extra lighting?

94cruiser · Post by **94cruiser** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:57 pm

anyone ever install extra front light(s) on their Elite?
riding at night sucks, good thing I know the route
Maybe my light is not lined right,
high beams light up street signs up ahead.

DoubleAey · Post by **DoubleAey** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:34 pm

you could possibly add like "fog light" type lights, or "running lights" that are pointed down at the ground to see better. i agree, its hard to see at night, knowing the route is a DEF MUST. lol when you hit a pot hole, you feel that sh*t. just make sure you dont go overboard, i dont know how much "extra" lighting an elite can handle. id say do it for your saftey, but make it look sweet in the process =]

PimpinSpree · Post by **PimpinSpree** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:04 pm

its totally doable, you could light up the street much better. but good luck making it look good

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:07 pm

You dont have much power to play with.

SpyderMike · Post by **SpyderMike** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:04 am

Kenny_McCormic wrote:You dont have much power to play with.

you could wire the light to the battery, probly need to get a bigger battery to support a bigger/ brighter light

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:18 am

The battery will just go dead, everything has to be able to run off the stator with power leftover for battery charging, the batt is just there to run the starter and act as a buffer.

mousewheels · Post by **mousewheels** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:02 am

Easiest light hop up tip I've seen came from lonelywanderer a while back.
[url]http://www.hondaspree.net/phpBB2/viewto ... +headlight[/url]

The 2001 and up Elite has a headlight with a replaceable H4 halogen bulb.
Compared with the 2000 and below Elite/Spree/Aero/Gyro, the 2001 Elite comes with a 35w low/35w high beam halogen bulb vs the 25 watt of the earlier model.

The H4 halogen bulb comes in many wattages, I've seen from 18w to 100w. But as others have said, the Honda scooters have limited power available from the alternator.

Service manual says for '94-2000 its 88 watts @ 5000 rpm. Of course its a lot lower at idle, so try the lower wattages first. The extreme is probably not only worse lighting at idle, but could damage your stator.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:12 am

How much is the running light and dash light drawing?

mousewheels · Post by **mousewheels** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:17 am

How much is the running light and dash light drawing?

Taillight is 8 watts
Dash light is 2 watts x 2 (4w total) I think (schematic is a little fuzzy...)

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:12 am

So 76 watts, figure it needs least 25 for batt charging at any reasonable rate, 50 watt max on the headlight.

SpyderMike · Post by **SpyderMike** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:13 pm

Kenny_McCormic wrote:The battery will just go dead, everything has to be able to run off the stator with power leftover for battery charging, the batt is just there to run the starter and act as a buffer.

my tail light and blinkers run off the battery not the stator, as far as i can see w/ out a diagram the only thing that runs off my stator is my headlight

i gotta do some work on mine later, so when im out there ill grab my meter and see just how much extra juice is in the battery and how much bigger you would need to go for whatever wattage you wanted to use

MotorMaker · Post by **MotorMaker** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:40 pm

Any one ever used ultra bright LED├óÔé¼Ôäós. Like the led flashlights. They are very bright with low power usage. Just a thought├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬ª

PimpinSpree · Post by **PimpinSpree** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:36 pm

i dont think a ton of wattage is really needed though. I think if you aimed you headlight a little bit lower than normal, and aimed the new one up a little bit or vice versa, youd have a ton of extra light

i just don't think you could make it look good. I guess you could make a mold of the headlight and alter a fiberglass replica to fit 2 fog lights, you could get some better lighting, Maybe i'll try it if i get bored enough. would anyone be interested in buying like a kit if i made one?

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:43 pm

SpyderMike wrote:
Kenny_McCormic wrote:The battery will just go dead, everything has to be able to run off the stator with power leftover for battery charging, the batt is just there to run the starter and act as a buffer.
my tail light and blinkers run off the battery not the stator, as far as i can see w/ out a diagram the only thing that runs off my stator is my headlight

i gotta do some work on mine later, so when im out there ill grab my meter and see just how much extra juice is in the battery and how much bigger you would need to go for whatever wattage you wanted to use

The stator feeds the battery that the lights(excluding headlight) run on. You can run the bike without a batt and all lights will work but not at low RPM, the battery is just for starting and backup at idle when the stator is running at a very low power.

SpyderMike · Post by **SpyderMike** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:58 pm

Kenny_McCormic wrote:
SpyderMike wrote:
Kenny_McCormic wrote:The battery will just go dead, everything has to be able to run off the stator with power leftover for battery charging, the batt is just there to run the starter and act as a buffer.
my tail light and blinkers run off the battery not the stator, as far as i can see w/ out a diagram the only thing that runs off my stator is my headlight

i gotta do some work on mine later, so when im out there ill grab my meter and see just how much extra juice is in the battery and how much bigger you would need to go for whatever wattage you wanted to use
The stator feeds the battery that the lights(excluding headlight) run on. You can run the bike without a batt and all lights will work but not at low RPM, the battery is just for starting and backup at idle when the stator is running at a very low power.

so if you got a bigger battery and made the headlight run off the battery you should have enuf juice to run them all while at idle

i belive the standard battery is 12V-3Ah, if you get a 12V-6Ah you might be good