High Performance HeadLight Bulbs

[Anonymous]

Hello. I was down at the Local Parts Store the other day and i ordered an oil filter. I coulndt help but notice the bulbs on their display rack. I talked to the guy and he said my stock bulb, for a 1980 GS 400L does 55W Low and 60W High. he said there are two bulbs that i could buy to increase the light while im riding. There is one stage up, which is 55W Low and 80W High. THe next is 80W Low ans 100W High. Will this 80W and 100W bulb blind people like the new Bmw's and mercedes do? or will they be ok. Does anyone else have experience with these kind of bulbs? any help would be appreciated. thank you.

[earlfor]

Re: High Performance HeadLight Bulbs

The important consideration is your stator output capacity and the lighting fuse and switch capacity. You cannot use all available electrical output because some must be left available to power the ignition and charge the battery. A 60W high beam will draw about 7 amps of power. A 100W high beam will draw around 12 amps. If you only have a ten amp fuse in the lighting circuit, you will not be able to run a 100W lamp. You cannot simply change to a higher rated fuse, because the wiring may not be sized to carry the load I would probably choose the 55W/80W bulb as there is a very good chance that load should be reasonably within your electrical systems capacity. GS's in general do not have a wide margin of excess electrical capacity.

Earl

Hello. I was down at the Local Parts Store the other day and i ordered an oil filter. I coulndt help but notice the bulbs on their display rack. I talked to the guy and he said my stock bulb, for a 1980 GS 400L does 55W Low and 60W High. he said there are two bulbs that i could buy to increase the light while im riding. There is one stage up, which is 55W Low and 80W High. THe next is 80W Low ans 100W High. Will this 80W and 100W bulb blind people like the new Bmw's and mercedes do? or will they be ok. Does anyone else have experience with these kind of bulbs? any help would be appreciated. thank you.

[Mr. Jiggles]

I agree with Earlfor - you need to carefully consider what your bikes electrical capacity is. To increase my bike's candlepower I've done two things - First, to install relays that connect the battery directly to the headlamp; Second, I recently installed a Sylvania Sylverstar bulb (65W/72W) that puts out a whiter light, one that is noticably brighter than that from either of my cars. So far, so good. I am running an Electrex stator but I'm not sure if this gives an increase over the stock stator (anyone know this??). In any case it's always a good idea to clean as many electrical connectors in your bikes system as you can. This will minimize the amount of power that you might lose in the form of heat through increased resistance.

Hope this helps

Jeff

[earlfor]

Electrex stators across the board output about 10% more than a stock unit.
That would be an increase of aproximately 30 watts.

Earl

I am running an Electrex stator but I'm not sure if this gives an increase over the stock stator (anyone know this??).

Jeff

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Earl, I'm not contesting what you're saying, just curious and I don't mind learning. Does'nt Ohm's law apply? Voltage X Amps=Watts. So a 60 watt bulb in a 12 volt system would cause 5 amps to flow. A 100 watt bulb would cause just over 8 amps to flow. Correct, or am I not factoring in something?
I too would like one of these brighter bulbs but I won't dare the charging system.

[saaz]

There are also taillights etc to run off the system.

I use standard fuses, and have run 130/90 bulbs when I did a lot of night highway riding. A 100/90 is not a bad choice if you have a charging system in good condition and not too much slow speed (ie stopped at traffic light) riding. A 100/55 is good for getting a great high beam but normal low beam.

This was with electrical relays on most circuits and my rewound staor. I have just rewound the stator again, so will report back.....

[earlfor]

Thanks keith, youre absolutely right. This codger was up too late and his mind had turned in for the night hours earlier. :-)

Earl

Earl, I'm not contesting what you're saying, just curious and I don't mind learning. Does'nt Ohm's law apply? Voltage X Amps=Watts. So a 60 watt bulb in a 12 volt system would cause 5 amps to flow. A 100 watt bulb would cause just over 8 amps to flow. Correct, or am I not factoring in something?
I too would like one of these brighter bulbs but I won't dare the charging system.

[Joe Nardy]

For what it's worth, I have Sylvania Silverstar bulbs in all my bikes and I love them. The brightness, color, and pattern are great. They are also 60/55 watts so they should be easy on the electrical system.

Joe

[Mobetter]

Ditto on the silverstar Joe,
I just put one on a couple of weeks ago.
I can actually see a night without the high beam on!

Mo