Yellow and White Headlights

[MartyO]

I thinking about installing Hella high output white lamp on the left and a high output yellow lamp on the right. I think it may improve my night vision, fog vison and make me more visable to others. Has anybody tried this? Thanks, MartyO

 

[painman]

I thinking about installing Hella high output white lamp on the left and a high output yellow lamp on the right. I think it may improve my night vision, fog vison and make me more visable to others. Has anybody tried this? Thanks, MartyO

Haven't tried it but think the CHP may not like anything other than white light for head lights. Some have the bluish tint but total blue also is a no no. PM. <><

 

[MartyO]

I thinking about installing Hella high output white lamp on the left and a high output yellow lamp on the right. I think it may improve my night vision, fog vison and make me more visable to others. Has anybody tried this? Thanks, MartyO

Haven't tried it but think the CHP may not like anything other than white light for head lights. Some have the bluish tint but total blue also is a no no. PM. <><

Thank you Painman, I see some yellow headlights and they seem more visable. Don't know if they are legal.

 

[painman]

Marty O, you got my curiosity going and looked up some regs on the CA DMV site and I found no laws or regs on the colors of headlights except one that said you must have at least one white light on a motorcycle. There were laws about height, number, wattage, feet of projection requirements and other various requirements. I could find none about using amber lights for headlights. I would highly suggest contacting a local agency, DMV, CHP etc. regarding this issue "before" you make any changes. I seem to remember a post about someone here regarding amber lighting on a 4 wheeler that was illegal in the US. Try CA Laws and type, "Vehicle Code" in the search box at the top and then in the search box type "vehicle code L" for lighting, or any other letter that would pertain to the subsect matter for that letter, like "vehicle code M" for motorcycles. Hope this helped and let us know how it works and good luck. PM. <><

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Marty, I rode an XT 350 for 15 thousand dual-sport miles with a yellow halogen bulb in the head-light -- was never stopped or questioned about it. ymmv

Dual-sport may be different, tho?(LEOs might look at them differently?) -- and, I never rode it in Cali (Tucson was as close as I ever got)

 

[madmike2]

Owe, I dunno, but ahm'a thinkin' thet if'n ya'll has et leest wun white headlite thin it maht be allrighty tuh have the utheren bee yeller. Ah meen, we'ens see them fog liteses thet er yeller en thuh cops doesn't seam tuh be a'writin' thems guys noe tickits. Allsoe, en sum weerd weigh, mebbe thuh differnt cullers uh lites 'ill mek yer mortersickle moor visible tuh them cage riders. Et shure maht be better'n addin' extry lites. Lettus noe how et werks out.

 

[Grumpy]

I thinking about installing Hella high output white lamp on the left and a high output yellow lamp on the right. I think it may improve my night vision, fog vison and make me more visable to others. Has anybody tried this? Thanks, MartyO

A few years back, maybe 20, the French mandated that all the headlights on their cars were to be yellow. There's some science to this as the eye's peak response is in the yellow region of the spectrum. However, of recent years, this requirement has disappeared although you'll still occasionally see some on older cars.

Fog is a whole other problem. The droplets of water suspended in the air each acts as a retroreflector sending the light rays right back to their source, i.e. the headlights. The best you can do to help with lighting in the fog is to seperate the lights as far as possible from the eyes. Color really won't have very much if any effect on how well you see in the fog. The feds studied this a few years back to help out on snowplows and reached this same conclusion. In the case of the snowplows they recommend moving the lighting off to one side out of the typical viewing angle of the driver.

As a different item, the metal halide "color" on many of the new cars greatly enhances the vision in the periphery. This is very important as periphial vision largely determines where we next "look".

jim

 

[FJamR]

Just do it. The worse thing that could happen is you get a fix it ticket, change the bulb back and get it signed off. I see a lot of sportbikes in my area with one of their headlights in the yellow halogen.

 

[rickysnickers]

Marty,

You will be fine as long as the other is left white.

Rick

 

[Bagger]

Where would one find a 'yellow bulb' ? Size, number, where to buy?

BAGGER

 

[MartyO]

Where would one find a 'yellow bulb' ? Size, number, where to buy?
BAGGER

I did an internet search of Hella lighting. Seems the FJR uses an H4 lamp that is 60/65 watt. Hella makes a bunch of replacements, some with 80/85 watt and lots more lumens. They also have yellow and xenon. I have to check and see if the lighting circuit will take 85 watts. It bumps the amps from 5.9 to 7 amps. Doesn't seem like much if it has a 10 amp fuse. Will check and see.

 

[Ignacio]

I did an internet search of Hella lighting. Seems the FJR uses an H4 lamp that is 60/65 watt. Hella makes a bunch of replacements, some with 80/85 watt and lots more lumens. They also have yellow and xenon. I have to check and see if the lighting circuit will take 85 watts. It bumps the amps from 5.9 to 7 amps. Doesn't seem like much if it has a 10 amp fuse. Will check and see.

The larger question might be whether the switch, wiring, and/or light connector will take the increased current. It's been hypothesized that over time you'd be burning these components ups with upgrading them.

 

[OC_Ed]

I ended up going with a Osram Rallye 70/65w bulb on the left, and a Narva Rangepower+50 on the right equipped with a selective-yellow balloon. The balloon clips on to the bulb, and is reuseable.

The yellow light is mainly supposed to increase "conspicuity".

I went with this setup based on a recommendation from Daniel Stern Lighting.

I just finished installing the bulbs 2 nights ago and haven't had any real night riding time, so don't have comments yet.