high beams?

Ben riding my new to me 2007 and although I'm pretty impressed with the low beams... The high beams are about useless. Seems like the light is really diffused or something. Is this a trait of the bike or do I have an issue?

Crap.

Thought this thread was gonna be something else.

Never mind.

Ive got no issues with this turning into an erect nipple thread as long as I get my answer... lol

I agree that the high beams are inadequate, though they are better than ones I've had on other bikes.

And I agree with Wheattie, I thought we were going to see some of those other high beams.

Many people have added auxiliary lights for night riding in low traffic areas. LEDs give a lot of light for little draw on your electrical system. There are a lot of discussions on the forum about auxiliary lights including halogen, HID and LED lights and how people have mounted them.

Here are mine:

For me at least, I think the trouble is more that the low beams are SO good the highs seem unimpressive by comparison. I'm still running stock bulbs but i have added Denali D2Ds on the front fender mount bolts. I've been really impressed with them so far. I like the fact they are a 2 stage light. 40% power on low to make me more visible, 100% power on high to really supplement the stock headlights. Only 10 watts per bulb draw too.

High beams? This thread is worthless without pics.

While were waiting, check your alignment. I thought mine sucked until I realized I was blinding 747 pilots when I flipped mine on.

KTM...When I first had my bike I hated the high beams too. It wasn't until I was on the freeway one night that I realized my high beams were lighting up the bottoms of the overpasses.

Turns out, my lights were adjusted too high. I lowered them and have been done since. I would like more light, but who wouldn't??

Maybe try moving them down some.

When the lows are adjusted to where I like them, I find the Highs too high as well. If the highs are adjusted just right, the lows are too low for my taste. One would think Yamaha would have adjusted that over the years (the lights that is) .

That's also why I ended up with my aux lighting solution; An extra set of Hella projector low and high beam headlights.

The lows have the sharp Z beam cutoff and completely flood the area further out in front of the bike than the stock lights without blinding oncoming traffic. The highs fill in the gaps nicely that the stock lights leave. The lights are Euro spec and the highs have what they call "city" lights; A 5 watt bulb that is always on (DRL) which creates a nice triangle of light when combined with my BikeViz Bullets for oncoming traffic to notice.

My solution is far from plug and play since I had to design and fabricate the light brackets from scratch, but I enjoyed the challenge. Also since they are halogen, they use a lot of power when all are on (4 x 65w ) but rarely is that the case.

https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/845/fjrlights002.jpg/
https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/fjrlights015.jpg/

900gc said:

When the lows are adjusted to where I like them, I find the Highs too high as well. If the highs are adjusted just right, the lows are too low for my taste. One would think Yamaha would have adjusted that over the years (the lights that is)

....

Click to expand...

Yamaha use a standard H4 bulb. It's the geometry of the bulb that gives the angle between main and dipped beams, not the design of the reflector.

(Click on image for larger view)



Reflector design will only change the spread of light, not the difference.

The other possibility is that your lights are adjusted bit high. This leads the low beams to looking awesome but the high beams to looking diffuse. That is because the main beam never hits the road. next time try pulling a little break and see if the main beam shows more road. If so, the problem is your lights are adjusted bit too high.

Isn't there a general way to align lights against a wall? I thought you go a set distance mark where the low hits and then adjust height to a certain area of that. I am old and feeble so I don't remember but there is a way to do this pretty easy, I think?

mcatrophy said:

900gc said:

When the lows are adjusted to where I like them, I find the Highs too high as well. If the highs are adjusted just right, the lows are too low for my taste. One would think Yamaha would have adjusted that over the years (the lights that is)

....

Click to expand...

Yamaha use a standard H4 bulb. It's the geometry of the bulb that gives the angle between main and dipped beams, not the design of the reflector.

(Click on image for larger view)



Reflector design will only change the spread of light, not the difference.

Click to expand...

Technically it's both. Yes, the bulb is entirely responsible for the angle difference at the source, but the angles of the reflector can also shape that beam pattern somewhat. Also, if the bulb is not sitting square in the reflector hole it can skew that cut-off dramatically as a small change in angle at the headlight results in a large change in the beam elevation way out in front of the light.

