I have seen brighter candles!

[russeleoin]

Hi all, last year I asked about upgrading my YB100 6v electrics to 12v and the general view was that it would be a pain in the arse. We are are at that time of the year again where my head light is more important than ever. Is there no way I can get a better light, I do have the "bright bulb" frome the net already and it is poor. What about these new LED lights? Any ideas welcome.
Thanks
Russ
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I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[SpannerMonkey]

Ahhh... the YB100, Memories of this bike flood back to me of pillion induced wheelies on take-off and general illegitimate behaviour...

I'm pretty sure there ARE 6v led's out there, but what you have to remember is LEDs are directional and only shine the way they are pointing unlike a conventional bulb...

https://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyleds.htm

Check that site out.

[russeleoin]

Hey Spanner, thanks for the site. I love my YB, get on and off I go. I have been meaning to do my DAS but the YB just works. However I rode home this evening shitting myself, cant see squat and dont think anyone can see me. I have got to fix this!
____________________
I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[Nexus Icon]

Get a candle?
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[russeleoin]

Ha friggen ha! at the speed I travel no candle will stay alight. Thinking of getting one of those LED lamps fopr my head!.
____________________
I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[jimspeed]

how far do you go in the dark?
could you not fit a 12v system for the lights seperatly (using one of those dry 12v alarm type batteries) and charge it during the day.
ok so you would have to work out what a/h battery etc but if you dont go too far it could work
or some of the pushbike lighting systems are pretty awsome now could you use the lamp from one in your headlamp so you gwt the wider beam
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,"Alpha-9: Is there any correlation between dyno rod and dyno kits?"

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Paxovasa]

Have you tried a super white light?

Although not sure if they are available for your bike.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Have you tried looking for brighter bulbs?
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[russeleoin]

It is exactly 13 miles from home to work, so a round trip of 26 miles. I am on the bike for no more than 30 minutes each way. I have a 6N4-2A-2 battery fittted and there is no issue with the charge circut. I can recharge a 12v battery or similar each eveinng.

And for those doubters amongst you, I can do 50mph on my way home, ears pinned back and chin on the tank and that is without the weight loss.
____________________
I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[chris-red]

[stinkwheel]

I'm not sure how well direct AC lighting would cope with LEDs. It could conceivably have a tantrum because the LED would essentially stop half the current flow. If it didn't, you'd need to fit a huge ballast resistor to take up the difference in amps or the other bulbs would all pop too.

I suppose you could fit LED lights all round and re-jig it to run everything off the battery.

Or fit one of those super-duper bicycle lights as well as the standard headlight and charge it up every night.

A slight fly in the ointment is that last time I looked, your headlamp has to have a filament type bulb. It's a regulation that was brought in to stop people using acetylene lights when LEDs hadn't even been invented. They might have changed it by now though?
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Myler]

my first bike (suzuki Gn125) had a single shitty light, which wouldnt light up shit all, before i bought it off my mate though, he took the single headlight off and fitted twin shotgun lights (bandit lights??).
these took two H4 halogen bulbs and did the job, although me being a dickhead put 100w ice blue bulbs in and fried 3 cdi units in two months

no way you could do anythin like that?
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Current: 1988 Yamaha Fzr400 3en1 Project
Past: 1994 Suzuki Gn125, 2005 Aprilia Sportcity 125, Benelli Pepe 50, 2000 GasGas 249 'txt', 2004 Yamaha Neo's 50, 1990 Yamaha Tzr 125

[Blue_SV650S]

You should be able to get 6v Hallogen bulb that is the same wattage as a stock bulb, just much brighter.

Surely this has to be the best way forward?
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The purpose of life is to fight maturity.

[russeleoin]

I have found these and have ordered a 15 watt and a 25 watt. The only issue I can see is that my bulb is the dual filament and these will only be single, so it is dip or bright only. Do I have to have both dim and bright for MOT. I may just see if I can put in a tempary fit so I can put the old bulb back at MOT time.


https://www.classic-car-accessories.co.uk/acatalog/12_volt_bulbs.html

CLB72
6 volt x 25w H3 halogen bulb for headlights, spotlights and foglights for cars bikes and scooters with a 6 volt system. Although the wattage is fairly low, to place as little strain on the system as possible, the light output is brilliant white giving high luminous intensity. Also used as a replacement bulb for hand held spot lights.


Thanks Myler, that looks like a plan. I may try and copy thay.

Russ
____________________
I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[stinkwheel]

With that lighting system, you need to fit a bulb with pretty much the same wattage as the original. Fitting a higher wattage one will just make it dimmer because there isn't enough power to light it up properly. A lower wattage one will pop.

