Lighting- What's legal / Safe ??

Hey all-

Went for a late-night spin last night and realized that despite having 4 forward facing bulbs on at the same time I didn't have enough to keep from outrunning my lights... And I wasn't speeding too badly...

What's safe as far as wattage? Does anyone have a tried&true fix for this model? If it was a car I'd just throw in aftermarket 65w / 75w silverstars & be done with it, but I'm a bit worried about housing temps, and burning up the lighting circuit- I've seen it before quite a few times... As far as legality goes, I don't really give a shit- but those abnoxious blues are a trouble magnet I don't much care for...

 

Lighting hipsters will assure you that it's a bad idea and not right and a waste of money etc, but I LOVE my HID conversion. Save your money and just do the low beams, though. I rarely use the highs, and would love to be able to flash my brights.

 

I'm with you 82ndGreasemonkey,the stock head light bulbs suck for high speed night riding. I'm kinda old-school though,I don't run HID's I run Bluhm Enterprises "Brite Lites" on my '03 VFR800.

Here's the link to the Bluhm Enterprises website. Click me.>>>>>Bluhm Enterprises

I run the Xenon Gas Boosted 90/100watt H4's (part number BL-43B100Z) in the lower two headlights and Xenon Gas Boosted 70watt H7's (part number BL-H7B70) in the upper two headlights. Talk about lighting up the night! :shocked:
Although the glass on these light bulbs is Blue don't let that fool you,they actually do throw out a very intense White light. Pretty much it's only when viewed from head-on that you can see a very subtle hint of Blue around the base of the light.
I've been using these type bulbs since day one on my bike and I haven't had any problems at all with them.
For some silly reason though I keep telling people that the dims on the H4 bulbs are 80watts when they're actually 90watts.:loco:
Dammit,I think I'm getting dyslexic in my old age. :lol:



You mentioned that you don't care for the Blue beamed head lights either. If you decide to go with the Bluhm Enterprises head light bulbs then you're going to want to stay away from the Super Clear Halogens (part number BL-43C100) as these throw out a fairly Deep Blue light beam. Hope this info helps.

 

That sounds like a decent solution- and after last night OH MAN do I need more light! That's a helluva lot of watts though. Did you have to upgrade any of the wiring, fuses, or relays to handle the increased load? And if you didn't change anything, have you had an opportunity to inspect the wiring and such for any heat damage?

I had a headlamp circuit on a Harley literally catch fire on me last summer. I was about 30 miles out at about 1am... Not fun... I think that was an H3 in the Harley..

 

id go with tightwad's kit:

Wire My Bike

 

Nope. I did however have the dash wiring harness replaced under warranty,my '03 VFR800 was included in the factory recall for that.
Keep in mind 82ndGreasemonkey that the high beam elements in the H4 bulbs on the 6th gen. bikes DO NOT turn on when you flip the light switch in the left handset.
The low beam elements in the lower H4 bulbs on the 6th gen. bikes stay on all the time and only the upper H7 bulbs turn on when you flip the light switch on. That's how these bikes are wired.

I ran an 80/100watt H4 Brite Lite in my old '86 VFR700 and a pair of the 90/100watt H4 Brite Lites in my old '97 VFR750 for years and never had any problems at all with those two bikes either. In fact I run a pair of the 70watt H7 Brite Lites in my '04 RC51 too. No problems at all with that bike either.
I think newer Honda's are simply just capable of handling a little bit higher wattage head light bulb than what was installed stock. They just take it in stride and never miss a beat.

The only bike that I ever had any problems with installing a higher wattage head light bulb on was my Ducati 900SS. After awhile it would simply just melt the wire harness connector plug.

Yep,I take my bikes apart so often that it gives me a good opportunity to keep an eye on and inspect for just that sort of thing.
Keep in mind too that I don't run any GPS,heated hand grips,etc. that would load up my electrical system.

 

Lighting regs are in your DMV code book. Lots of light is great but you probably don't need a bust on your paperwork..

 

Hey Stosh-

How big of a pain was it to change out the lighting?

 

It's actually very simple to swap out the head light bulbs Greasemonkey,provided you know how to remove the panels and fasteners. It's prolly only about a 20 maybe 25 minute job tops.

The H4 bulbs are easy to swap out,just put the bike on the centerstand,turn the forks out of your way,and reach in and remove the electrical connector on the back of the head light bulb. Just a heads-up,those electrical connectors are on there TIGHT. Just keep wiggling them up and down while keeping steady rearward pressure on them and eventually they'll come off. Then remove the protective rubber boot.



With the protective boot out of your way reach in and press the tab on the locking wire in (Red arrow) and move the locking wire toward the opening (Green arrow) to release it.



Now simply pivot the locking wire out of the way and the head light bulb practically falls right out.



When you install new head light bulbs remember not to touch the glass on the bulb. Handle the new bulbs by the socket pins only otherwise you'll introduce oil and dirt from your hand that could potentially shorten the life of the bulb.




To swap out the H7 bulbs requires you to remove the two little panels on the top edges of your front fairings. First you'll need to remove the two little Black plastic fasteners on the lower corners of the dash cover.



Here's the info on how to remove and install those Black plastic fasteners. Be gentle with them Greasemonkey because they can break easily.



Then you'll need to remove the four fairing screws (two per side) that secure the two little panels to gain access to the H7 bulbs.
Here's a link to an old thread in which I sent pics and instructions on how to remove those panels.
Click me.>>>>>http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/24009-fuses-right-hand-inner-panel-2004-a.html

Okay now I know that all SOUNDS like a lot Greasemonkey,but trust me if you're handy with a wrench and screwdriver it'll prolly take you longer to read through my entire post than it will to actually swap out your head light bulbs.

 

Afternoon all,

I used the 'Wire My Bike' kit for the low beams and I'm super happy with it. It's crazy bright, but doesn't deviate from the legal headlight aim/adjustment/pattern guidelines we have here in NZ. It doesn't seem to dazzle other drivers/riders much either.

Everyone who has seen the lights have been super impressed and it makes me feel a lot safer in traffic due to my increased visibility. I haven't been doing much fast night riding recently, but they seem significantly brighter to the standard ones. A quick check of wikipedia shows they are over double the brightness of normal H4 lamps (900 - 1500 lumens for standard H4 lamps and 3200 - 3400 lumens for HID lights).

Here's a good video of what the kit looks like once installed:
Motorcycle specific HID kit VFR800 VTEC - YouTube

And here's another video demonstrating the work you have to do to install the kit (it took me and my dad about 2 hours one afternoon to get it installed, it's fairly straight forward):
VFR Front Fairing Removal & HID Install - YouTube

Hope this helps!
Paul