Adding spot lamps?

[Paul in NZ]

For a bike that has 3 headlamps the Sprint ST's ability to light up the road is less than brilliant... Low beams fine - better than fine really but high beam is some kind of 1950's 6V dynamo joke. Now I could go all HID on it but I think its the actual design of the 'projector' type lights so I'm thinking a pair of LED spotlamps would be a better option. Dunno where I will mount them yet but...

Whats the legality of this sort of thing?

Cheers

[imdying]

For a bike that has 3 headlamps the Sprint ST's ability to light up the road is less than brilliant... Low beams fine - better than fine really but high beam is some kind of 1950's 6V dynamo joke. Now I could go all HID on it but I think its the actual design of the 'projector' type lights so I'm thinking a pair of LED spotlamps would be a better option. Dunno where I will mount them yet but...

Whats the legality of this sort of thing?

Cheers

HID over LED still, halogen over LED still.

Go to somewhere like BNT and look at the Hella range. You'll pay for them (any mechanic you know will get trade on them, BNT are quite big), but quality reflectors and glass really do make a difference. A basic 55W Hella halogen spotlight will piss all over a generic 100W Chinese made spotlight in the all important 'light on the road' contest. That really does matter when you have a relatively small amount of output from your charging system. Plus, the more efficient unit is smaller, and thus easier to mount.

Good spotties are a bit like good sunglasses... once you've experienced the benefits first hand, you'll scoff at the lesser options.

[Paul in NZ]

HID over LED still, halogen over LED still.

Go to somewhere like BNT and look at the Hella range. You'll pay for them (any mechanic you know will get trade on them, BNT are quite big), but quality reflectors and glass really do make a difference. A basic 55W Hella halogen spotlight will piss all over a generic 100W Chinese made spotlight in the all important 'light on the road' contest. That really does matter when you have a relatively small amount of output from your charging system. Plus, the more efficient unit is smaller, and thus easier to mount.

Good spotties are a bit like good sunglasses... once you've experienced the benefits first hand, you'll scoff at the lesser options.

OK I will go check it out... Finding a small unit is the key here but most small Hellas I've seen are more fog lamps - I need a spot.

I know you said no chinese but what about this?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=655465789 (seems a bit too big to me)

Or these?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=656206855

2 spots would do the trick?

[bogan]

I had a car fail a wof on incorrectly aligned spotlights, think there might be something to do with how they are wired, might be if hooked into the full beam circuit they get around beam alignment issues but if switched separately they have to comply.
I agree with imdying in that optics make the light as much as the bulb does, they do have lenses etc for LEDs, but I think it gets pretty pricy pretty fast for little, if any, benefit over halogens. HID with decent optics is just a headlight full of fuck yeh though

[bogan]

OK I will go check it out... Finding a small unit is the key here but most small Hellas I've seen are more fog lamps - I need a spot.

I know you said no chinese but what about this?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=655465789 (seems a bit too big to me)

Or these?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=656206855

2 spots would do the trick?

The pics on those seem to make a good case for LED's still being too directional. More light in center vision is actually a bad thing as it decreases your night vision adjustment and can make things outside the center area of vision harder to see than for a lower light output but more evenly distributed unit. In saying that, they can be used very effectively to fill in areas missed by the main headlight.

The thing that really impressed me with my HID when I tested it against the stocker was the light spread, I reckon peak intensity might have looked a bit more for the stocker in just one small area, but the HID just lights up a huge swathe.

[imdying]

I would avoid LED at the moment, it's a little immature in the automotive world.

Some projectors stolen off a car, and a Chinese HID kit, would be worth the mucking about if you want to save some dollars

All other things being equal, a bigger reflector is better.

[Tazz]

I've been looking into upgrading the lights on my bike recently too man (and have those trademe links on my watchlist lol), but from what I've been reading you're going to have to many lights? Legally you should only have 2 headlights max, and then 2 more driving lights or daytime running lights, which should only be on when your headlights are not? That's just from memory, so could be wrong, but I know 2 for your main headlights was the limit.

I think if you're just looking for spread the LED's would work (angle one each way a bit), however if you're looking for distance or spread and distance (like me) they are not ideal unless you can spoon a massive LED light bar on there somewhere XD

I have heard from some 4wd guys that HID's are not great at showing contours, so if that is applicable to where you ride bear that in mind. Also a good setup can be very expensive.
No arguing they are freaking bright though.

I've decided to stay with halogen and just upgrade the wiring/switch to begin with and run some +100 bulbs (same wattage but more efficient). If that doesn't work I will replace the globes/reflector units with something better. If that doesn't work, I'll add more lights lol, but decided bolting extras on should be a last resort.

