Lawdog,
Watts is not a measure of light output. That 50 watt bulb will put out more light just because it draws more current and therefore produces more heat, i.e. watts. Be careful you do not burn up some wiring or at the least blow a fuse. IMHO you would be better off with a PIAA bulb similar to the one 'jlacasci' references. Check it out a little more thoroughly before rushing in.

 

I was interested in daylight visibility more than night time illumination. I replaced the whole passing lamp assemblies with PIAA fog lights that use H3 (50 watt) bulbs with a wide dispersal lens. This provides lots of very bright yellow light which is much more noticeable in daylight. Because of the higher current draw (50 watts vs 27 watts) I wired the set to their own relay and main power supply from the battery using 14 guage wire. The relay and it's switch are powered from the lights tab on the ignition switch. Because of the higher current draw, and because I only have an older charging system, I rewired the running lights through the former passing lamp switch, now I can turn them off when running the fogs. At night I don't run the fogs - they are aimed too high so then I turn on the running lights. I've also changed rear turn signals to assemblies that use two fillament bulbs and thus have rear running lights as well. To keep tabs on the state of the battery charge and the regulator I installed a volt meter on the left side of the handle bars (I've mapped its display with a bench quality digital multimeter). At some point in the future I plan to replace the charging system with a newer three phase system.

You might not want to go to that much trouble but my scoot is pretty old, not at all stock and I don't mind experementing. Every mod I made was for some utilitarian purpose first, looks second.

[IMG]local://upfiles/2749/CCAE81A03FFE44E38DBEAD14C79CF632.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2749/50665F79A1764E5283090BBD31D6A1A1.jpg[/IMG]

 

Holy s**t! Now here's the guy you want to buy a beer. Lawdog, meet Pat.

 

He is a little reading for you. This is from the Daniel Stern Lighting sight. When your done here go directly to the site and get an education on lighting just like I did some time ago. It is a real eye opener from someone in the lighting business.

Claims ("55w = 85w", etc.) made for "Superwhite" type bulbs are very misleading. They simply aren't true. Here's the full scoop!

CLAIM: "SuperWhite" bulbs produce 85W of light from 55W of electricity


REALITY: "Superwhite" ("Hyperwhite", "UltraWhite", "Platinum", etc., basically any bulb advertised as being "whiter" than normal) bulbs produce more glare and less seeing light than standard bulbs.

The "55W = 85W" type claims are a sham. Here's how these kinds of pretend wattage numbers are cooked-up: The blue or purple filtration coating on the glass tints the light so that it is "whiter". Most bulbs that actually produces more light (i.e., higher-wattage bulbs) also burn with a whiter color than standard-wattage bulbs. With these color-coated bulbs, only the light color, and not the actual light output, imitates a high-power bulb. There is no seeing advantage to "whiter" light, though some people seem to think that others will look upon headlamps so equipped and go "Wow, cool!". Why they believe anyone else cares what color their headlamps are is anybody's guess.

A major reason why many people find many US-specification headlamps in need of upgrading is because many such headlamps have very low levels of foreground light, which creates a "black hole" on the road in front of the car. There's often insufficient lateral light (left and right) to see critters or people before they run into the road. The "hot spot" creates a narrow tunnel of light that disappears "out there somewhere", with no visual cue to where the beam (and therefore the driver's seeing range or "preview") ends. But these headlamp performance aspects are governed by the optics of the lamp, not by the color of the light. Bulbs with blue or purple tinted glass never improve the performance of your headlamps. They may leave it relatively unchanged, or they may severely reduce it, but they never improve it.

CLAIM: "Our bulbs produce the whitest and brightest light on the road!"


REALITY: "Brightness" is like "Loudness". It's a subjective perception. Is Metallica " louder " than Bach? Most people would say so. That's why audiologists use an objective measurement, Sound Pressure Level, rather than subjective quantities like "volume" and "loudness". And so it is in the science of light. "Bright" and "Dim" are subjective perceptions. Intensity, measured in any of several precisely-defined and scientific ways, is the only real way to gauge or compare output of a light source or performance of a lamp equipped with a light source. A 4-watt flashlight bulb dipped in the purple coating applied to these tinted headlamp bulbs would look "whiter", and might look "brighter", but would produce less light. And so it is with these headlamp bulbs.

The reason why the scam fools people into thinking their headlamps really work better has to do with the interaction of light that is tinted blue (to any degree) with the human eye. This kind of light has been shown in rigidly-controlled scientific studies to create almost 50% more glare than untinted light from a bulb with clear glass. But there's no 50% increase in seeing to

 

Mike
I have no idea who Daniel Stern is and it really doesn't matter; watts is not a measure of light output. His argument only applies when the two bulbs are identical. It does not apply to different types of bulbs.
Best of luck to you. Ride Safely.
Mike

 

use caution. blue bulbs "appear" brighter. that's because your pupils don't react to blue light. that's why oncoming cars with blue lights blind you. they aren't putting out more light your eyes are just not reacting to them. we use blue light in military cockpits now so pilots don't lose their night vision reading the instruments and then looking outside the aircraft.

 

What abut AMPs? Where can I find out how many AMPs the bulbs pull that are on the bike? My bike is an 05 E.C.

I am not as brave as Pat is, this bike is fairly new and I would hate screw something up. Knowing me and my ability, it would probably happen.

 

What is the part number for the headlight and the passing lamps? H3 or H4? Thanks for the help, sorry about the numerous post. I know I can find it in the owners manual, however I am at work and do not have the book next to me. [8D]

 

OK, this is a good thread for me to ask this question. I just installed an HID setup in my SG..MAN what a difference. I have them in my car and love them. Why they aren't installed in all bikes is beyond me! I know the Harley price is crazy. How many of you guys would be willing to pay 2-250 for a true HID retro kit?

 

I would be interested. The older you get the more light you need at least that applies to me.