Headlight Upgrade Questions

Hi all, i am really hating my headlights on my 2003 model.

I drive a lot at night and am having a lot of trouble seeing the road compared to my newer bike (dl650 vstrom).

I was originally going to do a HID upgrade kit but after seeing how bad they can be on some bikes, I am worried that its not going to work well. I put one in my gf's vespa and the light shines every where. It seems like the reflector needs to be suited for HIDs to work properly. For example, i read that on my gf's ninja that the HID's are actually worse due to the reflector. However on my gf's nissan cube i put in a HID kit and they work fantastic. I guess it depends on the shape of the oem reflector, some work good, others are terrible.

So I am wondering if the reflector (low beam) on our bike works ok with a HID kit? I would like to do projectors down the road, but I want to get the lights improved for now. My research says we have 9003 bulbs for our main lights (low beams) and H7 for our high beams, is this correct?

My other option was to buy one of those higher end 9003 bulbs like the philips xtreme bulbs.

Any feedback?

Thanks guys.

 

What is bad about them? I find that the headlights for the 6th gens to be fantastic for the majority of night riding I have done. Maybe an alignment would help you out? I only wish my Ford Taurus could have such great lighting. In sharp corners I do think a slightly wider beam would be beneficial but at the same time, I take my corners with caution much more at night than I do in day.

HID's in halogen housings typically don't work as one would expect for reasons that you mentioned with the design of the reflective material inside. It can make it worse for not only your visibility but also be putting too much light in the eyes of oncoming traffic. Not sure if anyone has done this here but if you picked up some HID projector housings and fitted them in the VFR, that would be best.

 

I went through this whole routine late last year. I started by upgrading lower lamps (H4) to higher wattage lamps (80/100), then upgraded the high beams (H7). I fabricated a harness and relay system to provide higher power and to utilize the high beam filament in the lower H4 lamps. Honda does not wire the high beam filament in the H4s, only the low beam! I used heavy duty sockets from NAPA and install a switch so that I could turn the H4 high beam off and on with the H7 high beams. Nice and bright. Three rides after I installed the high wattage lamps, the battery died, the charging system could not provide enough power! I ran the battery down. I eventually went with LED lamps and greatly reduced the total wattage, so much so I ended up installing a Series R/R. The OEM and Mosfet R/Rs shunt unused current to ground, so I wanted to prevent over heating the OEM R/R.

I built the relay harness in such a way it can be taken out and stock lamps can be put back in.

 

I don't really like riding at night, mostly because I have an almost completely black '09 model, but that aside, if I do decide to upgrade the lighting I'm going to go with Xeon projectors. There have been a few VFR owners who have done this and some even posted their final project on line (VFRD). To me this is the way to go, one it looks cool and two you don't have to worry about light bleed over that's gonna blind opposing traffic, well unless that's your thing!

 

Maybe a lightbulb upgrade? I found this website when roaming through here.
http://www.customdynamics.com/motorcycle_led_bulbs.htm#653
Scroll down to end of page for H4/H7 PIAA bulbs...Hope this helps.

 

wait, the low beams are H4?!?!?!?! I looked it up and it says 9003! Damn, that means I ordered the wrong bulbs!

Can someone confirm if they are H4 or 9003? Maybe you made a typo?

 

H4 low, H7 Hi ound:

 

You should be OK

 

I went with 25watt CREE H4 LED lamps and while they are marginally brighter then a halogen and use up 60% less power they arent really that great in terms of beam pattern. Im planning on a Morimoto H1 HID conversion in the future once i have money.

 

Thanks guys. I may try to install a HID kit for the low beams without projectors and see how it works. I will probably try to do projectors over the winter possibly.

It seems like really mixed results/reports. Some claim HId in the stock housing works great and some claim its horrible, worse than halogen, makes it hard to have any idea what to do.

 

Step 1. Sylvania Silverstars with H7 adapter.

Step 2. All new headlamps with Bi XEnon HID.

Step 3. All new LED headlighhts.

As you have discovered, the wiring harness is the weak point. Stick to stock amperages or else she'll strand you. And I only turn on te high beams for long range night riding, oterwise you're burning amps you don't need.

Larry

 

Bandroidx, I purchased my 07 almost three years ago and the po had hid's in both the low and high beams. I found no need for the high beams except for the occasion that I get flashed by on coming traffic and I would like to flash them back to let them know that I only have my low beams on, can't do that because of the warm up time that hid's require so I replaced the high's with Sylvania silver stars, still rarely use them, the hid low beams are that good. The problem with them is that they don't have an upper cut off (light pattern) so they are a bit obnoxious to on coming traffic..........but it does make reading street signs easy:tongue-new: I would like to do the projectors some day but I have read that it is quite the project, but those halo rings look really cool and It would be kinder to traffic. Some day.....
John

 

I have never figured out why the 6th Gen Bikes sold in North America come fitted with different lighting than European Models as the headlights fitted on our bikes have been ranked among the best on any motorbike when it comes to night-time riding. My guess is it may be due to laws, rather than Honda wanting to make a poorer quality model for the North American market. I guess the different lighting set-up may also explain why your bikes got a wiring harness recall which was never carried out on European models.

