Back to lights again I'm afraid

[BigCol]

Bugger; I'm just about to pick up my new ADV and have been trawling this site for the last 4 bloody days for HOURS to get the tips for lighting. It's mandatory to have good lights in Dubai as the driving is somewhat 'suicidal'. I'm about to order MiGSels bar but need help on bulbs etc.

I'm sure I've read that you can just change the standard bulbs for brighter ones. It seems the PIAA 'extreme' get a good write up. BUUUUUUUUTTTT..........

a. What specififc bulbs do I need to buy (part no's, where from etc please)?
b. Is this going to drain the battery?
c. What is a good setup for extra lights (I want the PIAA or Hamel?

Please don't post 'do a search' (I've read every post, believe me). Anyhow, thank you all once again

Kind regards

Colin

 

[BigCol]

I meant Hella lights

How embarassing......

 

[BiggaPope]

lights

I replaced the stock bulbs in my headlights with the PIAA ones. If I were doing it again, I'd skip this step. It was an improvement, but not much. Go with whatever lights suit your fancy and pocketbook. I chose Hella FF50's, they were inexpensive when compared with the PIAA lights and I couldn't find any data that indicated spending the extra cash on PIAA was worth it.

 

[Jimb]

The 50% brighter Philips H1 bulbs are better, but a pair of FF50 fogs for daylight running AND a pair of FF50 Driving switched by the main beam will drasticly improve things, The fogs flat beam fill in the sides at night and get you seen in daylight.

Wire the fogs independently using Rob Farmers Motoswitch, this uses the turn cancel switch to switch on the lights when you hold it for 1.2 secs but retains its original function if held for less than 1 second, get the LED version and mount the LED in a bevel holder in the void just under the speedo to the left of the turn indicator lights.
Wire the Driving lights in to the main beam with the relay that will come with the lights.
This setup is brilliant to say the least, set the fogs at the dipped beam level and the drivers at main beam level.

Migsels light bar will allow you to mount both sets of lights on it, Rob Farmer sells a package of bar, lights, switch etc at a fair price so PM him.

As to current consuption all are 55w lamps so all the lot on ( 6 lights) will use 330 watts of power, I trust you have the ABS version, the alternator is rated at 700 watts so more than adequate to run the bike and all the lights.

I have this set up and in addition have heated grips and jacket and GPS and I run with all the lot on, no problem.

 

[BigCol]

Biggapope: thank you. I've just saved a wad of cash

Jimb: Special thanks to you. You've simplified my decision making process, and I'll go with your suggestion. In addition, what if I buy a brighter bulb/s for my standard lights as well for my ADV (@ABS)?

Rob: we're already in contact.

If anyone has any thoughts on Bosch lights / lamps I'd appreciate it. I live in Dubai and Hella or PIAA don't have a dealership here. I'll put an independant post on the site about this too

Thanks everyone

Colin

(The light is now ON )

 

[Jimb]

Colin

Yes by all means replace the standard H1 bulbs with the Bosch 60% brighter version, same wattge 55w so same current consumption, the limitation is the poor, compared to Honda, headlamp design even 100watt bulbs do not produce a noticable improvement over the 50 % brighter 55 watt types, the Bosch 60 % should be a bit better than even the philips 50's.

The Bosch lamps look good, Iv'e replied to that post.

Cheers
Jim

 

[Animal]

By coincidence, I've just spent the morning in the garage fitting a MigSel light bar and a set of PIAA 1100X spotlights.

Lights look the nuts, but no idea how effective they are yet.