Tenere Headlight bulbs?
 

Can anyone tell me what type the headlight bulb types are for the new Tenere please? Im thinking of fitting Xeon bulbs but if the lens is plastic worried it might melt it as a friend did on his BMW.

55w or 35w? Xeon claim to be a whiter more powerfull light and can be found on ebay for �6:99 a pair.

Thanks

hi the bulb type is a h7, i would not go less than the 55w,which is the standard. jmo has run a 100w with no problems for most of the bikes life. i had been running 'high' output 55w bulbs but have now gone to the dark side with a continuously running 35w hid on the dip, illegal apparently but much improved light

Gone with HID in high and low. Problem with high not getting hot enough when you swith it on so I have now developed a system to hold the flash on for a few seconds and then switch to high beam. Works for me. I'm going to check on this legality malarky 'cos it all seems to be hearsay at the moment. Does anyone have the facts as to what is acceptable. As far as I'm concerned I need to see and be seen, surely that cannot be illegal:icon_burnout[1]:

Oh by the way ebay item 270503417088 pair of HID's 35W, cheapest on t'internet and delivered in two days. Smashing, I have now seen the light:016:
Dip beam is a doddle to do. High is a bit more complicated but I did mine last night in the dark with a head torch, so cannot be that complicated!

Here you go Steve, I've already posted the link somewhere else here but can't find it now... http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps

Sounds like they are only legal if fitted as standard or if a complete HID headlight unit is retro fitted, Also needs lamp washers and self leveling fitted.

Headlights are designed as a whole unit to produce the correct beam pattern. Fitting HID bulbs to an existing halogen unit would could cause too much glare - you have to fit a purpose built lens/reflector unit:

DfT Fact Sheet

IMHO just fitting a brighter bulb is a waste of time because the main beam reflector is useless. Much better to buy a pair of splendid Aux Light Brackets off Gas_Up_Lets_go and fit a pair of auxiliary DRIVING (not FOG) lights wired up to the main beam circuit (with isolator switch).

:eusa_doh: Doh! Too slow....:smilies0119:

From a safety point of view, with your HID lamps giving out the wrong patter type, with the real potential of dazzeling on-coming traffic,,,,

Would you want to be riding towards Old Mrs Sugdon who (in her 52nd year of driving, and still hasn't passed a real test) suddenly can't see anything apart from your light, and you generally head towards where you are looking..... would you want to be riding towards that car, that instictivly is heading towards your headlight....:100:

hi steve i take it you are using the feed that powered the standard bulb? how does shifting from main to dip is there much of a brightness lag happening? mine seem slow enough but the the dip on mine is on all the time the engine is running , imho the better way, requires a relay and a feed from the headlamp 'on' relay beside the battery

supprised how good the lights are now i have disconnected the aux spots as they worked with the main, i will put them on a separate switch

hi i checked my headlamp alignment with the 'maha' [mot specified equipment in NI]beam setter we have on in our workshop and found the pattern flat with little or no light abover the horizontal level there is no lh 'kick up' so will be ok for rh drive duties.

so i feel if the regular bulb filiment and the hid filiment are at the same distance from the mounting plate the reflector will do the same job just much brighter

Sounds good to me Stoic, I've been out a couple of times in the dark now and no-one has flashed me back and up close to cars the beam does not seem to go into standard car interiors. Nevertheless its pretty easy to adjust the beam down and as you say the pattern is very similar. I normally adjust the beam when I have loaded up in any case. The way I have put in the HID's will make it very easy to go back to standard in any case,,.........so until someone ries to MOT with the HID's fitted its still un unknown!:toothy9:

you can get HID kits for 40 euros.
http://www.vvme.com/single-beam-hid-...-44_45_23.html


I have yet to find proper auxiliary driving light for a reasonable price. (but if you can show me some, I'd be very interested ! )

I've fitted fog lights to the Gas_Up_Lets_go brackets :)

Are he standard bulbs H3 or H1? Has anyone tried the Xenon 50% brighter ones? Thanks

hi the type for both bulbs are h7 and yes i tried the so called brighter bulbs, it is in the reply to your initial post before me and others hijacked the thread:smile[2]:

Thanks...I wonder what happened to my post and question.... :icon_mrgreen:

And this is what they look like...

http://www.smokingtailpipes.com/Lakeland09/P5080057.JPG

darren who is that handsome chap, with also the fine looking aux lamp set, though he needs better tyres! damn hijacked again:icon_smile:!

It's Skunkmoto, but I'm not sure about the guy in front.....

So did anyone think the brighter bulbs actually made any difference?

slightly, yes an improvement over standard, thought the main is like looking through a letter box ,little or no fore ground illumiation, thats where the aux lamps come in, gulgo fabricates/ sells his excellent brackets and wiring coupled with the round spots i used ring micro cruise lamps, fog lamps tend to have a horizontal cut-off's and don't spread the light as well

a couple of pages here might help http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?...=cruise&page=2 there are other articles just search, you will find.

thanks for the reply I already have the brackets and Rings setup which work well. Coming from a GS with HID, Hella fogs and PIAA spots I think Im never going to be 100% happy unless I get the same brightness. I thought the HID was fine but if the balast went so do dip and main so backed up with spots as running lights

35w HIDs have a 15w resistor fitted so that the current drain is 50w, otherwise they wouldn't work on CanBUS systems. So there's no advantage fitting the lower spec HIDs in terms of battery drain.

I have yet to find affordable aux light brackets for my F650GS twin so I fitted 50w HIDs from hid50.com. The different is astounding. However... after 20,000 miles I noticed that the dip beam--which is permanently on--had started to damage the reflector.

On the Tenere I've gone for the Ring aux lights from Halfords.

Interesting Tim....I also went for the Ring lights and they work well I think. I think I will keep my setup I have at the moment as Im always looking for better light which never ends!

Email from Busters.....
 

I just got the normal weekly spam-mail from Busters, and they have an offer on these:

http://www.busters-accessories.co.uk...paign=flyer261

I have no idea if they are any good at all, but worth investigating ??

Thanks for heads up.......... going to have a look tomorrow and see if the standard is a 35w or 55w. Im guessing a 55w

OE Tenere bulb is H7 55w, both dip and main (2 separate bulbs)

Thanks alot it saves me from going out in the dark with the torch! ....

Found them on ebay ...same bulbs and make etc but only �1:95 postage rather than the �4:99 etc

Thats expensive for a blub:unibrow:, you could buy one of those million candle yellow torchs and stick it to the bike!!!:laughing11:

I have a rather trick light for my mountainbike which I could clip on. It's 4 LED's and is 360 lumens on full chat.. Very very bright...

I saw a few bikes during the night riding around Dartmoor with exemely bright LEDS.... didnt realise you could get them for a mountain bike

Two bulbs, if you please !!!

But I agree, it's a bit on the expensive side.

If the claim of a 30 meter extension to the beam (it'll have to be main) is correct then this this gives, maybe, about 30% increase in main beam distance ?? so over a �7 normal Halogen unit it works out about right. If the claim is correct!

�20 for both bulbs, It might be worth a punt.

Might work......... But i think the pattern and throw of light are set by the Reflector and as that stays the same so will the pattern of light...

On dip, yes I'd agree - but the Tenere main beam is pretty much the same as a cheap Aldi �0.99 torch........ some silver foil behind a piece of plastic :eusa_wall:


On the premis that 30meters extra light is forward distance, then it is possible that there may be some improvement in peripheral light to cover the dead ground between the bike and where you first start to see main beam - maybe! But it woud need to be tested.

It would have been nice to have independant dip and main beam adjustment - I guess that's another area where the accountants got thier way.