Brights ON, Brights OFF?

[Gary W.]

I think a lot of it has to do with the type of lamp, how many and how it's aimed. Different things work for different folks and different styles of riding. I haven't had any issues yet with cars pulling out in front of me, but will get out and look at my my lights from different distances to decide if I want to run brights.

[tjhfwtx]

Today I tried running with the "fog" lights on, so I had 3 lights across, but no brights.

[RobLaidBack]

seems whenever I ride Brights On, my battery drains and wont start again without a boost. Im sure it needs a new battery but I just havent gotten around to getting one. So until I get a new battery, or figure what other than that could be draining my battery so frequently, i will ride on the Low side

[Romans5.8]

Originally Posted by RobLaidBack

seems whenever I ride Brights On, my battery drains and wont start again without a boost. Im sure it needs a new battery but I just havent gotten around to getting one. So until I get a new battery, or figure what other than that could be draining my battery so frequently, i will ride on the Low side

Check your charging voltage at about 2500 RPM's, also, have your battery load tested. The bike should be able to run brights all day long and still start the next time you take it out.

[RobLaidBack]

Originally Posted by Romans5.8

Check your charging voltage at about 2500 RPM's, also, have your battery load tested. The bike should be able to run brights all day long and still start the next time you take it out.

Thanks Romans I will do that.

Question... i have the three headlight setup, large in the middle and two smaller ones to either side. Could that have something to do with it? just asking

[Romans5.8]

Originally Posted by RobLaidBack

Thanks Romans I will do that.

Question... i have the three headlight setup, large in the middle and two smaller ones to either side. Could that have something to do with it? just asking

Not likely. The 1500 should have plenty of juice to handle your lights. But, what you should do is this;

Use a multi-meter to read the voltage of your charging system (leads on the battery) with the brights off, and driving lights (two small lights) off;

Again, test with brights on, driving lights on.

Do both tests at about 2500 RPMs. If the second test is below spec (or the first), you may have a charging system issue, like a failing stator or regulator/rectifier. If the voltage is good, then we'll move on from there. You should also have the battery load tested. On these motorcycle charging systems, they often don't have enough juice to power the bike completely at idle, so the battery has to fill in. If your battery is shot, it's possible that it discharges too quickly when your stopped at a light, pulling into the driveway, etc. because it cannot handle the load of all of your lights being on, though it should be able to. The load test will determine that.

[whiting57]

Originally Posted by csleaman

Only time I turn my off if I run up on a police car . I don't care if I piss cars off in the dark because they don't give a damn about pulling over on you . Brights get their attention and makes hard to pull over on you .

Actually, it blinds them inhibiting lane control .. they probably dont care if they hit you either .. when it happens, just call it "no fault" from either party.

[Gary W.]

At the MSF course here they recommend running brights daytime. And if you want to piss off cagers by running brights at night, I'm sure that will help win them over to our cause.

[MotorMojo]

It was mentioned already on this thread that the single lamp on a bike at night is what may hinder auto drivers from recognizing motorcycles, not necessarily its brightness. I believe that this is true. Motorists are looking for two-headlight vehicles having a space between the headlights. The single headlight on bikes can imitate at a glance any other single light such as a street light, house light, etc., and it does not permit an assessment of how far away the bike is. [One gets a rough estimate of how far away an oncoming car is by the distance between the headlights.] The auto driver's awareness is not alerted and his or her attention moves past the bike to other potential dangers. In short the auto driver is briefly conscious of the light but doesn't immediately recognize it as another vehicle and then tunes it out.

Thus I believe that having a light tree in addition to the headlight on a bike is the way to go at night, even though the spacing is not as great as the two headlights on a car. One should use high beams in the normal fashion of a car.

Having one's high beams on all the time at night, or using modulators at night (not recommended anyway), might compensate for the lack of multiple lights to a limited extent but has those negative effects already documented on this thread -- that also create a bad name for bikers in general. Just IMHO.

Regards daytime riding, I am reading and evaluating all of the opinions expressed in this thread to see if I should alter my habit.

[whoaru99]

I think it is illegal to use headlight modulation at night, hence the light sensor to turn off modulation at night.