i don't understand this

[snowcrossmxz]

so i bought a used 2006 with 2400 miles on it about 2 months ago.

today i was poking around the headlight and i noticed that the 2 low beam bulbs have 2 elements in them, they are a regular high low bulb. the 2 high beam bulbs only have one element in them.

when i put the bike on high beam, the 4 lights come on, but the 2 low beam lights stay on the low beam element, they don't switch to the high.

the high low switch just turns on and off the high beam bulbs and does not change any thing on the low beam bulb.

is this normal?

cuz im wondering y honda would put a dual element bulb in a single element operation, OR the first owner just put the wrong bulbs in.


any ideas?

[TOE CUTTER]

It would be the same on mine as well.Will look into this further when my vision returns.

[jasonsmith]

I haven't checked mine but am thinking that the larger H4 bulbs are probably used to get the a bigger light spread even though the H4's high beam isn't in use. My wiring diagram only shows two wires going to the low beam, so I think all is okay.

[stoshmonster]

No you're not seeing things Snowcrossmxz,that's how the headlights work on your 6th gen. Here's a pic for you. The upper light is the high beam,it has two wires,a green which is the ground and a blue with black stripe which is the power wire. The lower lower light in the pic is the low beam,it too only has two wires,a green which is ground and a white with black stripe which is the power wire. The high beam element of the H4 bulb is not used during high beam operations.

[snowcrossmxz]

Thanks guys, guess I'm not crazy

Any body think of wireing in the second high element to the high beam bulb, making it active?

I think it would superheat the buld with both elements running and burn it out quickly

[jasonsmith]

Thanks guys, guess I'm not crazy

Any body think of wireing in the second high element to the high beam bulb, making it active?

I think it would superheat the buld with both elements running and burn it out quickly

I would agree, probably would burn out fast if not melt your wires or connector. The VFR is very finicky when it comes to electrical especially with the headlights.

I don't see a problem though wiring it up so you can "switch" to the unused filament after the usual one burns out.

[drewl]

That is silly. Do they not make a purely low beam bulb?

[snowcrossmxz]

I would agree, probably would burn out fast if not melt your wires or connector. The VFR is very finicky when it comes to electrical especially with the headlights.

I don't see a problem though wiring it up so you can "switch" to the unused filament after the usual one burns out.

you say the vfr is finicky when the electrical system.

how many amps can you safely draw from the system with out over loading it?

headlights are (55w X4)/12 so thats 18.3 amps
whats the charging system draw?
whats the ignition draw?
tail lights and blinkers are on the order of 50-70 watts or so. = ~6 amps

whats the max output of the stator?

i know i know, im going to use the search, figured i would ask any way incase some one knows off the top of their head

[stoshmonster]

I've already thought about wiring up the high beam elements on the H4 bulbs on my 6th gen.to be active during high beam operation. It would be simple enough to do. Here's a pic of the backside of the plug connector for the H4 bulbs on the 6th gen.


All you'd have to do is put a spade terminal in the connector plug where the yellow arrow is,and run a jumper wire to the blue with black stripe wire that powers the high beam H7 bulbs. But then you'd run into that problem of both elements in the H4 bulbs being active during high beam operation. I'm thinking you're right though Snowcrossmxz,with both elements active it would probably burn the bulbs out. What you'd need to do then is change out the light switch in the left handset to one that would kill power to the low beam elements in the H4 bulbs during high beam operation. I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm actually looking into doing just that on my bike. I may end up having to change out the whole left handset to get a switch that will do that. What I really need is for a 5th gen. owner to take a good close-up pic of their left handset so that I can see what the light switch looks like and compare it to the light switch in the handset of my 6th gen. Any takers 5th genners? C'mon,help a poor 6th gen.guy out will ya. LOL. You'd be surprised at the interchangeability of stock Honda parts. Why didn't Honda just do this in the first place you ask? I dunno. But in the interest of Science I'm gonna find out. That's how I earned my nickname "The Mad Tinkerer". I'm not sure if the reason is that the bulbs will be drawing too much juice from the electrical system,or maybe it's just that they'll be throwing off so much heat that they'll melt the plastic headlight lenses. We'll see.

