Author Topic: 2G "S" headlamp upgrade  (Read 73264 times)

Offline ldbandit76

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2005, 11:42:57 AM »
Are the HIR bulbs available in an H4/dual filament style for those of us with old bikes?  

I couldn't find them after a quick search.  

Dave

Offline Red01

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #16 on: November 04, 2005, 09:36:30 PM »
AFAIK, no, there's no HIR bulbs in the H4 config, but there's a ton of H4 upgrades out there that will give you more light than the stock bulb.

The IPF X51 "Fatboy" H4 bulb sounds pretty impressive.
Click here
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Bazza

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2005, 06:36:36 AM »
Ok Paul, it's official, I hate you!

Well I have my Bandit ripped apart as I was going to do the Hella light upgrade and thought I would do a little comparison before performing surgury on my headlight assembly.

I compared the Hella lights to the stock configuration Bandit lights, and in both the high & low beams the Hella lights were brighter (and whiter).

Now the Hella lights use the new H9 65 watt bulbs, which put out 2100 lumens compared to 1700 lumens for the stock Bandit bulbs so just on that note, one would expect they would be brighter & whiter.

Then I removed the "Blockers" from the stock bug eye's and the result was that both the stock lights were almost as bright as the Hella setup. In fact the stock high beam was a little more concentrated than the hella bulb. (Now keep in mind that I am comparing 65 watt bulbs to 51 and 55 watt bulbs here).

I am convinced that the HIR bulbs Paul has installed would be brighter than the hella units with the stock blockers removed.

I think I will be ordering the HIR 9011 & 9012 bulbs rather than do the Hella mod. (Much as what Paul has done with the blockers removed)

Part of the reasoning is that I could not find a H-9 bulb anywhere in my local Canadian tire store, while the HIR bulbs could always be replaced with a standard bulb. Something to consider as I do lots of touring and would always have to carry an extra H9 bulb around due to lack of availability.

I will try to capture this all on pictures in the next few weeks so you can all see the difference.

Interesting note here, no black film was found on my stock bug eye units after disassembly.

So if anyone is wanting the Hella setup, send me an E mail!

Bazza

Offline Desolation Angel

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2005, 08:49:40 AM »
Blockers?

Offline Bazza

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2005, 04:13:29 PM »
Blockers or deflectors (Deflector is a better word)

They are in the old units to diffuse light. The low beam's diffuser blocks light in the top half of the lense while the high beam diffuser blocks light in the bottom of the lense.

Sorry but I don't have a picture of these.

Offline Vlad

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How to open?
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2005, 11:39:12 PM »
Quote from: "Bazza"
Blockers or deflectors (Deflector is a better word)

They are in the old units to diffuse light. The low beam's diffuser blocks light in the top half of the lense while the high beam diffuser blocks light in the bottom of the lense.

Sorry but I don't have a picture of these.


How do you open the lights to get to the deflectors and other internal parts? I just took my whole fairing apart for winter maintenance and the lights are sealed. I can see no way to open them without braking something because the glass is glued to the rest of the casing. I desperately need to get to the internal parts because my lenses are fogged and the glass is dirty from the inside.

Any ideas will be much appreciated.
Vlad lives in Toronto, Canada and rides http://bandit.xxc.cc

Offline Red01

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2005, 02:53:26 AM »
Remove the headlight assembly from the bike and stick it in the oven on 150*F for 10-15 minutes. This will make the sealant used to seal the halves pliable enough to split the assembly apart.

(Alternate method - use a heat gun or really hot blow dryer aimed at the seam. - I have a heat gun, but opted for the speed and uniformity of the oven - just waited until the spousal unit was away... she tends to freak out when motor vehicle parts find their way into her oven, even when no harm is done to the oven)

Once warmed up, lift the little plastic loops over the locks and pry the thing apart. Have a few screwdrivers or popsickle sticks or other suitable items around to hold sections apart as you work your way around.

It's a good idea to warm it back up to reassemble.
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Bazza

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #22 on: November 14, 2005, 02:56:38 AM »
As Paul said.....

It's not pretty but it works!

I have the bulbs ordered today and I will compare the 9011 & 9012 bulb setup to the Hella H9 setup. Hopefully I can get some good picts. for all to see.

Offline Red01

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #23 on: November 14, 2005, 03:01:49 AM »
There's a site somewhere that documents how to take the headlight apart.
(I think it's the one that does the Hella light swap - you got that handy, Bazza?)
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Red01

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #24 on: November 14, 2005, 03:40:49 AM »
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Vlad

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #25 on: November 14, 2005, 08:42:13 AM »
Thank you all for the fast help guys. I would have never thought of the oven trick...


Update 1:

Bakin' the headlight to take it apart wasn't imposible, but it was far from easy. The plastic, not to mention the screws, got quite warm after about 20 minutes on 150F (75C), but the sealant was nowhere near the release point. After another 20 minutes on 200F (93C) it started to loosen up a bit. It was still not moving as easily as I would want, but I didn't dare to heat it any more, besides it was geting too hot to hold in my hands. After some struggle on the kitchen counter (make sure you cover it with a towel or even a blanket to avoid scratches on both the light and counter) I finally managed to pry it open without causing much damage. What I found inside proved this operation worth my trouble:

- Philips screws on one of the adjuster plates were loose and the whole low beam module was moving in the housing.

