How much can the lighting system on our old VFs handle?

Hey guys...

Over the past few nights i have been looking around at lighting solutions for a dual sport bike i may be buying soon and stumbled upon the Trail Tech MR11 HID lights. They only use about 13 watts per light but having a pair of them puts out the lighting out put similar to a 76 watt Halogen. Anyways i ride a lot at night and would like to increase viability. Would our VFs electrical system have enough output to handle a pair of these lights along with the standard lighting? I know our bikes use a 55 w/ 65 w H4 light on them and i have considered installing an H4 HID kit in the stock headlight location as well. I know the one main advantage to them is their reduced power consumption compared to the normal halogens. But the problem with using them in non HID headlight housings is they do not reflect properly and produce unsafe glare into on coming drivers eyes. Thus why i have considered aux lights instead. I would be using a stand alone harness that has a relay on it to wire them in. Though i might tap into the low beam wire to provide power to the switch. So that way the HIDs are only active when the low beam is on and when the key is on. So does anyone know if the bikes electrical system can safely power a set of aux lights and keep the battery charged? The lights would be primarily pulling power from the battery rather then the bikes electrical. As stated earlier the only tie into the stock lighting is tapping into the headlight low beam for switch power.

 

are you riding or setting up a night shift construction sight? I run a silver star bulb in mine and it does a pretty darn good job and most of my riding is at night. I do admit it would be nice to see a little more in hard corners but normal riding is pretty darn good. I really don't think the system would take a full blown baja set up but I maybe be wrong, wouldn't be the first or last time (or at least I hope I wake up and live long enough to wrong again lol). Is your head light adjusted properly?

 

Lol well the main reason i planned on this addition is because i do a lot of riding on back roads that even when running on high beam i'm def lacking for viability. I currently have an after market H4 bulb in the bike now that does alright, def a lot brighter then the stock one. But i have a feeling the stock bulb was slowly burning out. Next time i change the bulb i will probably go to a PIAA bulb possibly with a Relay on it to get more juice to it.

These are the HID lights in question

Trail Tech Single HID Spot Bar Mounted

 

any one else have any answers when it comes to this?

 

I ran a hid headlight in my old VF and it still works fine. I did have to upgrade the fuse.
I also replaced all signals and brake bulbs with LEDs.

I put an HID headlight in my VFR too.

 

A higher wattage bulb (we have glass lenses iirc, so the heat should be ok) and a relay may be enough for you. That little clamp on light doesn't look to promising to me.