High Beam Thoughts & Recommendations

[buellzebub]

I think most people would agree the R1150GS lights are pretty poor. I've converted both of mine to Hid but find the delay for the high beam to reach full brightness very frustrating. I'm considering fitting a 100w halogen instead (high beam only) but I don't know if the heat from that wattage might damage the reflector. Has anyone tried a 100w, if so what were your findings?
The other alternative is an Led, there are hundreds to choose from on eBay. Again, has anyone tried one, any recommendations, any to avoid?
One final option, is there a replacement high beam unit that will fit straight in and give an improved beam? Do Touratech do one? Did I imagine it or is there a car unit that fits Hella/Audi, something like that or am I totally dreaming?!
Thanks,
Mick

 

[Flipfly]

Best option imho is LED spots. These were only £68 from China but they are amazing, instant and low power draw.

 

[Grim Rider]

When I first put HID bulbs in my GS many years ago they had a big ballast and there was a noticeable delay with the main beam lighting up to the extent that I put extra lights (Rigid Industries Dually floods) on to come on with the main beam.
A couple of years ago I changed the ballast and put a newer, smaller ballast (? AC) on and the main beam comes on fairly instantly now. So may be worth looking at your ballast (the last set of HID I bought was about £32 off flea bay and has lasted longer than the much more expensive branded stuff I originally bought)?

 

[Flipfly]

I've got a fast ballast HID on my main, standard slim ballast on my dipped, nothing touches LED for sheer speed and spread. The HID main just gives a little bit more projection.

 

[ahebron]

Is it not the optics of the light that make it so bad?
Putting a brighter bulb in will surely just make brighter bad light.
I just dont ride in the dark, solves the problem rather cheaply

Thanks
Adrian

 

[buellzebub]

Is it not the optics of the light that make it so bad?
Putting a brighter bulb in will surely just make brighter bad light.....

Thanks
Adrian

Indeed, but some of the extra bad light spills into the right places.
The bad design is what prompted my final question about fitting a different unit

 

[Smug]

You could try the H4 Philips X-treme Vision +130 bulbs. Likely to burn out your switchgear if overloading the circuit with a 100w bulb.

 

[buellzebub]

H1 on the 1150s, if I went the 100w route it would be powered directly from the battery with an inline fuse and switched by a relay

 

[dubster]

I have 35W HID on dipped (superb) but also thinking about doing something with my main, at the moment it's standard halogen but might try either a higher wattage bulb or a fast ballast HID.

Will probably augment this with some cheap LED aux lights for instant spread, ooh errr

I stand to be corrected but all of the 100W bulbs I've seen are actually rated at 55W with an "equivalent to..." light output. There are a few genuine 65W and 80W bulbs (Osram 'rallye' and some others IIRC) but I've heard not great things about their service life.

If anyone has any good recommendations for fast, cheap and small HID ballasts suitable for main beam please share

edit: regarding LED for main beam, am not convinced they offer necessary spectrum to be fit for purpose. There was a guy accross the pond who did a write up, search for '1150 advmonster'

 

[Flipfly]

I have 35W HID on dipped (superb) but also thinking about doing something with my main, at the moment it's standard halogen but might try either a higher wattage bulb or a fast ballast HID.

Will probably augment this with some cheap LED aux lights for instant spread, ooh errr

I stand to be corrected but all of the 100W bulbs I've seen are actually rated at 55W with an "equivalent to..." light output. There are a few genuine 65W and 80W bulbs (Osram 'rallye' and some others IIRC) but I've heard not great things about their service life.

If anyone has any good recommendations for fast, cheap and small HID ballasts suitable for main beam please share

edit: regarding LED for main beam, am not convinced they offer necessary spectrum to be fit for purpose. There was a guy accross the pond who did a write up, search for '1150 advmonster'

All I can say is my lights are awesome!!

You need the HID main to get ultimate distance, but I am more than happy I went down the LED route.

Theory is great, but practice is better.

