Riding with low or hight beam light?

[Ingo]

I was in front of a store window and noticed my (properly adjusted) low beam headlight in store window reflection was rather weak, I turned on the high beam and it really shows a LOT brighter, due to the low beam cut-off. So I'm asking what do other riders do when riding in bright daylight, hi or low? Car drivers are adjusted (used) to notice/see cars and trucks but often times miss motorbikes and pull out right in front of'em.

[frankenduck]

I used to ride with the high beam on in the day sometimes until one day the Seattle police pulled up next me and told me to cut it out.

[Laitch]

Car drivers are adjusted (used) to notice/see cars and trucks but often times miss motorbikes and pull out right in front of'em.

I've seen enough drivers pulling right out in front of cars, logging trucks, and emergency vehicles with flashing lights to convince me that heightened awareness, skillful Brick handling, lack of trust in humanity, and luck are the best approaches, but spending $10 or so and buying yourself a new halogen H4, if that's what you have, every few years can help because halogen bulb low beams noticeably dim during their constant usage. Also, get a couple of LED driving lights and mount them on the lower fork tubes, the upper part of the stanchions or on the low fork yoke to make a triangle of light with the headlight at its peak. They don't need to be costly nor capable of illuminating great swaths of highway, they just need to be bright. That should help get you noticed more than just having one H4 headlight regardless of its being halogen or LED.

[Chaos]

Visibility is fine but doesn't do squat when the other driver doesn't even look.  Worst case it gives a false sense of security.  I just ride like everyone is out to kill me. 

[Scott_]

I not only ride with High beam in daytime, but I also have a modulator on all my bikes.

[frankenduck]

Most of my Ks have 70W each Catz XLO lights mounted on the forks. The odd orange color of these lights really stands out in traffic even on bright sunny days (more than any high beam.)

Although they're obnoxiously bright I have them properly aimed and they do not blind other drivers, even at night. I've been using them for something like 15 years and I've never had any oncoming traffic high beam flash me at night.

[Bmwsquirl]

Try a piaa super white bulb.like having a led.pulls 55\60 watts puts out around 110\125 its h4 power sport bulb.turns night into day

[Atabeach]

Ok here we are…I ride with all lights all the time…35 amp Alt, using 2 relays…new ceramic H4. Lets begin. The white wire in fuse box indeed denotes both high beam and low beam are on at same time. Fine. I will use yellow and white h4 wires as triggers to new relays. I will add 2 “see me you idiots” to area below head light
 1) Decent h4 LED bulb…? By decent I mean I drive in well lit city area not country roads.
  2) How much wattage can I use for accessory lights ? I want to have accessory lights on at all times. That means the high beam ( usually on ) Low beam always on. And acc lights on also…PS  I will wire in switch to shut acc lights as needed. TIA
 
 

[Ingo]

Atabeach: not sure having BOTH hi and low on at same time is going to work with 35A alternator. Just did some research for aux lights and it looks like you can get substantially more light with less amps by going LED. I'm thinking about adding 2 small LED lights (both yellow and white) inside the motor protect bars and wire yellow to be on with low beam, white to be on with hi. At this point it's just a consideration...
I hope some of our (obviously) very advanced guys will put their 2 cents in...

[frankenduck]

LED headlight low beam vs. stock halogen. Only 27W per beam vs 60/55.



The comparison above is RT headlights but the LED headlight even improves the crappy K75S headlight.

Fork mounter orange LEDs. Only 20W each so they don't even need a relay. My camera makes them look yellow but they are orange in real life.




Only takes one bolt to mount them on the front of the reflector.



Cost $23 plus bolts and spacers.

[Laitch]

I can see just as much detail on the yellow side as I can see on the white side, only with less glare. I think I'll arrange to donate my eyes to science, after I'm dead of course.

