Headlight upgrade question.

[Paniolo]

For Christmas Santa got me HID lighting, a headlight and a set of passing lamps.

I opened the box and saw that the head light has one plug on the back. It also comes with another plugged wire. I'm not sure what it's for, but I think it's to convert plugs. My bike is a 2006 CVO Ultra which came with a headlight that has two bulbs, a high beam and a low beam. Each has it's own wire. My question is, how do I install this new one that has only one wire?

Thanks

[calif phil]

There are adapters to convert the dual bulbs to a single H4 bulb.   Most are made for the 2014 and up style.  Not sure what your CVO has.   Check out Kury Akyn #5487 and see if it looks like it will work. 

[Langwilliams]

I had to buy an adapter for my 2014 street glide with 2 separate bulbs....my friends 06 V rod uses the same connectors. I went with a LED (aftermarket knock off) an had to install a noise suppressor due to radio interference.

[dablaze]

 You probably have a headlight that has an LED halo in it you should be able to see it, it's a ring bulb around the rim of the headlight. If this is the case that is the power to the halo and there is usually a small box that comes with the headlight with wires that control  it. Its pretty easy to hook up if it sounds like I'm correct let me know by 8 PM and I can truck back wiring on mine and tell you what I did.

Craig

[Paniolo]

It's this set. I know it's cheap Chinese stuff, but for the price of what HD wants, I can buy four sets of these.

[koko3052]

"Cheap chinese" stuff reflects not only the quality of the unit....but the quality of the light beam!
My azz is worth more than saving a few bucks when riding at night, which I do often. How much can you fix on your bike....or yourself.... for a couple hundred when that bambi crosses the road in front of you & you didn't see it in time?
But to each their own....ride safe.

[Langwilliams]

I love my "cheap Chinese" headlight....My riding buddy wants one because he's so impressed with the improvement. Some are probably better than others an some might be dangerous but I got a good one...maybe not as good as the $400 one but for what I paid I'm happy.

[hillcat]

"Cheap chinese" stuff reflects not only the quality of the unit....but the quality of the light beam!
My azz is worth more than saving a few bucks when riding at night, which I do often. How much can you fix on your bike....or yourself.... for a couple hundred when that bambi crosses the road in front of you & you didn't see it in time?
But to each their own....ride safe.

Constantly amazed at the excuses/reasons people have for paying outrageously marked up Harley prices.
I am glad you're happy with your purchase but do you have any experience with the "cheap" unit?
Sure, it's not as good, but at $38 (to my door) and a marked night time visibility improvement, I'd have to be a sucker to pay $400 or whatever they get.

[black]

"Cheap chinese" stuff reflects not only the quality of the unit....but the quality of the light beam!
My azz is worth more than saving a few bucks when riding at night, which I do often. How much can you fix on your bike....or yourself.... for a couple hundred when that bambi crosses the road in front of you & you didn't see it in time?
But to each their own....ride safe.

Constantly amazed at the excuses/reasons people have for paying outrageously marked up Harley prices.
I am glad you're happy with your purchase but do you have any experience with the "cheap" unit?
Sure, it's not as good, but at $38 (to my door) and a marked night time visibility improvement, I'd have to be a sucker to pay $400 or whatever they get.

Yea i know, kinda like break pads ,but i will not go there again! it is a shame the price the mothership puts on things that are  a safety concern,  I think it is like HF some good, some bad .it don't hurt to give it a try and you be the Judge

[hbkeith]

that cheap Chinese headlight should of at least came with instructions

[koko3052]

"Cheap chinese" stuff reflects not only the quality of the unit....but the quality of the light beam!
My azz is worth more than saving a few bucks when riding at night, which I do often. How much can you fix on your bike....or yourself.... for a couple hundred when that bambi crosses the road in front of you & you didn't see it in time?
But to each their own....ride safe.

Constantly amazed at the excuses/reasons people have for paying outrageously marked up Harley prices.
I am glad you're happy with your purchase but do you have any experience with the "cheap" unit?
Sure, it's not as good, but at $38 (to my door) and a marked night time visibility improvement, I'd have to be a sucker to pay $400 or whatever they get.

My "2 bits" was not an "excuse" but a reason & I also refuse to pay Harley's outrageous prices. I did not mention Harley as my source for lights, of which they're not & from my testing the one's I use are better than moco's leds....My Opinion.
Yes, I have experience with the cheapo's & that's why I will pay a little more. My getting old didn't entirely happen by chance.....enjoy your lights.

[76shuvlinoff]

What you pay doesn't matter....... as long you're not blinding oncoming traffic.

[koko3052]

What you pay doesn't matter....... as long you're not blinding oncoming traffic.

That's very true...a good light & adjusted properly will let you see like in the daylight. Lights that really bug me are those glaring "blue tinted" lights that some people have & seems they aren't adjusted correctly. BTW, I've never been flashed for blinding anyone in the 6 years that I've had mine.

[CndUltra88]

"Cheap chinese" stuff reflects not only the quality of the unit....but the quality of the light beam!
My azz is worth more than saving a few bucks when riding at night, which I do often. How much can you fix on your bike....or yourself.... for a couple hundred when that bambi crosses the road in front of you & you didn't see it in time?
But to each their own....ride safe.

I hear what your saying here koko, but Bambi dont announce themselves like the roof Koreans did back in the 92 LA riots .
Panolio, did you get your wiring figured out?
They installed, how do they look, etc..
Rob

[Paniolo]

Panolio, did you get your wiring figured out?
They installed, how do they look, etc..
Rob

Not yet Rob, maybe this weekend. Too much other Christmas gift stuff to do. I had to set up my new HP Laptop, and then transfer the Sena headset into my new helmet. I'll post some pics when I finish it though.

