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1Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:21 am

veets

veets
active member
active member
Does anyone have a fix for a crappy light on a K100RT?  The low beam is barely visible and difficult to see the road.  Has anyone found a great bulb to use?  Also, has anyone found a way to mount fog lamps on to the faring for added lumens and without making it look cheesy?

Veets

    

2Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:55 am

Rick G

Rick G
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admin
I have 2 x 6 inch spotlights mounted where the police had the red and blue lights, you can see the reinfircing at the back of the fibreglass. Great light but it doesn't do much for the looks.
I also have a Narva (brand) plus i20 H4 bulb and it makes an enormous difference but the best thing to do is run the headlight Hi and Lo beam through relays and run big wire direct to the battery with an inline fuse. Use the switch to switch the relays. You will get a long life from the switch and much better lights.


__________________________________________________
"Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."   Dalai Lama


Bikes 1999 K1100 LT with a Big Block 1200
    

3Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:26 am

92KK 84WW Olaf

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Go for the relays and improved wiring as RickG has said.

Also, you can get a ceramic H4 bulb holder and upgrade the bulb. Ceramic H4 bulb holders should be easy to get and they resist the higher temperatures if you are running long night time trips on full beam, especially if you fit a 130 or 160W H4 bulb. Don't even think of using a higher wattage bulb without the wiring/relay/bulb holder upgrade as the extra current and heat is too much for the handlebar switch and wiring.


__________________________________________________
1992 K100LT 0193214 Bertha Blue 101,000 miles
1984 K100RT 0022575 Brutus Baja Red 578 bought 36,000 now 89,150 miles
1997 K1100LT 0188024 Wotan Mystic Red 689 58,645 now 106,950 miles Deceased.
1983 K100RS 0011157 Fricka 606 Alaska Blue 29,495 miles Damn K Pox Its a Bat outta Hell Now 58,200 miles. 
1996 K1100LT 0233004 Lohengrin Mystic Red 38,000 miles currently 51,800 miles.
1983 K100RS 0004449 Odette R100 colours 58,000 miles. Sprint fairing now 63,390 miles

Past:
1968 Yamaha 80 YG1
1971 Yamaha 125 YAS-1
1968 Honda 125 SS
1970 Honda CD 175
1973 Honda CB500-4
Honda CX 500
    

4Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:28 am

indian036

indian036
Life time member
Life time member
RicK G wrote:I have 2 x 6 inch spotlights mounted where the police had the red and blue lights, you can see the reinfircing at the back of the fibreglass. Great light but it doesn't do much for the looks.
I also have a Narva (brand) plus i20 H4 bulb and it makes an enormous difference but the best thing to do is run the headlight Hi and Lo beam through relays and run big wire direct to the battery with an inline fuse. Use the switch to switch the relays. You will get a long life from the switch and much better lights.

I did as Rick describes (wire and relay), but also used a conventional 100/90W bulb instead of the standard 60/55W. I wouldn't do it without the bigger wires and relay(s) though. Works well. In Oz it's also possible to get a 130/90 bulb, but not legal for road use in NSW. 

Bill

I see Olaf snuck in while I was typing. Totally agree.



Last edited by indian036 on Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:31 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Olaf snuck in. :))


__________________________________________________
1985 K100RT  VIN 0028991  My original Very Happy ROB the Red Old Bike   (Historic rego)
1985 K100RT  VIN 0029036  BOB the Blue Old Bike  (Historic rego)
1990 K100LT  VIN 0190452  Work in progress
1984 K100RT  VIN 0023022  Work needing lots of progress
1986 K100RT  VIN 0090542  Work needing lots and lots of progress
1993 K1100LT  VIN 0183046  Work in progress
1993 K75S  VIN 0213045  Tom the Triple (now on Historic rego too.)
    

5Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:21 am

Two Wheels Better

Two Wheels Better
Moderator
Moderator
Veets, try THIS for the ease of plug 'n' play with good results. It's what the others are suggesting, as far as wiring up relays, and works a charm.


