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Headlight question

305940

305940

Guest
Guest
My '01 Connie needs a new headlight, high-Beam is burned-out. Looked in the shop-manual, not really clear on what type of bulb the Connie uses. Its an H4 right? Lots of the Yamaha Venture people like the Sylvania Silver-Star lamps, and I thought of going with one of these. the standard wattage is 60/55 on the stock lamp. My question is two-fold: Would the Silver-Star lamp be worth the extra money, AND should I go with a higher wattage lamp? I dont want to totally blind on-coming drivers, but a little more light would be good. (I have running/Fog lamps too) can the headlight assembly handle the extra heat a higher wattage lamp would produce, and what wattage would Yall reccomend? Thanks in advance for any imput!
 
I upgraded my socket with a NAPA LS6235 hi temp light socket (about $8) This enabled me to use the higher wattage bulbs. I also ride around with my high beam on during the day as a matter of course. Yes it's bright, yes it upsets the odd cage driver, but not that many, and the number of incidents of folks pulling out in front of me is pretty low. :) Cheers. Colin Colin Prior Cogmos Committee Chairman Lake Forest Park WA COG#7767
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If you go with the high wattage units,do get the high temp socket like Colin did. Many have done it w/o the socket and some of them report problems with heat and melting the socket. I have tried the stock bulb, silverstar, silverstart with upgraded wiring harness, the Phillips V+50 and currently have the Phillips V+80. -- I have not tried the high wattage bulbs. -- The V+50 and V+80 were back to the stock wiring harness not the upgraded one. Of them I think the V+80 is the best of them even with the stock harness, even compared against the SilverStar with the harness, althought not by much. All of them are definitely better that stock bulbs in color and light output. These two pics are in the front of our Townhome association. It has lots of area lighting so its not the greatest test. Digital camera set on manual exposure so its consistent for both pics. Phillips V+50 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/images/Imgp0592.jpg Phillips V+80 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/images/Imgp0596.jpg You can see the V80 is whiter light, and if you look at that speed bump down in frot the cheeroke I think it hits it a little better lighting it up. I dont have a pic of the stock bulb, but IMO the improvement of the V50 to the V80 seen here is about the improvement from stock to the V50, with of course the V80 being that much better yet. The Silverstar with the harness was between the V+50 and the V+80. 2003 Concours COG #6953 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm
 
Not a fan of the Silverstar line. I put two sets in my car and each lasted only a year. I always bought a set of two because they were cheaper. Weird thing was when one went out, I replaced it and inevitably the second would go out within a week. ..dz.. 2003 Concours 1983 Honda Silverwing 2008 Yamaha Majesty (new) 2003 Honda XR70 (son's)
 
I am not a fan of the Silverstars either. I've been using the NAPA H4 bulb at 80/100W (sorry, don't have the P/N with me...) and Murph's harnass. I have lots of light, without any supplemental lighting. Mike B / Gig Harbor, WA
 
I ran an 80/100 watt bulb on the stock socket/wiring for over a year and had no damage. Your connections should be really tight, though. I'm still running it, but I have one of Murph's headl;ight harnesses.
 
Colt 45, Did Murph's harness give you a marked increase in light? 1990 Aint she a pretty Tomato (the bike ofcourse) wedshots albums http://community.webshots.com/user/sawfiler64/albums/most-recent
 
So I can use the Phillips V50 OR V80 without additional harness for the lamp socket? Based on the responses so far (and thanks to all that responded!) this sounds like the best option for me. There is a thread on the Venture forum now about SilverStar bulb life expcetancy, and its not good. Is it pretty easy to find these lamps?
 
Yes you can use the Phillips V+80 w/o any additional harness or mods to the socket. Best place to order is from Murphs. 2003 Concours COG #6953 http://mysite.verizon.net/slybones/Concours/connieMain.htm
 
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