Headlights And understanding.

[deathjam4]

So as i understand it the reasoning behind the two different bulbs is so that when you change the lights the second one turns on and turns on the high beam on the main light.

So instead i think ill buy 2 h4 led bulbs and cross the low beam into the other side so i have 2 active lows and highs. Ill let people know how that goes. its makes more sense this way to me. Other wise ill install the projector lights like other people have done. but this mod intregies me more right now and is alot cheaper.

 

[MattR302]

On the FZ6:
The low beam is a single filament H7 bulb.
The high beam is a dual-filament H4 bulb, but only the high-beam filament is used.
With the switch in “low beam” position, only the H7 filament is lit.
With the switch in “high beam” position, both the H7 filament and the H4 high-beam filament are lit.

The “dual headlight mod” that is popular here involves supplying low-beam power to the unused H4 filament.
With this mod done:
With the switch in “low beam” position, the H7 filament and the H4 low filament are lit.
With the switch in “high beam” position, the H7 filament and the H4 high filament are lit.
This mod adds a bit of usable light output to help you see at night, and having two low beams helps oncoming traffic see you. But most importantly, it ends people saying “hey you have a headlight out!”

Bikes such as the SV650, Vstrom, ZZR600, have dual H4 bulbs, but their reflectors are designed for that. It wouldn’t be practical to try to add dual H4 bulbs to this bike.

 

[Motogiro]

To add to this the OEM wiring for the FZ6 with the fairing does not turn off the low beam when the high beam is turned on in the H4 lamp. This means there should be a means to turn that low beam filament off during high beam operation in the H4. This is how the H4 was designed to be operated but it is not provided for the H4 lamp because only the high beam was used in the H4. If not modified the H4 will over heat and fail prematurely with both filaments operating at the same time.

There are a few ways to accomplish proper switching.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

IE, when on HB (right side-US models), both filaments will be lit ALL THE TIME and over-heat the bulb.

Your also drawing more watts (which the FZ really can't afford to lose).


The BD43 mod uses the factory wiring harness and turns off the LB when switching to high beam.


You can make your own wire / connector (set up) but will need the correct wire connectors to fit into the factory harness.
Plus you need to do some dismantling to access the electrical plug.

 

[deathjam4]

Mine is the USA model. It still has the orignal ownership from there as well lol. The previous owner went thru the import process so all i had to do was change it over. So both elements are lit. When i switch to leds tho it should defiantly run less power then the hologens. I plan to fully convert all lights to led eventually but defiantly want to get them voltage eaters out of the head light. I recently changed my brake light to an led i had left over from my old bike that fit and its already helping with the volts. Ill look into the bd43 mod your talking aabout and see how that works. What i might do is simply do a little rewiring and put a relay in to shift power to one or the other wire to make the same effect. Especialy if 4 lights provides to be to much od an issue. Ill be buying a voltage meter sooner or later for this bike as well. It drives me nuts not being able to monitor my voltages in live action while i drive lol.

Thanks for all the input guys once again i appreciate it.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Motogiro (Cliff), did the "relay thing" for the headlights when he had his FZ and that worked fine..

You seem to be pretty knowledgeable so it shouldn't be difficult for you..

 

[deathjam4]

Thanks yea i do alot of mods and repairs on many different things. For me i like to post so i can get input and feedback as its the smart thing to do before going head over heels hehe.

I figured some one may have done that already to lol. If i simply wire a relay i have in to the head lights then split it two ways figure i should get the back and forth i want. If its not a big strain i would rather just let all 4 go at the same time more light better visability. What i may do is get a stereo capacitor and use that to feed tje bikes power so the bike manages better on a more stable current. On second hand i may just use it to power any extras i may want to install. And i always want extra lol. I have many ideas ihust need the time and the money to make um reality.

My cbr 125 handled a set of 4 under glow highpower lights easy enough after i converted it all to led so figure i should be not bad off if i do the same for this bike. But stable power is defantly my goal here so ill be doing alot of calculating i think to get it perfect lol.

Ill be trying to take pictures and updates as i do my mods and will post them when i have a step by step. I already have an idea of the cap i want and its all led lit lol .

 

[Motogiro]

Thanks yea i do alot of mods and repairs on many different things. For me i like to post so i can get input and feedback as its the smart thing to do before going head over heels hehe.

I figured some one may have done that already to lol. If i simply wire a relay i have in to the head lights then split it two ways figure i should get the back and forth i want. If its not a big strain i would rather just let all 4 go at the same time more light better visability. What i may do is get a stereo capacitor and use that to feed tje bikes power so the bike manages better on a more stable current. On second hand i may just use it to power any extras i may want to install. And i always want extra lol. I have many ideas ihust need the time and the money to make um reality.

My cbr 125 handled a set of 4 under glow highpower lights easy enough after i converted it all to led so figure i should be not bad off if i do the same for this bike. But stable power is defantly my goal here so ill be doing alot of calculating i think to get it perfect lol.

Ill be trying to take pictures and updates as i do my mods and will post them when i have a step by step. I already have an idea of the cap i want and its all led lit lol .

What's a stereo capacitor? How will that stabilize? The regulating system on the bike is shunt type.

