Putting Osram IRC Halogen i car/motorcycle headlight?

Flummo · #1 07-17-2006, 04:03 AM

As the topic says, what do you guys think about putting Osrams Halostar IRC-lamps in car/motorcycle headlights? For example, I have a bike with a BA20D 12V 45/40W headlight, and "high speed" driving at night is out of the question. Going over 70kph/45mph means that you don't have much of a chance to stop before you run into whatever might be on the road ahead...

Using a 60W lamp is probably not possible, they are hard to get and I doubt that there is enough power available to drive it, and the 35/35W halogen light that is even worse to get will probably not be any better than the 45/40W incandescent I am using now. My idea is to throw out the ordinary lamp and make a 50W Halostar IRC fit, there should be enough power available to drive it and as it is supposed to give as much light as a 75(?)W ordinary halogen it would probably mean that I get almost twice as much light compared to the lamp I have now.

The downside is that I won't be able to keep the high/low beam, but if the light gets so much better that is something I can live with...

Don't know about oncoming traffic though, but on the small twisty roads I usually drive I generally never meet anyone anyway.

On cars with H1/H3/H7 lamps or similar it should work great too (or would it?). Drawing just about 55W at 13V it will use the same amount of power as the standard lamps so there is no risk of burning the reflectors, but it should give quite a bit more light. And longer life too if my memory serves me correctly, i think the carlamps have a life of just a few hundred hours and the IRC should last a few thousand at the same voltage...

So, anyone have any thoughts about using the IRC-lamps on the roads? There probably is a reason Osram don't sell IRC H7-lamps etc, but I can't figure it out now. (Could it be that they are developing them as we speak, or would they not be so much better than the Silver Star lamps?)

markdi · #2 07-17-2006, 07:37 PM

I would convert your headlight to hid.

most automotive type 35 watt hid ballasts draw a lot of power for a few seconds to warm up the bulb.

these ballasts are called fast run up ballasts.

some of them draw up to 100 or more watts for 2 or 3 seconds.

after that they draw less than 43 watts(bulb and ballast) and put out about 3200 bulb lumens at 4300k.

a really good 100w halogen bulb may put out 2900 lumens at a little over 3000k.

if your bike has a 12volt battery the startup/runup current will not be a problem.

Flummo · #3 07-18-2006, 02:00 AM

I already have a HID kit that is supposed to go on that bike, but there are a number of problems to solve before I can use it. The major thing is that the HID kit is quite expensive, and I really dont want it to get stolen when the bike is parked over night. The solution I'm planning is to put the entire kit on the front plastics, and simply using some sort of quick release to remove the entire headlight with ballast etc. when I park the bike. I just haven't figured out how to get the headlight to be reliably in place while driving, yet easy and quick to remove when I want to... Another problem is that the ballast seems to have a problem with unstable voltages, it runs just fine of the battery when the bike is turned off but sometimes when the engine is running the ripple from the generator seems to cause the ballast to turn off after a few seconds. But, as they say, problems are meant to be solved. I've got some time to figure it out before winter comes.

The IRC-lamp is kind of a backup plan, to put in the extra headlight I have somewhere in the spare parts/junk heap.

And it also seems like a resonable option for other bikes where you dont want to spend half the bikes value and lots of work fitting a HID kit, but want as good light as possible anyway.

markdi · #4 07-19-2006, 12:20 PM

wow some one would steal your headlight - how would they know it was modded to hid ?

there is nothing worse than a thief

too bad you do not have room for my acme 30kv
neon sign transformer

markdi · #5 07-19-2006, 12:29 PM

maybe the ballast has over voltage protection.
maybe this is causing your ballast to shut off.

Flummo · #6 07-19-2006, 04:04 PM

It's a small town and a easy to recognize bike, I'd say that most of the people who are interested in bikes would know there's a mean light on that bike, and where that bike belongs within a couple of weeks. I've already had one bike stolen from that garage...

The ballast may have overvoltage protection, but it is rated to work at 9-16V, and I am nowhere near 16V even at the peaks. Must be the ripple that is the problem, one way or another.

rider · #7 07-19-2006, 04:33 PM

What type of bike do you have? What type of bulb? Do you have some sort of sealed beam? H4 bulb? Even small scooters generally have an additional 15-20w of alternator/generator capacity, so going from a 40/45w to 55/60 watt bulb shouldn't be a problem.

Flummo · #8 07-19-2006, 06:09 PM

It is a 50cc "offroad" bike (at least the first one to get this treatment), and the lamp is a BA20D, not sealed beam. The american type sealed beam aren't even legal here, thank god...

Standard is 12V 35/35W, and I run a 45/40 and that probably is close to the limit. (You need to rev it pretty high before the regulator starts doing some work, and if you brake the increased power consumption to the brake light makes the headlight loose intensity.) I have rewired it from the generator up to the headlight, and there is a relay there too now. I didn't like the 1.4V drop in the standard tiny wires and switches...

The next step up that fits straight in is a 60/60W lamp that is hard to get, but I doubt there is enough power to handle that. I am planning to connect a 60/55W H4 lamp just to see if it can handle it, just in case... But the thing is, the reflector is rather small and made of plastic. Going from standard 35 to 60W may very well damage it because of the heat,

45W seems to work and I'd be prepared to try a 50W IRC but any higher than that makes me nervous.

The clock is 2:57 AM here now, so if you cant understand what i'm writing that is the reason, along with the fact that english only is my second language. Just tell me if I need to explain what I mean somewhere...

markdi · #9 07-19-2006, 07:18 PM

cool

I bet some of the people around here think english is my second language.

some times I am not very awake when I post.

I think a small nimh or sla battery would smooth out your 12 volt power on that bike.

how fast will it go ?

Flummo · #10 07-20-2006, 12:27 AM

I have a new bigger lead/acid battery that will be the next attempt to get a stable power supply. I'll go from there...

Top speed is currently 86kph or 54mph, but I'm going to do something about that to when I feel like getting dirty... (They're only allowed to go 30kph, so sssh

) But even that speed is more than enough if you can't see where you are going, with oncoming traffic that refuses to switch to low beam you are lucky to see the tarmac 10m in front of the bike, and the white lines probably another 5. A rainy day that means that you drive along the white line just to stay on the road and more or less hope that there isn't anything standing on it...