| Author | Message | ||
     Sargent |
I'm sure whatever is true of the rest of the XB line carries over to the Ulysses, but how effective are the headlights? I don't mind adding a set of driving lights if needed, but would rather not. My current bike has 2 low and 2 high beams that will melt any small animals that might cross the road if I have the high beams on...I like em. | ||
| Bosh |
The lights are decent. But if you are going to do a lot of night riding (especially at a faster pace) I'd recommend auxiliary lighting. | ||
| Brat |
I've had two 55w driving lights added in the holes next to the existing headlights and had both headlights wired for low beam (aimed the high lower), I don't pick the bike up until next Thursday so I'll tell you how good it is then! | ||
| Henrik |
Brat; definitely report back with your thoughts on your modified light set-up. Henrik | ||
| Rkc00 |
Brat, How did the lights work out? Pictures? | ||
| Stevem123 |
Yeah I want to see them as well! I'm thinking of adding some too. I have the "MotoLights" on my S3T and they work great. They are a bit pricy though. BC Steve | ||
| 2hogs |
I second adding aux lights, after a close call with a small doe last night. I missed her by maybe 5 feet as she was coming from the left side and couldn't get traction on the asphalt. I was thinking those holes above and in front of the turn signals were begging for some driving lights. After last night I was thinking 130W daylighters :-) Probably go with PIAA 55W units though. | ||
| Chadhargis |
I don't do much night riding, but I've had aux lights on other bikes and liked them. They do help you "stand out" a bit. I bought a cheapo set from Wal-Mart for $15 and wired them up on my GS when I had it. They worked great, day and night. | ||
| Rkc00 |
Stopped at pep boys and found a solution to our lighting problems for only $9.99 Now if I could figure out how to mount it to the bike. Mike Long Island, NY XB12X Black  | ||
| Lowflyer |
2 of those should do the trick.  | ||
| Javadog |
Try some duct tape and possibly some radiator hose clamps. | ||
| Spoof |
I'd maybe use bailing wire to secure it through the venting in my helmet. | ||
| Fullpower |
i ride a lightning extensively at night. i use an HID conversion with the ballast wired to a spare fuse position in the stock fuse block. the HID works very well punches a nice big hole in the dark. only suitable for low beam, and must be wired to remain on at all times while running. ( they have a bit of warm up delay, and ar thus unsuitable for intermiitant service.) | ||
| Philthy |
anyone know how to make the low-beam stay on when the high-beam is switched on? | ||
| Jim_sb |
Philthy, yes. you can hold the 'flash to pass' button down on the Uly switchgear. If you want it to be permanently on you'll need to change the switch there to an on/off type instead of the push-button type. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Ryker77 |
"Twin quartz Halogen (H7) 55-watt low beam. 5-watt position lamp (EUR, ENG, JPN, AUS) " what is the 5 watt position lamp? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Ryker: We got them in our X1s, just a parking lamp for the front. | ||
| Ryker77 |
oh yea my VW car has those.. called city lights. I guess in europe the law require headlights to be OFF since the street have alot of night lighting. But do require the headlight to show light, thus the 5watts. | ||
| Brat |
5w, I thought that was the indicator light on the dash, mines on with the ignition, the 2 x 55w driving lights are fantastic! | ||
| Spoof |
I added Saeng nightcutters. Pricey and not as fancy as HID, but what I had to work with. Mounted to turn signal stalks, which are fairly stout. I'm mostly satisfied with the installation and effect, but I've not yet been further than a few blocks in the dark. Extended saddle time in varied environments will tell, but the initial signs are very good. I'll drop a note when I've got some more experience.     | ||
| 2hogs |
Hey All, Just a quick note. I picked up the XB12X service manual Sat. After reading the headlight aiming procedure and checking my bike I found them very low vertically. I attributed it to my adjusting the suspension per the owners manual for my weight. Just something to check before buying/installing aux lights. Course, I bought a set of PIAA driving lights that I'm mounting to the headlight alignment holes (front of the turn signals). Cheers | ||
| Spoof |
I also had to adjust my headlights up. Off the showroom floor they were far too low. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
That looks very good. What is the total current among all of those lights? I would ride with a voltmeter for a day to make sure you're not doing bad things to yourself. Radio crack sells little cheapo digital voltmeters you could lash one to the bars for a while. I had to do that on my ironhead once. When it was running on its kickstand, it would charge fine. If I drove it somewhere, it would arrive with a dead battery. I found that it would stop charging if it was upright due to a broken wire. That took a LONG time to find! | ||
| Spoof |
Well, it's running 3x55 at most. The aux. lights are wired to the brights. So...plenty of wattage left in theory. It sounds like your issues were due to that faulty wire, not a capacity issue with the charging system. Obviously vehicles tend to charge better when underway than when at idle. I'll hook up the gps next week and see how the combined load is. I'm still debating on waiting for the rumored factory heated grips (with a swanky harness no doubt) or just putting on my own heated grips NOW as winter comes marchin' on in. But, as I said, I expect those loads to be fine. BTW--I was out for a bit tonight and the lights are doing great as far as illumination in front and the sides of the road--the beam pattern of the night-cutters is very similar to the bright, so it's like having 3 across brights and it's, well, substantial. If I were shelling out the money tomorrow, I'd still look into HID options. |
