Real Head Lamp Modification ,Making a H4 bulb fit into a H7 socket

[cashcrzzy]

I keep seeing all these great threads about making your low beam work on both sides ,But the fact still remain`s that 1 high beam on the right side sucks,It only lights up the right side of the road With the high beam on . I searched high and low for a bulb that would be a dual element and fit into a H7 socket Without destroying the socket . There just arent any .. anywhere . they dont make them . So I have decided to make 1.First thing I did was use a micrometer and measure the socket size of the H7 bulb ,And found that the H4 bulb was going to be a perfect fit after a little cutting and grinding .Here are some pictures In my album to show you what I did .It also shows you how I wired it And how the head lamps look at night .In the night picture the fence is 125 feet(low beam) ,Past the cat tail`s is aprox 200 feet(high beam) . In one of the pictures it shows a plastic ring on the back side of the modified bulb that ring is so that the bulb is tight in the housing when the retainer is installed .
Have fun modding :iconbeer:
Greg A.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/album.php?albumid=9

 

[Fred]

Very nice work. Did you have to make any permanent changes to the bike itself, or is this just a bulb modification?

It might be a good idea to modify a second bulb and carry it as a spare.

Fred

 

[steveindenmark]

Crash, this looks better than the original mod.

Can you add some pics of the wiring set up. I see you take a wire from the positive side of the battery to a block and then onto the bulbs but I am not sure what the block is.

I am not an electronics person. I can follow pictures ok though.

Steve

 

[cashcrzzy]

This is just head lamp bulb modification ,spare bulb can be made just as easy as this one was made .

Yes the wires were changed it was a very easy change if you look at the pictures I have of the wire diagram you will see the "block" is the switch

The way I made my change to the wires. On the right side added another terminal to the top low beam socket hole and ran the wire over to the left side and spliced it into the black/green wire .

Now on the left side I had to move terminal for the low beam to the top position of the conector ,And then add another terminal to the socket and run the wire for that terminal over to the right side then splice into the black/yellow wire

Thats it . If you look at other posts on how to mod the low beam you will find the type of terminal to add to the connector

Greg A.

 

[ecurb]

Excellent! Nice work. Thanks for the tips. :thumbup:

 

[Fred]

If I understand your wiring correctly, it sounds like your low beam filaments will be on all the time, even when you've switched on the high beam. Is this correct? If so, have you noticed any signs that the charging system cannot handle the draw of four filaments when the high beams are on?

 

[cashcrzzy]

Fred
That is absolutely correct ! The lows are always on .
No there is no major change in system draw .And I have left the high beams on for 20 -24 min and did not feel any abnormal temp in the head lamp wiring
These bulbs are the normal 60W/55W set . And I dont know how the higher wattage bulbs would do . But I can only asume they would be ok .
Greg A.

 

[Fred]

I'm going to do this mod over the next few days. I'm going to make one change. I've already got the other headlight mod installed, so I have a switched wire for the low beam. I think I should be able to extend the wires from the right headlight to the left side and have the low beam filaments switch off when the high beams are on.

I'm planning to add all sorts of electrical accessories to this bike, and given the FZ's tiny alternator, every amp counts!

Fred

 

[cashcrzzy]

Fred
I have Found that the low beam staying on all the time is just a part of the design of the switch. If you look at the way the lights work you will understand. The only thing we are doing is adding the extra filament on the left side ,And utilizing the low beam filament on the right .The power going to the left and right are the same all the time you just use a different wattage bulb to control high and low beam . You would have to get a new switch that would shut off power to the low beam side of circuit because this switch doesn't do that. How often do you get to leave your high beams on driving down the road ? You probably would not like to be on the receiving end of these lights during the day or night . I like to leave the low beams on during the day ...
Greg A.

 

[Fred]

Greg,

The stock switch is able to switch a low beam on and off. Biker Dude's modification takes advantage of this to make the right side low beam come on when the low beams are selected, and off when the high beams are selected.
See here for details.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-s/1663-bd43-s-07-headlight-mod-part-1-a.html
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-s/1666-bd43-s-07-headlight-mod-part-2-a.html

I have done this modification and it works perfectly.

What I'm proposing to do is to extend the wiring from both the high and low beam connectors on the right headlight to the left side, and plug them into a bulb modified by your method. The result will be low beam filaments that only come on with the low beam, and high beam filaments that only come on with the high beam. So a replacement switch won't be needed.

The reason I'm going to do it this way is to save power. Having all four filaments on is going to draw twice the power of just two filaments, creating a larger load on the bike's charging system. Given the fact that I plan to add a lot more electrical widgets to this bike, I want to be miserly with my extra wattage.

Look at it this way. Four bulbs will more power than two. A 55w low beam filament and a 60w high beam filament will draw 115 watts if they are both on.

Here's a breakdown. (Assuming that the stock lefthand bulb is also 55 watts.)

Stock setup with the low beam on. 55 watts.
Stock setup with the high beam on. 115 watts.
Biker Bill's headlight mod, low beam. 110 watts.
Biker Bill's headlight mod, high beam. 115 watts.
Your mod, low beam, 110 watts.
Your mod, high beam (all four filaments on). 230 watts.
My proposed variation, low beam. 110 watts.
My proposed variation, high beam. 120 watts.

