Disappointed in FJR headlights

[danh600]

I have to say after coming off Honda cruisers I was pleased with the FJR headlights. But then again I am happy with the stock FJR seat and suspension so what do I know.

Question - Someone said be sure you do a "measured" adjustment of the headlights. How exactly do you guys adjust your headlights? Do you just sit on the bike and turn the knobs till it looks good? Is there a standard distance the low beams and high beams should be adjusted to?

 

[DennisJ]

Headlight Aiming Procedure

https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

 

[ionbeam]

Question - Someone said be sure you do a "measured" adjustment of the headlights. How exactly do you guys adjust your headlights? Do you just sit on the bike and turn the knobs till it looks good? Is there a standard distance the low beams and high beams should be adjusted to?

Redneck: Turn the headlight adjuster up until traffic starts to flash you, then back off the adjustment 1/2 turn.

Technical: Find a level driveway or parking lot with a wall or garage door at least 25' away. Using your trusty Stanley tape measure place your motorcycle so the headlights are 25 feet* from the wall. Sit on the bike and have someone measure from the center of the headlight to the ground, trying not to carry a lot of weight on your feet. Go to the door or wall and draw a horizontal line at the height of the headlight center, preferably using a long level. Now measure two inches lower and draw a second level line. You will sit on the motorcycle and adjust the headlights until the top edge of the headlight cut-off is on the lower line. It may help to put a towel over one light so you can adjust only one light at a time. Done.

* There is no consensus on this distance, you will find procedures that vary from 12' to 27' with 17', 20', 22' and 25' being common. If you have good googlefoo, most state inspection stations have a specific distance from the headlight to the reference wall and it varies from state to state.

After carefully getting the headlights aligned, if you add a pillion, significantly change suspension settings or add weight in the side bags and/or the trunk all bets are off.

Edit: I see someone supplied a link to a procedure while I was typing. Hopefully this will agree with my procedure

 

[RadioHowie]

When I got my FJR back in ought-five, I had to seriously adjust my lights MUCH lower.

When I could no longer see birds roosting in the trees, I knew it was "Just Right!"

 

[jscasteel]

Some of us here actually owned and road bikes with Lucas electrics....

Been there, done that - twice:

1967 - 650 cc 1965 BSA Thunderbolt

1970 - 650 cc 1970 Triumph Bonneville

 

[Chuck35]

I find the lights to be quite adequate... until I turn, leaning causes the Beam to become too short, until I switch to high. Then they are fine at any speed I have ridden. I have considered trying to set up a gyroscope (gravity based lean angle switches would not be effective) to detect lean and automatically swich from low to high beam. Of course an override switch would be included. The problem is, it would need time to spin up and set vertical reference every time I start the thing.
During my total knuckle-dragger moments I have thought about simply using a model airplane gyro, linked to a servo, touching a microswitch. Gain would then be adjustable. Unfortunately, it still leaves setting the reference angle EVERY time I start it.

You are over complicating this. How about a weight suspended in the middle of a circle. I'm thinking a fishing sinker in a metal ring. when you lean and they touch a circuit is closed.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Right you are Chuck.. No sense building a better mouse trap.

 

[Chuck35]

I was thinking a simpler and cheaper design might be more robust The mousetrap is under the front seat.

 

[Denver_FJR]

Those crafty Germans beat you guys to it...

 

[supertankerm60a3]

Chuck is mistaken. The G forces through a motorcycle always form a near vertical line as the vehicle leans to turn not counting short dutation lateral thrusts like those that happen during the entry phase of countersteering. (remember?) There are no lateral G loads on a motorcycle. There is, however, a VERY slight deviation in this caused by the fact that the contact patch is not in the center of the vehicle during extreme lean angles. Exagerated by wide tires. However this deviation is very small and not suitable for a "weight and switch" system for vertical reference. Another issue would be inertia induced wild swinging. Military cant (tilt, same as lateral acceleration) sensors are oil filled to damp this action.

You can verify this by attaching a weight on a string from your wind screen, secured at the bottom to stop wild swinging, and get into a few sweepers and watch it. It should remain roughly vertical in all turns.

I would draw it but I cannot put pix on here so it wouldn't help.

McAtrophy has an idea about automatic self-learning but such things are about this knuckledragger.

The BMW system uses a light that is pointed vertical onto a curved mirror so a small movement produces a large change in the beam. AFAIK BMW uses the same lean angle sensor to set the throttle response on the 1000RR. (though I am not sure)

 

[TomInPA]

I still think HID plus auxiliary LEDs are your ticket

 

[Warpdrv]

I always thought the FJR's lights were pretty darn good until recently....

Dropped a pair of the LR4's from LEDRider on the Wynpro mirror bracket.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/154957-ledrider-led-floods-and-spots-fjr-forum-discount/

https://ledrider.com/shop/?model_number=LR4

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/155221-wynpro-anti-vibe-light-brackets/

Using the dimmer setup at the lowest point for day light running and flip the high beams on, they go full blast - WOW

Super Duper Impressed for a very meeger amount of money outlay....

I ran them off the fuzeblock - very nice product https://www.fuzeblocks.com/

 

[sath182]

No one has mentioned it, but I've had good success using eastern beaver relays on the tired 'ol 01. The output was much better than just adding fresh nightbreakers. I have no idea if they would have the same results on a 2 or 3 gen.