Auxiliary Lighting

[OneCheekRider]

Looking to add auxiliary lighting to my Tiger 1200. I'd like to gain further light throw (spot) and a wider beam (flood) vs the stock setup. I want them to turn on with my low-beam headlights at 50% and then go to 100% when I turn on the high-beams. Currently looking at Denali DR1's with a dual-intensity controller as it seems that will do the trick. Probably run one spot lens and run flood lens for a hybrid effect.

However, when looking at their bike-specific mount, they now got me thinking I should add 2 sets of lights (see photo below) because, you know, why not? If I mirror the photo below, I'm thinking I could run a separate switch for the top set of lights (100% intensity when on) and maybe have those be more for flood lights.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[golden chicken]

I assume you've already upgraded the stock headlight bulbs?

[MattR302]

My Tiger1050 came with Clearwater Darla driving lights ($$$$). They have a dimmer control that easily allows you to switch between dim on low beam and full brightness on high beam. During the daytime and low beam, I kept them at minimum setting.

My DR650 came with SuperbrightLED 2" cube pod lights wired constantly on. They were a 60 degree flood pattern. These worked great for daytime conspicuity, but at night it was blinding from all angles, the 60 degree spread spreads a lot of light too high and low to be usable.

I've spent a lot of time the past couple weeks trying to figure out what I want to do for lighting on my DR and 919. I've bought a few lower priced units to try out.

Compare the reflector/lens patterns on these two similar lights

The reflector on the first one projects the flood light in a wide circular pattern (like the 60 degree ones I mentioned above). The lens on the second one reflects the beam so it is more spread left/right, rather than up/down - so you're not lighting up the tops of trees.

The Denali ones are expensive. I've been reading a ton of amazon reviews, seems like there's some good options in the $50-60 range for a pair.

If you only wanted to do one set, you could do a combo like this:
https://oz-usa.com/oz-usa-white-4d-p...torcycle-cube/
They look like knockoffs of these:
https://www.bajadesigns.com/Products/LED-Lighting.asp

Edit: here's a good vid that shows spot vs flood vs combo patterns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeHj8ocNL4s

[jhawley]

those tiger lights on full blast were like sunlight during the day.

[OneCheekRider]

I assume you've already upgraded the stock headlight bulbs?

Yes, added LED bulbs. They helped but still not quite enough when caught in the mountains/desert after dark.

those tiger lights on full blast were like sunlight during the day.

The stock lights on the Gen 1/2 Tiger? That has not been my experience.

[MattR302]

The stock lights on the Gen 1/2 Tiger? That has not been my experience.

Pretty sure he was referring to the Clearwater ones that were on my Tiger

[OneCheekRider]

Pretty sure he was referring to the Clearwater ones that were on my Tiger

Ah that makes sense. My buddy's Clearwaters on his RT1200 are what convinced me I needed better lighting.

[RandyO]

I assume you've already upgraded the stock headlight bulbs?

unadvised to increase wattage, eventually sockets will burn out, reflectors will become brittle

[RandyO]

something that I was advised several years ago, by someone at Sesquhana Motorsports (don't recall his name) was that no matter what type of light, halogen, HID, LED, the reflector must be designed for the type of bulb, and the larger the reflector, the more area of lighting, sq. in. of reflector area is where it its at, projector types don't work as well

of course, that comes with it's negative, a pair of 8" Hella's is like hanging a couple buckets on the side of your bike aerodynamically

[SRTie4k]

Yes, added LED bulbs. They helped but still not quite enough when caught in the mountains/desert after dark.



The stock lights on the Gen 1/2 Tiger? That has not been my experience.

Are you using the cheapo Chinese LED's available on Amazon? If so, I'd recommend you take a look at Cyclops. While what they sell is also made in China (what isn't?), but they're testing for brightness, and their new Ultra 10.0 headlights are ludicrously bright.

I upgraded the halogen lights in my Super Adventure with the newest Cyclops light kit and the difference is, well...like night and day.

[SRTie4k]

something that I was advised several years ago, by someone at Sesquhana Motorsports (don't recall his name) was that no matter what type of light, halogen, HID, LED, the reflector must be designed for the type of bulb, and the larger the reflector, the more area of lighting, sq. in. of reflector area is where it its at, projector types don't work as well

of course, that comes with it's negative, a pair of 8" Hella's is like hanging a couple buckets on the side of your bike aerodynamically

Not all applications are problematic (like everything in life).

Higher quality LED lights are designed as drop-in replacements for halogen bulbs. They build them so that the emitter is placed in exactly the same spot as the filament of the appropriate halogen light, and the better quality ones have thinner wafers which help to mimic the thickness of the filament. All of that work helps to eliminate light scatter that cheaper LED bulbs are very prone to (which is why there is so much anti-LED sentiment out there).

HID's, on the other hand, typically require a projector retrofit in a reflector housing. There are only a few cases of reflector housings I know of that came from the factory with HID's, none of which are motorcycles (and all of which, in my experience, are Subarus).

[MattR302]

I ordered a handful of different ones from Amazon last night to try out on my DR, all in the $30-50 range. Spent a lot of time reading reviews. I don’t have a ton of space or extra power capacity, so I didn’t pick out any too big or too high of wattage. I’ll report back in a few days.

[RandyO]

Not all applications are problematic (like everything in life).

Higher quality LED lights are designed as drop-in replacements for halogen bulbs. They build them so that the emitter is placed in exactly the same spot as the filament of the appropriate halogen light, and the better quality ones have thinner wafers which help to mimic the thickness of the filament. All of that work helps to eliminate light scatter that cheaper LED bulbs are very prone to (which is why there is so much anti-LED sentiment out there).

HID's, on the other hand, typically require a projector retrofit in a reflector housing. There are only a few cases of reflector housings I know of that came from the factory with HID's, none of which are motorcycles (and all of which, in my experience, are Subarus).

yes, I understand some led bulbs are designed for halogen reflectors, those bulbs wouldn't work for shit in a led reflector

as I said, make sure the bulbs and reflectors are compatible, nothing worse than shitty beam patterns blinding oncoming drivers

and still, for auxiliary lighting, the more sq. in. of reflector area, the more light.

V-stroms (first gen) have an excellent stock light, but the best stock light I have seen, imho, is the early 80's yamaha 9" diameter(64sq.in.) headlamp, perfect low beam pattern, and highbeam is expansive, even though not a free form reflector.

[OneCheekRider]

This is what I bought to replace the stock H4 halogen headlights: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They're advertised as being the same size as the halogen, have a built in fan, and take up no additional space behind the lens. I did a lot of review reading before I went with these, but admittedly don't have much experience beyond this. Like I said, definitely an improvement over stock, but still wanting more, especially when traveling at speed at night.

[01xj]

I put drop in LED bulbs into my street triple. Stock headlight housings, no other mods. They worked fine and I was not blinding people. The beam pattern had a little bit of scatter to the sides and high beams weren't real defined. They were an improvement over stock as far as visibility to other cars is concerned. I got mine from superbrightled's in case I needed to warranty or return them.

[breakdirt916]

cyclops Adventure LED bulb, then add Baja designs for more, and a cyclops helmet light if you are night riding in the desert