Okay,now I'll let you in on another little secret of mine Snowcrossmxz. One of the first things I always do with my bikes is swap out the stock headlight bulbs for brighter ones. I guess it has something to do with that cager excuse "I didn't see you coming". The stock H4 bulbs in your 6th gen. are 55w/60w and the stock H7 bulbs are 55w. I use Bluhm Enterprises Brite-Lites 80w/100w H4 bulbs and 70w H7 bulbs in my '03 VFR800. Man,talk about lighting up the night! I swapped them out the day after I bought my bike. I've been running the bike that way for six years now without any electrical system problems at all. Keep in mind though that I don't run any gadgets like GPS,CB radio,heated grips,etc on my bike. I ran the 80w/100w H4 bulbs on my old '86 VFR700,and I used to run 90w/100w H4 bulbs in the headlights on my old '97 VFR750 without any problems either. The only bike that I've ever had problems with running headlight bulbs brighter than stock has been my Ducati 900ss. Anything more than the stock 55w/60w H4 headlight bulb will melt the plastic headlight plug connector. None of my VFR's ever had that problem.

[snowcrossmxz]

i might just have to get those bulbs from Bluhm Enterprises Brite-Lites, because when i hit the hi-beam switch, i want daylight to come out of the front of what ever i am driving.

[snowcrossmxz]

I've already thought about wiring up the high beam elements on the H4 bulbs on my 6th gen.to be active during high beam operation. It would be simple enough to do. Here's a pic of the backside of the plug connector for the H4 bulbs on the 6th gen.


All you'd have to do is put a spade terminal in the connector plug where the yellow arrow is,and run a jumper wire to the blue with black stripe wire that powers the high beam H7 bulbs. But then you'd run into that problem of both elements in the H4 bulbs being active during high beam operation. I'm thinking you're right though Snowcrossmxz,with both elements active it would probably burn the bulbs out. What you'd need to do then is change out the light switch in the left handset to one that would kill power to the low beam elements in the H4 bulbs during high beam operation. I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm actually looking into doing just that on my bike. I may end up having to change out the whole left handset to get a switch that will do that. What I really need is for a 5th gen. owner to take a good close-up pic of their left handset so that I can see what the light switch looks like and compare it to the light switch in the handset of my 6th gen. Any takers 5th genners? C'mon,help a poor 6th gen.guy out will ya. LOL. You'd be surprised at the interchangeability of stock Honda parts. Why didn't Honda just do this in the first place you ask? I dunno. But in the interest of Science I'm gonna find out. That's how I earned my nickname "The Mad Tinkerer". I'm not sure if the reason is that the bulbs will be drawing too much juice from the electrical system,or maybe it's just that they'll be throwing off so much heat that they'll melt the plastic headlight lenses. We'll see.

Okay,now I'll let you in on another little secret of mine Snowcrossmxz. One of the first things I always do with my bikes is swap out the stock headlight bulbs for brighter ones. I guess it has something to do with that cager excuse "I didn't see you coming". The stock H4 bulbs in your 6th gen. are 55w/60w and the stock H7 bulbs are 55w. I use Bluhm Enterprises Brite-Lites 80w/100w H4 bulbs and 70w H7 bulbs in my '03 VFR800. Man,talk about lighting up the night! I swapped them out the day after I bought my bike. I've been running the bike that way for six years now without any electrical system problems at all. Keep in mind though that I don't run any gadgets like GPS,CB radio,heated grips,etc on my bike. I ran the 80w/100w H4 bulbs on my old '86 VFR700,and I used to run 90w/100w H4 bulbs in the headlights on my old '97 VFR750 without any problems either. The only bike that I've ever had problems with running headlight bulbs brighter than stock has been my Ducati 900ss. Anything more than the stock 55w/60w H4 headlight bulb will melt the plastic headlight plug connector. None of my VFR's ever had that problem.

i think a relay to shut off the low beams might be easer. a relay is $5 on ebay

this will be one of my projects for the winter. ill make a DIY for it

[dogman]

I thought about doing that (switching the H4s to hi beam as well) but a more effective solution if the lights arent good enough for you is to fit some HIDs to the H4s.

