Poor lights performance

[Zack]

Hi everybody,

I like FZ6 and all that but I can tell that Yamaha engineers didn't kill themselves when developing lights. There is simply not enough light available. I did mod so both LH and RH are lit up for low beam but still not much of improvement. There is no enough power to light up the road for slow driving let alone faster one.

I saw some people here installed HID and some even replaced complete reflector groups. Sounds like too much complicated work to me. I have H7 (low) on the left side and I guess H4 (low/high) on the right side.

Left one is lit up at all times but totally out of focus, beam way to short and bulb vibrating, more rattling inside reflector. How do you fix light bulb so it's steady inside the reflector?
What do you suggest to improve the lights? There must be something.

 

[red_rock_beetle]

hid is the way to go:thumbup: you can have a guy here do it, i cant remember his name right now tho

 

[elus1ve]

You can adjust the reflector of each bulb so that you move the light (up, down, left and right). There are four screws behind the headlight unit close to where you put the bulbs. Two for each reflector - one for vertical movement, one for horizontal movement. Put your Fz some 15 metres in front of a wall and adjust the reflectors to your liking. There is a lot more you can do to improve the lights but I would start with that.

 

[red06]

GE nighthawk platinums are the best option for bulbs , or get HIDs with the projectors

 

[Erci]

Cheapest noticeable improvement is a good set of bulbs. I've had very good luck with Silverstarts ($35 for the whole upgrade). It's never going to be great though, with just one reflector meant to work as low beam.

HID projector retrofit will give you amazing light output and as mentioned above, you don't have to do it yourself: http://www.600riders.com/forum/bikes-parts-sale/48240-fz-forum-projector-retrofitting-group-buy.html

 

[Smersh]

+1 on Silverstars - I've been running them in my car since 05 and believe improvement is noticeable. The only issue i had with them is that the particular bulb (H1ST) would burn out quickly - i solved the problem by disconnecting the DRL relay in my car. YMMV - when i tried to see if it was a common problem, i found no indication that useful life was an issue, so maybe it was something about my car.

Also, +1 on adjustments.

Btw, HID install is not that difficult - I used Boneman's page as the source and was able to do it overnight while sobering up after a night out with friends. The only regret I have is that i didn't go for a more expensive kit.

 

[FIZZER6]

HID projector retrofit is hands down the way to go. I can ride almost as fast at night as I can in the daytime because I can see so good! :rockon:

 

[Zack]

I already purchased Silverstar bulb. I guess problem is in lose or improper mount for bulb so it is not in right position in relation to reflector.
I guess next step would be to make one light HID low beam.

 

[dpaul007]

I already purchased Silverstar bulb. I guess problem is in lose or improper mount for bulb so it is not in right position in relation to reflector.
I guess next step would be to make one light HID low beam.

If your talking about just putting an HID bulb in your halogen's reflective housing, do NOT do that! 1. it peeves me off when people do that because 2. it causes a safety issue with glaring oncoming traffic.

 

[novaks47]

If your talking about just putting an HID bulb in your halogen's reflective housing, do NOT do that! 1. it peeves me off when people do that because 2. it causes a safety issue with glaring oncoming traffic.

Not only that, but the light pattern is still useless! It just gives more crappy light. lol I tried it, and went back to halogen.

For regular bulbs, forget Silverstars. They're coated bulbs, which reduces light output, period. All the coating does is change the color of the light. Look for some GE +10 or higher, or some good Philips bulbs. Hella's are usually good too(NOT the blue coated junk at Pep Boys). I put one of these in my TW when I still had it, and it was worlds better than the stock bulb : Susquehanna MotorSports - Auto Performance Product

Part # HL78155 The downside is, they don't last long, but there's always a price to be paid for performance. At some point in time, I'm going to add projectors, as I did that in my truck, and it's worth all the work and money. For now, I'm running the Philips Motovision bulbs, more for the cool factor(cool to me anyways). the light output still sucks, but at least it looks a bit different, as far as visibility is concerned.

 

[Erci]

Not only that, but the light pattern is still useless! It just gives more crappy light. lol I tried it, and went back to halogen.

