Head Light
- Thread starter T.Byrd
- Start date
bdmridgeback
Low Down Chop Shop
DO NOT install a 90/100 watt in place of the 55/65 watt stock bulb!
You WILL cook the EHC in no time with that set up.
The stock bulb draws about 5 amps
That high wattage bulb will draw about 7.5 amps off the EHC !!
That's a No No!!!
Night Train
Member
The EHC will handle the current but the H4 connector will gradually melt and leave you with no light at the most in opportune time.
bdmridgeback
Low Down Chop Shop
That stock socket can't even handle the current of the stock bulb without melting. Not to mention the little tiny wiring and long ass ground wire ran all the way back to the EHC that will melt down.
I ordered one of these ceramic H4 sockets to replace my stock one:
H4 Headlight Bulb Socket Connector Xenon Ceramic - eBay
I ordered one of these ceramic H4 sockets to replace my stock one:
H4 Headlight Bulb Socket Connector Xenon Ceramic - eBay
Byrddogg
Active Member
Funny I have a 60-80W light in mine for over a year and I have no problems?
Night Train
Member
The wiring will handle the current. It is MIL spec wire, 7.5A is pushing the connector pin limits. If there is any complaint I can make about the wire size it is not that it will not handle the current, it is that it is small enough area that it does not pull any heat away from the connector and then the connector starts to melt and takes the terminal with it. There is a service bulletin out there for a headlight wiring update. The updat added about 6" of large gauge wire to the headlight side of the harness. It does not offer much in the way of higher current ratings especially since the wiring from there back to the EHC is still the smaller gauge. Detailed testing showed it was the heat sinking the larger wires provided that helped the melting connector issue. It was tested and passed up to an 80W bulb.
That ceramic connector looks cool. Couldn't find that one when were were testing, did burn up some so called "Hi heat" connectors pretty quick.
That ceramic connector looks cool. Couldn't find that one when were were testing, did burn up some so called "Hi heat" connectors pretty quick.
drummin777
Active Member
Damn it Jake, if you dont quit showing and selling all this cool shit, my wife is gonna blow a gasket. I guess I will order one of these so when I get my 6000k from you and can change it at the same time.
Night Train
Member
Ceramic will be better than the stock for sure, it is not always black and white for me when it comes to a potential safety issue and i have not tested it to the max. Let me put it this way, if I had a BDM I would not install a 90/100W bulb with out some rewiring...I wouldn't even install that in my Harley. There are several cars out there that have melted things going to over sized bulbs.
Come on Jake, I have 60,000 miles now on my 05 Chopper with the stock bulb setup and ChopperJeff has about the same and we haven't had issues as well as thousands of others.
:flag:
Then you guys are lucky because after 15k miles, I took my headlight apart and the connector crumbled in my hand and I just ran a stock spec bulb, nothing 'high output'.
I replaced it with the same ceramic connector linked above after Ohmster recommended going with a ceramic connector due to the heat.
And my bike has that coil of wiring mentioned as well.
bdmridgeback
Low Down Chop Shop
Before the HID kit, with the stock bulb in the bikes, I had 3 headlight sockets melt down between my two bikes. Come on Raywood... everyone knows it is a recall for all BDM bikes for the headlight connector, not just me blaming something BDM did because I sell HID kits!!! It is a big problem for BDM.
I really think that the reason for the excess heat in the socket is because the headlight ground goes all the way back to the EHC with the smaller wire.
I worked in the auto 12 volt car audio industry for about 15 years and know that you always keep the grounds as short as possible and for any extra length on the wire, the gauge (size) of wire needs to increase. Especially on something that draws a decent amount of current.
TheDeadOne
Banned
Passed?, Passed by who or whom?
Byrddogg
Active Member
wow bad carma :bang: my high beam went out yesterday :angry: I guess from all the good stuff written about the HID kits I guess I'll be ordering one of these to give it a try:2thumbs:
IrishGuy
Active Member
I had the headlamp wiring AND connector fry in my 05 ridgeback @ 3000 miles. Went to change the bulb after it went out and was surprised to find a charred wire and melted connector. there was black soot everywhere. BDM fixed in on their dime as part of the recall of course. turn around was real quick to and was virtually a non-issue because they were so cool about it.
that was 11,000 trouble free miles ago
that was 11,000 trouble free miles ago
TheDeadOne
Banned
T.Byrd,
Oh no, I'm sorry, but you're only partially correct with that statement. The plugs do indeed melt down, most definitely! I've seen many of them and even had "more than" one of my own "melt down". Over time the heat that causes the melt down dissipates all the fluids within the plugs itself, then the plug gets brittle, and after some more heat and time, then it leaves nothing more than the "intact shape of the plug" made up of a residue powder which breaks easily or disintegrates to the touch.