St1100 headlights

Richiepops

Joined
Jun 8, 2023
Messages
2
Age
60
Location
Brittany
Hi, I am a new member and owner (ABS/TCS 2001).
Found the site really useful. Have spent the better part of today changing a headlight bulb (big hands with short fingers) lots of swearing.

On completion and test, light not working properly. On further inspection, the RH connector has only two wires whereas the LH has a third white wire (which works fine)
So.. the RH headlight only works as a beam.

Doesn't seam right to me?

Thanks
 
Welcome , My headlamps have three wires in each connector so I suspect yours has lost a lead somewhere,
Both lamps should have main and dip when switched on.
Not the easiest place to get to, (you did take the lower cover off ?:)) but if you can't find the missing wire, removal of the screen and the panels under it gives good acces to all behind dash wiring and back of headlamps, bit of a faf to get off & remember where all the screws go.
good luck....
 
Your bike may be from another European country. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Austria only have one low beam but both will work on Highbeam.
Check the serial number on the frame the ones with JH2SC26B. Will have both low beams.
JH2SC26C. Or JH2SC26E will have only one low beam
 
+1 Kiltman, check your bike wasn't just one dip in the first place, I believe some countries were.
Plus it's much easier to change the bulbs out with the screen and just a few top plastics removed.
Upt.
 
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My 1100 wiring diagram has both high and low beams tee'd together, so go for it! Access is OK from the top, once the screen and plastic garnish are removed.
 
Thanks very much for input.
The bike is indeed French - that would explain it then.

I think next time I shall take off the screen and access from the top
 
Yes, high-quality H4 halogens are best: Flösse, Narva, Philips, Vosla.
Tight focus without much stray glare light above horizontal so you get more light on ground than factory bulbs.
Rallye 100/55w versions from those brands are particularly useful for high-speed long-distance driving. :)

All about lighting: https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html
 
DannoXYZ said:
Yes, high-quality H4 halogens are best: Flösse, Narva, Philips, Vosla.
Tight focus without much stray glare light above horizontal so you get more light on ground than factory bulbs.
Rallye 100/55w versions from those brands are particularly useful for high-speed long-distance driving. :)

All about lighting: https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html
Click to expand...
Agree on the reference to brand products, there also H4 bulbs with "motorcycle use" rating around (rigid, vibration resistant filament)
I'd however refrain from higher wattage bulbs, those can overheat/dull the reflectors and/or cause wiring issues due the increased load

Unsure about LED drop ins though...
- legal issues
- dazzling other road users
- in case of defects a standard H4 replacement can be found at any gas-station...
 
Anyone have before & after beamshot comparisons of headlight upgrades? I'm always interested as 25-yrs ago, I produced and sold headlight & harness upgrades for Porsches.

uc


Goal was more total output with more even distribution on ground with sharper cut-off for less glare (at same power-consumption).
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People would remove kit and migrate them to new cars when they got them. A lot of them ended up in Miatas and Jeeps. Occasionally popping up on eBay selling for double what I charging.:)
 
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ST1100Y said:
Agree on the reference to brand products, there also H4 bulbs with "motorcycle use" rating around (rigid, vibration resistant filament)
I'd however refrain from higher wattage bulbs, those can overheat/dull the reflectors and/or cause wiring issues due the increased load

Unsure about LED drop ins though...
- legal issues
- dazzling other road users
- in case of defects a standard H4 replacement can be found at any gas-station...
Click to expand...
Yeah, higher power with 3x output of factory bulbs not really needed. Top-quality H4 halogens will double output of factory bulbs for same power-consumption (and less heat).

I'm not sold on LED since I have yet to find any that had accurate replication of incandescent filament location and size. Only one that came close was 1st-gen Philips Xtreme Ultinon bulbs. But those are long gone and 2nd-gen has same huge COB array as everything else on market.

uc


I still think best headlight upgrade for bikes is HID retrofit. Entire light: bulb, reflector, optics, etc were designed together as one unit and provides best light-output on market (besides OEM Prius LED headlamps). Here's HID retrofit on my Tacoma:

uc

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HID retrofit on my Ninja 250 commuter, since I spent many early hours in dark on way to S.F.

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I may get spare headlamp housing and try something similar on ST... Maybe one side lo/hi HID and other side hi-beam only with brain-searing 100,000 lumen LED...
 
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DannoXYZ said:
I may get spare headlamp housing and try something similar on ST...
Click to expand...

For the 1300...

Personally I did the LED bulb upgrades to the F2 brand (recommended option at the time) per @spiderman302. I already had the halogen h4 upgrades on the STeed from the OEM bulbs. The LED's made a big difference. I already had an HID upgrade in my Kawi but the LED's on the Honda worked better. Was going to replace the HID on the Kawi with LED but I just sold it.

NOT ALL LED BULBS are equal! Some are worse than stock bulbs depending on the design.

Anyway, here's the projector headlight online. No idea if it's any good.


