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My Headlight Upgrade!

10K views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  Ripper 
#1 ·
My first ride on the bonnie was at night. I was immediately dissatisfied with the headlight. Low beam was dim and easy to outride, and high beam pointed 3ft in front of the bike and was useless. It was at that point I decided to check out my options.

After reading through the threads here, I decided to contact Daniel Stern. His recommendation? Cibie reflector and Osram 70/65w bulb.

In addition to this, I opted to add relays to the circuit as well. If you guys haven't checked it out yet, Eastern Beaver (www.easternbeaver.com) has some great relay kits available for our H4 headlight circuits. However being the difficult DIY'er I am, I wanted to tackle the project myself and eliminate plugged connections (except at the bulb itself).

I ordered 2 panasonic micro relays from Eastern Beaver, along with socket connectors. Set about to wiring them in.

Eastern Beaver’s products are top notch. I am highly impressed with what he’s doing.

Crimping & soldering spade terminals to bike-side wiring:
Coil spring Suspension part Auto part Suspension Fuel line



Relays in, everything tucked away.
Technology Robot Vehicle Space Auto part

Wire Electrical wiring Auto part Cable Technology


The relays made a nice difference in that 1) The headlight is definitely brighter with 14awg leads direct from the battery, and 2) No need to worry about dimmer switch life, the wear items now are easy-to-remove relays in the headlight bucket.

After checking the difference the relays made for the stock headlight, it was time to swap in the Cibie/Osram combo. The headlight trim/mounting rings swap took a moment to figure out, but no problems. With the headlight in place… WOW! What a difference. Pictures show increased brightness of course. But what’s not shown is the superior projection with this setup. Low beam path is very nice with good flood and projection, and high beam is a beast! Unbelievable difference.

My results picture setup isn’t the best; looking back now I should’ve taken shots down my long driveway. At least you can get an idea as far as brightness. I’ll post some more pics soon showing the headlight’s path down my driveway. Here is the link to comparison photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/108294437@N03/

The purpose of this post is to show one particular path I chose to improve my headlight. There are numerous options out there, I chose to follow Daniel Stern’s recommendation for headlight as well as Eastern Beaver’s idea for circuit improvement. I’m very happy with the results. :cool: :cool: :cool:
 
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#3 ·
My first ride on the bonnie was at night. I was immediately dissatisfied with the headlight. Low beam was dim and easy to outride, and high beam pointed 3ft in front of the bike and was useless. It was at that point I decided to check out my options.
I've always had this problem with my 2010 SE.


After checking the difference the relays made for the stock headlight, it was time to swap in the Cibie/Osram combo. The headlight trim/mounting rings swap took a moment to figure out, but no problems.
Does the Cibie reflector/lens fit the mounting rims without modification? I cannot seem to find one that just fits straight off. A while ago I read on here about Forchetto fitting a Wipac Quadoptic reflector/lens, so I ordered one and followed his advice about butchering it to fit. I don't know how he managed it, but although his butchery advice was spot on, there was no way I could get the reflector in the ring and remain stable. So I put everything back to stock and forgot about it.

If the Cibie is a straight fit (my headlamp is the awful clear plastic lens type) do you have a model number? Once I get a unit that fits I can do the rest. Thanks.
 
#4 ·
I've always had this problem with my 2010 SE.




Does the Cibie reflector/lens fit the mounting rims without modification? I cannot seem to find one that just fits straight off. A while ago I read on here about Forchetto fitting a Wipac Quadoptic reflector/lens, so I ordered one and followed his advice about butchering it to fit. I don't know how he managed it, but although his butchery advice was spot on, there was no way I could get the reflector in the ring and remain stable. So I put everything back to stock and forgot about it.

If the Cibie is a straight fit (my headlamp is the awful clear plastic lens type) do you have a model number? Once I get a unit that fits I can do the rest. Thanks.
Mine was a perfect fit. You do have to transfer the mounting ring set and trim ring off your old headlight, but it's pretty straightforward. I don't have a part number but it's the cibie 7" H4 lens/reflector kit with no parking light. I went through Daniel stern, which is a balance of great knowledge/products and sometimes poor communication.
 
#7 ·
Here are some pics I just took looking down my driveway
Now that's the end product I'm looking for. What bothers me about the stock light isn't so much the brightness, though there is a lot of room for improvement there, but the difference between hi and lo beams. If I set the lo beam to a satisfactory angle, the hi beam is illuminating the trees. This reflector just has to go. Thanks for finding a few on EBay for me, I'll be choosing one of those.
 
#8 ·
Love the Cibie headlight! I am in process of adding the Eastern Beaver relays, but it is still chilly in an unheated Ohio garage, so hope to get to that addition soon.
 
#10 ·
I put a trucklite LED on my 07 scrambler. I had to replace the head light bucket with one that would take the 7 inch truck light. I also had to bend the head light ears a bit to move up to the 7 inch bucket.