That's why I was concerned about all four filaments being on. Power draw is double what Yamaha planned for. But by combining your bulb modification with Biker Dude's wiring modification, you get a good dual bulb setup that draws only five watts more than what Yamaha designed for.

The difference between what you've got and what I'm talking about is 110 watts with the high beams, and identical current draws with the low beams. This means that 110 watts of power are available for other accessories. That's just over 9 amps, which is power that I'll want for my radar detector, GPS, heated grips and onboard espresso machine.

To answer your last question about riding with high beams, I gotta say that I leave them on almost all the time. The only time I use the low beam is when it's night and there's an oncoming car. The rest of the time I want as much light as I can get. I want to see and I want to be seen as much as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to piss on your parade. I think you've come up with a great modification, even better because you didn't have to make any irreversable changes to the bike. I'm just taking a good idea and trying to improve upon it.

Cheers,
Fred

 

[cashcrzzy]

Well heck Fred you didn't mention the espresso machine till now . Now I totally understand .. lol :thumbup: thanks for the links
Greg A.

 

[cashcrzzy]

I guess no one has tried the bulb mod yet because if you did you would be yelling at me right now because I kinda forgot an important part of the mod. After you grind down the bulb to fit into the hole you need to cut a keyway into the top of the bulb so it fits into the housing . To find out witch way is up on the bulb you can either have the 3rd pin on the bulb up ,or look inside the bulb and you will see a cup at the tip that needs to face up here are some pictures
http://www.600riders.com/forum/album.php?albumid=9&pictureid=74

http://www.600riders.com/forum/album.php?albumid=9&pictureid=75

 

[Fred]

I finished the first part of the mod tonight, making the headlight fit and making a spacer for it. In true Fred anal retentive style, I turned a billed aluminum spacer on the lathe.

I'll wire it tomorrow, but the bulb is in place and is a good fit.

Fred

 

[cashcrzzy]

That's funny you mention an aluminum spacer I was thinking about doing the same thing but didn't have the patents at the time of the mod .How long did it take you to mod the bulb ? It took me about 15 min in total to cut and grind down the base to fit And probably 15 min to wire up. Fred Can you post pictures of your completed bulb and spacer ? Congrats
Greg A.

 

[Fred]

I took about 30 minutes to do the bulb. I starated with a nibbler and finally moved to the bench grinder to finish the job quickly. The bulb held up fine, even after I dropped it on the concrete floor.

The spacer took maybe an hour. Wiring is done, that took another hour. I did things a bit different. Instead of reusing the stock connector, I bought another one and wired that one in. So I can switch back to a stock bulb in just a few minutes if I need to.

The nice thing is I'll be able to take pictures comparing the two beam patterns.

 

[Fred]

Here's my bulb and spacer. Tomorrow night I'm going to try and go out to get some before and after pictures of the beam pattern. I'm already convinced from garage tests that combining the bulb mod with the Biker Dude's wiring mod is going to be the penultimate solution.

Although I did see some high output H4 bulbs at NAPA, only legal for offroad use. :thumbup:

 

[cashcrzzy]

Fred I put the bulb spacer on the other side of the bulb to keep good spring pressure on the bulb .I didn't try putting the spacer in front of the bulb it may change the light reflection in the housing ?
also the spacer in front of the bulb may keep the keyway from contacting the housing and the bulb may just spin .
I must say that spacer is ??? um Holy crap ... ok I want one of those . Hey Fred You better get busy everyone is gonna want one . You want my address for shipping reasons ... ??? lol
Very nice job
Greg A.

 

[Fred]

I noticed your spacer was on the other side of the bulb. I think it varies depending on the bulb. For mine, that spacer made the bulb fit perfectly flush and it was still able to engage the keyway. Mine is about 1/4" thick, but the thickness isn't at all critical.

That spacer took forever to make because all I had was plate stock that I had to cut, bore and then turn round. Given tube stock of the right size, it wouldn't be too hard to make a bunch of these.

Is there any real interest in these?

 

[cashcrzzy]

I think that their could be an interest in this but it only appears that You and I are the only 2 that have had the "bright" idea to mod and use high beams/low beams on both sides like it should be .If everyone else catches on to this, they will for sure want that spacer .The best part of this mod is that you don't have to touch the light housing for this to work . I was thinking if you were to produce the spacer you could place spacer on bulb ,then secure , then on grinder take away bulb skirt till same size as spacer .. mod done . That might be worth some money !!!
Greg A.

 

[Fred]

I did some more testing tonight. Results are interesting.

1. You were right, the spacer should go on the back side of the bulb. My setup had the bulb too far back and the headlight wasn't at all focused. I switched it to your way and then it worked better.

2. After switching, I had to trim away some of the rubber cover so that I could plug the connector in because the H4 bulb's base is shorter than the stock H7. The solution was simple enough. It should still seal and keep water out, although I don't think much water would ever get to that area anyway from just riding in the rain. As a better solution, maybe a thinner spacer? Mine was a lot thicker than yours.

3. I had to re-aim the left side headlight.

4. The left side high beam is not the same as the right. This is due to the reflectors in the headlight housing. The right side is designed for a high/low beam, and the left side is optimized for a low beam only. So the left side high beam is more of a flood than a beam. It's still an improvement, but don't expect to have two identical beams.

5. The low beams are pretty much identical.

Fred