headlight mod or hid,s advice please

[phillywilly]

hi all,got a 2000 w plate 600 with the square headlights and they are so poor at night i,d be better off sellotaping a torch to the fairing so reading all the old threads on here as i see it i,ve got 2 options ,
1 - do the headlight mod and wire the two together and buy some brighter bulbs or
2 - go onto ebay and buy the hid kit and have xenons in one headlight
cant make up my mind which way to go so hope you guys can steer me one way or another
cheers all

[unfazed]

Do the headlight mod first as it is only one wire and 2 connectors.
With the 2 dims on it is much better and if necessary buy the uprated bulbs.
Be careful if you do go the HID route as there is a lot of rubbish out there

[Major Rant]

Converting the H4 (right side) to HID is easy - Got mine direct from China off ebay for £18 a year ago and it was a drop-in fit.
The H1 (left side) is more tricky as you can't use the existing bulb holder and you'll have to make something to hold the HID H1 (I used 15 sheets of PTFE oven-ready-meal tray, cut to size).
HIDs are bloody marvellous BUT they will (should) fail MOT so you'll have to return it to standard once a year.
I have bought 2X HIDs from randomly selected Ebay vendors in China and they have both worked fine.
They REALLY want your positive feedback and offer good customer service.

On the other hand, Osram "nightbreaker" and the similar Philips things are also very good and require zero modification.
Beware this route, there are a zillion forgeries and lookalikes out there - stick to branded products from reputable sources.

[HarryHornby]

Isn't there an issue with bulbs like the Osram nightbreaker etc that they can burn/melt your headlight cover?

[markbubble]

whatever bulb had been fitted to my square light fazer discoloured the lens like it was almost burnt! i managed to get a great condition used headlight and put standard bulbs in but wired so both lights on,much improved over what i had!

[Devic]

I'm using Osram Nightbreaker Plus bulbs in my 1999 Fazer after removing a botched headlight mod and so far have had no problems plus I got 2x H1, 2x H4 and 5x Ultra White 5w capless bulbs which were free.

I got them all for £26.13 including postage from Amazon, not bad considering I was previously going to pay over £48.00 for exactly the same bulbs and the Halfords range where £18.99 (H1) and £19.99 (H4) for each bulb. The Osram Nightbreaker Plus is also supposed to be UV friendly so will not damage plastic lenses.

These are the links to the bulbs I purchased from Amazon H1 and H4 and there is a link for Osram itself which in the FAQ section states that the bulb is marked with a "U" where it states:

The uppercase "U" indicates a UV-reduced bulb in accordance with ECE requirements (e.g. for use in plastic headlights). All OSRAM halogen automotive bulbs meet these requirements.

All the sites I have looked at when deciding to take this root for improving lighting stated that it is a direct replacement for the standard halogen bulbs, more light but same wattage and the Xenon bulbs at the same wattage don't run any hotter. Can have a look at this site for some details.

[Dead Eye]

Thanks for posting the links to the Amazon pages - I'll probably do this myself

I haven't found a need to have brighter lights as I live in an urban area and don't often travel when its dark. However, I am moving in a couple of weeks to a much less urban area where I probably will be out in the dark - this seems like the right move as I already have the headlight mod in place

[Devic]

That's OK, least you seen what I was on about, I very nearly just got the Osram Nightbreaker which was a couple of pounds cheaper but then read about the Plus version had 50% more life so opted for them, I was also looking at there extra long life bulbs but they are just standard so be swapping like for like only difference being that I think they guarantee them for 3 years. Personally I would sooner go the route I have despite the Xenon not lasting as long as a Halogen and see where I am going.

With the standard set up I could barely see on country roads on low beam, slightly better on high but with the Osram it's made a huge difference with the standard set up of  the nearside on for low beam and then offside switching on with high beam. I tested the bike at the same place, total darkness no lighting at all and before I could just about see where I was going was a nightmare on twisty country roads. When I did the same with the Osram's I could see further on low beam than I could on high beam with the standard Halogens and it is a nice white light not a dull candle glow orange.

If you got the Mod in place already so both headlights are on the low beam should make a big difference.

I know a lot of people have done the HID conversion and like the number plates swap them over at MOT time then back again but that's fine providing you don't have an accident. I got rear ended on my GSX-R several years ago at traffic lights the police had a good look at the bike for anything illegal and the insurance assessor that checked my bike over as it was a write off said he had to report anything that was illegal or non standard that I had no declared to the insurance, even though he was an independant assessor and the claim was off the other persons insurance he still had to make out his report and more or less said the insurance will look for anything to get out of paying out so sooner not take any chances.

[Dead Eye]

I'll look forward to seeing the difference ^^

As far as the insurance goes, I agree and I don't like the idea of fitting HIDs (I honestly have no good explanation as to why). I'd actually never really heard of (or seen) anyone with non-standard number plates. The first I heard of it was a couple of weeks ago when I booked my bike in for its MOT - I was told to make sure that it a standard full size number plate and that if I had a baffle for the exhaust, to make sure it was in place.