I would be interested in seeing your proposed wiring diagram, however.

[snowcrossmxz]

diagram? HA, this is a seat of the pants operation. there no diagram.
the only rule is to keep the smoke in the wires and not let it out :)

but when i do hatch a plan, it list it out here.

[Maggot]

How about switching the wire from the low beam side of the H4 bulb to the high beam side of the H4 bulb. This should give you a brighter light when runnig low beams alone and still light only the two lower bulbs. When you hit the High beam switch it would light all four bulbs but still give you more light because the brighter side of the H4 low beams would still be in use with all four bulbs lit. Additional load on the electrical system would only be 10 to 20 watts. Would this be enough light to actually notice the difference? And remember most lights get dimmer as they age.

This way you would not have to touch your left handset.

[snowcrossmxz]

How about switching the wire from the low beam side of the H4 bulb to the high beam side of the H4 bulb. This should give you a brighter light when runnig low beams alone and still light only the two lower bulbs. When you hit the High beam switch it would light all four bulbs but still give you more light because the brighter side of the H4 low beams would still be in use with all four bulbs lit. Additional load on the electrical system would only be 10 to 20 watts. Would this be enough light to actually notice the difference? And remember most lights get dimmer as they age.

This way you would not have to touch your left handset.

its not more light, well it is kinda, the high beam is only 5 watts more then the low.
the big difference is that the low beam has a reflector on it, inside the bulb. the high beam does not. so the high low difference really only changes the direction of the light not that intensity.

[VIFFER RIDER]

Its kind of nice to have a bulb like that because if they burned out in the middle of a long trip, it would be nice to have a option to switch over the spade connector to use the high beam filament temporarily.

[stoshmonster]

Here's a pic for you Snowcrossmxz,I think you'll find it interesting.
You won't need any extra relays or a different light switch either.
With the exception of a few spade terminals and a couple of pieces of 16 guage wire,everything else you'll need is already on the bike.
Gonna be interesting to see just how much power can safely be pushed through the high beam headlight relay.

[snowcrossmxz]

Here's a pic for you Snowcrossmxz,I think you'll find it interesting.
You won't need any extra relays or a different light switch either.
With the exception of a few spade terminals and a couple of pieces of 16 guage wire,everything else you'll need is already on the bike.
Gonna be interesting to see just how much power can safely be pushed through the high beam headlight relay.

mm quite interesting.
did not know there was a low beam relay
where did you find this wire map goodness.

you are right, all the parts are there, just need to be rewired a little

[stoshmonster]

The wiring schematic is from my Service Manual Snowcrossmxz. I traced out the electrical circuit and drew in the rest of the wiring connections myself. Remember I said I was looking into this.

Where I whited out on the wiring schematic means that there's no longer a wire plugged in there anymore.
That Blue wire with a White stripe used to run straight through the Blue wiring harness plug connector to the low beam headlight relay and supply the signal voltage to turn the relay on. That's why the low beam headlights were always on. By unplugging that wire on the dash harness side of the Blue plug connector and running the Red wire in my diagram from the light switch in the left handset to it,you can now kill the power to the low beam headlights when you flip the switch to turn the high beams on.


Here's a pic of the lightswitch in the left handset. Solder the red wire to the terminal that the White arrow is pointing to. Then run the wire neatly through the plastic wire sheath on the handset and leave yourself about a foot or so of extra wire. Remember that Red wire has to reach back to the Blue wire harness plug connector. I've already wired my handset and tested the function of the switch.


Here's a pic of the dash harness side Blue plug connector with the Blue wire with the White stripe removed. There's a teeny tiny little plastic tab inside the plug connector that holds the wire terminal in the connector. Pry it back gently and that wire slides right out. You could simply cut that wire but that's kinda crude,I prefer repairs to be neat and tidy. I'm looking to see if I can find the female terminal end at Radio Shack or maybe the hardware store,crimping it onto the Red wire and taping up the connection. That way you're not doing any damage to the original wiring harness.


