Auxiliary driving lights needed

Need more lighting thrown ahead and to the sides for deer spotting. Looked at a few threads but they didn't describe what I want. The high beams do a great job but I need something that can be on without blinding drivers ahead.

How much extra amperage is built into the stock (2007) 6th gen alternator?

Thanks,

Reg

 

I am looking for the same thing. I have been considering these Denali Lights from Twisted Throttle, but I don't know much about them.

Link: TwistedThrottle.com : Denali D2 LED Lighting 2-Light Kit with Full Wiring Harness and M10 Mount - TT-D2.KIT

And there always PIAA's

Dave

 

Lighting hipsters will be scandalized, but I LOVE my HID bulbs in the stock reflectors.

I did all four bulbs, but would advise that you only do the low beams, because the HID lows are amazing and you can still use the stock high beams for flashing etc.

I have had zero complaints about glare, and live in a small town where people love to complain.

 

I went with the Pia Cross Country HID lights, but if I had to do it again, today, I would look at some of the new LED aux lights. Those weren't around when I got the CC's. I have seen the Denalis in person and they are very bright, use very little juice and are quite light. The Clearwater LED lights look quite nice too, an dhave been positively reviewed by at least two of the MC mags.

 

Thanks. I'll look into the suggestions. The LEDs may be the way to go since I have added heated grips and run another light load.

 

Check these out, they're very highly rated by adventure riders:

ADV Monster Home Page

 

Nice lighting - well thought out but expensive. I do like the low amp draw.

 

Has any mounted the Clearwater "Kristas"? They don't carry a mount for those but do for the Glendas.

Reg

 

We live in deer country too. The trouble with deer in rut is that they are not thinking, just thinking of one thing, fucking. Them being in visual range doesn't count, no amount of light will allow you to stay reasonably safe. I have had them leap onto the road at 30 mph with no chance to avoid. I have hit two in the last 8 years, I wasn't on my motorcycle. Last year (2010) there were two riders killed by deer within 10 miles of my house. I have had this discussion with some ignorant city dwellers and they think you can just slow down. You would need to ride at 25mph.

 

Uhhh, yeah, that isn't just deer...

 

The Kristas have been installed. I created mounts from aluminum stock since Clearwater has none for the VFRs.

The lights are quite bright. The dimming ability is a very good feature as is the low current draw. The mounts allow for the lights to be rotated to the sides thereby lighting the ditches and fields. Night time confidence is definitely boosted.

I took pictures of the installation and will post when time allows.

 

The owner of Dual Sport Touring Accessories is an expert at "aux" lighting and rides a 6th gen with a killer set up.
He would be happy to help any of you guys "light the way".
I might add this is a great company to deal with.


Dual Sport Touring Web Store

 

So where did you end up mounting them?

 

Think I will take a good look here. I have HID's high and low on the front which is great for my purposes. But two nights ago the fog was so bad on the way to work in the dark, I feared that someone would run me over if I were to slwo too much. The rear lights we have in my view are not really that great. SOme additonal red LED's facing backwards I think is a good solution. But they need to be in addition to the single light we have. Another grand Idea I have which is not likely to come to being cause I won't park the bike long enough for that.

 

Changed light mounts to Yamaha's sent by Clearwater. Had to modify to avoid mount to faring and light to mirror stalk contact. Will continue to tinker. My original homemade mounts had the lights positioned completely forward of the stalk and closer to centerline. These mounts necessitated all but the lenses behind the stalks and farther outward. Don't like the look as well but the setup is more rigid.

The attached picture on left shows the change over. On the VFR's left - picture's right is my mount. On the bikes right is the Yamaha's. The clearance between faring and stalk are small fractions of an inch. Moving the mirror stalk improves the clearance but the mirror ball mount can only compensate so much.

Lumen output is very good however the light pattern could be better. The light beam is round and is not shaped to focus on the road. Too much light is wasted illuminating the tree tops and roadway immediately in front. Also the three LED configuration produces a doughnut shaped beam. I find the dark center distracting but Clearwater examined the lights when I returned them for inspection and said the dark center is due to the LED arrangement. They couldn't tell me this over the phone? I wasted a week bouncing them from east to west coast and back.

Verdict:

Pros:

Lights are quite bright
Excellent quality
Good customer service
Dimmable LEDs

Cons:

No toll free number. For what the lights costs there's no reason not to have one.

The housing is large making it very difficult to make these blend in on a bike. For a large touring bike they might fit better. For most full faring bikes the sleek looks gained by modern farings will be impacted by these lights.

Effort needs to be put into redirecting wasted light onto the road. Focus the beams. I don't care what the birds are up to and I've never had a deer jump from a tree. To Clearwater's defense these are off road lights. I'm just offering a suggestion since they are marketed for street bikes.

Customer service not 100% informed on their own product. I should not have had to ship lights back (at my expense) to be told they are OK when pictures emailed clearly showed the patterns.

Expensive