For regular bulbs, forget Silverstars. They're coated bulbs, which reduces light output, period. All the coating does is change the color of the light. Look for some GE +10 or higher, or some good Philips bulbs. Hella's are usually good too(NOT the blue coated junk at Pep Boys). I put one of these in my TW when I still had it, and it was worlds better than the stock bulb : Susquehanna MotorSports - Auto Performance Product

Part # HL78155 The downside is, they don't last long, but there's always a price to be paid for performance. At some point in time, I'm going to add projectors, as I did that in my truck, and it's worth all the work and money. For now, I'm running the Philips Motovision bulbs, more for the cool factor(cool to me anyways). the light output still sucks, but at least it looks a bit different, as far as visibility is concerned.

Interesting.. I replaced stock bulbs with Silverstars on my wife's Tucson and it was like going from having no headlights at all to having VERY good light output. I've used Silverstars on 2 bikes now (3 different light configurations).. and in all cases saw major improvement. Not just the whiter color (I don't really care about that), but they greatly increased widened and extended the light pattern :don'tknow:

 

[shalteck]

Interesting.. I replaced stock bulbs with Silverstars on my wife's Tucson and it was like going from having no headlights at all to having VERY good light output. I've used Silverstars on 2 bikes now (3 different light configurations).. and in all cases saw major improvement. Not just the whiter color (I don't really care about that), but they greatly increased widened and extended the light pattern :don'tknow:

I'm a big fan of silverstars too, but I use the 20 dollar/bulb model. They seem to work really well.

 

[Smersh]

I am 100% certain silverstars - the dark blue/silver packaged line - had better light, at least subjectively. It was very white, no blue hue. Arguably, when i compared side-by-side I was comparing old OEM with a new silverstar, but I am absolutely certain they were better than OEMs on my Saab 9-2x (Subaru Impreza)

 

[Zack]

This is very interesting, so now I will be on search for good bulbs and then adjustments to left side as somebody suggested.

 

[FIZZER6]

When people replace halogen bulbs with halogen bulbs and notice a HUGE improvement that's not necessarily saying that the new bulb is awesome. Halogen bulbs lose output as they age and need replaced more often then ony when one burns out.

 

[Erci]

When people replace halogen bulbs with halogen bulbs and notice a HUGE improvement that's not necessarily saying that the new bulb is awesome. Halogen bulbs lose output as they age and need replaced more often then ony when one burns out.

The replacement on Tucson was brand new bulbs going out (when we just got the car). Silverstars are much much better than standard bulbs when it comes to light output and pattern. The end

 

[Recluse420]

Yeah the lighting leaves a lot to be desired. I got these PIAA Night Tech bulbs and there are a bit better than stock and some of the others I have tried but It's still disappointing. HID is king. They want an arm and a leg at my local dealers to install it over $200 plus the bulbs. Ordered a set from ebay but I can't get it to work I'm a complete jackass with this kind of stuff.

*cry's he has no HID's

 

[Recluse420]

The replacement on Tucson was brand new bulbs going out (when we just got the car). Silverstars are much much better than standard bulbs when it comes to light output and pattern. The end

You think the silverstars would be better than these?

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/PIAA-10707-Night-Tech-Upgrade/dp/B00544ZDDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370193010&sr=8-1&keywords=piaa+night+h7]Amazon.com: PIAA 10707 Night Tech 55 Watt H7 Upgrade Bulb - Pair: Automotive[/ame]

 

[FrozenBiker]

You think the silverstars would be better than these?

Amazon.com: PIAA 10707 Night Tech 55 Watt H7 Upgrade Bulb - Pair: Automotive

Although I haven't seen/used the night-tech bulb, the extreme white is damn nice.
Very clean light, compared to the cheesey yellow-ish stock bulbs.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/PIAA-70456-Xtreme-White-Anti-vibration/dp/B000TK3U4O/ref=sr_1_8?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1370197500&sr=1-8&keywords=PIAA]PIAA 70456 Xtreme White Plus H4 Anti-vibration Bulb : Amazon.com : Automotive[/ame]

They were on sale when I bought them tho :thumbup:

 

[Recluse420]

Although I haven't seen/used the night-tech bulb, the extreme white is damn nice.
Very clean light, compared to the cheesey yellow-ish stock bulbs.
PIAA 70456 Xtreme White Plus H4 Anti-vibration Bulb : Amazon.com : Automotive

They were on sale when I bought them tho :thumbup:

Holy smokes am I reading that's it twice the power of the ones I'm using? The Nighttech does not list the kelvin rating. So would that mean it's twice the kelvin? I'm so confused, these are even cheaper then the NightTechs...