Post by anon on Jan 31, 2007 20:48:32 GMT
Premuim type bulbs of 100/80
There have been a few articles about headlight bulbs so I though I would add the following technical information and my own observations.
The new 'premium' bulbs are claimed to be brighter or give more output. In fact this is not really true, it is 'marketing speak'. There are strict European regulations on the construction and light output for bulbs, and as most standard bulbs are already producing near the limit 30% more light would make them illegal.
The law states that the output should be between 850 and 1150 lumens of light and the bulb should draw a maximum of 68 watts of power at 13.2 volts.
What the new bulbs do is create a tighter, more focused beam of light in the main area of where you need to see (or where the manufactures think you do). This allows an overall amount of light (lumens) within the legal limit but gives a 'bright spot' in the point of focus. So the 'bright' spot may be 30% brighter but the rest of the illuminated area has to be 30% dimmer to keep the total light output within legal requirements.
There is a drawback though, because this 'tight' focusing is acheved by using a smaller filament but burning it more brightly, bulb life is reduced considerably. This is worse with 'blue' bulbs because the filament has to burn even brighter to overcome the blue coating.
Some manufacturers mix Xenon gas in with the Halogen gas to increase bulb life but this should not be confused with gas discharge (often called Xenon something) lamps. These new technology lamps (as fitted to BMWs etc) work by creating an arc of electricity between two electrodes (as opposed to a wire filament) in Xenon gas. Don't think you can fit one to your divvy though, as they need about 20,000 volts to 'strike' the arc then need about 85v to maintain it in use, so unless you want to fit the appropriate transformers and upgraded electrical circuitry stick to the brighter filament variants.
The best ones of the new 'premium' bulbs (according to a recent car magazine test) are the Phillips Premium (it got 4 stars) and the Osram Super (which was rated to be the best with 5 stars). The Halfords own brand 'premium' one was described as "terrible" (with 2 stars). In fact the Phillips 'Standard type' bulb beat many of the so called 'premium' bulbs in output and focus. Guess you really do get what you pay for sometimes.
In fact, Yamaha recommend either the Phillips or Osram bulb white (not blue) premium bulbs. Either will dramatically improve output over a cheap Halfords type standard H4 bulb and are completely road legal.
---------------------
The other options are more powerful, but illegal bulbs such as 100/80 These are simply brighter by using a bigger filament so light up everthing more and are less focussed due to the bigger filamant. They will cause consuderable glare to oncoming car drivers. This is not really a good idea as many car drivers seem half blind anyway, but the choice is yours. The 80/55 types are more sensible as the 55 dip beam is the same as a legal bulb. However, a good 'premium' bulb would be better when using dipped beam due to the more focussed light (a big help when driving along country roads with oncoming cars) and comparible in brightness on full beam.
You will most likely get away with the 80/55 with existing wiring but I would strongly recommend you use relays for the 100 watt version. A far more powerful bulb may not burn out the wiring but may well burn out the switchgear and it is bound to be very expensive to buy a replacement from Yamaha.
----------------------
IMHO The ideal set-up would be a Phillips or Osram 'premium' white light bulb and a couple of spotlights wired through a relay. Totally road legal and bright main beam light (+ spotlights) when and where you need them.
I would suggest you start off with a one of the two 'premium' bulbs mentioned. I have a Phillips 'premium' and it seems twice as bright as the cheepo bulb I replaced. Admittedly it was perhaps getting a bit dim with age (I can truly understand that !) but the improvement was very noticable and I did not have to worry with wiring, relays, upsetting Mr Plod or making half witted, half blind oncoming car drivers totally blind.
Anyone who knows the story of the Jasper Maskelyne designed lights used against the Germans along the Suez Canal during WW2 will know that the (strobe type) lights were enough to cause some of the German pilots to become disorientated and crash.
A note on power consumption
A 60 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 5 amps of power
An 80 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 6.66 amps of power
A 100 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 8.33 amps of power
The running voltage of the bike is probably about 13.2 volts so the 60 watt bult is producing 66 watts (within the 68 watts allowed by law) an 80 watt bulb is using 88 watts where a 100 watt bulb is using 110 watts. I am assuming the manufacturers rate the listed bulb wattage at 12 volts.
In the case of the 100 w bulb that is about 70% more power and heat than the wiring, the switchgear and the various plastic connections would have been designed to carry. Everything in engineering is designed to be stronger that it needs to be for safety (usually about 150 to 200%) but 70% is a lot more than the wiring was designed for. In other words fit a relay before you burn something out, or set fire to your wiring loom, OK ?
