25 ·
If you´ve got a -14, check so you dont have LEDs in there already from the factory.
The "easy button" is definatly the IPF H11 NON-fan upgrade. There is a small driver, but nothing major.

IPF are currentlyu releasing a new version of their NON-fan H11 LED bulb that gives you the option of Yellow or White light. Double flash and the light Changes from White (6000K:isch) to yellow (2800K:isch). The new bulbs just hi the distributers, So I´ve booked a pair for checking this summer. Check out IPF´s Instagram for a video.
 
#27 ·
OH BOY!!!

Dual colour headlights anyone?
IPF just released these bad boys! H11 dual colour LED´s. 6500K and 2400K light from the same bulb. That would be awesome! I´ve ordered a set already.

You choose between Cold White 6500K and Deep yellow 2400K by switching the buld off, then on again rapdily. But the bulb remembers what your last choice was when you wait more then 5 seconds between shifting. Made for foglights, but usable for lowbeam. Upped Power to 1600 lumen, more then a stock H11 55w halogen bulb

 
#28 · (Edited)
Just goy my hands on the new IPF.
Two new ones.
First is High power 2600 lumens per bulb.
Testfitting: Needs some trimming on the bikes plastic trim and relocate relays.
Light: Bright with good cut off and nice hot spot. Fitted on throttle side in front pic
Recommendation: Yes, if you dont mind the plastic trimming.
 
#29 ·
And the new foglight conversion IPF H11 low power Dual colour.
This was cool! Both 6500K white and 2800K yellow in the same bulb! Made for cars using H11 or H8 bulbs, it offers both worlds.
Rated at 1600 lumens per bulb is still better then any H11 55w bulb on the market.

Fitted on clutch side in test.
The smaller of the two.

To change color mode, you turn the bulb on/off/on/off/ON and it changes between yellow or white. So you can do it on the fly.
Fitting: No issue either side.
Light: Yellow mode brings the lightpattern on closer but with adds glare to alert oncoming in dusty/foggy conditions.
White has a very nice pattern without any noticable glare
Recommendation: Yes, perfect fit and light, but not as bright as the highpowers 2600 lumens. But changing color on the go is abit cool.
 
#33 ·
Hello Anders,

Thank you for this great post and greetings from Los Angeles (Pasadena) I do have a 2016 Ducati Multistrada and according to my owners manual the low beam and high beam have a H11 12V-55W but I would like to put in a more visible light as I commute in heavy traffic most of the time with my bike....It sounds like a LED bulb would be the most visible? But would they drain the battery faster?

Hope all is well in Sweden ( I am from France but live in L.A area....Cheers
 
#34 ·
The opposite. A 55w bulb drains the battery by 55w/12v = ~5 amps.
The LED bulb I use only needs 12w/12v = 1 amp.
So the led bulb actually drains the battery by 80% less then the halogen bulbs that are stock.

Since I came out with my first test, IPF have released the new dual color bulbs aswell as compact high power versions.

I opted for the dual color since a study here in Europe shows that cars are more likely to notice yellow lights during the day, but still give the crisp white light at night.

Had I had to buy them again, I might go for the high power compact version..

Now.. dont go running off and buy any old led bulb. IPF are waist, stomache, chest, shoulders and head above everyone else. You will find tons of shit H11 bulbs in LED, but go for real IPF items if you want something that lasts and puts the light out correctly.
 
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