Headlight...Halogen conversion!

May be this helps:

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/505

A halogen bulb is about 65 to 70W, it's called high intensity discharge (HID) because it's over 5 amps. Allows for higher temp color, hence whiter and easier to read road ahead.

If you are on a budget, you can get a cheap halogen light kit for cars and take it apart to fit in the head light. They usually use around 5A. Make sure you run on DC, meaning connecting the two reds from the stator into the DC circuit to double the amperage. No more AC.

LeFrog said:

A halogen bulb is about 65 to 70W, it's called high intensity discharge (HID) because it's over 5 amps. Allows for higher temp color, hence whiter and easier to read road ahead.

If you are on a budget, you can get a cheap halogen light kit for cars and take it apart to fit in the head light. They usually use around 5A. Make sure you run on DC, meaning connecting the two reds from the stator into the DC circuit to double the amperage. No more AC.

Click to expand...

Frog,
HID and halogen lights are two completely separate things. Really as different as apples and oranges. HID requires a ballast and an igniter, and the bulbs are referred to as xenon or bi-xenon. They don't have a filament like a halogen bulb, and use about half the power of a halogen set up, and put out roughly 2x the amount of light over halogen.

HID has nothing to do with a halogen bulb being over 5A, not sure where you got that. Halogen and HID are mutually exclusive.

I never said HID and halogens are the same.

I said you can find high intensity halogen bulbs that go over 60W and that they work on DC.

LeFrog said:

A halogen bulb is about 65 to 70W, it's called high intensity discharge (HID) because it's over 5 amps.

I never said HID and halogens are the same

Click to expand...

Must have lost something in the translation :wink:

sicass racing has some 40/45 watt

trailtech x2 HID vehicle specific on ebay for 292$

Do a search on "12V HS1 Halogen Lamp 35/35W PX43T", you will easily find them in the UK. Less than £10 apiece.
A lot better light and a lot more light than the old bilux incandescent lamp.
At least I think this is the lamp you are after.
They come in a 6V version too.
Yes they are halogen lamps.


Edit:
Wait a bit, BA20d, they are even more old and ancient, but I can't se how you cannot find a UK source if you have access to the internet. Search and you will find.

Trying to find a US source for halogen bulbs using the BA20d base, and it's quite a challenge. Sicass Racing does have a few, but the reviews that people have written aren't that glowing. Anybody got a nother hint?

I can't find a suitible halogen anywhere, but I think I have found a 60w/60w incandescent replacement for the 35w/35w headlight bulb. It's at the following site:

http://www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/b.pl ... c150h.html

It's for a snowmobile headlight, so I think it might work. Does anyone know for sure that it'll work? Would a different fuse be necessary? Will it melt things?

fuses are based on the guage of the wire, leave the fuse the way it is, if it burns the fuse repeatedly then its taking more power than the wiring can handle and you risk bunring the wire, you can always measure the amount of the amperage before changing the bulb and and after with a volt/ohm/amp meter connected in series in the circuit, if you can read the amperage pull on it before and after and compare the difference and then compare that the the size of the fuse used, and then you will at least know how close you are to the limit, wiring size and fuses and are based higher than the rated amerpage than the load would expectedly see so that they wont normally burn through unless there is a surge in the electrical system caused by a short of some kind or voltage spike. you could always increase the wire size and fuse rating accordingly but i would guess you will still be within range of being ok, increasing the electrical load will increase the demand of the stator also and could make a weak link, even the the main wiring is ok or increased to a more suitable size, i would guess with some online research you could find a chart that states what size of fuse is rated for what size wire and what size of wire is rated for what type of amperage pull...i would put in the bulb and compare with dvom before i got all carried away... hid draws way less power and can be brighter its what i eventually went with, leds can also be super bright but not usually as intense at a distance and draw little power but both require more modification than just replacing the bulb, the reflector also has a huge impact on the amount of brightness that makes it bright where you need it, leds dont have reflectors, hid systems have a converter box and relay that you will need to make room for, the halogen is the easiest replacment if i could have found one that bolted in i would have surely tried it first...good luck

IMO a HID upgrade is the way to go.
I recently fitted some HID auxilliary driving lamps to my 4x4 and, just to see what happened, I tried holding one of the bulbs in the OE FE570 headlamp unit. I was quite impressed with the beam and spread so I'm looking at buying one of the conversion kits available and somehow grafting on a suitable bulb holder from an old headlamp unit. A 35w HID bulb will give around 5-6 times the light from the OE 35w filamant bulb with the same current draw and much less heat radiated than a 55/60w halogen bulb. It will have to be one of the UV corrected HID bulbs so as not to attack the plastic lens. Even though HID bulbs draw an initial high current surge on fire up the standard fuse held OK.

In terms of light output, I'm sure you're correct about an HID conversion being the way to go. However, I'm not considering it. I haven't any idea where to put the electronics on a machine as trimly engineered as a Husaberg, and I don't think it'll be worth the trouble to me given the riding that I do. I want an Occam's Razor type of solution. I'd love to find a halogen bulb that will work, but I've come up snakeyes on halogens. So this 60w/60w incandescent option seems okay. I just don't want to melt or set fire to anything.