1689875720514.png
 
I tried G6 LEDs from Spiderman's post on ADV about 10-yrs ago. While good, still not up to Philips Xtreme Ultinon's performance. One thing I really don't like is lower CRI than halogen, lowers contrast and visiblity. Most likely due to colour-temp not matching up with human eye's most sensitive frequency-range... that of Sun! Is F2 H4 available in 4300k or 5000k colour?

I have these headlights on my CBR600RR and they are better than the 11 different LED bulb brands I tried beforehand (including G6). Similar to Truck-lite for autos. Trick is to design optics with LED emitter's output pattern from start. Like Prius LED headlamps, best on market.

www.motodynamic.com

2007-2012 Honda CBR600RR Full LED Projection Head Light Assembly with DRL

The one and only aftermarket CBR600RR head light that has been tested in a photometric laboratory to meet and exceed SAE/DOT requirements for Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 108 for motorcycle lighting. Don't be fooled into purchasing head lights that are not DOT approved or 'for...
www.motodynamic.com www.motodynamic.com
hl-h7rr6-led-1.jpg
 
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ST1100Y said:
Unsure about LED drop ins though...
- legal issues
Click to expand...
Less and less. As time goes by more jurisdictions are getting around to updating their regulations to allow the use of retrofit LED bulbs.
ST1100Y said:
- dazzling other road users
Click to expand...
Not any worse than a halogen bulb if they are properly designed. As time goes by the LED bulbs designed for halogen reflectors are continuing to get better.
I have never been dazzled so badly as from the HID bulbs that use to be common in luxury cars. They were much worse than the LED are.
ST1100Y said:
- in case of defects a standard H4 replacement can be found at any gas-station...
Click to expand...
Having switched to an LED bulb has no impact on putting any H4 back in if the need arises.
 
DannoXYZ said:
I tried G6 LEDs from Spiderman's post on ADV about 10-yrs ago. While good, still not up to Philips Xtreme Ultinon's performance. One thing I really don't like is lower CRI than halogen, lowers contrast and visiblity. Most likely due to colour-temp not matching up with human eye's most sensitive frequency-range... that of Sun! Is F2 H4 available in 4300k or 5000k colour?

I have these headlights on my CBR600RR and they are better than the 11 different LED bulb brands I tried beforehand (including G6). Similar to Truck-lite for autos. Trick is to design optics with LED emitter's output pattern from start. Like Prius LED headlamps, best on market.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you and Spiderman should get together for a coffee and a chit-chat. Maybe the result will be even better LED bulbs for us.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I have never been dazzled so badly as from the HID bulbs that use to be common in luxury cars. They were much worse than the LED are.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's problem with putting HID bulbs into reflector housings that was designed for halogens. Sprays light everywhere!

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HID bulbs should only be put into projector housings! When you blind drivers coming around corner, they tend not to turn and drive straight... into you!

Andrew Shadow said:
Sounds like you and Spiderman should get together for a coffee and a chit-chat. Maybe the result will be even better LED bulbs for us.
Click to expand...
Definitely sounds like interesting projects! I had lots of help from Daniel Stern for my Porsche headlight upgrades. Would be fun to investigate new technologies. I think completely new reflector-housings designed with computers & ray-tracing can allow LED bulbs to reach their true potential. Truck-lite has been pioneer in this field. Due to limited output of single LEDs, rather than grouping them into COBs and throwing off focus, they've made individual optical elements per LED. One for low-beam, one for high-beam, some for wider side-of-road illumination. Result is precise focus and projection of each single LED. Combined as group, they'll have higher total output than single Stanley bulb without spill & glare...

Untitled_design_1__4.jpeg


Would be interesting to disassemble and see how they designed individual lights. Ideally to reduce spill & glare off front that's not controlled by reflector, you'd fire LED up or down and use offset-parabola to focus it forward (like Prius LED headlight). Then you won't lose 50% of light like with H4's bulb-shield in front....

I wonder if we can separate these individual lights from housing and retrofit them into ST headlamp housing... hmmm....
 
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The G6 was a stepping stone in the right direction, however it lacked shape and focus that the current bulbs have.
I recommend that you try the Cougar motor flagship bulb.
It has much better focus and the correct shape plus it will light up the sides of the road too.
here is an amazon link. I too had conversations with dan stern back in the day.

cougar motor flagship

The small changes made a big difference.

Hids are metal halide with a horrible spectral response..

Leds are more like day time sun....

DaylightLEDs_fig1.jpg
 
spiderman302 said:
The G6 was a stepping stone in the right direction, however it lacked shape and focus that the current bulbs have.
I recommend that you try the Cougar motor flagship bulb.
It has much better focus and the correct shape plus it will light up the sides of the road too.
here is an amazon link. I too had conversations with dan stern back in the day.

cougar motor flagship
Click to expand...
Thanks!!! I'll check those out! :) :thumb:

BTW, depending upon what's in atmosphere, sun tends to be more even spectrum (CIE-D65).
uc


Halogen bulb actually matches sunlight best. LED comes close, but only if it's 3000K
uc


6000K LED is completely wrong with too much violet/blue and massive cyan hole (which is where daylight sun is strongest), leading to bad CRI
uc
 
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