3rd Gen Headlight question (relating to HID conversion)

Hi guys,

I have my 3rd Gen in pieces so I'm not able to check. I'm planning on buying a HID retrofit kit with projectors for my 3rd gen and cannot seem to recall how the headlight works. Do we have dual headlight bulbs or a single headlight and a daylight running light? I have a Canadian model 1990 which I bought from the original owner with one yellow bulb (in the left hand side) and a "regular" bulb in the right hand side. I can't recall if the right one comes on at hi beam. My buddy with a 4th gen tells me that both his headlight bulbs work together and both have high beams. This is confusing me, can anybody shed any info? I'm trying to figure out if I need to buy a dual headlight kit or single kit with DRL light.

Thanks

 

Hey Iceman

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/downloads/92VFROM.pdf


Though I can not say for absolute certainty the headlights on your bike according to the Owners Manual link below shows the headlight bulb being a dual wattage 60/55W bulb. This is the same bulb called off in my owners manual leading me to believe that you have an H4 style headlight bulb in your bike. Honda uses a specific style H4 bulb with mounting tabs placed in a slightly different orientation than a standard H4 automotive bulb. This leads owners of our bikes to having to remove two of the lower tabs to allow the standard bulb to fit properly.

In answer to your question though, i believe that the 90-93 bikes used both headlights for low beams and both bulbs for high beams as well, unless the PO of your bike changed that somehow. If you have a photo of the bulbs you have removed, maybe post up a picture and maybe we can help you further identify the bulb in question.

Hopefully someone else can chime in soon to either confirm or refute my thoughts.

According to the microfiche at www.hondapartsnation.com they show the same part number for the headlight bulb on the 90VFR750 (3rd gen) and the 94 VFR750 (4th gen). This would lead me to believe that the headlight in your bike should be an H4 style bulb.

 

Hey zoom-zoom,

Thanks for your input. I don't have access to the bike so I can't check the bulbs just yet but the wiring definitely hasn't been tampered with so it should be working as any other 90-93 bike I presume (unless Canada had some weird DRL thing going on). I was aware of the whole H4 with bending/cutting tabs on the bulbs issue thanks. Actually I purchased a cheap ebay HID kit (one bulb) that's plug and play and had to cut the tabs off when test fitting in my buddies 4th gen which looked identical to mine. I was starting to have second thought about being "that guy" with HID bulbs in a reflector housing so I was pricing full kits with projectors. I had always thought the right bulb was a DRL for some reason so here I am.

 

If you are considering doing the upgrade kit for your bike, could I be so bold as to offer you a suggestion. I recently started a thread on here about adding a set of LED headlights to my 5th gen and they are nearly as bright as far as lumen output as an HID bulb but they provide no where near as much glare. I started a thread here and on VFRD and there are now a few members on each site that have installed an LED upgrade kit on their bikes. So far I have heard from one person who installed a kit on a 4th gen bike and he was very happy with the results, and no one thus far has noticed any issues with other drivers flashing their high beams in response to glare. I had considered doing an HID upgrade to my bike as well and did not want to be THAT guy either and did not want the hassle of having to split the headlight housing in half to install the projector assemblies. This might be an option to consider as it likely cheaper and does not require the same amount of wiring. The kits are totally plug and play and being LED's they consume about half the power of the stock headlights and are for all accounts a LOT brighter. Have a look at the link and see what you think. My total cost for the kit I purchased was $102 including shipping but there is another kit from a company called Lifetime LED's near the end of the thread for $149.00 for the pair and they come with a lifetime warranty. Seems like a better option than the one I installed but a bit more expensive as well.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/76766-led-headlight-install-5th-gen/

Check out post number 167 on page 17 of the VFRD thread and it has a list of the LED headlight suppliers that have been mentioned thus far.

 

I had actually been reading that thread during my research (actually had a tab open to that thread hah). Seems like an interesting alternative. Actually another concern I had was the power draw from the HIDs on my 25 year old charging system. I'll do some more research!

 

One of the members on the VFRD site actually did a test on the current draw with his high beams on after doing the LED install and found that with both headlights on High beams (the highest current draw available on the headlight circuit) and noticed that the stock headlights with standard automotive H4 headlights (60/55W) the current draw was almost 6 amps. When he checked the LED's the same draw on high beams was only 2.1 amps. The HID's do draw less current than stock H4's once running and up to temperature but they draw an enormous amount of current on start up. The current draw, or lack thereof was one of the things that discouraged me about the HID's in the first place. Another plus for the LED kits is that should something should ever fail on the LED kit, you can simply replace the LED bulb with a stock one and plug the factory connector back in since it has not been changed. Then you can still ride the bike with the stock headlights in place until the problem can be solved. Try that with an HID conversion.



I would be very interested to hear your opinions on the LED's should you decide to try them.

 

Those current draw figures are really interesting. You and everyone else in that thread are really convincing me to go the LED route! I found a set identical to yours from a Chinese seller (exact same specs, wording is the same, etc. They're all probably from the same place anyways) for 83$ US with free shipping. Definitely tempted to try it out as a proper HID conversion will go closer to 300$ (too bad I already blew 70$ for an ebay HID bulb and ballast :blue: ). One thing is for sure, the regular bulbs I had in there stock were like flickering candles, no way I want to go another season with them.

 

What kind of bulb and ballast did you purchase from eBay. Reason I ask is that if you purchased an H4 style bulb with all the appropriate hardware you could possibly sell the HID to pay for the LED kit. Just a thought, as there are numerous bikes out there that use an H4 style bulb but only have one headlight. The Suzuki GSX-R is one such example and I believe they come standard with a projector style headlight from the factory at least on the newer models, though I can not say for certain what style bulb they use. This might make it easier to sell. Just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah it's a regular H4 bulb kit that's plug and play (Has a male three prong connector that plugs to factory bulb plug). Only thing is that I cut off the 2 tabs to mount into a VFR headlight :/ I'll see if I can try and sell it anyways, I suppose it would just need an H4 mounting ring to work.

 

If the picture of the bike in your Avatar photo is the machine in question I feel I should mention. NICE BIKE DUDE.

Hopefully you can get the decision sorted out and in a manner that costs you the least cash and frustration.

 

Yeah my avatar pic is my bike, thanks! I've had it just about 3 years now. I've recently installed a left exit Hindle exhaust system and am actually in the process of doing a paintjob. Painting it a translucent red and re-powdercoating the wheels white. A nice winter project to keep my mind off not being able to ride. Thanks for all your input on the subject bud.