__________________________________________________
"A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget!" ~ Anonymous
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT
    

6Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:30 am

robmack

robmack
Life time member
Life time member
Depending on your region's laws and road safety rules, you might consider LED lighting instead of high power halogen.  There has been a discussion going on in another forum I frequent talking about LED H4 replacements.  One that is getting good reviews is Cyclops:

http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

Also, below is an exerpt offering sound advice in the selection of LED replacements, if you choose that route:
Brian P wrote:I have the ADVmonster bulbs (two of them) in my Fizzer 400.

If your headlamp has a cover over the back of the bulb (mine does), it will probably not fit over the finned heat sink and electrical plug. (Not a big deal in my case, but check what's behind your headlamp and see if you will have issues)

The Fizzer's standard bulbs are 35 watts high and low beam and were about as effective as holding a couple of candles in front of the bike. Dim and yellow. Changing to 55 watt standard bulbs isn't an option because of the weak charging system. So the 20-watt power draw of these is a big advantage.

The LED bulbs are much brighter ... but then there's the issue of the beam pattern. I would describe this as "okay but not great". There is a decent low beam cutoff line but it's nowhere near as sharp as a bulb/reflector with a "good" beam pattern, i.e. there will be glare for oncoming drivers. BUT ... The stock Fizzer's bulbs weren't appreciably better in this regard. (There wasn't glare to oncoming drivers because the bulbs were so dim and yellow that there was nothing to glare!) So this may not be a function of the bulb but rather the bike's headlamp enclosures.

The other beam-pattern issue is that the LED bulb seems to have a narrower projection in front of the bike and there is a hot spot in close. In my case, there was a fix for this ... because my bike has dual headlights with independent aim adjustments, I just aimed the left/right adjustments so that the left headlight points left a little and the right one points right a little. This spread out the hot spot so that it now basically covers my lane. Riding at night is actually somewhat enjoyable now.

If your bike has just one headlight, or if it has two bulbs but there aren't independent aim adjustments, you may be stuck with a somewhat too narrow beam pattern.

Of course, the right way to do this is to obtain a complete projector enclosure that is designed to work with the LED light source. I have another bike with an OEM LED headlight and it's fantastic.

+1 on the relays and thicker wiring loom as previously suggested.


__________________________________________________
Robert
1987 K75 @k75retro.blogspot.ca
http://k75retro.blogspot.ca/
    

7Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:42 pm

Dai

Dai
Life time member
Life time member
My answer to the crap headlight was to dump the original rectangular one and fit a 7" round Cibie instead. It's not a quick'n'easy job as it does involve modifying the fairing spider and fairing but the result makes (made?) it all worth while.

There's a bit about it in here:

https://www.k100-forum.com/t9928-mounting-floodlights-on-lfb


__________________________________________________
1983 K100 naked upgraded to K100LT spec after spending time as an RS and an RT
1987 K100RT
Others...
1978 Moto Guzzi 850-T3, 1979 Moto Guzzi 850-T3 California,1993 Moto Guzzi 1100ie California
2020 Royal Enfield Bullet 500
    

8Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:27 pm

92KK 84WW Olaf

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Dai wrote:My answer to the crap headlight was to dump the original rectangular one and fit a 7" round Cibie instead. It's not a quick'n'easy job as it does involve modifying the fairing spider and fairing but the result makes (made?) it all worth while.

There's a bit about it in here:

https://www.k100-forum.com/t9928-mounting-floodlights-on-lfb

Go on Dai and tell me that's a 70s Cibie from your old Honda 500-4. That was a standard swap for them, along with high wattage H4s.......Still very little to beat them.


