Brighter Running Lights.

[IanDMacDonald]

Okay, my apologies for being a complete lazy butt. I have done absolutely no research for this thread. No use of the search button, etc. So, driving down the road, in-back of me going under a bridge is a Chevy Uplander van, with no headlights on. But, what they do have on is their fog lamps, the yellow ones in the bumper. Those things are bright!!!

So, it got me to thinking, what would it take to duplicate those lights on our bike? All four of my blinkers are running lights. Not sure if it's a dual-filament bulb, etc.

Brighter bulb?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ian,

The automotive fog lights are often H-3 Halogen style bulbs, so they are quite a bit brighter than the 1157/1156 style bulbs used in parking/running lights. Your diffuser on the turn signals would also spread/degrade the distance and penetration of the light even IF you could put an H-3 bulb in there!

SO....instead you would want/need to mount additional AUX light fixtures onto the bike..front forks somewhere...and add these lights with switched/relay control and power separate from the running lights in the turn signals.

I've found HID type fog lights on eBay that are sealed, projector style and have mounting "U" brackets, they could provide you with both higher visibility to other vehicles, as well as more light down the road for you to see as well.

I've seen these "inexpensive" ie. $25.00 or so LED type light bars at my local Walmart...from Optronics....they don't state how bright they are, so I wouldn't expect them to provide much seeing the road type brightness, but they may provide BEING SEEN type light similar to DRL's...and they also are in mounting assemblies, and draw very little amps being LEDS, vs. their HIGH POWER and HIGH$$ version LED's with 900+ Lumens rated light fixtures....see their website if interested.

T.C.

[IanDMacDonald]

Interesting TC. I guess I'm not really looking to modify the bike by adding additional stuff, it takes away from the look of the bike. Thank you for the research.

[MaximPhil]

Ian to follow on from TC. I mounted driving lights on my crash bars.
19.99 the pair 55w H3 bulbs. huge amount of light down the road.
Also mounted Volt meter. 20 minutes down the road voltage was below 12v at 4000rpm
I now have 35watt bulbs and the charging system seems able to keep up.
Extra lights add not only down the road for you to see but are a huge advantage in being SEEN.
Some excellent LED light bars are avai;able which deliver fantastic light from a small package but cost a lot more.
Phil

[IanDMacDonald]

Hey Phil- Yeah, I'm trying to find a way to maintain the stock look, but add some sight to the bike. I'm debating on some rectangular amber running lamps, and finding a spot to mount them.

[Rickrod3]

I see you have the truck lite head light. I understand it improves your seeing and being seen. How do you find them?

[IanDMacDonald]

I'd compare it to an HID.

[natemoen]

I'd compare it to an HID.

Not much of a sales pitch. You don't sound all that impressed.

[IanDMacDonald]

For almost $200, I'll tell anybody to irk Crazy Steve and put an HID bulb in your bucket. However, the light is what you see, not a halo or anything else. It's a weird looking headlight. Also, I was surprised the brights are the bottom half of the light, instead of the top. "The Rev" did the Crazy Steve headlight mod for me to use the headlight. I owe him much gratitude for doing that for me.