Motorbike Headlight Upgrade?

[brainbug007]

So I had to ride my Yamaha YBR 125 in the dark for the 1st time last night and I had no idea how rubbish the headlight was actually going to be. On dip beam I get a small box a few feet infront of the bike which if there was something in the road by the time I saw it there wouldn't really be much time to avoid it! On full beam, I get a very small circle about the size of a football a feet infront of the dip beam :(

So is it as simple as putting a bigger bulb in? If I did that do I need to upgrade the fuse or any relays (would a bike have them??). Or would I need to do something like attach some additional lights onto the front fairing and is that legal?

[carlknight1982]

when i was an aprentice i had a Honda CG125, it didnt even have a halogen headlamp, i upgraded the lamp to halogen but be ware alot of small motorbikes kep the majourity of the wiring in the head lamp shell, so increasing the power of the light can cause issues with heat dissipation from bot the bulb and associated wiring

[skov]

Just eat plenty of carrots :p

And in all seriousness if you haven't already get yourself a hi-vis jacket if you're riding a small bike with crap headlights at night.
It might have saved me an awful lot of pain and suffering if I had on my CG125 a few years back...

[HandyAndy]

I,m not sure if your bike has a 6 or 12volt system but if its the 6v then this will struggle with supplying enough "juice" to the lighting circuit & so installing a larger wattage bulb may not solve the problem, & as Carl has said with regard overheating wiring etc.

Even if its a 12v system the design of the headlamp ( the light throwing design ) / lense maybe whats stopping it producing decent illumination in front of the bike so even if you can upgrade the bulb you may not see(excuse the pun :o ) much improvement in night vision.

Just one thought........Is the headlight aim set correctly? usually a couple of bolts either side of the headlight bowl allows you to adjust the aim, obviously being careful not to blind oncoming traffic etc , just a thought ;) .

cheers
andy

[alga]

Yup, the high-beam football-sized spot should be centered on the horizon, not on the ground in front of the bike.

[brainbug007]

And in all seriousness if you haven't already get yourself a hi-vis jacket if you're riding a small bike with crap headlights at night.
It might have saved me an awful lot of pain and suffering if I had on my CG125 a few years back...

Ya I wear a high vis vest, armored jacket & trousers.


I,m not sure if your bike has a 6 or 12volt system but if its the 6v then this will struggle with supplying enough "juice" to the lighting circuit & so installing a larger wattage bulb may not solve the problem, & as Carl has said with regard overheating wiring etc.

Even if its a 12v system the design of the headlamp ( the light throwing design ) / lense maybe whats stopping it producing decent illumination in front of the bike so even if you can upgrade the bulb you may not see(excuse the pun ) much improvement in night vision.

Just one thought........Is the headlight aim set correctly? usually a couple of bolts either side of the headlight bowl allows you to adjust the aim, obviously being careful not to blind oncoming traffic etc , just a thought .

cheers
andy


I've no idea if it's a 12 or 6v system. the manual doesn't say and doesn't really tell you anything about the electrical system. It does say it's a quartz type bulb. I'm pretty sure it's set right as they didn't mention it on it's first service. I did try adjusting it a bit but moving the lamp unit up so to speak so it points more towards the horizon instead of directly infront of the bike was useless as the light wasn't strong enough and no light was visible on the ground at all.


Yup, the high-beam football-sized spot should be centered on the horizon, not on the ground in front of the bike.


Well it hits the ground farther ahead of the bike than when the dip is on, just not by alot and again most of the light seems to die off by this point.


when i was an aprentice i had a Honda CG125, it didnt even have a halogen headlamp, i upgraded the lamp to halogen but be ware alot of small motorbikes kep the majourity of the wiring in the head lamp shell, so increasing the power of the light can cause issues with heat dissipation from bot the bulb and associated wiring


good call, i found an uprated bulb on ebay (45w vs 35w) and in hallogen so this should hopefully make the light beam strong enough to increase the angle the lamp is pointed to. Is there anything or anyway to pack out the light to help protect the wiring from the heat?

[ozzy1]

Its a 12v system.Standard front bulb is 35/35 i think upgrading to a 35/45 will be fine i dont think you will have any problems.

[brainbug007]

Hmm there wasn't much traffic on the way home tonight so I gave the bike a bit of a "workout" :) Noticed though that my dipped beam cuts out when I go over 5.5k revs (out of 10-12k for redline)? The high beam & side light still work at over 5.5k revs, just the dip beam that doesn't. Any ideas what's wrong & how to remedy?

[davidimurray]

on my SV650 I swapped the original bulbs for one of those Phillips super bright bulbs of the same rating and the change was massive. Dip beam is now brighter than the old full used to be!

[brainbug007]

Anyone know why my dip beam is cutting out when the engine is running at 5.5k+ revs?

[ozzy1]

Best guess would be a loose connection on low beam thats vibrating at those revs and making a crap circuit.