driving lights

[stevedore]

I'm sure this has been covered but I'm now ready to pull the trigger on a set of lights. What is the consensus? Motolights or PIAA's I need more light at night. Daylight visibility not such a big issue as no one here can see you anyway. I live in south east Florida. I just upgraded my head light bulb but it is not enough, I can't go over 70 and feel safe at night. PIAA's are expensive and motolights look like they are more for visibility but I may be wrong. What say ye?

[dgates]

I have the PIAA X1100. I think these would help be seen day or night. As far as seeing furher down the road at higher speeds, I am not sure how much these would actually help. I may be wrong, but I believe the beam is low and wide much like fog lights.

[owldaddy]

I bought Optilux (made by Hella) lamps, they are much cheaper and put out lots of light. They have been working good for over 4 years, one nice thing about them is they are easy to find replacement bulbs for if you should need them.
Don

[Daryl.Stamp]

Owldaddy;

Any chance you could post some pics & a brief write-up on your light install?

DLS

[owldaddy]

I'll break out the camera later today and get some pics. These are the ones I bought, Optilux (the lens is oval, not round as described) has many styles to choose from, so these may not be right for you, but they throw a lot of light and have held up well. http://www.hella.com/produktion/Optilux ... l_1502.jsp I mounted these under the oil cooler covers, used a Autoswitch relay that is activated off the blinker cancel switch. I didn't take any pics of the installation, but it was a pretty typical install. The Autoswitch allows the use of a switch that is already on your bars, so you don't have to wire another one, or try to find a place for it. It makes for a clean handlebar, it too has worked well without problems. http://www.autoswitch.com/2006/models/a ... ndex.shtml Do the Optilux lamps put out as much light as the Piaa's? I can't say, I haven't had a chance to run next to someone with them installed, do the Optilux put out a lot of light? Hell yes they do, I feel much safer with them on the bike, I run them day or night. They are small and powerful, 55 watts each so they do get the light out.
Don

[owldaddy]

OK I have a few pics here of the lights, sorry about the bugs, I ran into migrating butterflys not long ago and have yet to clean the bike.
http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm22 ... /?newest=1

[lionlady]

I went to AutoZone and bought a pair of small, oval, "off road lights" for $14. Mounted the lights on angle brackets from Home Depot, and mounted those on the forks by using longer screws for one of the fenders.

P

[Airman]

What about the hella FF50's or FF75's ? I used to consider these seriously before I fell off the deep end and started escrowing for the PIAA 910s. The comparison page they used to have on the Hella website made it look like the FF50's made light as good as or better than bigger more expensive lights.

http://www.myhellalights.com/halogen_lamps/FF50.html

[owldaddy]

I have seen the hella FF50's installed on a friends GS, they are nice, much larger then the Opilux lights I bought. One of the reasons I picked those lights was due to the smaller size. It's all a matter of taste. The hella FF50's work well also.
Don

[AirForceDirt]

I have FF50's mounted to my crashbars. They are great lights, but a pain to change the bulb when you have to. Thank god I haven't had to yet but I know its gonna suck. They throw plenty of light and where I mounted them extends the width of my light pattern beyond the visible range with my head forward (ie more than 120 degrees).

They're kinda pricey, but I THINK they use the same bulb as my stock headlight (not real sure as its been a bit since I really paid attention).

Pics, duh:



Note: Those are Piaa brackets holding hella lights onto H&B crashbars on a BMW. How many companies can I involve in one picture

[Mr. C]

+1 on the PIAA 1100X. I installed a pair following this procedure:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1471

They are very white and contrast with the standard yellow halogen headlight, which makes it stand out a bit more during daylight.

I followed the documented headlight aiming procedure and set the PIAAs just a bit lower and inside of the low beams. I rarely have anyone flash me. The difference at night is incredible. each one seems 3X brighter than the high beam and I can easily see 1/2 mile down the road. These have made me very at ease driving at night. 70 - 75 on the interstate at night is not an issue.

-mc

[Airman]

I have FF50's mounted to my crashbars. They are great lights, but a pain to change the bulb when you have to. Thank god I haven't had to yet but I know its gonna suck. They throw plenty of light and where I mounted them extends the width of my light pattern beyond the visible range with my head forward (ie more than 120 degrees).

They're kinda pricey, but I THINK they use the same bulb as my stock headlight (not real sure as its been a bit since I really paid attention).

The Hella website says they use the 55w H7 bulb, which does mean you can probably buy replacements anywhere they can get a building permit for a Wal-Mart. Your main headlight probably has an H4 in it like my `03 RR does. Actually nice to have a standard bulb for the FF50s rather than a special $25 bulb like the PIAAs. maybe I'll have to re-look at the FF50s. If you want some additional horsepower from your lights, I see that Phillips makes their Extreme Power XP +80 in the H7. I also found the PIAA 910 uses H3s, which means that at least theoretically some kind of bulb should be commonly available. The 55/110w twinpack goes for $46 on Amazon. The price of power I guess.

[AirForceDirt]

I have FF50's mounted to my crashbars. They are great lights, but a pain to change the bulb when you have to. Thank god I haven't had to yet but I know its gonna suck. They throw plenty of light and where I mounted them extends the width of my light pattern beyond the visible range with my head forward (ie more than 120 degrees).

They're kinda pricey, but I THINK they use the same bulb as my stock headlight (not real sure as its been a bit since I really paid attention).

The Hella website says they use the 55w H7 bulb, which does mean you can probably buy replacements anywhere they can get a building permit for a Wal-Mart. Your main headlight probably has an H4 in it like my `03 RR does. Actually nice to have a standard bulb for the FF50s rather than a special $25 bulb like the PIAAs. maybe I'll have to re-look at the FF50s. If you want some additional horsepower from your lights, I see that Phillips makes their Extreme Power XP +80 in the H7. I also found the PIAA 910 uses H3s, which means that at least theoretically some kind of bulb should be commonly available. The 55/110w twinpack goes for $46 on Amazon. The price of power I guess.

Now the key is, will I remember this when they finally burn out. Probably not, so I'm glad I wrote down the bulb type in my maintenance manual.

I have the FF50's wired with my high beam, and they are aimed close and wide to illuminate tight corners at night, something the stock headlight on high beam is notoriously lacking, despite being a second sun. They are decidedly easier to re-aim than the headlight, something I have to do before too long as the lowbeam is now dangerously too close after I installed the GS torque arm.

I really like the look of the ff50's but choose what works best for your uses and you can stand to look at on the bike for a long time.

[rdsmith3]

I also have Optilux mounted on RCU brackets, and motolights on the fork

Here are some pics of the Optilux set-up

http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13723

[CycleRob]

Not much mention of the lite switch location, so here is one rider's solution:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r87/ ... 1243198333

The GDO switch is especially smart. Thanks Touchton!

.

[TicTac50]

I had Hella FF50 on my bike for a year.
One day I saw Hella FF200 mounted on the Wunderlich crashbars.
I ordered FF200 in chrome. In my opinion, much better lights compared to FF50.
I think I paid $110 for both, without any wires switch or relay.
Here is the link to the web site where I got them.
http://www.buyautotruckaccessories.com/ ... ng-lights/
Good Luck.