Headlight bulb wattage

[Muleears]

I see in the Dollar 4 Dollar section bulbs of 130 watts listed for our bikes. Will the stock wiring handle the extra amperage? I'm considering a Hella 130/100 watt bulb and want to know if I need to do any rewiring. Thanks in advance.

[Furchin]

I do not see a 130 listed. I see up to 100 high beam. As for using one, it will work but eventually will most likely melt the three prong connector. I had a high wattage bulb in one of my Eliminators and through time it melted the connector. If you do use one you will have to increase the fuse capacity for the headlight circuit.

[Muleears]

I fortunately found in my garage, amongst a bunch of other bulbs, a 100/90 H4, I just put it in. It is definitely brighter than the old 60/55, seems to put out some heat too. How much should I up the fuse? I'm guessing its currently a 10 amp. Should I go to 15?
I have an automotive heavy duty wiring harness (about 6" long) would installing that help? Thanks for the advice.

PS: Where is the headlight fuse?

[triton28]

Watts divided by Voltage gives Amperage.
check google for "12 volt wire amperage capacity" and that will tell you how much any guage wire will handle. I'm not sure but you may have to convert/use metric table, for voyager wire sizes.
Stock headlight fuse is shown on diagram as 15 amps and is located in main fuse block under false tank, next to radiator cap.

[chevyman1]

Make sure you put some type of voltmeter on to see if the alternator is keeping up with the greater amp draw

[Steve do]

I put a Piaa, 135/125 in mine, haven't had any problems yet. I need to change out my speedometer cable, ( needle is bouncing around at 10 to 15 MPH, I think that is a sign it is getting bad), When I'm in there I'll look at the connections, post back what they look like. You can put the headlight switch sorta in the middle and both the high and low beams will burn at the same time, it does make a difference in the amount of light put out. I have a volt gauge on mine, it drops about .3 volts when both lights are on. Will post back in a day or so.

Steve

[Muleears]

I have a voltage meter on mine, but neglected to look when the light was on... I have a set of LED auxiliary lights on mine too but on a separate circuit from the headlight. The LEDs only draw just over 4 amps.

[Steve do]

I checked all the wires and plug, they all looked good, no signs of overheating. Ride Safe and light the road up.

Steven

[ScottLee]

Double the wattage of your bulb and your current draw also doubles. Not a good idea running twice amps through the stock headlight wiring. Its only a matter of time until a weak point in the circut starts heating up and finally burns.
An aftermarket h4 battery relay harness connects directly to the battery and takes the load off the factory headlight wiring. Just plug your existing headlight plug into the harness, plug the harness ceramic plug on your high power bulb and connect the fused battery leads and you are done. As a bonus you will regain some lost voltage to resistance in the factory wiring and switches which equals a brighter light.

[SgtSlag]

There are extremely high Lumen output LED bulbs available, which burn fewer Watts than the conventional bulbs, while emitting three, or more, times the Lumens! There is no longer a need to install such high wattage bulbs. Check Amazon.com for H4 LED bulbs, and you will see many offerings, with outputs of 3,000 Lumens, and more! A typical 55W/60W headlight puts out only 800 Lumens... Cheers!

[ScottLee]

Seems that there are lotsa design variations on whats currently available. The amount , type and location of the led/smd's on the "bulb" itself will cause quite the differance in how they actually work in the real world . Some with couple of giant smd's and long fan cooled heat sink's that may or may not even fit in a voyager headlight housing, some with 20+ led's the same size of a regular bulb . They definately make lotsa lumens with much less current but getting it directed on to the road and out of oncomming traffic is another thing. The reviews of them are all over the place. Curious to know if anyone has had any luck with them yet.

[doug of so fla]

Led bulbs are a good option in some cases but not all. Headlite designs are different for most M/C's You have to think "reflectors", the reflectors in headlights are designed for incandesent bulbs and the LED may have a ton of lumens but will not work in the incandesent bulb reflectior design. do research before buying...

Also as mentioned, the higher wattage bulbs (incandesent) may work ,but if run through the oem wiring schematics may do unforseen damage to the system, wires & switches and components other than just headlites. Other components are affected with the track of current through the system & can't handle the draw at certain times when other components are used or even by themselves over time.

Always best to isolate added items with a fused accessories board run via relays to protect your electrical system...

[voyager55]

Just bought a standard watt SYLVANIA SILVERSTAR H4 ST HEADLIGHT BULB
Only $10 Works fine for me

[ScottLee]

Half a volt doesnt sould like much but you would be surprised how much brighter that standard bulb gets when you add that lost voltage back with a battery relay harness

[Tonyvdb]

LED H4 bulbs do work just fine as long as you go with this style it will light up the reflector as the incandescent bulb did and is much brighter.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Motorb ... rds=H4+led" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[voyager55]

Read the fine print



DO NOT BUY FROM THIS LISTING!!
Listing hijacked and is using my Feedback and Q&A
Unknown quality product shipped from Hong Kong 6 - 10 Weeks delivery No Warranty from them
Search Paradise Lights LLC listings and buy from Proven Seller With US Warranty

LED H4 bulbs do work just fine as long as you go with this style it will light up the reflector as the incandescent bulb did and is much brighter.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Motorb ... rds=H4+led" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ghostler]

I don't know about this particular bulb from Amazon.com. I bought two projector bulbs for an Epson S5 PC projector, $24 each. Checked with a VOM, both were DOA. Fortunately Amazon has an excellent return policy, free return mailing label and refunded a week later.

The same bulb costs $150 at Office Max. Seller was in US. Apparently this batch had some bad ones, as some would exclaim such a great savings and others exclaim defective. I've been looking at some other more reputable places and it looks like I will have to pay at least $75.

I've ordered from Chinese outlets through Amazon and so far haven't had a problem. Not saying this particular vendor's product is bad, but given its very low cost, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

[Tonyvdb]

That listing was just an example, this is the one I have installed and its been working great since I put it in in May of this year (took me a bit to find the listing again).
http://www.amazon.com/Ediors-Motorcycle ... ight+White" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You will notice it does not have the H4 bulb connector on the end however if you simply squish the round ends flat with a set of pliers they fit snug into the Voyagers connector without issue. They have not come loose and I just came back from a 3700mi trip.

[VoyKimmer]

Ive been using the 100/90 H4 bulb for over 10 years with no problem. Just make sure to use some dielectric grease on the connector.