Replacement for Shocking YBR Headlight

[Benn]

So I was riding back to my house after a gig tonight, from Southampton. It was along unlit A roads and the headlight was, frankly, shit. I was riding blind on occasion as I'd see a rough bend and then there would be a dip in the road and then I wouldn't be able to see anything over it. I was riding with my friend on his SV and he had to go in front in the end even though he didn't know the route because it was dangerous how bad my light was.

I have already tried replacing the stock bulb with a fresh one, but that didn't help.

So I'm wondering about aftermarket headlights. Currently, the light is 12v 35/35w. If I was to put on a 12v 60/55w headlight, would that drain my battery? Or would it by okay? To what extent would I have to change the wiring in the bike?

I really appreciate any help that anyone can give!

Thanks in advance chaps/chapesses!

[megawatt]

It won't drain the battery as long as your alternator has enough capacity to keep it charged up. You may have a problem with the wires feeding current to the headlamp though? 35 watt lamp will take 3 amps, 55 watt will take 5 amps. You may need to double the thickness of your headlamp wiring or fit a relay or two? Then again , you may have no problems. Try it and see if the wiring gets hot, if it does, you need to do something.

[rennie]

The lights on YBR's are very poor!

If you put a higher wattage lamp in it may get too hot

and cause damage, more Watts mean more current

so it's possible that it will even melt the wiring!!

It may be fine but it may not!

posted at same time as MW!

[megawatt]

Nice one Ian

[Stu]

As above

If your going to do it you need to wire in some relays otherwise you could have a fire!

[Chrissb6]

Nothing worse than not be able to see where you going. It seems to me that whoever designed the lighting on this bike obviously lives in a well lit part of the world. For me there's no price you can put on safety. You so need to be able to see the road for obstructions - potholes to give you a fighting chance of being safe and surviving out there. If your bike came fitted with a 35watt lighting system, l would bet that the electrical system is built to a fairly tight spec and would not accept a higher wattage bulb replacement. As the others have said and l agree, the alternator, wiring and switches might be put under too much of a load resulting in a possible failure. There’s no price on safety, if it was my bike l would seriously consider this modification - upgrade

This lighting kit

http://www.bikermart.co.uk/proddetail.a ... =223-365-6

Then install a HID lighting kit

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HID-Kit-Xenon ... 2353082%26

This kit is a easy fit it, only consumes 35watts of power 70 watts total if you are on main beam. I would go for the 4300 k light its a true white, but if you want to look a bit bling – tint of blue 6000k is the one.

You will find the difference in lighting performance massive, with no over powering of your present wiring system. You might find this fix a bit expensive, but just put this price against being hurt, insurance claim, loss of no claims bonus and lack of confidence to go out in the dark. Hope this helps

PS Note, you cannot fit HID lamps directly into a halogen designed headlight, it's against the law and also the light spread is useless.

[Fozzie]

Basically find your wires for the head light...

With a H4 you usually have two lives and one negative lead. The two live do either low or high beam, refer to a Haynes manual or a wiring diagram so you can identify which.

Wire each one, low beam live and high beam live to a relay each. On the switched end of the relay have some 6amp cable and run that to your connector, then run the negative back to the battery and you should be done

[Chrissb6]

Basically find your wires for the head light...

With a H4 you usually have two lives and one negative lead. The two live do either low or high beam, refer to a Haynes manual or a wiring diagram so you can identify which.

Wire each one, low beam live and high beam live to a relay each. On the switched end of the relay have some 6amp cable and run that to your connector, then run the negative back to the battery and you should be done

 

You forgot to mention that switch side of the relay requires an inline fuse to protect this circuit. First you need to work out if the bike alternator is man enough to cope with the extra load. You cannot just wire in relays and apply extra loads without first checking the charging system can handle it !

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... AA&dur=183

[Benn]

Thanks for your help everyone! Based on your advice, I'm drawing up plans for how I'm going to do it all. I'm gonna run em by the mechanic who services my bike when I finish them - he's a nice guy. But yeah, I had no idea about the HID kit and things, so I really appreciate it! What a great place.