Here's a good diagram of how the light passes out of a reflector headlight (which is what we have in the FJR).



The above shows the latter situation (changing source focal point location) but you can also imagine what happens if you change the angle (shape) of the reflector design behind the source.

One of the major shortcomings of the FJR headlight bucket is that the reflector parabola behind the light source is too acute in the vertical dimension. This results in highly focused and more intense beam patterns. The downfall is that in the high beams you do not get enough vertical spread to light the foreground as well as everything above the road at the same time. It also makes aiming the two beams more difficult.

Normally you only have to adjust the low beam cutoff and the high beam vertical spread is enough that you don't really care about its center. As others have noted, that isn't the case on the FJR

LAF said:

Isn't there a general way to align lights against a wall? I thought you go a set distance mark where the low hits and then adjust height to a certain area of that. I am old and feeble so I don't remember but there is a way to do this pretty easy, I think?

Click to expand...

Yes there is..... however the majority of people think that setting on lows is too low (including myself). Yamaha put too much difference between low and high. If you use the recommended setting, the lows are too low and the highs are good. There is no good compromise with both lights set the same. The solution I suggest is adjust low beams to that setting then raise them both one turn of the adjusters. Have someone ride in front of you in daytime a few hundred feet ahead and let you know if your lows are look dim (i.e., at 500 feet say, you're not that "visible" and your lows look like parking lights). They should be set just to the point of being almost full brightness, and you are 'visible'. At night, this may be slightly annoying to oncoming traffic, maybe not, but you might be of the opinion it's not good enough. So now lower the left a half to one full turn of the adjuster and raise the right a half to a full turn. Check against the mark on your wall so you know for next time. Now at least you'll be seen better in daytime by oncoming traffic and have decent lighting at night. Tweak on future rides if necessary. This is the only compromise that works for most of us who do not do a lot of night riding, otherwise, you'll want auxiliary lighting. Oh yes, and change out those stock bulbs for something a tad brighter.

Never once rode my FJR w the POS OEM halogen bulbs.

My bike came home from dealer in one of my company trucks (30deg day), unloaded w .2 miles on it and starting taking the cowling off for my first and best farkle evah (x1000). Osram/Philips digital/AC ballasts in 5200K (real HID's).

Never looked back, low and hi-beams are absolutely amazing. No need to add any additional lighting like aux LED's. Dollar for dollar nobody or no-one can match the lumens I now have. And yes, it's a bar-tab challenge to anyone

I agree with Zilla (damn I hate typing that!) and all the others regarding headlight adjustment. My Honda ST has a powered adjuster and it will not allow you to get the low beams high enough to be "where you want them". It does make the high beams very good. Looking at the light pattern for the high beams shows that any upward adjustment would render them useless. It is always a compromise.

If Beemerdons were here we would definitely have seen pics of those other high beams...

Same thing here as the general consensus: lows too low and highs too high. I split the diff by NOT adjusting both lights to the same height. Work with them a little, you might find as I did- adjusting the left one down a little for better high light and the right one up a little for better low light. It's a compromise I'm happy with.

everybody has pretty much hit it on the head...lows adjusted good, highs then bad. Highs adjusted good, then lows bad.

rbentnail has the solution to stock lighting nirvana...adjust the left beam for the best high, and the right beam for the best low.

Works great, but oncoming drivers will think your bike looks like this:

Redfish Hunter said:

I agree with Zilla (damn I hate typing that!) and all the others regarding headlight adjustment. My Honda ST has a powered adjuster and it will not allow you to get the low beams high enough to be "where you want them". It does make the high beams very good. Looking at the light pattern for the high beams shows that any upward adjustment would render them useless. It is always a compromise.
If Beemerdons were here we would definitely have seen pics of those other high beams...

Click to expand...

Redfish, set the electric adjuster knob in the middle, then go under the bike and adjust the headlights (where you want them) with the manual knobs on the headlights. This leaves you a bit of up and down with the electric adjuster. And if you still have those OEM 45 watt bulbs on the ST, ditch them (they are unique, so you have to cut tabs/use a spacer adapter to use H4's).

I got yer high beams....