H4 "low beam" bulb question

Hi guys.

I was looking to replace my low beam bulbs because one burnt. The bike had install H4's and the forums were talking also of H4 as replacements, so that's what I bought.
Normally the H4 is double filament bulb for high and low beam. My bike has only two wires going to the H4 socket, therefore only one filament lights up.
Is this the right bulb type and the right setting????
My wires seems not to be original. I wonder if the previous owner disabled the second filament of the H4.
What would happen if I find two brand new H4 type sockets and hook the 3rd cable to the high beams, so when I turn on the high beams ON, then both filaments of the H4 will work and I will have the H7's (high beam) lighting up also. That would light the road pretty nice.
IF the way my bike is right now is incorrect please let me know. IF it is correct, then why everyone recommend using an H4 bulb?????
Also Im thinking: if I go LED I could have the H4 type LED hooked with the high beams H7 led and have the same setting I was proposing above BUT without the risk of overheating the cables.
Hope I explain myself.

 

Yep, Honda saw fit to use H4 in the bottom without wiring for highbeam filiment. I'm using HID H7 up top but ran a jumper to the H4 high filiment so I can have high/low on the H4s and the HID H7s on a separated toggle switch..

 

Early models of the vfr800 had problems with insufficient load capacity of the wiring harness, I didn’t get the notice until after I fried the main wiring harness connector, ground wire had overloaded. This was after I went with brighter hi power headlights, seat heater, and various electronics. I ended up running heavy wire for ground and main power around every connector(then I got recall notice) Anyway last year I decided to go all led bulbs and bought set of H7 and H4’s, that’s when I noticed the plug for the H4’s did not use the hi beam post, since these bulbs and all the other leds draw so little compared to previous load I figured ok to cut out and replace the headlight connector with one wired for hi and low beam. Now lights are super bright. Also had to replace turn signal relay with led type. Now bike charges better, shows higher voltage even at idle.

Had bike since new, 2002 model, when installing all led lights, I went thru and checked all harness connection points again, the 3 wire connector coming from the stators at the frame were burnt badly, don’t know how the girl had keep going, cut out connection and connected wires directly with splice.

 

I've heard that US viffers have H4 in the low beam sockets, but I've always thought they used the high beam filaments. Is the reflector really built to handle both filaments?

Skickat från min H8324 via Tapatalk

 

I'm using the H4 HI filiments wired from the H7 wires as I have relayed H7 HIDS up top and a separate switch to activate the (works on hibeam on only).

This way I have HI & LO halogen on the H4's without over loading and can switch on the HIDS when i know I'll have them on for a bit.

I also used a relay kit from Newbonnevile so that the lights power only after flicking the highbeams once so that there's no load on engine start. Just have to remember to do it before riding out but a good volt meter tells me anyway.

 

I replaced the low beam light bulbs on my 06 model, since I had to get the bike inspected ASAP to get the title transferred to my name, I went with the Honda light bulbs. they were $80 with a "discount" from the dealer. I also read some where that the H4's from the auto parts department will not work on the VFR with out some trimming. Not sure if this information is accurate or not.

 

On my 08 there was an "adapter" between the harness and the bulb. I had already bought good ceramic h4 pitails so I soldered them in place. (stock ones are pretty cheapy)

 

Having ridden 6th Gens both side of the pond it is obvious that the headlights on North American models are woeful compared with European/Rest of the World.

Over in Europe the 6th Gen headlight lenses are fitted with 4 H7 bulbs - 2 x H7 low beam and 2 x H7 hi beam. When you choose hi beam the low beam also stay on so you have amazing lighting especially as the 6th Gen headlight lens shape was carefully designed to align with the location of the very small filament area of an H7 bulb rather than H4 bulbs.

However to be permitted to import bikes into North America, Honda were forced to use different headlight bulbs used to comply with local regulations including one stipulating only using readily available bulbs and as H4 were pretty much the number one bulb used in mass market motor cars Honda were certain H4 would comply.

The filament location in a H4 bulb is however relatively extended as it has to contain Hi and low beam elements (even if you only use one part of the bulb). This lack of optimum alignment within the headlight optics results in a rather more scattered and diffuse beam pattern compared with European models, which Honda were only partially able to compensate by the modified mounting and plug fitted on the North American models.

To get significantly better headlights, you can either upgrade to Xenon (gas discharge), or better still replace your USA headlights with headlights from mainland Europe.
The cheapest option is to just buy a relay and nab a pair of replacement H4 connection plugs from a wreckers as most have plenty). Then do some basic wiring to fire up those unused H4 high beam elements whenever hi beam is selected. The difference is not perfect but still very significant and I am sure quite a lot of people have happily gone down that route.

Being based in Europe I am not sure about the precise design of the bulb holders used on North American 6th Gens - but it strikes me that rather than repeatedly modify H4 bulbs to fit you may be better off just modifying the bulb holder once (Dremel) so you are no longer locked into buying Honda's costly bulbs.

One last thought - Please do not be tempted to try out cheapo H4 LED options from China - they scatter light all over the place. I tried some a while back on my Street Triple and after just one night time run threw them straight in the bin. Whilst the cost was buttons they were truly awful and no amount of adjusting the headlights solved the problem. Indeed they were better suited to lighting up the underside of bridges than the road ahead with virtually no discernible difference in beam pattern between Hi and Lo beam settings.

SkiMad

 

About 6 years ago I noticed the same thing on my 6th gen. I bought replacement 3 wire sockets and wired up a relay system so that I could switch the ‘hi-beam’ on as well. Made some improvement. Upgraded bulbs to brighter (higher wattage) and was an improvement until my battery went dead a could of days later, as I had exceeded the capacity of the charging system! Switched to LED bulbs which where great except LED’s were not in the same spot as the filaments and reflectors had a weird pattern. But with low beams and two high beams, were really bright. Solved the problem by trading in the bike for an 8th gen with factory designed LED lights and reflectors.