__________________________________________________
1992 K100LT 0193214 Bertha Blue 101,000 miles
1984 K100RT 0022575 Brutus Baja Red 578 bought 36,000 now 89,150 miles
1997 K1100LT 0188024 Wotan Mystic Red 689 58,645 now 106,950 miles Deceased.
1983 K100RS 0011157 Fricka 606 Alaska Blue 29,495 miles Damn K Pox Its a Bat outta Hell Now 58,200 miles. 
1996 K1100LT 0233004 Lohengrin Mystic Red 38,000 miles currently 51,800 miles.
1983 K100RS 0004449 Odette R100 colours 58,000 miles. Sprint fairing now 63,390 miles

Past:
1968 Yamaha 80 YG1
1971 Yamaha 125 YAS-1
1968 Honda 125 SS
1970 Honda CD 175
1973 Honda CB500-4
Honda CX 500
    

9Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Tue Sep 08, 2015 2:48 pm

Dai

Dai
Life time member
Life time member
It's a brand-new Cibie (it was fitted when we met at Newgrange) and guess what? It's nowhere near as good as the eighties and nineties versions. The desire to create one item for two markets (left- and right-hand drive) has really screwed up the beam pattern. It's still way better than BMW's equivalent of Joe Lucas.


__________________________________________________
1983 K100 naked upgraded to K100LT spec after spending time as an RS and an RT
1987 K100RT
Others...
1978 Moto Guzzi 850-T3, 1979 Moto Guzzi 850-T3 California,1993 Moto Guzzi 1100ie California
2020 Royal Enfield Bullet 500
    

10Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Fri Sep 11, 2015 4:30 am

Peter_Skov

Peter_Skov
Silver member
Silver member
robmack wrote:Depending on your region's laws and road safety rules, you might consider LED lighting instead of high power halogen.  There has been a discussion going on in another forum I frequent talking about LED H4 replacements.  One that is getting good reviews is Cyclops:

http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

I have one of those, but isn't able to get it into the lamp on my RT model, there is a beam right behind the lamp.  Sad


__________________________________________________
Cheers
Peter
K75RT Polizei Spritmonitor.de

Better light Needed on K100RT Denmar10
http://www.skovbryg.dk
    

11Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:38 pm

k-rider

k-rider
Life time member
Life time member
Peter_Skov wrote:
robmack wrote:Depending on your region's laws and road safety rules, you might consider LED lighting instead of high power halogen.  There has been a discussion going on in another forum I frequent talking about LED H4 replacements.  One that is getting good reviews is Cyclops:

http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

I have one of those, but isn't able to get it into the lamp on my RT model, there is a beam right behind the lamp.  Sad

hi peter
could you take a meassurement of the bulb ,how much space is needed behind the headlight ,maybe i can use it on my rs ,idea2

k-rider


__________________________________________________
Better light Needed on K100RT Denmar10
 k100rs 1983 Surprised-o: 
Shinny black ,exaust from a 16valve ,engine from a 1990  K100 lt,fd ratio :32/11 Very Happy

Better light Needed on K100RT 631996_31"
    

12Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Sun Sep 13, 2015 3:43 pm

Motorbike Mike

Motorbike Mike
Life time member
Life time member
Peter_Skov wrote:
robmack wrote:Depending on your region's laws and road safety rules, you might consider LED lighting instead of high power halogen.  There has been a discussion going on in another forum I frequent talking about LED H4 replacements.  One that is getting good reviews is Cyclops:

http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/3800-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-bulb-_p_83.html

I have one of those, but isn't able to get it into the lamp on my RT model, there is a beam right behind the lamp.  Sad
Bugger!!
I've just bought on for my LT. Crying or Very sad

    

13Back to top Go down   Better light Needed on K100RT Empty Re: Better light Needed on K100RT Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:23 pm

robmack

robmack
Life time member
Life time member
Typically, the dimensions for these bulbs is like this drawing:
Better light Needed on K100RT HTB1eAp5HFXXXXapXVXXq6xXFXXXT

You'll need 43mm minimum between the mounting flange on the reflector and any part of the bike that might interfere.


__________________________________________________
Robert
1987 K75 @k75retro.blogspot.ca
http://k75retro.blogspot.ca/
    

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