Remember,at this point all you've done so far is killed the power to the low beam elements in your H4 bulbs. Now you've got to power up the high beam elements in those H4's. What I'm going to do is get some new spade terminals and crimp my jumper wires in with the Blue wire with the Black stripe in the high beam plug connectors. Unwrap the harness down to the Red arrow in the pic,route the jumper wires down and tape the harness up. Then crimp on a spade terminal and install the jumper wires into the H4 plug connectors.


I haven't gotten that far yet though Snowcrossmxz. My bike currently looks like this. I've got a lot paintwork to do,and lots of aftermarket goodies are going on the bike over the winter so I haven't finished the headlight wiring yet.


A word of warning to you Snowcrossmxz. What I'm proposing here all works great on paper but it hasn't been tested yet on the bike. If you decide to go ahead and make this mod,you do so at your own risk. Be VERY mindful of that. Sometimes mods work,sometimes they don't. That's just how it goes. If you're feeling kinda queasy about doing any of the work that I proposed then I suggest that you stop right here. I'll be finishing up my headlight wiring next spring and testing the bike then. I'll post up with my results when I get them.

[snowcrossmxz]

The wiring schematic is from my Service Manual Snowcrossmxz. I traced out the electrical circuit and drew in the rest of the wiring connections myself. Remember I said I was looking into this.

Where I whited out on the wiring schematic means that there's no longer a wire plugged in there anymore.
That Blue wire with a White stripe used to run straight through the Blue wiring harness plug connector to the low beam headlight relay and supply the signal voltage to turn the relay on. That's why the low beam headlights were always on. By unplugging that wire on the dash harness side of the Blue plug connector and running the Red wire in my diagram from the light switch in the left handset to it,you can now kill the power to the low beam headlights when you flip the switch to turn the high beams on.


Here's a pic of the lightswitch in the left handset. Solder the red wire to the terminal that the White arrow is pointing to. Then run the wire neatly through the plastic wire sheath on the handset and leave yourself about a foot or so of extra wire. Remember that Red wire has to reach back to the Blue wire harness plug connector. I've already wired my handset and tested the function of the switch.


Here's a pic of the dash harness side Blue plug connector with the Blue wire with the White stripe removed. There's a teeny tiny little plastic tab inside the plug connector that holds the wire terminal in the connector. Pry it back gently and that wire slides right out. You could simply cut that wire but that's kinda crude,I prefer repairs to be neat and tidy. I'm looking to see if I can find the female terminal end at Radio Shack or maybe the hardware store,crimping it onto the Red wire and taping up the connection. That way you're not doing any damage to the original wiring harness.


Remember,at this point all you've done so far is killed the power to the low beam elements in your H4 bulbs. Now you've got to power up the high beam elements in those H4's. What I'm going to do is get some new spade terminals and crimp my jumper wires in with the Blue wire with the Black stripe in the high beam plug connectors. Unwrap the harness down to the Red arrow in the pic,route the jumper wires down and tape the harness up. Then crimp on a spade terminal and install the jumper wires into the H4 plug connectors.


I haven't gotten that far yet though Snowcrossmxz. My bike currently looks like this. I've got a lot paintwork to do,and lots of aftermarket goodies are going on the bike over the winter so I haven't finished the headlight wiring yet.


A word of warning to you Snowcrossmxz. What I'm proposing here all works great on paper but it hasn't been tested yet on the bike. If you decide to go ahead and make this mod,you do so at your own risk. Be VERY mindful of that. Sometimes mods work,sometimes they don't. That's just how it goes. If you're feeling kinda queasy about doing any of the work that I proposed then I suggest that you stop right here. I'll be finishing up my headlight wiring next spring and testing the bike then. I'll post up with my results when I get them.

nice set up there,
im an electrical/software engineer, so im aware of the risks :)
i need to get my hands on the weiring diagram.
actually im afraid to cuz then i will want to rewire and change a LOT more then just the lights
looks like you have put more planning into it then i have at the moment.

i will be diving into this over the winter.
when i do ill be in contact, sounds like we can work out a nice, some what simple mod for this bike :)