Online: chopa

Dual chopper light q..

  • Mr.Mow
    Mr.Mow
    5 years ago
    I’ve been running dual single filament headlights on my chop, lower is low beam, upper is high beam.
    I’ve just got two new 4.5 lights but both are dual filament.
    Am I going to be safe wiring BOTH lights low/low and high/high or is this going to draw too much current and cause issues?


  • brucefxdl
    brucefxdl
    5 years ago
    if not already,run at least hi beam off a relay with heavier gauge wire from battery to relay to lights,then the light switch will only carry the current required to trigger the relay,could also run lo beam the same way if you have enough room for relays ect hidden some where. current draw will be dependant on the globe wattage,could probabaly run LED globes too,if available to fit your lights.
  • Wideglider
    Wideglider
    5 years ago
    Measure existing current draw.
    From the above result, calculate current draw from your proposed modification.
    Check that the rated fuse/circuit breaker rating is higher than proposed current draw. 
  • Ken in Cairns
    Ken in Cairns
    5 years ago
    You need to size the wire to the intended current draw, the fuse is in the circuit to stop the wire from overheating and causing short circuits.
    You can get duel solenoids one side for hi and other side for low, only one coil to energize and switch to hi beam, de-energize the coil and it switches back to low beam, fail safes to low beam if there is an issue. They are not slot bigger than a single sized relay, just a bit wider.
    A 100 Watts is 8.34 Amps at 12 Volts, so two 100 Watt globes will be about 17 Amps allowing a bit for resistance in the wire, joins etc.
    Two 40 Watt globes will be all but 7 Amps for the pair.
    You can find wire size calculators online, you just need the current draw and cable run length.

    Make sure you run a separate Earth to the lamps, other wise you will pass current to them via your steering head bearings, and they don't like that one little bit.

    Hope that helps.
    Cheers
    Ken
  • tussuck
    tussuck
    5 years ago
    I would seriously consider switching to LED lights instead of the duel filament incandescent.  Power drain will be a LOT less and hence far easier to manage. 
  • Mr.Mow
    Mr.Mow
    5 years ago
    Thanks guys, lot of help there.. I think I may just wire it up hi on top low on bottom, charging and electrical systems on these were not great to start with! And the lights themselves suck any way! So two of them at once is likely useless!
  • tussuck
    tussuck
    5 years ago
    That sounds like a good approach (Unless your riding in the country most city lighting is fine for 99% of the time so the bike may not need that much all up).
    Unusual to see duel round lights instead of rectangle.