[Devic]

Most of my mates have non standard number plates, can barely see them but never seem to get stopped by the police but the MOT has tightened up now, friend of mine had his ZX10 failed on an undersized plate few weeks back assumed the garage would just over look it or advise him.

Saw a bike the other day, all the rear end removed with just slim line lights in the seat cowling but no mudguard or anything and they attached the number plate to the back of the airbox behind the wheel so can't see most of it apart from the two upper outside letter/number wondering how he never gets stopped.

[phillywilly]

quick update ,-did the mod yesterday linking both lights together and put in osram h1 bulb (nightbreaker ) in the dipped light and having the osram bulb and the other side lit the difference is amazing for the first time in the dark i actually feel safe riding the bike instead of having to guess where the road is/was as was the case before the mod
so to anyone thinking about doing it .....DO IT , you wont regret it

[Jacko]

Anyone thought about or actually fitted a 100w H4 for main beam use.
Not legal but should be brighter

[unfazed]

What do mean linking both lights together. The proper mod is to link the right hand headlight spare connector back to the green wire coming from the left hand switch (in the box under the tank).
Linking both together suggest the Head and dim on the right side will be on together which will discolour the lens and burn the reflector making the lights worse due to the 115 watts of generated heat. Won't do the H4 any good either.

[phillywilly]

What do mean linking both lights together. The proper mod is to link the right hand headlight spare connector back to the green wire coming from the left hand switch (in the box under the tank).
Linking both together suggest the Head and dim on the right side will be on together which will discolour the lens and burn the reflector making the lights worse due to the 115 watts of generated heat. Won't do the H4 any good either.

hi unfazed , lazyness in typing, done the mod linking the righthand spare connector to the green wire in the box ,under the tank
best mod ever,makes it so much more safer riding the bike at night when you can see where you are going

[loadeddice]

I have just seen this thread. Has anything more developed on the lighting issues of Fazer series 1...?
I'm now in the process of seeking knowledge prior to purchasing HID or alternate bulbs. I have removed my bulbs & found the main is 100/80W; still useless! Will it be HID or bulb replacement then...?

[Ebme Geek]

I am trying to decide on this aswell, but one thing I will say is get that high power bulb out, it was only very recently someone had their light switch fail because of a 100w bulb and led to problems with the kill switch melting above it aswell

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,9726.50.html

hi paul, think the culprit as been found?...stripped the switchgear down tonight and its fkd!!..all melted together inside!!...looks like its the light switch that was at fault?..fazerider mentioned it earlier and it looks like he was spot on ...and i think ive found out why :rolleyes ....some twat previously" had put 100watt bulbs in the headlights ...and seeing i run with lights on all the time i think it as overloaded the switchgear and fried it?  didnt notice the other day but my headlights had packed up!! the switch itself was moving but not moving the inner bits!! they where toast!...so now ive got to sort out the mess and replace the unit and hopefully it should be ok? :rolleyes ...just a bit bothered about the ecu though? will it have done any long term damage or have i been lucky???....

oh and if thers any of you out there thinking of fitting 100watt bulbs?....my advice ...DONT!!!!!.....

Think I am going to go for wiring the right hand dip beam to the green wire in the box under the tank and night breaker bulbs.

[Dead Eye]

Mods for me are;

Headlight Mod for both lights on for dipped (as discussed previously)
Osram Nightbreaker bulbs - still the correct wattage so no melting of wires but much better light output
Removed metal cowling over the left bulb

This has improved the lights a lot. They aren't super-awesome-amazing-power-of-the-sun but they are now actually usable as headlights

[Fuzzy]

I have the same set-up as Deadeye.

Tried HID but removed it in the end for the reasons regarding legality Devic mentioned and also because the light was too blue (6000k, 4300k is better) and it drew a lot of power on start up. The beam wasn't great (thanks to the reflector staying the same) so all in all I didn't feel that the improvement in light output over aforementioned Osrams or Philips Xtremes (used both, both good) was worth it.

I have led spotlights mounted on my crashbars that I use as high beams when I'm riding on unlit roads without any traffic - they're too powerful to be useful for anything other than that so not that useful day to day in all honesty, but a revelation in the rare event I'm caught out in pitch darkness. I want to get my mitts on a Fazer 400 headlight unit which is supposedly much better, I'm going to try track one down on my next visit to Japan.

Apart from that I have looked into modifying the headlight unit to house 2x Hella 90mm bi-halogen (ie dipped + high) projector units but decided the cost and potential complexity installing them would not make it worthwhile. The advantage of those are that they are ECE-approved, road legal and the spread and power of light is good. The disadvantage is that they cost £200 and you'll have to carve up a headlight unit to fit  them inside.