VisionX, Xmitter LED Lights

The Baja 1000:

One of, if not the toughest Off Road race in the world. To ride it Ironman (solo) on a Quad is considered to be crazy by some, 1000 miles within 40 odd hours is a long race for both rider and equipment. Reliability, rideability, and comfort are essential to finishing this race.

As nearly half of the race is through the night, good lights are one of the most important pieces of equipment on the bike to be able to maintain the average speed required to finish within the time allocated. As a privateer the most reliable and best lights available are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to minimize damage and make up for the limited support on the track.

Finding a suitable location to mount good lights on a bike, and then enough power to drive them can be difficult. Most bikes are limited to running around 120 watts max power consumption for lighting, even with after market stators. The Honda TRX 450R is no different, but fortunately Honda did all the work and put a good electrical system on the stock bike.
 

Some rules of thumb used for estimating light output:
• Halogen - 25 lumens/watt. 120 watts = 3,000 lumens. Constructed using a fragile filament which has a low reliability.
• High Intensity Discharge (HID) - 100 lumens/watt. HID lights are 35 watts each, so to fit within our power budget 3 HIDs at 35 watts = 105 watts = 10,500 lumens. HIDs are constructed using electrodes to provide an electrical arc (still quite fragile) a starter and ballast unit. HIDs have a higher power consumption to get the arc started and get up to operating temperature. A battery is required to provide the additional power for this function.
• Light Emitting Diodes (LED) - 60 lumens/watt. 120 watts = 7200 lumens. LED lights are made up of multiple LEDs consuming around 2.5 watts each and therefore provide great flexibility in achieving the most light from the power available. LEDs are by far the most reliable lighting component available, with a predicted life of 200,000+ hours before failure, and being constructed of solid resin they are virtually unbreakable.

Let There Be Light:
I was anxious to try out the Xmitter LED Lights after picking them up from VisionX, so I grabbed a small 12 volt battery and plugged one in. First impressions were mixed; they didn't seem to have the range I was expecting, but they did produce a lot of light. I reserved my judgment until all three of them were fitted to the bike, and tested properly.

The Double Stack Xmitter Lights are mounted the same as any other light if using the supplied bracket, otherwise the Double or Single Stack Xmitters can be installed direct onto a flat mounting surface or 1.5” tube with ease. The versatility the Xmitter design offers for mounting is unequaled. The wiring of the lights is straight forward. No need for a battery in this install, just hook-up to the 12V DC output from the regulator/rectifier and you’re done.
 

How Good Are They:
The first test ride went well, the lights performed faultlessly throughout the day. The real test was at night. The Xmitter Lights produce a nice clean quality light, good flood, and the range seemed to be fine, but I still wasn't sure about the range. The LEDs were lined up next to the HID converted Polaris RAZR and surprisingly the HIDs were drowned out, even without all three Xmitters turned on. The range from the Xmitters was as good as the HIDs with so much more light in the mid-range. The Xmitters flood the mid-range with so much light you don’t realize how good the long range actually is.

Light Comparison Specs:
2 x 35 watts each HID Conversions.
2 x 16 LED Double Stack VisionX Xmitters at 40 watts each and 1 x 12 LED Single Stack VisionX Xmitter at 30 watts.

Final impression:
The VisionX Xmitter LEDs are a great light, with an innovative design and solid reliability, that Halogen and HID just can't compare to in this application. The addition of Xmitter lights to any bike would make a great night riding package for any type of terrain.

Good work VisionX, this is an outstanding product with so much potential in Off-Road racing.

Warren Lovelace
AussieIronRider.com