You can also get wiring kits (or if you're clever you could do one yourself) to power the lights according to revs so you can upgrade the bulbs and not flatten your battery/draw more power than the alternator can produce at idle, but ramp things up when you're cruising/fanging it.

I'm still learning as I go but will let you know how it turns out if you're interested.

[imdying]

Yeah, do like +100 bulbs. They burn brighter because the filament is thinner, so bare in mind that also makes them more delicate, which seems to be more of a problem on a bike than in a car (I've blown one after a good wheelie... bit of a pain on a one light bike). All good for ancillary lighting though, I'd definitely use them.

[Tazz]

Yeah there seem to be car and bike versions (vibration 'resistant' or something?), but good point.

I remember the first set I put in the Narva spotlights on my first 4wd were freakin amazing compared to standard bulbs. Truckstar or something were the brand, but they were 24v.

[Ulsterkiwi]

I recently did the ACC course and asked about the legalities around additional lights. (No comment on the technology to use, I am clueless about that) The warning from the instructors was to be careful what you called them when it comes to WOF time. They advised that you DO NOT fit "daylight running lights" but that you DO FIT "forward pointing positioning lights"
The difference? One is called "daylight......" oh sod it..... you get the point.
Whatever lights are fitted have to be in pairs and on the same plane. I have also read an article about where to place lights. If you want extra light at night, which is I believe what you want, they should be close to the horizontal plane of the OEM headlight. If you are after making the bike more visible to others then placing them well above (impractical) or below the horizontal plane of the OEM headlight creates a triangle of light which works best. All of this was apparently verified by some bloke with a calculator so it must be true.

[Paul in NZ]

Just to be clear...

The ST 1050 has 3 'projector' type headlights. They use H7 bulbs.

The two outer ones are low beam and actually - they are pretty good. I have decent H7 bulbs fitted and they have lifted performance to something I can live with. The spread is great but there is a big hole in the middle that high beam is supposed to fill up... It does not fill it up at all.... Its pathetic...

Its also a real PIA to change out but I do have a new bulb to try which will happen this weekend. HID on the high beam isnt usually fitted as flicking it on leads to a delay while it fires up BUT that might not be an issue at all 'cos unlike the UK we don't need to flash our headlights when passing.

What I need is a good long range spot to fill in the hole between the two low beam lights which offer ample spread.

What I don't need is a massive great chrome locomotive lamp as there are limited places to put it on a fully faired bike like the ST. Hence the desire for LED's. Low power drain, small size...

Its freakin nuts as I will possibly end up with 5 lights facing forwards.... But I don't want to fit HID to the high beam when its likely the projector type lamp fitting thats the real issue.

[F5 Dave]

Well you could just trade it in for a 1050 Tiger & get considerably worse lights. You'd think the Poms would be keen on decent lights living in a gloomy hole, but no. I took the HIDs off mine as they were getting dodgy for a WOF & I didn't care as I so rarely ride at night these days. I did take the opportunity to convert my H9 to an H7 (they had one of each for some queer reason).

[Gremlin]

Its freakin nuts as I will possibly end up with 5 lights facing forwards.... But I don't want to fit HID to the high beam when its likely the projector type lamp fitting thats the real issue.

Meh, I had 8 forward facing position lamps at one point, but with a lack of night riding in the last while I've dropped to 6. I don't recommend HID on high beam, as they don't like being powered up and down all the time. It will shorten the life of the bulb. For a simple fix, do try upgraded bulbs +x%. You will be restricted depending on which type of bulb it is, ie, H4 has a +90% from Hella (which doesn't last as long as a +50% - the 90 lasted around 20k or 6 months ish). The H7, H1, H11 all have varying options available, one of them (can't remember which) only went up to a +30%.

More complex fix, light options are various. Hallogen (big draw), HID (lower draw, don't like being turned on and off), LED (very low draw) and also HP-LED (high power LED, more draw but also more distance gained).

Legalities... Not all bulbs have to be in a pair, some do, and for pairs the light must have equal intensity/colour. For arrays of LEDs, at least 75% must work. Adding lights to a motorcycle is quite tricky, not many ways of increasing the number of lights you have, but yes, crucial to classify the lamps correctly come WOF time, and the lamp is then subject to those rules.

[pete376403]

upgrading the (thin) standard wire to something fatter, and using a relay with decent size contacts to do the switching can help, also a proper earth going back to the frame (rather than the forks) all helps to get the volts to the lights.

[spanner spinner]

have a look at these http://www.eurobike.co.nz/products/1...ot_lights.aspx

givi make good quality kit so they may be a option also not to large so should be easy to mount. I have seen lights like this mounted on to mirror stems on onto custom brackets using the mirror mounting bases, just need to brake out that tame engineer that works for beer.