In case anyone has wondered whether to go the cheap option and fit a higher wattage light rather than a HID kit to the Hurricane. I wanted more light, didn't want tospend heaps ona HID kit (and an article at http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.htmlthrew a bit of doubt on HID kits), and I had a spare headlight unit, so I decided to play around with replacing the H4 60/55W bulb witha 130/90W bulb and see what happened. One test is worth a thousand theories.The Hurrican's alternator is 350W output @ 5000 rpm so I figured that there might be enough margin to run the extra 70Wof high beam, if the whole lot didn't melt. I also stuck a relay & fuse in the wiring(heard thatit makes quite a bit of difference even for the stock bulb) and cleaned the headlight inside (cut the back off it. The reflector is steel, the lens is glass, so this gave me hope that the whole lot wouldn't melt with the extra wattage. Glued the back on again with HT silicone.)

Learnings:
1. The alternator copes fine on low beam, and 90W low beam gives better light than 60W high beam.
2. The alternator keeps up with the 130W high beam [Subsequent edit: Originally it didn't keep up with the demand so I made do with riding on low beam (90 watts, still better than the original on high beam!). But recently when I changed the engine, I found that the alternator connection under the seat showed signs of heat due to extra resistance in the connection - in fact the plastic around one of the pins had melted. Thepoor connectionhad probably always been there, but the extra demand from the headlight caused it to heat up more. I cleaned up and repaired the connection and found that since then the alternator keeps up fine with the demand of the bulb. So it works!]
3. Nothing about the headlight melted (this was in ~20 degrees C ambient temperature). The plastic casingforming the rear of the headlight didn't even get hot.
4. The 130/90W bulb is bigger diameter and longer than the stock bulb, so I had to bend the small reflector/guard thing (that goes just above the bulb) inside the headlight up a bit to get it out of the way of the new bulb. This didn't seem to hurt the light distribution onlow or high beam. No problems with traffic coming the other way - they didn't get dazzled.

Conclusion:Fantastic lighting performance on high and low beam. Doesn't dazzle on low beam. Worth doing!

 

thanks for the write up, but where did you find 130/90 bulb, what kind was it? it wasn't an H4 was it?

what gauge wires did you run for the power wires?

 

Hella, Narva and others make them. The base is H4 (or P43t), just like the original bulb.Fitted 2xNarva 72386BL relays, 1x20 Amp mini-blade fuse, newcableis 1.8mm2 (approx 14 gauge) which is a bit smaller than I would have liked, but can't find a good source of info on what wire size is appropriate for given current. If the 130/90W blows I'll try a 100/90W.

 

14 AWG wire is good for at least 15A.( 20A according to the latest NEC ) 130W / 12V = 10.8A .... so don't sweat the wire size.
FYI.... I am an electrician so I do know this is true. I am assuming that the OEM headlight wires are somewhat smaller than 14 AWG?

 

Can't tell what theoriginal cablewire size is but it looks less than the new stuff. Measuring across the insulation, the std is about 2.5mm dia, the stuff I fitted is 3mm dia. (I didn'texpose any of the oldcable because I used the original headlamp socket as the source -using Utilux crimped spade terminals pushed into the socket- for therelay switch circuits.) The new cable is solely used between battery and relays, and between relays and new bulb socket.
3 questions for you as an electrician:
1.What about the fuse size - is that about right for 15A cable? I guessed at 20A because the original headlight circuit uses 10A for 60W bulb.
2. What'sthe "NEC" that you refer to?
3.Is there a simple way I canget my alternator to produceanother 40-50W?
Thanks!

 

To answer your questions...
1. 20A fuse is OK but 15A would be better.( more conservative )
2. NEC = National Electrical Code. Used for buildings.
3. No, alternator is designed and built for a specific output.
The easiest thing to do would be to use asmaller bulb.

 

Thanks for the info Billlistic, might try that smaller bulb. [Subsequent edit: don't need to: see my first post. Battery doesn't run down any more with the 130W bulb. Bonza!!!!!!].