Headlight....

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OK. Got a chance to ride in the dark the other day and noticed a couple of things.

One- both low and high beams were too high and at the end of the lower adjustment at the knob.
Two- after checking I found that it had the H4-bulbs with the spacers installed.

Any reason why theses lights should be shooting so high on the lowest adjustment?

Also noticed that the low beams seemed to throw the light evenly and full, but the high beams were awful!!
Did-not seem so bright and are throwing out a beam that is splotchy with black zones. Even if these were not aimed so high, they would not do a very good job of letting you see down the road.
I hope someone can "shed some light" on this.
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

Are the adapter rings fully seated? iirc the 11s don't use the circular part of the bulb to get them in the right plane like the 13s.
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

Are the adapter rings fully seated? iirc the 11s don't use the circular part of the bulb to get them in the right plane like the 13s.

When I pulled a bulb out, the spacer came out with it.
I fitted the spacer on the bulb and put it back in. It remained the same.

So it sounds like your saying that I need to mount the spacers somehow to the head light and then install the bulbs. If so, does the head light need to be completely removed?
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

I'm curious what brand bulbs you have installed? I just ordered new H4 bulbs and will be doing the spacer thing too....hmmm!
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

No, Just that the 11 uses a different surface in the housing to seat the ring.
It sounds like they were in correctly but post 1 of this thread might make it clearer.

Brands of 9003/h4 shouldn't matter for fitment they all use the standard p43t base.
The goofy eom bulb is a p43t but with 65degree wings.
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

I think I may have discovered the possible problem.
"Clip the two, smaller tabs off of the new H4 bulbs, as per the instructions in the shim package"
As I can best recall when i took the bulb out is that the H-4 was not clipped! So maybe that's why I am shooting up at the stars. What do ya think?

JimS63, I have the Philips H4 60/55 e12c3 hi 31 Germany bulbs in there. Half the bulb has a light blue tint for a whiter white.
But all H-4's have the same base and the 60/55 watt seems to be a safe choice.

I used to live in Danville some time ago when I was in the windmill business. Loved it! I am also a Jim S. Small world...
 
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Re: Headluight Headlight....

Still wondering about the splotchy black zones high beam thing I get.
Are the stock head lights without shims shinning the same?
 
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I recently got the bulb shims and just ordered Osram 70/65w bulbs from Daniel Stern lighting (http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html) per their recommendation. As I understand it, you DO have to remove the two tabs from the H4 bulbs and the shims are used to realign the bulbs to the old Honda configuration. I'd suspect that if you clip the bulb tabs off and then put the shims behind then, it might solve your problem.

Small world that you use to live in Danville. If you even move back and still have your bike, look me up!
 
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I recently got the bulb shims and just ordered Osram 70/65w bulbs from Daniel Stern lighting (http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html) per their recommendation. As I understand it, you DO have to remove the two tabs from the H4 bulbs and the shims are used to realign the bulbs to the old Honda configuration. I'd suspect that if you clip the bulb tabs off and then put the shims behind then, it might solve your problem.

Small world that you use to live in Danville. If you even move back and still have your bike, look me up!
Looks like a good bulb choice! It looks like the previous owner did not get the memo on cutting the tabs so now I am excited to break it open and try again. I did some hiking on Mt Diablo a couple of years ago with my son who lives down in Irvine now. Might tow my bike out that way in a month or two if I can't take the winter weather! Might look ya up.

How do you find your high beam with the stock lights? Is it have black patches like mine or a solid beam?
 
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Let me know how it goes after you modify your bulbs. My right bulb went out so that is why I'm doing the upgrade on mine, so I can't tell ya know how my highbeams look. Maybe someone else can chime in on that!

I'm not too far from Mt. Diablo. If you are out this way with your bike, let me know! :)
 

John OoSTerhuis

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N.B. After clipping the two lower tabs there still remains slight bulges on the bulb base that should be flattened (Vice-Grips, BTDT). Lay the shim/adapter up against the bulb base and insure it fits flush. There may be some tiny positioning tabs on the top tab that need to go, also.

I now run a Euro headlight module and regular H4 in the left reflector, shielded (low beam) HID in the right, and 55w PIAA 910s under the mirrors on Ron Major/Dale Wilson/Dick Seng mounts. If I was starting from scratch these days I'd probably go with just a quality high/low HID setup in a Euro module.

FWIW YMMV

John
 
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N.B. After clipping the two lower tabs there still remains slight bulges on the bulb base that should be flattened (Vice-Grips, BTDT). Lay the shim/adapter up against the bulb base and insure it fits flush. There may be some tiny positioning tabs on the top tab that need to go, also.

I now run a Euro headlight module and regular H4 in the left reflector, shielded (low beam) HID in the right, and 55w PIAA 910s under the mirrors on Ron Major/Dale Wilson/Dick Seng mounts. If I was starting from scratch these days I'd probably go with just a quality high/low HID setup in a Euro module.

FWIW YMMV

John
John is there a write-up on here where you did the headlight mod?
 
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N.B. If I was starting from scratch these days I'd probably go with just a quality high/low HID setup in a Euro module.

FWIW YMMV

John
John, in your opinion, would the euro module be a big enough improvement over the US H4 set up to spend $110 for it?
 

John OoSTerhuis

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John is there a write-up on here where you did the headlight mod?
Not sure what you mean. Snipping the tabs and flattening the bulb base is pretty straightforward. FWIW, on my original USA headlight module I Dremelled the bulb sockets in the module to accept H4s directly, and there may have been something posted about that procedure but I can't find it now. Edit: now that I think about it, there was an article in the old ST1100 Newsletter, IIRC. Don't remember which issue but PDF versions are in the AOW.

The adapter was still used as I (we) believed it was also necessary to position the H4 filiment at the same distance into the reflector as the Honda OEM bulbs which were specifically designed for that reflector. My Baja Designs HID had a pretty thick adapter to get the capsule positioned in the reflector correctly. Anyway, you can always search here and in the ST1100 Archive Of Wisdom at ST-Riders.net for headlight stuff.

The Euro headlight module install is a simple swap. Then drop in the unmodified H4 type bulbs.

John, in your opinion, would the euro module be a big enough improvement over the US H4 set up to spend $110 for it?
IMO, yes.

John
 
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schlep1967

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FYI. Some of us have had good luck and longevity out of theses Honda bulbs.
34901-mc7-601ah. halogen 60/55w
They do require the adapter rings. If you do a cross reference search you will find they are in many ATV's which makes me think they are a little more robust to take shock better.
 
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Some of us have had good luck and longevity out of theses Honda bulbs.
34901-mc7-601ah. halogen 60/55w
That's what I use. 8 bucks. Decent light (surely not a top tier light improvement though), and seem to last.

Would like to put in one of those Euro models though.
 

John OoSTerhuis

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Heh heh, you're welcome. Those are my hard copy newsletters that Jason scanned. I just found the old 'article index' I made years ago (pre internet!) and tucked into the front of the newsletters folder.
 
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