I wonder if an important factor here, is that a reflector will work best at projecting light where the designers wanted it to go, if the light source is a single point located precisely within the reflector.



As you can see European bikes come as standard with 4 x H7 bulbs - two for dipped beam and two for main beam (and all 4 light up when main beam is selected). As a single filament bulb the location of the light source is very precise, allowing accurate positioning within the reflector. By comparison dual filament bulbs such as the H4 type are a compromise with either one or both filaments inevitably in a sub-optimal location. Which makes me wonder if Honda ever bothered to redesign and manufacture different reflector assemblies specifically for the North American models or took the cheaper option of just attaching a different H4 type mounting plate onto the same reflector housing? If they did, and you are unhappy with the results, then assuming H7 bulbs are available Stateside, you may get better results if you can get an H4 to H7 adaptor and fit H7 bulbs instead all round. After the switch you will probably need to adjust the beam alignment, but once they are set up correctly, you should find night-time riding far less challenging.

If you are not keen on adapting the headlights, then this review may give you some ideas.

http://www.motobulbs.co.uk/2012/06/the-best-motorcycle-bulbs-put-test/

Hope that helps..




SkiMad

 

Skimad4x4: here is a photo of the US H7 low beam reflector lamp holder. You are deadon about the point source, which makes my LEDs not as precise. Have seen pattern from 2014s yet, nor the type of lamps they are using.

 

That photo confirms the mounting on European models is different. Sorry the pictures are not brilliant but you will get the idea - on European models the headlamp mount has a single large cut out at the top.



But as the second photo shows, the actual H7 bulb is actually mounted onto a weird adapter.



It looks like you would either need to adapt the headlamp housing to use the European carrier set-up or find someone selling a custom adapter to switch to a full H7 set up.

As for HID lamps I would steer clear of after-market add-on systems. Apart from OEM lamp installs which will have a reflector specifically designed to match the HID lamp, aftermarket kits tend to produce an unruly beam pattern which scatters light widely, and can blind on-coming traffic. I know a couple of bikers who regretted they were swayed by the latest fashion trend and installed HID lamp upgrade kits off eBay to "improve" motorbikes like a Hornet. Sadly there was no way they could adjust the resulting beam pattern down enough to pass the annual safety examination, and they ended up having to return the wiring to stock and selling the HID kits again on eBay.

For most bikes, an easier and more predictable option would be to simply upgrade to brighter bulbs such as the Phillips X treme versions. But note they may not last as long.

Obviously if the wiring gauge is inadequate, it will effectively reduce the bulb voltage and brightness. So simple things like upgrading the wiring used to earth the headlights may really help get a bit more light out of the existing set-up. Whilst focusing on Triumph motorbikes, some elements of this article may be of interest...

http://www.triumphrat.net/speed-triple-forum/120338-headlight-performance-improvement.html

Good luck




SkiMad

 

My H7's had the same adapter, it was just for the standard socket in the harness.

 

If you're not against some work, then just do this: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/gallery/image/64251-headlights/
Even 2 bixenon projectors are a great improvement over the standard. Just imagine how it is with 4 ...
http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/gallery/image/64252-headlights/

 

I've played with headlights in a lot of different vehicles in a lot of different ways over the years. For the money and lack of problems, I've been happiest with something like the Sylvania silver stars or the GE nighthawk platinum (or similar). Way more visibility, not much more stress, if any, on the oem electrix. Overall, a better bulb goes a long way. I have the nighthawk platinums in my truck now. The vfr has oem. I haven't been disappointed with those. I will upgrade once one goes out (drives me nuts when the headlights don't match brightness/colour).

 

When the money comes in, I will be removing my HID from my bike and my truck. There is a definate improvement in your visibility to others with the HID, especially during the daylight hours, but as far as light projections is concerned, I did not notice any difference. Also with the 6th gen's 4 light system, you will blow the fuse if you start the bike and had left your high beams on. Then you have no light.

I know zoom-zoom put a set of LED lights in his 5th gen and he just loves them. He posted here somewhere with lots of pix showing the improvement in projection of light.

I think I am going to go with Piaa's. I think they also make an LED light too.

 

If anyone want to improve their headlights with HID, they should go all the way to install VFRness or similar, power up the headlights through that and make them run only when the engine is running - there are relays that "sense" when the engine is running - so the bike's original wiring and the battery will not suffer - HID have a lower current draw when running but the start ups are a hungry killer amperage eating.
Of course, there is a lot more work to be done when converting to HID but the result is well worth in the night.