| Author | Message | ||
     Smpl5 |
I think I fried the headlamps on my 2008 Uly trying to jump start it after its long winter's nap. Can I purchase replacement bulbs at the local auto parts store? If so, what is the model/bulb number? Finally, I'd appreciate any tips that will make replacement easier; I don't have a shop manual so (being male and an engineer  ) I was just going to dive in until I figured out how to do it. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
H-7 to make it easy, I take off headlight assembly if I'm in my garage. | ||
| Ronmold |
Time for HID upgrade!  | ||
| Hangetsu |
A minor, but decent upgrade from the stock bulb is the PIAA H7 halogen. It's no HID, but it's noticeably brighter than stock. (Message edited by Hangetsu on March 18, 2010) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
You can pop them out with curved hemostat from the side. $11 at walmart  | ||
| Tootal |
Here's what I use and they are on sale right now. $44.00 on ebay but here they are $19.99 each. They are 700 lumens brighter than a stock H7. Same 500 hour lifespan. http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Personally, I am chicken to try some other type of bulb for fear of frying the plastic housing. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Just don't exceed the wattage.... | ||
| Hmartin |
Removing the headlight assembly makes changing the bulb a LOT easier, but you'll have to re-aim it once you put it back on - unless you place marks on both bolts behind the fairing and the one under the fender. | ||
| Ratbuell |
*Technically*, you should re-aim any time you replace a bulb. We used to "bench-focus" - or align the beam - on every stage light we had if we replaced a lamp. Filaments are never in exactly the same position, and different filament placement causes different beam focus. Now...that's stage / film lighting. Personally, I only re-aim headlights if I start getting flashed by oncoming traffic all the time. I actually *try* to get flashed every once in a while, because that means my lights are right on the edge of being too bright - which makes them NOTICABLE. Theoretically. | ||
| Smpl5 |
Thanks for the advice! I replaced them with Sylvania ultra bright H7s (about $50 for the pair at Advance Auto). I noticed that I have to re-aim in taking them out. I don't think I have the dexterity to replace them with a curved hemostat! Also, I discovered that my battery also needs to be replaced so I'm still not on the road and this stretch of beautiful weather in W. PA is about to end ...  Oh well. | ||
| Xbimmer |
If you blew out your bulbs jumping the bike, you may want to check your charging system... just sayin'. | ||
| Od_cleaver |
...and the charging system of the jumping vehicle. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hopefully the jumping vehicle was OFF. If you're gonna start a bike off a car, do NOT start the car. The battery has enough juice to start a bike, you don't need the added power of the charging system. | ||
| Union_man |
+1 Ratbuell ...and hook up dead bike 1st. | ||
| Tootal |
Personally, I am chicken to try some other type of bulb for fear of frying the plastic housing. Two years and still no problem. Lit up my ride home tonight rather well. | ||
| Dano_12s |
Martin,hope you found a battery.PM me if you can't. You must be the Uly that I've seen pass my shop on Rt.66. | ||
| Matchanu |
I burned out 2 of the PIAA H7 Super whites within 15 miles. The stocks hold up just fine. Might be a charging issue, I'll have to look into that. Expensive lesson however. | ||
| Hangetsu |
I'd say you do have a problem. I replaced my stock low beam with a PIAA H7 5000 miles ago and still, no problem. | ||
| Matchanu |
I have noticed that when I gun it in the morning ride (5-6K rpm) the light gets a LOT brighter for a second or two, then drops down to the normal brightness. Would a spy check tell me that? | ||
| Tootal |
When I blew my headlights it was from too much voltage. My VR had failed. I changed it and it happened again. Seems the stator was really bad and took out my new VR. I changed both and no more problems. | ||
| Rwven |
I'm not fond of PIAA lightbulbs. I bought a set for my car just after I bought it in 2003. One was blown within a month. I put the originals back in. They are still in there after 80K miles. I've got the cheap VVME 35W HID's in my bike. They work great. Good light output especially on the high beam. They didn't cost much more than a set of PIAAS. | ||
| Kmb |
Rwven, I have a few questions about the HID lights you used. I looked at all the info on the VVME site, but I am a little confused. As I see it the lights are designed to both turn on at the same time. How did you get the High/Low to turn on separately? I have done the both on at High mod using the wire swap at the euro center bulb. I would really like to make this change, but I don’t want to butcher the wiring to do it. Can you help? | ||
| Ronmold |
You DON'T want H/L to turn on separately w/HID's! The delay for H to ignite when L shuts off is dangerously too long. You can continue to use the euro-light lead to fire the L beam so you have both when you switch to H. The down side of that is the large startup current for the L HID will now come from the contacts in the keyswitch instead of through an easily replaceable relay. I tapped into the blue wire that goes to the H/L switch in the loom right under the inst. cluster instead of using the euro lead. Then all the lighting is on the lighting fuse and is off during the crank cycle. I got my HID's from ebay for $70 shipped total for both. Have used several of these and have been very pleased. |