 

[deathjam4]

A stereo capacitor is what most people use to help maintain voltage levels in thier cars when they install those highend stereos. Basicly it stores power like a battery but stores it more stabely. With out one you would notice the stereo every time the bass hit would drop your headlights when it draws the power to the amp. If its wired threw the capacitor it hits that reserve power first before the battery and keeps the battery voltage properly regulated. Capacitors come in many different sizes and can hold everything from a small to large charge. The coils in older cars work similarly. An old vw bug uses a large capacitor to store a charge then to put out a charge to the distributor old voltage systems required this for the right voltage out put for the cars to fire correctly.

Sorry if that is a bit confusing but basicly its just a large voltage storage i can draw off with out hurting my battery or bike computer.

Installed it would be wired after the battery and any extras would be wired to the capacitor and all the main wireing would still remain connected to the battery. If i do this i will have to re wire the head lights and switch to the capacitor manuely

 

[trepetti]

Don't think that is going to do much good. A cap stores EXCESS voltage, but if you are running with 4 headlight filaments on, plus the tail and marker lights, plus the engine requirements, there is no excess power available to store. The FZ has a relatively low-capacity charging system, so there is no extra 'supply'. A better approach is to reduce 'demand'. Going to all LED lighting for example will reduce the wattage demand on the charging system.

You will still need to deal with the heat issue from having high and low on both sides on at the same time.

 

[Motogiro]

I thought that that's what you meant but I just never heard of a stereo capacitor. That device would be installed closer to the device, like a sub woofer amp, so that the instant high current draw would have less effect on the circuit and shared devices on that same supply line.

As mentioned proper H4 switching would be a good start. The H7 socket in the FZ6 reflector would also have to be modified to facilitate the H7. All in all the reflectors are not universal and so you might need to re aim the light assemblies for better vision.

Also keep in mind your regulator is a shunt type and so any additional charge produced is dissipated as heat by the regulator/rectifier assembly. I still think series regulation can be accomplished on all bikes and would have better service life than overheating stators etc.

 

[Gary in NJ]

I've been running "bug eye" head lights on my FZ for the last year. Both hi & lo beams are always on. The LED's that I'm running have a large heat sink and fan cooling and they seem to tolerate both circuits being on at the same time. The only oddity I see is that when the lights are cool there is no indication of the high beams in the instrument cluster, but as soon as they warm up (just a few minutes) my blue high beam indicator goes on.

 

[deathjam4]

Yea my plans were to do a full led conversion. I am pro led for everything i have every light in my house led and it saves me a ton of money on hydro. I even got the bar lights for my kitchen lol.

I have a few ideas i might apply when i have the time and money but first step is to slowly replace bulbs till i have full led conversion. Once i get my headlights in ill see how much voltage difference ill have.

 

[Motogiro]

I did have LED headlamps but the failure rate on them was too high so I went back to Halogen. All else on my SV is LED

 

[deathjam4]

Yea i have that issue with the cheaper led lights. Tho i have had a set of purple 26$ led lights constantly run daily in my honda covic and they only recently went out after 2 years. It really comes down to how much abuse they can take. Some are good and some are bad.

 

[deathjam4]

I thought that that's what you meant but I just never heard of a stereo capacitor. That device would be installed closer to the device, like a sub woofer amp, so that the instant high current draw would have less effect on the circuit and shared devices on that same supply line.

As mentioned proper H4 switching would be a good start. The H7 socket in the FZ6 reflector would also have to be modified to facilitate the H7. All in all the reflectors are not universal and so you might need to re aim the light assemblies for better vision.

Also keep in mind your regulator is a shunt type and so any additional charge produced is dissipated as heat by the regulator/rectifier assembly. I still think series regulation can be accomplished on all bikes and would have better service life than overheating stators etc.

I did not see this before hand but yea its a little silly to just blow off extra voltage. Ill be looking at this at a later date to see what i can do to stabalize the voltage. Hell i may just hook up a belt and alrenator lol i am sure i can figure something out on that end of things. Other wise i just have to play with what i get lol

 

[deathjam4]

Got my first led lamp today and installed and showed a profile of each for every one and took a comparison shot. So i also found out the running light is always on except for when the bike is not currently running. And the h4 i replaced simply runs both filaments no matter what. I also noted when my hand was in the focused beam of either light you can feel the heat some foot away the bulb produces. And the led was much cooler then the hologen for sure.

 

[Gary in NJ]

That's what I was trying to tell you in post #12. Without any modification to the wiring harness, both filaments will be used at the same time. So far mine have survived. I think the internal fan in each LED have kept 'em alive.

 

[deathjam4]

That's what I was trying to tell you in post #12. Without any modification to the wiring harness, both filaments will be used at the same time. So far mine have survived. I think the internal fan in each LED have kept 'em alive.

Yea more them likely is the case. I think i get how its working and think i can work with this.. Both reflectors are the same just one has a different opening then the other. So what ill do is the orignal h4 socket ill remove one power lead and route it to the h7 socket. Ill modafiy or change the h7 socket to an h4 socket or a simalure bulb type just with 2 elements and make the high beam side attach to the h7 for highbeam and expand the low beam wire to the 4 socket so it only lights the low beam on the h4 bulb. I think that should work. When i do it ill post pictures especialy if it works well

 

[domination2727]

So I would need to get this mod if I’m swapping out to LED bulbs then to keep both filaments from running all the time?