looking for light

[Guest]

i want to add running lights on my 87 1200. what have you guys used. i would really like to light up the road but don't want to burn up my stater. any info and pics would be great.

Thanks,
Jeff Malz

[SIR tricky]

The Alternator on the GL1200 will not provide enough extra current to light much more than a few feet in front of the bike.

You might be able to run a couple of lights with 35Watt bulbs in them.

If you want light and energy an external alternator is what you need.

[B.Bolding]

Hi Jeff, I had some driving lights on mine for a while. A Honda mechanic said that is the worst thing you can put on your bike because it puts to much draw on the stator.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info

[neoracer]

I have two H1 running lites on my 87 plus running a high output H3 on the main headlight,rest of bike is all LED,trouble i have noticed is that bike is hard to start if i would turn on key and not try to start for 5 or ten secs, cured that by putting a relay on the headlight so that it is off until i "turn" it on,seems like battery turns over motor alot better that way....i have noticed alot of posts about stators in this site...most seem to say that the stators always put out max wattage and the excess gets shunted to ground thru the regulator...so if thats true the only time driving lites should be a problem is if there is a stator problem or if u put lites on it that drew so much that it couldn't properly keep up the battery voltage and undercharge the system....i would say hook up one or two....w/o spending all the heartache of permenantly mounting them and if @ 3000 rpm the system is between 14.2 to 14.6 volts output then u have a winner if not then u could at least return them.. good luck with your efforts

[MikeM]

I have the Optronics brand mounted on a light bar on my 85 and really like them. Nice and small with lots of light. The bulbs are "MR16" and come with 50w floods. You can get the MR16 bulbs cheap on ebay and in many different wattages and spot or flood.With a stock stator you would probably want to change the bulbs to 35 watts. The only thing with the lights is the chrome lens covers WILL vibrate loose and fall off. A easy fix by simply drilling a small hole and putting a screw in to hold them in place. I saw them at walmart for under $16 including switch,bolts and wiring.

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[William_86]

if you dont wanna risk your stator. a very good option would be hid xenon. it is supposed to draw 35 watts, even less than stock bulb. but well it actually draws 40 watts but is still less and the output is about 500% better than ANY halogen bulb. the bad thing is that it is not cheap. dont get fooled by halogen bulbs painted blue. hid kits use ballast.

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[MikeM]

Forgot to mention the HID's thanks William. My little lights just saved me a few minutes ago by letting me see a deer just in time to shut the Wing down and barely miss it as it ran across in front of me on the hiway. The van in the on-coming lane hit it and it wiped the hole front end out of the van. I turned around and made sure the guy was OK and had a phone to call for help. I've been trying to decide what my next mod to the wing will be when I can start saving $$ but the deer tonight made that decision for me. I will be adding some 5" off road buggy lights and converting them to HID for my first mod. hock:

[SIR tricky]

Maybe another good move might be not to ride during the night or early evening.

[MikeM]

Maybe another good move might be not to ride during the night or early evening.

True but my job is 75 miles away and I start work at 6AM. No machinist work any closer unless I wanted to work for almost free.