engine is a gsxr1000cc,k8 when the engine is in the bike the main lights are on all the time can i leave this set up the same for my car or does the light have to turn off for iva. if lights have to turn off which way would you lot rocommend i wire these to turn on and of by the switch.

You do not need to have the lights on all the time. How are you intending to set up your dashboard? I used a MK3 Fiesta indicator switch which runs everything. Horn, Indicators, Lights, Main Beam, Wipers etc. This makes a neat installation and takes care of wiring. If on the other hand you are planning to use the Suzuki switches, then you will either need to rewire the lighting wiring to make them switchable or stick with lights on all the time.
I drive with lights on all the time anyway as you need to be seen in a car a low as a 7.

Either way it is good to remember that your alternator is quite small and you will probably be running twice the lights that the donor bike used to have and running headlights all of the time might be a bit of a challenge for the battery. LED stop/tail/indicators make the most of the power - and after IVA you could even go for HID headlights to really make night driving a pleasant experience.

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[i
I drive with lights on all the time anyway as you need to be seen in a car a low as a 7.

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Hey that's a good point actually!

I'd say wire the lights up as you'd normaly have them on a car, via a switch. If you want lights on during the day get a set of LED daylight running lights (like Audi's, etc). You won't get the flashing effect and they'll draw less juice. Check the IVA requirements for them though; they might have to go off when the main lights come on? You don't want HID unless you want to have to build in self leveling (and headlight wash?) as thats required for IVA.

adrian

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you could even go for HID headlights to really make night driving a pleasant experience.

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Flashing your lights is to let other road users know you are there.

If you are a stupid enough person to pull out of a junction on someones flashing of lights alone, you have it coming.

I'd certainly fit HIDs at the drop of a hat.

My visability is paramount and I couldn't give a stuff what joe bloggs is annoyed about on the other side of the road because he isn't going to be the one paying for my written off car when some pi55ed person has thrown a breeze block in the road and I didn't see it until too late.

Many know flashing your lights is to warn people of your presence. Most do not, and will pull out stupidly. Insurance claims are fine when you're not dead or injured, so that's not a smart stance to take. They might have it coming, but you now have spinal injuries and problems for the rest of your life (yes, I've suffered because of this). I'm sure you could sit in the hospital smugly contemplating how right you were to have bright lights and how you have the moral high ground as you know flashing lights means you're present and they didn't.

It's also considerably less likely for someone to throw a brick in the road in an unlit location than it is for you to dazzle someone into having an accident (possibly involving you).

I just don't understand the logic. It's like an arms race for the brightest lights, no-one wins in the end, we all just drive around having to look away from the road (especially in the wet) because everyone's blinding each other.

If you're not able to see far enough to stop you're driving too fast for the conditions. I can see perfectly well for 60mph with my non-HID, fairly lowly normal 55W headlights. I don't even want to think about how fast you want to drive in a location with pedestrians, such that normal headlights are not sufficient for you to stop.

[Edited on 14/9/10 by coyoteboy]

I don't have a problem in residential areas because they are well lit and I only do 30.

If there was a way to dim them according to external lighting, not a problem.

But when lighting is poor I would very much like to see as much as possible.

Like I said, I don't give a stuff about Joe Bloggs on the otherside meaning I am not in a willy waving contest over bright lights.

And just like your accident (which I am genuinely sorry to hear about - These twunts that pull out are also ones that pull out from junctions upon people signalling and not waiting until manouver is made), I have come accross and avoided afore mentioned obstacle because my car had HIDs.

Thanks for your concern, but I still just don't see the point. Unless you have vision problems, I don't see what additional benefit they give you - I can see perfectly clearly all of the road I need to to drive safely at 60mph, even 70. Back in the days of the old circular-headlight rangerovers it was a bit less pleasant I'll admit, but normal modern headlights are perfectly good and don't have the glare/bounce problems. The "I don't give a stuff about others" attitude is what creates the silly situation where everyone has to have brighter lights (I never said it was a willy waving contest). Once you have really bright lights your night vision is trashed, meaning you need brighter lights again to compensate for having been shone at by someone with HIDs, and that's a viscious circle. And if you're looking somewhere outside of your beam (like in bends, or down dips) you actually LOSE vision as the lower brightness area now looks black as you're used to stadium lighting. When you're on a bike (pedal or motor) you really notice that at dusk/dark times if you're the only person out with lights on (and I have a 40W halogen push-bike light, it requires me to carry a 5"x4"x4" lead acid battery about!) you get spotted easily, but amongst cars you vanish as you're a tiny point of dim light against a background of stadium floodlights. That's another reason that the lighting arms race isn't helpful and is in fact a bit selfish. "I want to drive at 60 at night at the same speed as during the day, so everyone else can suffer".

Brighter is not always better. Of course dangerously dim is also not great, but I'm sick and tired of being dazzled by morons with badly adjusted HIDs, being repeatedly strobed by HID's that bounce over the roads, completely losing all night vision when someone with them drives past glaring away. Just because you can have brighter lights doesn't mean you should. I used to be of the same opinion as you, I had 100/130s in my car, until I saw it from the other side and realised my mistake.

[Edited on 15/9/10 by coyoteboy]

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Originally posted by coyoteboy
Brighter is not always better. Of course dangerously dim is also not great, but I'm sick and tired of being dazzled by morons with badly adjusted HIDs, being repeatedly strobed by HID's that bounce over the roads,

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produces LESS glare than a badly adjusted 100/130W halogen that you had in your car.

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Look at the light colour next time you get dazzled and it will probably be a halogen colour, not HID - the difference is quite noticable once you know what you are looking for.

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thanks for the replys lads (dident mean to start a war between you lot) ha,ha,
i think i,ll go for standard lights and wire up to an on/off switch. thanks again.

on the HID question. I put them on due to alternator limits.

I was worried that they would cause glare, and the self-levelling issue was mentioned.

In practice I don't get flashed by anyone (which is a reasonable test of whether I am blinding people), and the light from them is excellent. The quality of the product I got was very low, but it all seems to work and it was cheap.

Matt

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dident mean to start a war between you lot)

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