Especially so if you bike is more than a year or so old. The damp and cold conditions over a couple of winters may have corroded the connections a bit, removing them to change bulbs once or twice could have lead to a less than perfect connection, adding a bit of electrical resistance. Sending almost double the amount of power through them can build up a lot of heat, fast !
Domestic arc welders transform 240v Ac to about 24v to 48v DC to weld metal up to 1/4" thick. A couple of 12V car batteries wired in series to produce 24v makes a pretty effective arc welder. So don't underestimate the power of your bikes constant 13.2v DC power.
If anyone is interested in more powerful bulbs these people supply both the Phillips premium and the Osram Super for about £7.50 mail order. Both of these premium bulbs are 30% brighter and fully road legal.
www.powerbulbs.com/index.htm
They also do Phillips Vision Plus and Osram Silver Star bulbs (in packs of two only) for £20 per pair. These bulbs are 50% brighter than standard (ie comparable to a 90/78. In fact they would probably be quite a bit better than a typical 100/80 (due to much better focusing). As they say, "it's not the size of it, it's how you use it"
Why on earth pr*tt around with relays, thicker cabling and illegal bulbs when you can do the same thing for a tenner and stay legal ?? or £20 quid with a spare bulb or share with a mate ! Unlike a 100/80 they will not blind oncoming cars which is a d**ned sight safer to you too.
i fitted a phillips 90watt/130watt to my 900 diversion and due to the current draw blew the 15amp fuse.
i had to wire the high/low beam circuits through 2 seperate relays 1 for each, both backed by seperate 20 amp fuses and took the feed straight from the battery.
had the bike for 3 years with no problems at all,the job took me approx 1 hour to wire. had to dismantle the fairing and take the petrol tank off but that was about it.
must admit it made a world of difference.
just what I need but can I find a reference to the main headlight "type" in my handbook or manual? NO!
The website only cross references cars so I cant order.
is it an H4?
Thanks
Thats great information, sorted out a few questions for me.
Gordy
Yes, Richard - it is indeed an H4 fitting.
Trevor
From: rowlf Sent: 17/11/2002
There have been a few articles about headlight bulbs so I though I would add the following technical information and my own observations.
The new 'premium' bulbs are claimed to be brighter or give more output. In fact this is not really true, it is 'marketing speak'. There are strict European regulations on the construction and light output for bulbs, and as most standard bulbs are already producing near the limit 30% more light would make them illegal.
The law states that the output should be between 850 and 1150 lumens of light and the bulb should draw a maximum of 68 watts of power at 13.2 volts.
What the new bulbs do is create a tighter, more focused beam of light in the main area of where you need to see (or where the manufactures think you do). This allows an overall amount of light (lumens) within the legal limit but gives a 'bright spot' in the point of focus. So the 'bright' spot may be 30% brighter but the rest of the illuminated area has to be 30% dimmer to keep the total light output within legal requirements.
There is a drawback though, because this 'tight' focusing is acheved by using a smaller filament but burning it more brightly, bulb life is reduced considerably. This is worse with 'blue' bulbs because the filament has to burn even brighter to overcome the blue coating.
Some manufacturers mix Xenon gas in with the Halogen gas to increase bulb life but this should not be confused with gas discharge (often called Xenon something) lamps. These new technology lamps (as fitted to BMWs etc) work by creating an arc of electricity between two electrodes (as opposed to a wire filament) in Xenon gas. Don't think you can fit one to your divvy though, as they need about 20,000 volts to 'strike' the arc then need about 85v to maintain it in use, so unless you want to fit the appropriate transformers and upgraded electrical circuitry stick to the brighter filament variants.
The best ones of the new 'premium' bulbs (according to a recent car magazine test) are the Phillips Premium (it got 4 stars) and the Osram Super (which was rated to be the best with 5 stars). The Halfords own brand 'premium' one was described as "terrible" (with 2 stars). In fact the Phillips 'Standard type' bulb beat many of the so called 'premium' bulbs in output and focus. Guess you really do get what you pay for sometimes.
In fact, Yamaha recommend either the Phillips or Osram bulb white (not blue) premium bulbs. Either will dramatically improve output over a cheap Halfords type standard H4 bulb and are completely road legal.