 

[MikeO]

H1 on the 1150s, if I went the 100w route it would be powered directly from the battery with an inline fuse and switched by a relay ��

In the early part of my 1150 ownership, I fitted 100w bulbs. I found they blew in no time at all. Although this is less of a problem with Main Beam, as it will be on for shorter periods of time and should last correspondingly longer, it's not a solution I would use. I have a 'fast rise' HID on main, supported by a couple of LED lamps - I'm about to change to the type that Flipfly has on his bike, as the ones I am currently using have too high a failure rate.

 

[buellzebub]

All I can say is my lights are awesome!!

You need the HID main to get ultimate distance, but I am more than happy I went down the LED route.

Theory is great, but practice is better.

What LEDs are you using? A quick search of eBay brings up literally thousands!! (18,853 for led driving lights to be precise )
Which ones are you going for, Mike?
Thanks

 

[Flipfly]

I got mine from a company off alibaba.

He was a really nice guy and sent me loads of pics of the beam patterns. The ones I opted for are 4.5" or 5" x 4 cree led in an all aluminium housing. They have been very reliable so far but I wire them in through a separate relay.

There are loads to choose from. My previous GS had some 3600lm ones from 24x7diy which were good for spread and a lot lighter but didn't have the reach of these puppies.

 

[dubster]

All I can say is my lights are awesome!!

You need the HID main to get ultimate distance, but I am more than happy I went down the LED route.

Theory is great, but practice is better.

Flip, what sort of spread are those bad boys? I'm looking at a set with a sixty degree field of light, sounds about right for what I need but hard to tell with no experience of using these led aux lights...

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[Flipfly]

Go for a narrow field. In my experience there is a lot of sideways scatter anyway, and the narrower field gets further down the road. Mine are 25 degree, 60 degree sounds like a work floodlight to me. The smaller 10w off road lights I've seen have a 10 degree beam which is ok for off road, but not so good at speed on a road bike at night. 25 degrees means the light gives enough spread to light up the focal point (vanishing point) on a twisty a road, not just a slow speed b road.
Just come back from the NW monthly meet at a steady pace (read that how you want) and the biggest issue is not being able to see anything when switching down to low beam even though I have an HID in there!!
Any oncoming vehicles with full beams on soon dip their lights when I give them a blast of sunlight

 

[dubster]

Any oncoming vehicles with full beams on soon dip their lights when I give them a blast of sunlight

This is why I need a set

Thanks, will look for something a bit narrower and report back. I have a pair of Micro DE too that I might try and modify for an LED (not sure how the pattern would end up) but tbh with the value for money these kinds of setups represent it's hardly worth it

 

[Flipfly]

This is why I need a set

Thanks, will look for something a bit narrower and report back. I have a pair of Micro DE too that I might try and modify for an LED (not sure how the pattern would end up) but tbh with the value for money these kinds of setups represent it's hardly worth it

Been there. done that.

TBH it was a waste of time from a light output point of view, they were far better with the standard bulbs and I wouldn't do it again. They were ok as marker lights but that's all, far better option is to HID them. LED are too bright at night on dipped beam unless you use a dimmer module (it's what I have on the little lights mounted near my screen). I dimmed them because even though they are low power, they are way too bright for dipped beam and blind the feck out of everyone.

 

[King Rat]

Interesting. The standard 1150 I sold last year had higher out put bulbs in it, but I didn't put them in and they lasted the 9 years I had her....better than my HID50 on dip and plenty good enough for long rides in the dark coming home late at night. Yes the HID50 in the main is superb, but slow to charge at first, once it has been on it isn't so bad, provided it isn't turned off for more than about 30 - 40 seconds. BUT, the ordinary bulb in th eold bike was good enough for me to not be looking to need to upgrade it any further - I wish I knew waht was in her, because I would buy them for my Adv, both of them. I have a sort of recollection of 'Phillips' being mentioned, but I really can't be sure. I am a very simple sort of guy, flick the switch and the light comes on simple. I have read the previous posts, but I'll be honest, I dn't really understand what people have read.