[Atabeach]

So a decent headlight bulb?  see photo. Auxito? Amazon $20? What brand is everybody running? Also..How many watts can safely run with 35 amp? The real question may be…how many watts are available ( approximately) no heated grips, or jacket…. What does the ecu and ignition consume? 100 wats = 1 amp (120 actual. )

[Ingo]

It seems that just about any brand LED H4 bulb will draw less current that the standard incandescent H4, with more light output...
However, there also seems to be an issue with the bulb body of some models being too wide for insertion into the headlight, so I'm a bit concerned with what exactly to order.

[Laitch]

As is evident, I'm not enthralled by LED headlights, but I'm concerned that nobody in this discussion has seemed to figure out yet that both kbikeparts and Euro Motoelectrics are offering LED headlight units asserted to have proper clearance to work in our Bricks.

Let the hand wringing stop and the jubilation begin!

[Atabeach]

Thanks Laitch, I think the Duck site had been down for a while…I recently purchased the gauge cluster led lights and will reach out directly for the headlight.

[Scott_]

As one who has experimented with LED H4 headlamp replacements I will say that while yes they are brighter, I will also add that the illumination scatter pattern is way messed up.
The light was everywhere but where It needed to be. Needless to say I went back to a standard halogen lamp, which is what the reflector/lens was designed for in the 1st place.
To each their own.

[frankenduck]

As one who has experimented with LED H4 headlamp replacements I will say that while yes they are brighter, I will also add that the illumination scatter pattern is way messed up.
The light was everywhere but where It needed to be. Needless to say I went back to a standard halogen lamp, which is what the reflector/lens was designed for in the 1st place.
To each their own.

Early H4 LEDs were mostly garbage. Now with ZES LEDs you get a much better beam pattern with no scatter. As you can see below they have the same beam pattern as a stock H4 and are brighter and whiter. I used to run 100/90 halogen bulbs (with beefed up wiring and relays) but I find the LED H4s I'm using now are better and I've installed them in all of my Ks (and my car.)

My K1 came came with an Osram Bilux 60/55 that was noticeably better than the stock halogen.

[Atabeach]

Dear God what is a ZES Led light? Google search shows a myriad of brands and fitments. Which one do you use and where to buy? TIA

[Laitch]

Dear God what is a ZES Led light?

Let not your heart be troubled, my son. Here, read the scripture.


It's the type of LED chip used in the lights recommended at the links in Reply #13. Note how much simpler using a good quality halogen makes your life.
 

[frankenduck]

ZES is LED technology developed by Phillips that excels is efficiency, color conformity and beam angle precision.  That's why it does a much better job than earlier LED technologies of emulating halogen with reflectors/lenses that were originally designed for halogen.

I know many people don't especially like to ride at night but I do and prefer to have the best view possible of what lies ahead.

I may be old and cranky but I'm not a Luddite - yet.

[Laitch]

I know many people don't especially like to ride at night but I do and prefer to have the best view possible of what lies ahead.

I may be old and cranky but I'm not a Luddite - yet.

I'm another night rider. I find it a soothing pastime until I'm blinded by the glare of a 6000K LED used by somebody who has been deluded into believing white is right. Low-mounted LED driving lights can show me all I want to see at night without doing informal laser eye treatment on all oncoming drivers. I'm a conditional Luddite but I don't attend the meetings.

 

[Ingo]

Well, it seems the latest standard is called "CSP", so just ordered a set...
Did some Google research.
Result will be posted later...

[Laitch]

Well, it seems the latest standard ic called "CSP", so just ordered a set...

Warning: considering all this may lead to ICP. 

[bitsa]

Warning: considering all this may lead to ICP. 

What has HEUI Injector Control Pressure to do with lighting?     

Anyway, I'm a Neo-Luddite and prefer HID lighting where possible. Hogging the Limelight if you will.

While we're at the acronyms, MMFWCL to y'all... 73 out

[frankenduck]

Anyway, I'm a Neo-Luddite and prefer HID lighting where possible. Hogging the Limelight if you will.

Several of my Ks have Hella halogen driving lights that I converted to HID. They put out an insane and illegal amount of light but I have them tied into the high beam so it's easy to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.