---------------------
The other options are more powerful, but illegal bulbs such as 100/80 These are simply brighter by using a bigger filament so light up everthing more and are less focussed due to the bigger filamant. They will cause consuderable glare to oncoming car drivers. This is not really a good idea as many car drivers seem half blind anyway, but the choice is yours. The 80/55 types are more sensible as the 55 dip beam is the same as a legal bulb. However, a good 'premium' bulb would be better when using dipped beam due to the more focussed light (a big help when driving along country roads with oncoming cars) and comparible in brightness on full beam.
You will most likely get away with the 80/55 with existing wiring but I would strongly recommend you use relays for the 100 watt version. A far more powerful bulb may not burn out the wiring but may well burn out the switchgear and it is bound to be very expensive to buy a replacement from Yamaha.
----------------------
IMHO The ideal set-up would be a Phillips or Osram 'premium' white light bulb and a couple of spotlights wired through a relay. Totally road legal and bright main beam light (+ spotlights) when and where you need them.
I would suggest you start off with a one of the two 'premium' bulbs mentioned. I have a Phillips 'premium' and it seems twice as bright as the cheepo bulb I replaced. Admittedly it was perhaps getting a bit dim with age (I can truly understand that !) but the improvement was very noticable and I did not have to worry with wiring, relays, upsetting Mr Plod or making half witted, half blind oncoming car drivers totally blind.
Anyone who knows the story of the Jasper Maskelyne designed lights used against the Germans along the Suez Canal during WW2 will know that the (strobe type) lights were enough to cause some of the German pilots to become disorientated and crash.
A note on power consumption
A 60 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 5 amps of power
An 80 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 6.66 amps of power
A 100 watt bulb at 12v is drawing 8.33 amps of power
The running voltage of the bike is probably about 13.2 volts so the 60 watt bult is producing 66 watts (within the 68 watts allowed by law) an 80 watt bulb is using 88 watts where a 100 watt bulb is using 110 watts. I am assuming the manufacturers rate the listed bulb wattage at 12 volts.
In the case of the 100 w bulb that is about 70% more power and heat than the wiring, the switchgear and the various plastic connections would have been designed to carry. Everything in engineering is designed to be stronger that it needs to be for safety (usually about 150 to 200%) but 70% is a lot more than the wiring was designed for. In other words fit a relay before you burn something out, or set fire to your wiring loom, OK ?
Especially so if you bike is more than a year or so old. The damp and cold conditions over a couple of winters may have corroded the connections a bit, removing them to change bulbs once or twice could have lead to a less than perfect connection, adding a bit of electrical resistance. Sending almost double the amount of power through them can build up a lot of heat, fast !
Domestic arc welders transform 240v Ac to about 24v to 48v DC to weld metal up to 1/4" thick. A couple of 12V car batteries wired in series to produce 24v makes a pretty effective arc welder. So don't underestimate the power of your bikes constant 13.2v DC power.
If anyone is interested in more powerful bulbs these people supply both the Phillips premium and the Osram Super for about £7.50 mail order. Both of these premium bulbs are 30% brighter and fully road legal.
www.powerbulbs.com/index.htm
They also do Phillips Vision Plus and Osram Silver Star bulbs (in packs of two only) for £20 per pair. These bulbs are 50% brighter than standard (ie comparable to a 90/78. In fact they would probably be quite a bit better than a typical 100/80 (due to much better focusing). As they say, "it's not the size of it, it's how you use it"
Why on earth pr*tt around with relays, thicker cabling and illegal bulbs when you can do the same thing for a tenner and stay legal ?? or £20 quid with a spare bulb or share with a mate ! Unlike a 100/80 they will not blind oncoming cars which is a d**ned sight safer to you too.
From: ZZR1100PETE Sent: 25/11/2002
i fitted a phillips 90watt/130watt to my 900 diversion and due to the current draw blew the 15amp fuse.
i had to wire the high/low beam circuits through 2 seperate relays 1 for each, both backed by seperate 20 amp fuses and took the feed straight from the battery.
had the bike for 3 years with no problems at all,the job took me approx 1 hour to wire. had to dismantle the fairing and take the petrol tank off but that was about it.
must admit it made a world of difference.
From: Richardhamble1 Sent: 12/29/2003
just what I need but can I find a reference to the main headlight "type" in my handbook or manual? NO!
The website only cross references cars so I cant order.
is it an H4?
Thanks
From: gordy Sent: 12/29/2003
Thats great information, sorted out a few questions for me.
Gordy
From: TSJ Sent: 1/5/2004
Yes, Richard - it is indeed an H4 fitting.
Trevor