Got the spot lamp fitted on my Pulsar 180
After I got the Avenger coil plate and 55/60w H4 halogen fitted in my motorcycle, touring at night has been a lot safer than earlier and majority of the time, I have been able to maintain 80+kmph at night. But I finally decided to add another 55w light, in the form of a spot lamp, last night.
This is due to the fact that there have been times, especially on the single lane roads, when the lights from the oncoming traffic blinded me so much that I couldn’t see a pedestrian or a cyclist on the road.
If you can’t see them, you can’t avoid them, so I decided to do something about it.
I had three options to increase the visibility:
Get coil rewinding done and fit a 100w headlamp: I ruled this out, since it would have had a major impact on the reliability of my motorcycle and that is something I am not ready to compromise with.
Get HID: This was the most expensive option, HIDs (High Intensity Dischargers) are quite good at providing illumination and would have provided me the best lighting setup out of all the options. However with a single ballast and xenon costing a minimum of Rs. 2000 if imported and Rs.3000 if bought from Delhi, it was ruled out for the time being. In any scenario, if I were to add an HID, I would add it in a spot lamp. That way I would get to retain my current headlight, which runs off the magneto. Since HID is dependent upon battery power i.e. needs DC setup and I don’t want to be totally dependent upon the battery.
Get a spot lamp with 55w halogen: This was the most logical and cost effective option for me, spot lamps are cheaply available and can be easily fitted to the battery, without messing with the current wiring. This meant, if some thing was to go wrong with the spot lamp or its wiring, it wouldn’t cause any problem to my bike’s wiring and I would still be able to use the headlight. Add to this, I do plan to purchase HID later on and it would come in handy, even at that time.
So yesterday I went to Karol Bagh with Shamik, Manik, Eric, Deepak and Sparsh, to hunt for a spot lamp. We visited quite a few shops and checked out at least half a dozen spot lamps, before deciding on the pair which looked pretty decent and well built and got it fitted on my motorcycle.
For Rs.150 a piece, this is relatively cheap (even cheaper options are available) and provide decent illumination.
Total cost for the spot lamp setup turned out to be:
Spot lamp (including halogen) = Rs. 150
Bracket, wire and switch = Rs.45
Labor = Rs. 50
Total cost = Rs. 245 (US$ 6)
Not a bad deal at all, though its beam is a little wider than what I wanted, but with the low beam of my motorcycle, I get much better light and I can easily see the road and people/traffic even at 80+kmph. Though I am yet to test it on a single lane highway, which I would most probably do this weekend.
Oh yes, the mechanic that fitted them on my motorcycle said, they will suck all the power from the battery in 5 minutes. However on the ~20 minutes ride back home, I had the spot lamp on and I must have used the electric starter 3-4 times, plus horn numerous times and indicators to check if there was a significant load on the battery, but it didn’t looked it.
However it would be only after the continuous use of 3-4 months and a major ride that I would be able to confirm if they have any adverse effects on the battery or not.
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hi Yogesh!i read through all the information provided by you and i must say,u hv done a lot of homework!fabulous job,boss!now, i hv a 1st-generation apache and i am not really satisfied with it’s headlight. i tried using the charger from yamaha. it does provide a better wattage, leading to brighter beam, with PHILIPS 35/35 w halogen bulb. however it burns the bulb in absolutely no time! on the other hand, a 60/55 w buld is too much even wit the charger installed. is thr a way i can get my bike’s coil rewound by sm exp mechanic in delhi?if u can provide me with any detail of any mechanic/shop etc. i’ll be highly thankful. plzz drop a line at only_das@yahoo.com, boss..
Hi Ayan,
Best option would be to convert your bike’s headlight to DC and get an HID. Few of my friends bought it directly from this ebay dealer, who ships directly to India in a way that you won’t have to pay custom duty on it. Cost of HID + Shipping etc. came out to be less than Rs. 4,000 and since the kit contains two HIDs, you can buy it along a friend and the whole setup would cost you <2,500.
As for the coil rewinding thing, well I won’t really recommend that especially if you travel on the highway etc. because it is not that reliable. Few of the guys I know down south had experimented with it and in the end just switched to HIDs.
Alternatively you can simply make your headlight DC and get the coil shorted to provide all the current to battery charging and use 60w headlamp with it. Though it is also not fool proof and chances of something going wrong does exists.
In case you want to get the last option done i.e. conversion to DC, let me know I’ll send you the details of an electrican who recently did the same thing on a friend’s apache.
Hi Yogesh,
The info was really helpful. I dun have any budgetary constraints and am planning to get an HID installed on my P180. Could you please direct me to where i can get this kit in Delhi and also a mechanic who could install it?
Kaustubh best option is to get the HID from a Chinese seller at Ebay (USA), that way the entire kit (which is enough for two motorcycles) would end up costing you < 5k including shipping.
Problem with HID kits available in the local market is, nearly all of them are of 6000 Kelvin and above, which means white and bluish light, which is ok for showing off, but bad for visibility. Best option is to get an HID kit with 4300kelvin rating, which is hard to find in India, barring from good brands which cost 12k upwards. That’s the reason; nearly all of my friend’s got their HID kits from this guy.
If you still want to buy it in Delhi, then simply head to Karol Bagh’s nai wallah market and go to any car accessory shops (you can even get them at bike accessory shops) and ask for a HID kit for motorcycle (make sure you get an H4 bixenon one, where the bulb moves up and down to provide both upper and lower beam). It should end up costing you around 3-4k for the motorcycle (single ballast and bulb, search around and bargain for best price).
As for fitting, I have heard Salim mechanic who sits in front of Sagar Auto can do the fitting, alternatively you can also check Maha Laxmi Auto, they will also sell you the kit and get the fitting done.
Haven’t done any dealing with either of them, so can’t recommend one over the other.
i own pulsar 180 dtsi model,can i install 55/60 watt bulb directly or i need to purchase avenger coil.and how i need to replace the coil.
Aadil you need Avenger 180 coil plate to take full advantage of the 55/60 halogen else it will provide even less illumination at lower rpm and would take a lot of time to switch between low and high beam. Details of which are provided here.
http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/articles-f20/increase-bajaj-pulsar-s-headlight-intensity-170-a-t3671/
Hi Yogesh,
thats a good piece of information, thankx. i want you to help me out modifying my Pulsar 150 (new). i want to fix a similar smaller lamp inside the headlamp. i have done a little experimenting, there is no shadowing in the original beam, and i feel it would look really good and also have a beeter beam. idea is to fix the lamp to the fibre transparent dom from inside, at the lower centre. i am looking for 35W halogen white or yellow.
Kindly suggest.