The end result is great. Brighter light, more whitish so I see better and consumes less power so no relay or there mods needed. I plug right in the existing wiring so no hassle there either.
 
#13 ·
Thanks again



Thanks Tater, 082440 I think might be the part number since its the same as the bar code. I will need the opposite dip to this since we drive on the other side of the road but that's a great starting point. I still have to check out those on fleabay but I'll have to wait till work finishes at the weekend before I can do anything.
 
#16 ·
Another vote for Daniel Stern. I had his setup on my bonnie before I traded it in. Then, for a brief while, I had some HID conversion just to see what the hype was about. DS warns against them and from experience, I concur. The HID casts light about so that everything around you reflects back and your pupils contract and you can't see into the distance. You get brighter everything which sacrifices long distance vision. This was for the conversion kit for stock reflector, but I can't report on HID + Projector housing.

The focused beam of the Cibie plus the Osram bulb REALLY was a profound improvement over stock and that stupid HID conversion
 
#18 · (Edited)
They key in any lighting upgrade will be the complete package. As mentioned above, just tossing a super high output HID light into the stock reflector is a truly bad idea. The key to all HID and LED set ups is having the properly focused projector lenses. The downside is that once set-up, the beams are hugely affected by suspension movement. Hence, in the automotive realm they opt for a massively complex auto leveling system with sensors, controllers, stepper motors, bearings etc. To make the HID/LED set up work on bikes, the projector lenses need to lose some of the focus and spread the beam a bit more. The OP's setup of the Cibie/Osram/Eastern Beaver is about as good as it gets. I haven't really seen an HID/LED set up that can do better. Modifying/using an truck HID/LED product on a motorcycle will result in a dynamically changing sight pattern as the suspension works. Again, a truck based system works for them because of the relatively static positioning of the beam. So side by side in a static environment, the HID/LED may SEEM superior, but out in the real world, without motorcycle specific projector lenses, not so much. Once set up with motorcycle specific lenses there really is not much difference. Sure, different color, but without any noticeable overall improvement. The only advantage the LED set up offers is reduced power consumption, and cooler operating temperature. If you are already maxing out your bikes current draw, (heaters/GPS/stereo/comm gear/charging station) then an LED is a good way to go, which is why HD is so heavily invested in the technology. For a lightly loaded system, the OP's set up is a cost effective and excellent set up.

Oh, I have the Cibie/Osram set up from Daniel Stern. Haven't tried the Eastern Beaver, but with the output I have, not sure I'll try it.

YMMV

Cheers,

RD

I expect to be flamed... I'm just tellin it as it is...


Sent from Motorcycle.com App
 
#23 ·
The key to all HID and LED set ups is having the properly focused projector lenses. The downside is that once set-up, the beams are hugely affected by suspension movement. Hence, in the automotive realm they opt for a massively complex auto leveling system with sensors, controllers, stepper motors, bearings etc.
Just to clarify a point here, HID bulbs are not LEDs. They are two completely different things. Whilst HID bulbs work on high voltage and need the levelling system, LEDs do not.
 
#19 ·
Good input xtypeinct.
For me, my goal is a better light, but also lower power consumption. Would like to free up some available power. I run heated jacket and gloves thru winter. and I have 2 USB outlets on bike (handlebars and side bag). I think usually I am fine but according to some info I could be approaching the upper limit. The Bonnie does not make a ton of extra power it seems. (folks, correct me if I am wrong).
Originally thinking of going to an LED tail light and LED blinkers (for a different look as well). But do not want to consume more power with the headlight change and loose any future gains.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Xtypeinct. What you wrote makes sense if the throw of the light is narrow. Any light on a bike is affected by suspension load. I'm not sure but iirc not all auto systems adjust on the fly. My gti levels at start up but remains static after that. My truck lite throws out so much lite I would have to over load the Bonnie to make the beam move. And then it would still be effective for lighting but may be too bright for oncoming traffic. Low beam remains on when the high its turned on so it would not cut off the beam in that scenario. I have only seen the cibie set up in pics so I cannot comment. But compared to the op's pic I think the truck lite throws a better beam when compared to my pics. If anyone is near Austin with a cibie setup we could get together and do some side by side pics to compare.

I do think that any upgrade to the headlight is an improvement from the stock output. Even an led flash light in your teeth would prob be better than stock.
 
#21 ·
I just bought from the Triumph dealer a H4 60W/55W bulb, hoping to increase my seeing distance in the morning to work.

Not being a DIYer, and armed with a Haynes service manual, is there anything (other than not touching the bulb) I should know that peculiar to changing out a light bulb?

I replaced my horn with a Thunderbird horn and it works fine (when it isn't wet).
 
#22 ·
Not being a DIYer, and armed with a Haynes service manual, is there anything (other than not touching the bulb) I should know that peculiar to changing out a light bulb?
Nothing, other than you're not likely to see much improvement - your T100 already has a 60/55w H4 bulb.
 
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