- The whole headlight housing was full of black dust. The reflectors, glass, lenses and pretty much everything else was dimmed at least 30-40%. That's why all those cagers were cutting me off at night - they didn't see me because of my dim low beam! But, I digress - the source of the infamous black dust were plastic parts rubbing at each other because of the poor design, drunk assembly worker or heat deformation. In my case it was the chromed plastic reflector rubbing against the gousing in the upper left corner.

Of course, I took everything apart to the smallest screw and gave it all a "heawy pans" round in the dishwasher (yes, glass lenses and plexiglass included). I didn't want to cratch anything by wiping first.

Next step will be to put it all back together and figure out how to prevent any future black dust, loose screws and other mishaps (I don't want to go through this hassle again, you know). I also need to find out how to re-seal the headlight housing again properly and with minimum mess. Any Ideas?

Update 2:

- Used helmet visor polish to shine and clean everything up.
- Removed blockers from both lights. If this becomes a problem I will use stickers on the outside to block beam(s).  
- With blockers (shades) removed lenses were a little loose in their place, especially the short beam one. Put some thin rubber stickers under the rim of the chrome ring that holds them in place.
- Put a thread locker on all internal screws. Glued ones that go into plastic.
- Put some thin felt (not rubber) sticker pads in the places where plastic parts were rubbing against each other. That will hopefully prevent future black dust accumulation.
- Put everything back together and centered the beams as much as possible before reassembly.
- After much research and experimentation decided to re-seal the housing using the Nissan headlight sealant (Part# B6553-89915 "sealer."). I was very carefull not to put too much - just enough to fill the spots where the original sealant was thin.

- Back to the oven and reassembled. This is definitely not an operation I would ever like to repeat.
Vlad lives in Toronto, Canada and rides http://bandit.xxc.cc

Offline Bazza

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #26 on: December 19, 2005, 04:06:24 AM »
Hello all:

Well I finally received my IR bulbs and was able to spend some time in the garage this weekend to compare all my options. Here is what I found.

IR Bulbs are better than stock with blockers in

IR Bulbs are better than stock with blockers out although I did not like the light pattern. The bike is more visable with the blockers out, but I feel you would blind oncoming drivers with them out.

I then compared the IR bulbs to the Hella units which use the new H-9 65 watt bulbs. They are almost compatable to the I.R. bulbs in light output.

Low beam.

The Hella Units put out a much crisper & wider light pattern than the stock low beam unit with the blockers in. A much wider & usable pattern with the blockers out with the IR bulbs installed. My wife says the Hella units were a much crisper light. (And technically, they should never get the black dust)

High Beam.

The Hella Units outperformed the IR bulbs hands down. In fact there appeared to be more light with the Hella high beam than both low & high beam units on the bike equipped with IR bulbs.

I plan on using the Hella units in my bike, because of the quality of light I saw with these units. Very crisp & clean compared to the stock units. Can I say much more focused?

One option I am thinking about here is using 2 high beam Hella units in the Bandit. The light would be absolutely huge. If properly adjusted, this would be no worse than having the blockers out I feel. (I am still debating this)

I also believe that the stock wiring needs work. I am pretty sure that you would obtain more light by increasing the gauge of wire on the leads. It appears that I obtained slightly brighter light using heavy gauge wire when I did this experiment using the Hella Lights. (I started out with the same gauge wire as on the bike & increased it) I will have my brother in law electrician advise on this one.

I did get pictures of all of this and will try to think of a way of positing them here.

Offline Vlad

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #27 on: December 19, 2005, 07:27:53 AM »
Thanks for all the details Bazza, I can't wait to see the pics. I'm quite happy with the results of my stock light output without the black dust and with blockers removed and I'm really interested to see how much better Hella is. Speaking of black dust, Hella replacement alone won't get rid of it as it comes from plactic chrome reflector rubbing against the housing (at least it definitely did in my unit). Better make sure ewerything is snug and padded before putting that bugger back together.
Vlad lives in Toronto, Canada and rides http://bandit.xxc.cc

Offline scooter69

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #28 on: December 19, 2005, 02:40:07 PM »
So far it sounds far easier (and cheaper) to do the 9011 swap than the Hella's...well see how the light compares....looking forward to photo's if anyone has any... :thanks:



 :beers:

Offline Bazza

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2G "S" headlamp upgrade
« Reply #29 on: December 20, 2005, 02:43:51 AM »
The I.R.s are defenetly a cheaper way to go.

The Hella units should not blacken up as they are seperatly sealed from the headlight housing unit. See photo below.

What convinced me to run with the Hella units, is that these things are being used in very expensive European cars right now, so on that note they can't be all that bad.

I am curious to hear from thos who have removed the blockers from their bikes if they get a lot of flashing from oncoming cars?