For a brighter headlight

Has anyone tried to increase the wire gauge to the headlight for a brighter headlight? I was thinking of running a wire from the battery though a fuse to a relay. I would use the normally close circuit for the low beam. Then use the stock hi beam wire to energize the coil in the relay to switch on the hi beam. Of course I would upgrade the ground to the headlight. This would not increase any load on the light switch. Any thoughts?

 

Well I hate to be a poor sport but a low beam is a low beam for a reason. When you make your light brighter it distracts other motorists and causes more accidents. this is why we have a switch to go from low to high.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/200712140435 ... .html#upgd

 

Simply changing the wire size to the light wouldn't change the intensity anyway.

 

If you want to improve the headlight, get an H4 Halogen conversion. I used a Candlepower "SuperBlu" in my '83 and the Hella Hi-Performance unit that chacal carries in my '81 (more stock appearing.) The improvement over stock is dramatic with both; I think I might like the Hella a little bit more but not committing to that.

If you increase the current draw you will burn up the charging system; these bikes don't have a lot of "extra capacity" to their electrical system.

One thing you CAN do is to ensure all wiring connections involving the headlight are clean and tight.

Want pics of either?

 

What is the stock lamp wattage in a US spec bike? My 600 has a 55/60 H4 as a standard, although bikes of my youth - like my suzuki Gt550 came with a pathetic 45/45w tungsten bulb!!

 

stock on the 550 was a sealed-beam tungsten, 50/45 I believe.

Sounds like your bike came "pre-upgraded."

 

Add 2 relays, one for low and one for high.
Run 10 or 12 gauge wire to the relays and use the original wires to trip
the relays.
Add the highest wattage h4 bulb your bikes alternator will support.
Put LEDs everywhere else.
I put a 100w low 130w high in my xj1100 and its fine except high beam @ idle won't keep up.
I think the 1100 has a bigger alternator so I haven't put in LEDs yet.
Been about 6 months and no problems.

 

Hey Fitz,

Do the 550's have smaller alternators than the other XJ's? My manual covers 650's and 750's which all seem to have the same 19A Hitachi unit. 19A isn't bad actually... for example, my other bike, a 1983 GPz 750, only has a 14A permanent magnet alternator... and that still seems sufficient.

FWIW, both bikes (stock) are otherwise pretty similar - same complement of lights, horns, and computer; the only significant differences are that the GPz has front running lights and no license plate lamp (uses the tail light for the tag), while the XJ has that auxilary "fog" lamp. BTW, I actually went out in the fog for a quick test run recently, and that much maligned aux lamp helped quite a lot (although it couldn't do anything about all the mist fogging up my helmet visor).

Cheers,
Paul