What I have considered doing is converting my girlfriends one to DC lighting with as many LEDs as possible and fitting a proper 6V reg/rec to it instead of the current system of a single diode and hoping the battery takes up any slack. It's all a bit too much like wishful thinking for my tastes as standard.

You can use a standard three phase reg/rec and attach the single charging phase to one of the wires. Getting a 6V, low wattage flasher unit to run LED flashers might be problematic though.

EDIT: I did actually consider mounting a couple of 6V LEDs on a small circuit board with a clock timer circuit and attaching it to the inside of the flasher unit so the flashers flashed autonimously, just need to feed them 6V DC and they flash by themselves. The downside is that they would all flash in their own time (not together). I think this is ok though, my Tomos moped had a flasher relay that made them flash front-back-front-back because it was too weedy to power both flashers at once. The only reg I can find is that they must flash at between 60 and 120 flashes per minute, no mention of them being synchronised.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[27cows]

You can get 45 watt standard bulbs and also 45 watt halogens for the RXS (though they're not easy to find). So I would imagine you can get the same for the YB.
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The RXS100: vehicle of choice for Chuck Norris

[russeleoin]

Okay so I got the bulbs and made a temparary fitting and wiring so I could see how it worked. Shit, just as dim, but fiddling with the switch and suddenly it is bright. Then I see that the headlight is nice and bright but the tail light is off. So, if I have good headlight I have no tail light, and vise versa. So now I am thinking of two things, 1) go the 12V route again. 2) create a seperate circut for a bettery controlled tail light. Then I got the thinking that the only light that I need the stator for is the headlight, the rest can be LED's. I want the bike to look normal so I will use the old light fittings and replace the bulbs with LED's. I plan to make up a seperate loom that I can test for all the correct functions will all except the heedlight. There is enough room in the battery side panel to build a small seperate battery box.
Mmmmm so I will be searching the RSWWW site for bits now.
Any idea's?
will it work?
Thanks
Russ
____________________
I love classic merc's but bikes take up less space.
Current ride is a Yamaha YB 100 and I love it! Oooow and now a running GPZ400R!
Next stop, Direct Access hopefully by the end of summer.

[Blue_SV650S]

Yep, an LED rear light will gain you ~5w of headlight power - have one in my bike - not for power reasons, but they don't suffer from vibration problems like a normal bulb!
____________________
The purpose of life is to fight maturity.

[hmmmnz]

you could get a new 12v lighting coil, you could probly adapt something from a cb250 or a vespa 12v conversion kit, they are readily available,
i take it you are running points??
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I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[G]

Note that it's possible your rear light may run on AC - in my c90, the head light and rear light runs on AC, while the brake light runs on DC (makes it very confusing having both types of power in a single bulb before you've realised that's what's happening!)
LED I doubt will run very well on AC.

Were it me, I think I'd get some half decent mountain bike lights to supplement the main light. It's a bit more expensive option, but prices have come down a lot recently and when you come to sell the bike you can take them off and sell them or keep them for other stuff - also gives you the option of head-mounted too.

[truslack]

Is it a bad beam pattern? I can ride comfortably on my H100's headlight at night
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Current: Suzuki RG 125 Gamma, Honda H100, Triumph Tiger 800XC, Suzuki SV650 (minitwin)

[Blue_SV650S]

[Pete.]

You could run LED lights, they make some very powerful ones now. I have some 200lumens flashlight bulbs that only pull about an amp and give a terriffic beam witht he built-in reflector, I bought them last year and they do much better ones now.

[Teflon-Mike]

Isn't the YB100 lighting circuit Direct off the mag?
Ie head & tail run on AC and can glow bright or dim depending on revs?
If so, higher wattage bulbs, as suggested my actually be dimmer, due to just not getting enough power.
Idea of using LED tail, as suggested may have problems from rectification effect, bulbs are diodes, so they'll only take volts on half of each ac wave.
Reading commentry, my thoughts were the auxilliary 12v lamps on a house alarm battery. Probably still the way to go, but, comment about switch & beam pattern did make me wonder.
Old addage, more usually applied to engines, is before looking for MORE than standard, make sure you got what you should AS standard.
I was wondering whether old wiring, & corroded connectors could be putting load on the circuits & dropping the volts your actually getting at the bulbs.
Stripping & cleaning connectors may have a pretty big effect; swapping out old ropey wiring might too.
In a similar vein, the headlamp itself. Whats the silvering like on the reflector? Whats the lense like?
Mirroring in the reflectors often goes dull with age, and lenses can go 'dull' with years of crud etching them.
a new headlamp, with nice shiney missoring and a cleaner lense, might work wonbders, just making best use of what light the bulb does chuck out.
Probably still not amazing, given its 6v direct, but could be enough.
Other one on 6v direct lights, if they do go bvright & dim with revs, have you tried riding in a lower gear?!
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