[Paniolo]

Finally got them installed.

The most difficult part was removing and installing the visor chrome trim ring around the lights. All I had to do was unplug some HD factory splitter that went to the bottom bulb on the HD lamp. Everything was plug and play. Have not had a chance to ride in the dark yet.

First impression is that the HD lights were a soft yellow, and these HIDs are a bright white.

Not sure the pics do them justice.

[dablaze]

Yeah, sorry forgot to check this thread. Only probs I had were...

- no instructions (solved by googling instructions for other brands, the wiring was the same)

- did not fit into the stock headlight bucket (solved by clearancingthe tin bucket with a die grinder)

- ecause it's obviously generic there were two led controller wires, one set simply had to be cut off, then it all made a lot more sense.

-what to do with the hundreds of dollars I saved vs buying HD.

Very happy with it. Although the install tests your ingenuity for a brief few minutes it's a huge improvement over a stock headlight.

Craig

[72fl]

Yeah, sorry forgot to check this thread. Only probs I had were...

- no instructions (solved by googling instructions for other brands, the wiring was the same)

- did not fit into the stock headlight bucket (solved by clearancingthe tin bucket with a die grinder)

- ecause it's obviously generic there were two led controller wires, one set simply had to be cut off, then it all made a lot more sense.

-what to do with the hundreds of dollars I saved vs buying HD.

Very happy with it. Although the install tests your ingenuity for a brief few minutes it's a huge improvement over a stock headlight.

Craig

Have you thought about buying 2 new HD T-Shirts (China) (Indonesia) with that Hundreds you saved ?

[Paniolo]

Okay,...

The rain has stopped for now, so I took the bike to work this morning. It was still dark when I left at 6:15AM. The first thing I noticed is that the street signs reflected back much brighter. They were much easier to read. The passing lamps threw more light to the side almost creating a "tunnel of light". The passing lamps and low beams were so bright I didn't see that much difference with the high beam on.

Of course I have no idea if I was abusing oncoming traffic or the cars in front of me.

All in all, a pretty good upgrade!

[CndUltra88]

Okay,...

The rain has stopped for now, so I took the bike to work this morning. It was still dark when I left at 6:15AM. The first thing I noticed is that the street signs reflected back much brighter. They were much easier to read. The passing lamps threw more light to the side almost creating a "tunnel of light". The passing lamps and low beams were so bright I didn't see that much difference with the high beam on.

Of course I have no idea if I was abusing oncoming traffic or the cars in front of me.

All in all, a pretty good upgrade!

Sounds like an adjustment needs to be made.

Bought some new bulbs for the Blazer cause the others where dimmer that a sack of rocks.

First morning, dove to work on the dark farm roads and the tree tops where lit up.

Ok, get the tape stick out, measure back and up draw a lines and do some aiming
.
Next morning same route, the tree tops not so bright, but road signs (stops and route signs) where blasting me back in the eyes.

Measure twice and cut once..oh wait thats something else.

Re-measured height and distance back from the wall adjusted down and to the left on one and right on the other.

More better and now to adjust the drivers side a little more left.

Ok, my trials and tribulations are all done with Panolio the lights looked good in the pic, no yellow, just a hint of blue/white light and looking good when waiting to go riding.

Thanks for the report back and watch out for them eyes that glow back at you in the dark
Rob

[Heinz]

The service manual details how to adjust the lights. As I recall it requires some distance from the bike to the wall from where you are taking measurements. I was able to find a good flat location to do the adjustment and had a friend sit on the bike and hold it upright so that everything was true and correct. Once I had the light adjusted correctly I put the bike in my shop in the wheel vice that is at ground level (I have my lift countersunk into the floor so it is at ground level), and had someone sit on the bike to get the proper suspension riding level. I then made marks on the wall about 8 ft. away where the top of the light beam was hitting the wall so I can make future needed adjustments.

[Rob L]

I have a couple buddies that have similar "cheap Chinese" lights and love them. They are bright and have been so for the couple years they've been on the bike. Now with that said, its possible the harnesses are different and it may require a load resistor

[smoserx1]

If you look at the Sunpie lights that Paniolo got those use projector lenses.  The sealed beams (and later H style) halogens that we all grew up with used smooth reflectors and faceted lenses to control the light and later the lights (especially on cars) used  faceted reflectors and smooth lenses.  I believe these are the ones that have so much light scattering issues with the H type LED or HID conversion bulbs.  Anyway most vehicles now days have gone to projector optics and I believe these are much more forgiving for light sources.  I have a car that uses projector optics for low beams and faceted optics for high beams.  Last year I replaced the H11 low beam halogens with some $25 Chinese LED conversion bulbs and they focused perfectly.  No blinding of oncoming traffic, great visibility, razor sharp cutoff and no adjustment needed.  I will not put an H type conversion bulb in the high beam though since it does not use a projector optic.

[FurryOne]

that cheap Chinese headlight should of at least came with instructions

Whaaattt?  You want instructions?... That's $50 more!   

[Paniolo]

Perhaps I wasn't paying attention during install, but I installed the left passing lamp in upside down. Went riding to a St. Pattys Day gig with friends yesterday and the guy ahead of me said my left side was dim compared to the right side. So when i got home I took off the outer ring, and rotated it 180 degrees. This morning on the ride in I could really tell the difference. The whole street was lit.

One of the best investments I've made for the bike.