Headlight mod

[Jimustanguitar]

Has anybody found an aftermarket headlight housing that looks and fits right, but eliminates the weird lamp that looks like a incandescent from my house, and takes a week to order?

I have replaced the entire headlight bucket on some of my bikes before, but I want the new light to mate with my fairing properly, so I'm just looking for the glass housing, not the entire assembly, you know?

[h2olawyer]

I use a Sylvania SilverStar bulb in the stock housing.  Much brighter & easy to find.  They make one beefed up to handle the vibrations of a bike, but mine has lasted several years so far with no troubles at all.  I'm pretty sure its an H3 type bulb.  I tried a different one a number of years ago, but I had a large dark spot in the light pattern.  I highly recommend the Sylvania bulb as a replacement.

H₂O

[QBS]

Stay stock.  Insert H-4 130/100 bulb.  Get on down the road.  Been doing that for the last 15 years, zero issues.

[Jimustanguitar]

Didn't realize that standard bulbs would fit in the factory housing. That's the only reason that I was looking into different options.

What's our consensus... H3 or H4 bulbs, I can't remember which is which off the top of my head, but I think one of those two is only a single filament.


WOW, 100w bulb??? And you don't have any charging issues? How much headroom do you think these bikes have with the factory stator?

[QBS]

The stock headlight is h4.  Read up on how our charging sytems work and you'll understand how a 100/130 h4 flys.

[Rick G]

I ran a 100/130 bulb for 7 years (got tired of not seeing where I was going) It failed a bout a month ago and all I could find locally was a 80 /100, it will do until I can order a 100/130.

[Jimustanguitar]

Where are you ordering these HO lamps from? I found a few, but they aren't rated for very much life expectancy. 1-2 hundred hours is what I've found at bulbs.com

[QBS]

JC Whiney, AutoZone, Pep Boys, many mail order/online M/C assessory retailers.

[Kevin]

Dennis Kirk, I prefer the 55/100. low draw except when you really need it.

[Re-Vision]

Would running a lower wattage bulb provide some relief for the stator problems? Reason I ask is that I was wondering already if an on/off switch for the headlights might be a worthwhile addition when the cops are not around. BDC

[h2olawyer]

The stator always puts out full power.  The excess is shunted to ground.  It is actually easier on the charging system to try to use all the power output of the stator.  Adding auxilliary lights and using a full power bulb are better than trying to limit electrical use.

H₂O