Aftermarket DIY Light Alignment

[We Make Life A Ride]

I added a new set of lights to my 1250 recently and have noticed, particularly on dark stretches I get flashed by oncoming vehicles.

I'm guessing I probably need to try and better align my lights.

Anyone got any tips?

 

[adventuredon]

dip them down...?

 

[SBD]

Yeah. Dark straight (ideally level) road with no traffic. Dipped lights should not reach the top of the boot of a parked car twenty or thirty metres away, with you sitting on the bike, and certainly shouldn’t be dazzling in the mirrors. Your mate sitting in the car can tell you.

Then get your mate in the car to drive, and follow him/her, this gives your mate time to see if the lights flicker into the mirrors etc. If it doesn’t annoy him/her then try getting your mate to park up on the aforementioned straight dark road as you drive by.

Adjust until you don’t cause any dazzling.

I did this with a pal when I fitted the Denalis to my GS. Nobody flashes me when they’re dimmed. When they’re on full, they do light up the road.

 

[Bem]

Doubtless someone will be along soon who knows the exact details of C&U but surely you only should have these operating on full beam? Or no more than 10% on dip?
You should adjust to ensure no dazzle.
Mine only come on with high beam so adjusted to fill in all the blanks.

 

[Santa-2512]

I aimed the bike down the garden, and put a card over the headlight (LED) and turned on the spots,

and aimed them down as low as possible, and put a plantpot at the top of the beam arc,

took the card off the headlight and checked to see where the dark area at the bottom of the headlamp was, then moved the spots up to fill in the dark area.

Then angled the lH lamp in about 10 degrees so it illuminates the nearside kerb the RH lamp is pointing straight ahead

I only get flashed by about 1 in 100 cars, and its only on dark nights. during the day nothing

 

[Wapping]

Anyone got any tips?

Turn them off.

 

[We Make Life A Ride]

Turn them off.

Useful advice

 

[Wapping]

Useful advice

It’s probably a politer version of the words the oncoming motorists muttered, as you dazzled them.

 

[SBD]

Yep, but a bit of common sense, a spanner and a mate in a car ensures that being called rude names will never happen to the OP.

 

[Wapping]

Yep, but a bit of common sense, a spanner and a mate in a car ensures that being called rude names will never happen to the OP.

Indeed.

 

[We Make Life A Ride]

Lots of useful tips here and I guess that is what I asked for.

However, I am not devoid of common sense. I guess I should have been more specific and asked if there were proper means of calibrating lights for correct alignment. In the same way that OEM lights are tested during an MOT.

 

[Neil W]

Bike upright front wheel touching a wall or garage door (obviously in the dark) mark the centreline height of the headlight in chalk on the wall and then draw a straight line across the wall at that height , pull the bike back say 5 to 10 metres and switch on the lights (with weight on the bike) on dipped beam the level of dipped light should be slightly lower than the line you drew .

From there you can set up auxiliary lights so that their level is below that height , but bear in mind the driving /auxiliary lights tend to have a less focussed beam set them up so they are say half way between ground level and the level you marked on the wall .

It will be a decent starting point and if you find they too low you can repeat the process by trial and error,, a basic idea on this https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/how-adjust-your-headlight-aim-emergency

 

[Wapping]