Dual headlight mod writeup.

[Fred]

I promised that I would do this a while back. And then I didn't. Sorry about that.

This is how to set up an FZ6 with true dual headlights. That is, two high beams, two low beams, and both headlights run through relays.

Why do it this way?

You get the best beam pattern, and the most visibility, especially when you flash your lights since both lights are blinking high/low. And you just feel better about yourself when both headlights have two filaments. I gained two inches in height and my cholesterol dropped to 65 after I did this mod.

Let's compare the existing headlight modifications to see their advantages and disadvantages.

1. Biker_Dude43's headlight mod.
http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/how-t...-part-1-a.html (bd43's 07 Headlight Mod Part 1)
http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/how-t...-part-2-a.html (bd43's 07 Headlight Mod Part 2)

Pros: The cleanest headlight mod by far. One wire plugged into an existing connector to bring the right side low beam into operation.
No increase in current usage over stock high beams.
No increase in current through the headlight switch.

Cons: The left hand bulb is still an H7 (single filament).
Making the pin for the factory connector is a pain in the butt. (But Biker_Dude43 did produce a run of wiring harnesses that you could just plug in. I don't know if he still makes them.)


2. Cashcrzzy's H4 bulb modification.
http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/fz6-m...h7-socket.html (Real Head Lamp Modification ,Making a H4 bulb fit into a H7 socket)

Pros: Allows you to fit a dual filament H4 bulb in the left side headlight.

Cons: You need a grinder or good tin snips to modify the bulb.
You need to make a spacer to sit between the bulb and the spring clamp that holds it in place.
Depending on how it's wired, it can have all four filaments on at once. This doubles the current draw, and the FZ6 charging system is not all that powerful.
Even if wired so that the lows shut off when the highs are on and vice versa, this modification doubles the amount of current passing through the high/low switch on the handlebars. This could shorten the life of the switch due to heat buildup and faster corrosion. The fact is, nobody but Yamaha knows how much current that switch is meant to handle.

I should mention that my bike is wired this way. While I have not burned up my headlight switch, I do intend to switch it over to a relay setup in the future.



Both methods have good points and bad points. So the plan with my guinea pig motorcycle (AKA Hellgate's FZ6) was to combine the two methods and add relays to protect the stock wiring and switches from excess current.

Part 2 coming up in another post in this thread.

[Fred]

For Hellgate's bike we're combining the modifications.

Biker_Dude's harness makes the right side headlight work the way you'd want it to. High beam when the switch is on high, and low beam when the switch is on low. So step 1 is to do his modification and get switched power to the area of the right front headlight.

Step 2 is to modify an H4 bulb by Cashcrzzy's method to fit the right hand headlight.

Now we need to get the relays together.

You need a pair of 12 volt, 30 amp relays. These are oversized for the purpose, but they're also very common. Any auto parts store or electronics store will have them. That makes it easy to replace a failed relay on the road.

We also picked up some relay sockets. These are hard to find unless you look online. I know that Fry's Electronics sells them, but I haven't seen them anywhere else. The sockets aren't necessary. You can just put spade connectors on the ends of your wires. But this can make changing out a relay a real pain, as you have a hairball of wires and you can't remember which one goes where in the middle of the night on the side of a road.

Rather than go into lengthy and wordy detail about the wiring, here's the wiring diagram I drew up for this install. I've tried to label everything. If you're not used to reading a wiring diagram, here's the key points. Anything in a purple box is one component. When two wires cross, if there is a dot, they connect. If there is no dot, they do not connect and are crossing on the diagram simply because they had to in order to draw the diagram.

[bertmoog]

Ok, +1 on this mod as I have done both, but I dont understand about the relays. I never put a relay in my setup and it works fine. Is this a stupid question?

[bertmoog]

Originally Posted by bertmoog

Ok, +1 on this mod as I have done both, but I dont understand about the relays. I never put a relay in my setup and it works fine. Is this a stupid question?

Nevermind, I didnt read all the way down.

[Fred]

A couple of notes about the parts list. I listed three headlight sockets.

You will want at least one for the left hand headlight.

You'll want a second one for the right hand headlight, since you'll be cutting the old one away.

You may want a third one. With the third one, you cut copper to the shape of spade terminals and solder them into place in the socket. Now your female headlamp socket is a male, and will plug into the existing right side headlight socket. (The one I said you'd be cutting away in the last paragraph.) The advantage to doing it this way is that you're not altering your stock wiring harness at all. You just plug into your right socket that's already got Biker_Dude's mod on it.

We didn't do this on Hellgate's bike, but you may want to. If any part of this mod fails on the road, you'd be able to unplug the whole thing and be back on the road with the stock setup in minutes.

For this same reason, we also replaced the left side connector instead of reusing it. The existing left side connector is zip tied out of the way. At any time you can install your old H7 bulb and plug it in and have the left headlight back to stock.

So given all that, you get to start soldering together a wiring harness. First plan where you're going to locate the relays. Here's where we put them on Hellgate's bike.

You can see that the wires get a bit messy underneath with all the solder joints, then they clean up again as they go to four main bundles. One to the left headlight, one to the right, one to the old headlight wires, and one to the battery terminals.

[Fred]

That's about it. Sorry there aren't more pictures. We were working pretty hard and even with two of us it took six hours to do everything.

If you have a specific question, ask away and I'll answer. A lot of this is covered in threads on the other two mods. The only unique thing here is the relays and the way the two mods are brought together.

[mellofelow]

Very cool. Do you see any configuration changes should I convert the low (left - riding position) to HID? I plan to replace the H7 with HID and the H4 with PIAA Super white halogens.

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA - Shop Products PIAA H-4 Platinum White Bulb

[Fred]

HID is a single filament bulb, right? That is, there's no high or low in one bulb, it's just on or off.

If you convert the left to HID, then you don't need to get this fancy. Wire in the HID per instructions. Then on the right you could just do Biker_Dude's mod. No need for the relays or extra wiring harness.

I will say that I haven't seen any gain with any of the super white bulbs. When I worked at AutoZone I took advantage of a slow day to test the brightness of regular, white, super white and other fancy bulbs by hooking them up to a car battery. I couldn't tell a difference, and the filament itself seems identical on all the bulbs. Same filament = same light output.

That said, NAPA sells some bulbs that do look quite hefty. The filament is thicker wire with a different number of turns to it. I suspect that those would draw more power and produce more light. But you'd definitely want to relay them, as the extra draw might overload the stock headlight switch.

[mellofelow]

Thanks again. The purpose for changing the H4 bulb is to better match the color of HID I want to get. Once I do the BD mod, I don't want the white and yellow look That's all. And again, I may have one bright and one dim output.

[coursonap]

The H4 hid bulb as the silverstar or the piaa have 2 filaments.