2010 VFR Headlights = 12V-55W ??

I just brought home a beautiful 2010 VFR1200F. I'm 6'2" so included are Helibars, ZG ST screen, bigger foot pegs, Coocase trunk with LED lights, 5 second tail light blinker, padded grips, Omni-cruise control, and a new Corbin seat (arrives any day now). I love this bike!!

On my truck and cruiser I added Sylvania xenon bulbs to quickly and at low cost improve my visibility to others and my vision down the road.

QUESTION: The Owners manual shows the low beam and high beam headlight = 12V - 55W which I believe is equivalent to H7 bulb. Are there any issues with replacing both headlight bulbs with these Sylvania lights?

I understand this may be a simple and quick question ... yet this may save me hundreds on an HID or aftermarket external light solution.

Thanks and regards.

 

BTW: I researched VFRWorld & VFRD for this answer and learned much about lighting (and many other) options for my VFR ... A truly great resource!! However, I did not find this question/answer.

... just in case someone feels the need to say "this has been covered" : -)

 

The low beams are H4 lamps, wired for only the low beam. The high beam (upper reflector) lamps are H7 lamps. I thought I would be smart and replaced the stock lamps with higher wattage H4's and Osram high wattage H7's. Nice and bright, but battery went flat in three days! Too many watts! I have since replaced both low and high beams with LED system (much lower wattage) which required a series R/R to control the lower load. Stock shunt type R/Rs don't like lower loads because they shunt excess power to ground and heat up.

Check other thread on LED Headlights -5th Gen, he is selling a good set.

 

Thanks Allyance,

Shoot!! So much for a quick & easy solution.

Funny ...
+ The H7 Sylvania SilverStar H7 bulbs are 12.8V 55W.
+ The stock lights are 12V 55W (from the VFR manual)
------------------
= That 0.8V difference drained your battery?

I know this is something that I do not understand. I have the User Manual and Service manual yet didn't find any reference to H7, H4, and the voltage / amperage of the low/High beams.


Thanks for the reference to the 'LED Headlights -5th Gen.' I have read it prior to posting and was considering that option or external LEDs attached to the front - if the bulb change isn't the proper solution. I'll visit that thread again and seek more data.

 

If the Sylvania's are 55 watts, you are all right. I went with higher wattage, 80 watt lamps, that was my problem.

Everybody calls car/motorcycle/boat systems as "12 volts", in reality, a six cell lead acid battery has 2.1 volts per cell or 12.6 volts, full charged.

You will see threads on the charging systems putting out 13-15 volts to charge batteries, all very confusing to many.

LED headlights are the taking over from HID, cheaper and easier to deal with.

Changing the lamps is no easy task. If you are lucky and have small hands, you might be able get sockets off back of lamps without removing front fairing, but I always take mine off.

Requires a lot of work, I have done about 6 or 8 times, with all my different ideas.

Remember, lower lamps are H4s which have both high and low beam filaments, but Honda only wires socket for the low beam.

 

Silvania ultrabright is what you need :thumb:

 

It was great to hear the words "If the Sylvania's are 55 watts, you are all right."

I haven't opened the SilverStar box yet ... and thank goodness, I now understand Allyance "small hands" comment on the 7th gen.

If Silvania Ultrabright is a better choice and doesn't pull excessive power, then I'll swap SilverStar for UltraBrights.

I appreciate the need to be courteous with bright lights on other vehicles and will use them carerfully :- |

 

FINISHED! For full disclosure and closure : -]

Although I was operating mostly blind because of the cramped VFR1200 spaces,
I replaced the high-beam bulb with a Sylvania that is brighter / nicer.

I decided to hold-off on replacing the low-beam.
It's even a more cramped space and I like the blue tint.
That low-beam bulb appears different that than high beam.
I want to check out whether it is different before making that change.

 

I installed Silverstars on my 06 nearly 6000 miles ago and have had zero issues with my battery so far.