When you say this, are you talking about running directly from the battery? I did this on my RG. I bought a two headlight relay kit from Summit Racing and had to re-do the wiring some to make it fit, but with the Osram 80/100 bulbs the headlight is outstanding. I do wish Harley still offered the E-reflector for the RG, when on high beam the road signs will just about blind you, but usually low beam is sufficient.
$611 from Surdyke. Didn't cost me near that much.

 

The FLHR allready has the lights running off a relay. My RK runs closer to 14v. than 12v. so 5-6ft. #16 @ 5-6a. going to the head lights = a voltage loss of arround .3-.4v. So I would have arround 13.5v. @ the bulb. The 70/65w Osram draws less than 1a. over the 60/55w bulb and Harley sells a lamp that runs the 65w high and the 55w low beams together = 120w. drawing 8.9a. @ 13.5v. The RG runs 2ea. 60/55w bulbs off the same wiring set up.
Billy

 

Thanks, I had not seen that before. Looks like I won't be going that route.

 

Those 90W-100 bulbs I'm running in the RoadGlide do use that extra voltage too. With the headlight fuse pulled, the voltmeter shows 13.8 volts at anything over idle. The voltmeter is apparently on the headlight circuit however and when the headlights are on reads just over 12 volts when the bike's running.

All the other circuits ( including at the battery.) still read 13.8.

 

Did you guys measure the voltage at the headlight?

 

there are alot of things we do that I would bet are not legal , like messing with the exhaust , fuel system , reprograming the ecm , if it works better , why not put in a better headlight

 

The newer models have 50a. alternators that are supposed to out put 585w @13v. @ 2000 rpm and should hold the voltage a bit better. But 200w. is a bit much for the wiring and the 15a. fuse. In your case I would run 12ga. wire with a 20a. inline fuse, a DPDT relay to the lights and wire the relay coil to the high beam wire. Use the NC contact for low beams and NO for high.
Billy

 

HD makes a HID kit , here is one on e bay

 

Thanks Billy. I installed these bulbs in 2009 along with a Compu Fire 3 Phase 40 amp system that I also needed at the time.

And I understand your instructions, but given that I've run the bike 75,000 miles with this set up and have had no wiring, socket or plastic issues ( the bulbs are still the original upgrade from 2009,) and I commute 12 months out of the year with my Gerbing heated gloves for 3 months of that too....(No difference in readings with the gloves "on" btw) ....I'm leaning toward to "if it ain't broke don't fix it" line of thinking.

The new charging system seems to deliver everything that I need with no adverse consequences. Or am I missing something?

 

This goes to show that Harleys electrical system is robust enough to handle higher wattage bulbs without failure and I'm with you. If you're happy don't try to fix something that isn't broke.
billy