Albeit, probably not in a terribly legal manner, but......


I know there are a gazillion threads about LED's, HID's, Hella's, Piaa's, and every other lighting scenario known to man, but because I am an old fart with a crazy OCD condition, I wanted to do my lighting in a way most people wouldn't normally do it. And I wanted to do it cheap. Not because I am an inherent cheap a$$, or broke or anything, I'm just the type that is rarely happy with how stuff turns out and if I decide I need to do it over, I don't want to have spent a small fortune doing it wrong. So for anyone whom may care, here's the absolute brightest lighting system I could create for under 100 bucks. It's certainly not for everyone, and I'm sure plenty of riders will think its ridiculous, but wow, is it stupid bright! So at least I'm happy.... for now.


Long story short. The headlight bulb is an $8.95 80/100 watt Hella Halogen with a $12.95 ceramic plug to protect the wires from melting. I then upgraded the stock 27 watt 881 Spot Light bulbs with the 37.5 watt 896 bulbs. They were $10 each. That alone was and dang good upgrade for the money, but when all was said and done, the lighting was no better than any of the LED systems that everyone likes to use, and probably no better than any of the EBAY HID systems. So I found a set of 100 watt KC Daylighters and bolted them to the crash bar.


I replaced the 100 watt bulbs with a more civilized 55 watt H3, so they could actually be used on the roads without burning oncoming retinas. I then bought a 6 dollar relay, used some old foot peg mounts, and fabbed up two "L" brackets to mount the lights to the crash bar. And Viola, insanely stupid lighting. And even at 55 watts, these KC Daylighters just completely wash out my 80/100 Hella. I mean, you flick these ugly *** sum-biotches on, and its instant day time. You can pretty much see the whole world. I just spent most of the weekend farting around with the aiming, and I think I have them to the point that oncoming traffic has stopped flashing their brights at me. I may give them one more adjustment, but with the 55 watt bulbs, and a sensible, respectful adjustment, I don't seem to be pissing oncoming cars off.


Now please, I have thick skin and realize almost everyone on the forum with think these lights are hideous, stupid, illegal, and look totally BMW, but I don't care. I'm not trying to convince anyone to do what I did, I just wanted to share an amusing project I undertook to get the absolute most possible light I could get, for the least possible money. And this is what I came up with. Here's a few pictures.


Here's the bike in the garage, so you get an idea of how the lights look:





Here's a front view of every light, lit up:





This is the 80/100 Hella all by itself:





And this is all the lights on at one time:





Its the distance, and the extra "side of the road" that really light up with the Daylighters. Like I said, most people would never ugly up their bikes with giant chrome KC Daylighters, but I said, what the heck. Lets give them a try. And wow, do they throw a lot of light. So feel free to comment, flame, or ignore. Its all in good fun, and it's just one mans solution to the crazy lighting issues that encumber my favorite forum.

 

That is a lot of light!

 

Awesome, I am happy I am not the only one who has done this !! My concern was for the charging system with all that juice being used so I eventually went LEDs and am happy. Now when I turn on my lights the idle does not drop !!

I also have used aircraft landing lights, Bosch yellow rectangle fogs, tractor floods, 53/5 inch hi/low hellas in housings on crashbar and I probably am not done yet !!


Might want to check laws and verify all those lights are legal, you do not need another reason for the long arm to grab you .

 

I like it.. Can't go wrong with more light

 

Looks good and throws out a lot of much needed light. I like it, Good job!

 

So where's the rifle rack now that you are set up for jack-lighting deer and elk? I say scorch em all and put the 100w lamps back in,is too much ever really enough?

 

Ran a set on my old rx7, that I'd sorta set up for rally. Two problems i hadn't anticipated.

1. It was tied to my high beams. While i lit up the world for miles this way, i was effectively blind when I'd drop back to low beams. My pupils were constricted from the flood of light from the high beams and driving lights.

2. Reflective street signs could dazzle and even blind me with their reflection.

 

I think i saw a UFO once that had less lights on it...

Batman

 

LOL, great replies. I was expecting a lot more hate, but thanks. Bigheadted, yeah, one of the reasons I swapped out the 100w bulbs for the 55's is (besides the 55w are crazy bright), I don't know just how much the stock charging system can take. Both ways actually was on the plus side, even at idle, on my volt meter, but I just didn't know how close the 100's were to maxing out the system. And I run other stuff as well, such as a GPS, phone chargers, heated gear, and whatever else my wife can figure out to plug into my accessory port. So until I do some actual testing, I'm gonna keep the 55's as they are truly outrageously bright and they pull a lot less amps than the 100's.

 

bikerlaw, I totally appreciate and respect both your need to perfect the way to light the way on a seemingly less adequate for what is and has always been the standard on two wheeled transportation vehicles.
But no matter what our efforts may produce, we will never overcome the the transition of the lean angle bikes require in a turn, albeit jackknife, sweeper or kinks in front of us.
A bike will never light the way as well as a car can in turns. And because of this, I often have to resort to using my high beams. And if need be, due to circumstance where oncoming motorists may have to suffer for it, well all I can say is that it's my *** that counts.
I can tell if it's another biker and will switch to my lows because they're also heading into that turn and I know they'll need to slow down.
But caged motorists are not as much at risk, so hey... Can't tell you how often I'm having to look to my right corner of the roadway to avoid being blinded by the glare produced by an oncoming vehicle operated by someone who really has absolutely no conscience what so ever as to how their use of high beams effect others.
With that outta the way, I really like what you did there with those. A friend of mine has had his highway bars fitted with extra lighting and it works great. Even helps spread a little extra on the turns.Thanks for the write up brother!