High Beam dash light

motoddrob said:
For legal reasons they need to have both hi and low function
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So you have to have at least one headlight on a hi-lo filament like a H4, Rob?

The twin 100mm ZXR250 H4s in my bike are great on lo but lose penetration pretty badly on hi. If I could find good alternatives i'd use them. But the reflector assembly has all the lugs for factory fitting into the headlight housing-fairing bracket (Stanley, same for CBR250RR Hondas, also with restricted wattage high beam H4s). I've managed to make an adapter so I can run std H4s and have quality LEDs fitted - a 55/60 H4 halogen doesn't seem any better. Seems like an issue with the reflector shape. I tend not to ride at night out of town these days, but when i have I've been very unhappy with my lights. Used to be dead simple with the std 7 inch H4 in my SF - i found Bosch inserts (cheap as from Volvo wreckers!) with a 55/100 to be outstanding.
 
The Motodd hasn't had working headlights for several years. I never ride at night and don't use daytime lights either.
Not really worried about the quality of the light, just the legal aspects. From what I understand both lights need to have a hi/lo function.
 
130W90 H4 with a relay, apparently for competition use only, you just need to aim them carefully. The first time I used it in the bush, I couldn't believe how good it was.
 
Vince said:
130W90 H4 with a relay, apparently for competition use only, you just need to aim them carefully. The first time I used it in the bush, I couldn't believe how good it was.
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Ditto - had two of them in my shitty old 145 Volvo. Fuk they were good lights! Can't seem to find hi-wattage H4s at the usual Autobarn and Supacheap these days. Illegal, but surely available somewhere. And modern headlights are so effing bright there's been talk of them causing accidents. Especially when there are far too many lame drivers who have no idea about how to use Hi and Lo beams. Either they don't dip when you come the other way or they drive along in front of you with Lo beam in the pitch black. Can't overtake them soon enough, but that can be hard when you can't see up the road because they are sitting on Lo with about 30m of illuminated road in front of them!
 
The height of 4-wheel drive with dazzling white lights is hard to take around my place, even on low beam. I cannot remember where I got that 130 H4, it was replaced a while back after I did the last 150ks home in the dark with no headlight. NOT FUN. Doable following cars and using their lights, but once the traffic stopped, it was bloody scary.
 
I've fitted Phillips 20W LEDs to both the GTL and RGS, the difference to the previous H4 (Phillips RacingVision GT200, an exceptional H4 bulb in its own right) is astounding! Far better pentration in moist conditions at night, damn expensive though.

I have now found that Osram (thanks Jürgen) make H4-replacement LEDs without the cooling component that takes up so much space within the headlight shell, but at a lower wattage, only 14W.

My main reason for fitting these are our daytime lights-on laws, I no longer intentionally ride at night. The replacement LED drains the charging system at about the same rate as the 21W halogen pilot bulb that I had fitted to undercut the mandatory low-beam but now offers far better visibilty for others, the actual point of the law. No big deal when out on the open road, but tootling through the village with 70+Watts blazing front and rear can quickly drain our batteries, especially on the older triples.

piet
 
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motoddrob said:
The Motodd hasn't had working headlights for several years. I never ride at night and don't use daytime lights either.
Not really worried about the quality of the light, just the legal aspects. From what I understand both lights need to have a hi/lo function.
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My kids both have CBR600s with twin cat eye type lights, on low beam only one side is lit, standard. Check out Oz rules.
 
Tippie said:
My kids both have CBR600s with twin cat eye type lights, on low beam only one side is lit, standard. Check out Oz rules.
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And if you can get away with that in Norway - world capital on regulation! - you can do it anywhere! When i had twin 55/60 H4s I had a switch to turn one headlight on-off for round town (when still running the SF genny and an 18AH battery). LEDs make that unnecessary.
 
Tippie said:
My kids both have CBR600s with twin cat eye type lights, on low beam only one side is lit, standard. Check out Oz rules.
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Same in Germany. Only a single light source permitted on low beam but a whole damn christmas tree allowed on high!

Guess it's to allow oncoming traffic to identify the type of vehicle that's approaching.

piet
 
exactly that, Piet. With two low beam lights, you could mix it up with a car that is far more away from you, start an overtake and then crash frontaly into the bike. nothing we all want, right...?
 
Laverdalothar said:
exactly that, Piet. With two low beam lights, you could mix it up with a car that is far more away from you, start an overtake and then crash frontaly into the bike. nothing we all want, right...?
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:eek: :eek: :eek: I have two round 100mm low beams! They're bright enough that if an oncomer thought I was a car they'd assume I was on high beam and flash me.
 
My 2004 Triumph Sprint RS came with single low and high on alternating sides.
Looking very sad with one eye blind, my dealer told me to add two relais on predefined slots, and thats it.
Now double low and high with H4, and 4 filaments on low and PASS.

Looking at the structured glasses, in this case it doesnt appear to be legal, but nobody ever cared about.
 

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piranha-bro2 said:
:eek: :eek: :eek: I have two round 100mm low beams! They're bright enough that if an oncomer thought I was a car they'd assume I was on high beam and flash me.
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The problem isn't the brightness, Lee.
Many years ago, the Series I Land Rover had its headlights either side of the radiator to protect them from damage.

OIP-606861694.jpg
The Road Research Laboratory noticed that a far larger number of Land Rovers, than statistical probability dictated, were the victims of crashes, in the dark, caused by people pulling across their path with insufficient distance to avoid collision.
Upon researching the phenomenon, they determined that drivers used the perceived gap between the headlamps as a means to determine how far away the oncoming vehicle was. Erroneously, in the case of a Mark I.
The Construction and Use Regulations were amended and the headlamps move out onto the wings on the Series 3 models.

1970-land-rover-series-2-6537b7b2ac561.jpg
The "pull out" accident figures, for that and subsequent Series, returned to normally expected levels.

It is impossible to gauge the distance to a single light source, in the dark, which is why we're all a great deal more vigilant, riding single headlamp motorcycles than we are when driving a car, at night.

It's for that reason that I would not favour riding a twin headlamp motorcycle on the road.
 
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Very interesting, Thanks!
Center distance of approx 180mm and a third light above should make it appear as one single light, i hope so.

By the way: i dont care;)
 
Tippie said:
My kids both have CBR600s with twin cat eye type lights, on low beam only one side is lit, standard. Check out Oz rules.
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My ZX7R works in the same way, hence I mentioned the idea. Whether that is factory or previous owner I’m unsure and matters not, to my knowledge, and that of the RWC supplier, it is legal where I live.

Either way, I’ll get back in my box.
 
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