Brighter HIGH beam for RT

Is there anyway to get a brighter bulb for the high beam (only) on my 20 RT?

We just got back from an evening ride my wifes R-1100R has a much brighter high beam. I dont want to add any more lights either. Just make the high beam a little better; the fog lights take care of the shoulders just fine.

TIA

The Philips Vision Plus or European Osram Silverstar (not Sylvania) will give you a boost over the stock bulb.

brighter high

Apart from different bulbs, there's two other ways:

Eastern Beaver has a kit that enables power from the battery to go directly to the bulb. According to some owners on the Bikers Oracle RS site, this will brighten up both beams.

Xenon Depot, from Ontario, Canada, has a kit to convert the stock system to a Bi Xenon HID one.

I noticed last year that the low beam running light on my RS was not very bright, so I had my tech install the HID system. It's very bright, and I'm quite happy with it. My RS has an H4 bulb, and I would imagine your RT's is the same, but others can correct me if not.

Paul Glaves wrote an article in the News a few months back on how to wire the Xenon Depot HID system into an oiler, but his capsule is a monobeam one. XD has only been marketing the Bi Xenon bike kit for a few months.

Rinty

I can tell you what happened to my old K75 when I went to a higher wattage headlight. It stopped working since BMW ran the entire load through the thin gage wire and through the tiny contacts in the switch. The contacts got hot and melted back into the supporting plastic breaking the connection and shutting off the light until the wiring was changed.

I STRONGLY suggest you invest in an Eager Beaver headlight relay and then check for brightness. After that if you want to increase to a higher watt bulb, go for it. Your other option is to add aux lighting but as a separate lighting circuit to the original.

If you can afford it, I *highly* recommend getting a HID setup. It's not that hard to wire in and the improvement in the light is amazing. One 35 watt HID bulb easily outshines two Hella 55 watt H4s, so the difference is striking.

Thanks for the info and the warnings.

I dont drive at night enough to justify HID. And I dont want to install more wiring either; this kills the higher wattage bulb.

So, I'll live with it or take the easy route and add aux lighting, if I decide to do anything at all.

Glad I asked first before just buying a bigger bulb!

The two bulbs I recommended are standard wattage.

I am a proponent of direct wiring of your lights to battery. I've got an '04 1150 GS. I was stunned at how bad the OEM lighting was so I added PIAA Driving lights ( mucho $$$). This was still unsatisfactory so on the advise of a friend I invested about $50 in a kit from Easternbeaver and direct wired my lights to the battery (actually via an accessory fuse panel) and can say had I done this first I may not have purchased the PIAAs. I find the PIAAs useful for angling down and slightly to the side so when driving on twisty roads at nite I can see what is immediately off to the sides of the road.

MrFrank said:

The two bulbs I recommended are standard wattage.

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Where can I find such bulbs? The auto parts store people had no idea what I was asking for.

I'm looking at the wiring kits but am confused as to what I need.
http://easternbeaver.com/Home/Main/Products/H4_kits/h4_kits.html
I'm guessing I need the third kit down (heavier wiring I guess?).

You can buy the Sylvania blue bulbs in the stock wattage. They will seem brighter (blue white light instead of standard yellow) and the same wattage as the old bulbs so should be fine on the wiring and switch.

twins4life said:

Where can I find such bulbs? The auto parts store people had no idea what I was asking for.

I'm looking at the wiring kits but am confused as to what I need.
http://easternbeaver.com/Home/Main/Products/H4_kits/h4_kits.html
I'm guessing I need the third kit down (heavier wiring I guess?).

Click to expand...

I get mine from www.Powerbulbs.com in the UK. Yes, it's in the UK, but John offers free shipping and I ususally get them in 3-4 days. When you email, ask him about a "club" discount and mention MOA, he usually throws in something. Used to be "free shipping" but now he does that as a matter of course. Last time I ordered bulbs, he sent a free parking light bulb for my Triumph Sprint. (The yellow OEM W5W looked downright anemic next to the VisionPlus H4s)

Someone once posted that the Silvania version were available at a CheckerZoneBoys store, but I've never been able to find them. I just order the Phillips bulbs from John.

One other plus, these bulbs are infinitely more durable than either higher watt bulbs from other manufacturers, or the OEM bulbs.

Motor31 said:

You can buy the Sylvania blue bulbs in the stock wattage. They will seem brighter (blue white light instead of standard yellow) and the same wattage as the old bulbs so should be fine on the wiring and switch.

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Be aware that Phillips "VisionPlus" and "BlueVision" bulbs are two completely different things. One is a different gas added to the halogen, the other is simply a coated glass to simulate HID bulbs.

Thanks again!!

I'm ordering a wiring/relay kit and an Osram Silver Star H4.

The Sylvania Silver Star bulb is tinted and thus lets less light through than the Osram. It also has a shorter life. You don't want it for your motorcycle.