How to: Auxiliary Lights for Long Distance Motorcycle

One of the first and most important upgrades to your bike to consider for long distance riding is your lighting.  I consider this a critical safety enhancement.  Effective long distance riding means that you will be riding many hours at night.   Being able to see a hazard, like deer feeding in the ditch, is important.

PIAA Xtreme White series bulb

There are several ways to upgrade the lighting on your bike.  As a minimum, consider upgrading your stock headlamps.  This is a low cost alternative and is particularly effective on older bikes but all bikes will benefit.  I upgraded the bulb on my old 1992 Yamaha FJ1200 and was please with the results.  I currently use a PIAA Xteme White Series bulb in the left side lamp on my FJR.  You can also consider increasing the wattage of the bulb you use but be careful as damage to the housing and the stock wiring can result if you go overboard.   On my older FJ1200, I actually wired the headlamp to a direct power supply from the battery via a relay increasing the voltage available (and therefore the amount of light) by about 20%.

However, if you get serious about long distance riding, you should consider installing an auxiliary lighting system.

Let me show you the auxiliary light systems that I have installed on my 2007 Yamaha FJR.

The front of the FJR showing the 2 sets of Auxiliary lights installed.  The top set are 4GHIDs from Future Vision (no longer sold) and the lower set are PIA1100XX.   Installed in the right headlamp is an HID style low beam bulb.  The left headlamp was left stock with a PIA Xtreme bulb installed.  I left one headlamp stock for several reasons;  1) Redundancy in the event of multiple ballast failures. 2) The ability to keep a "flash to pass" option  3) The ability to flash oncoming cars without blinding them if they leave their high beams on and, 4) The ability to find a replacement H4 bulb from pretty much anywhere.  

I have 2 sets of auxiliary lights on the FJR.  The top set are my main auxiliary lights and HIDs type lights with external ballasts.  The lights were sold by Future Vision, model 4GHID, but are no longer available.  The 4GHID come on with hi beams (when switched on).  The lower set of lights are PIA1100XX halogen lights and come on with the low beam (when switched on).  I use the PIA1100XX during the day to provide "triangulation" which is a proven safety measure, as well as at night in foggy conditions.

4GHID Lights.  Light brackets are from FJR Goodies. 

4GHID Lights

4GHID Lights

PIA1100XX Lights

Both sets of lights are controlled via a switch box from BLM Accessories mounted on the front brake reservoir.   The left ON-OFF switch controls the PIA1100XX.  When switched ON the PIA1100XX will come on only when the main headlights are in low beam.  The two ON-OFF-ON switches on the right are for the 4GHIDs.  If the switch(s) is placed in the bottom ON position, the 4GHIDs will only turn on when the main headlamps are switched to hi beam.  If the 4GHID switch(s) are selected to the top ON position, the power to the 4GHIDs will bypass the relays and stay on all the time.  This provides redundancy in the event of failure of relay(s) (shown later in the post).

Closeup of BLM Switch Box. 

I installed a HID low beam bulb in the right headlamp.  The HID bulb was also sourced from Future Vision.

HID Low Beam for Right Headlamp.

Ballast for HID Low Beam.  Very slim and compact.

Locations of installed ballasts for right headlamp and right 4GHID aux light.  The left ballast is for the 4GHID.  I had to remove plastic from the battery box to get these two ballasts to fit.  It was a tight fit but ultimately worked out well.

Location of the 4GHID ballast for the left Aux. Light.

Wiring for the lights took some time.  I will provide a separate write up on how the wiring for the bike was done.  For this post, I want point out that I used 2 separate Fuzeblocks to supply power to the various lights.  The Fuzeblock on the right of the bike (top Fuzeblock in next picture) supplied power separately to the right HID headlamp and the right aux 4GHID lamp.  The Fuzeblock on the left of the bike (bottom in the next picture) supplied power to the left aux 4GHID and PIA1100XX lamps.  Each Fuzeblock is supplied from a separate fused line directly back to the battery.   The left stock headlamp was left connected to the stock wiring harness. Lots of redundancy..... Bottom line is that I should always have some light available!

Fuzeblocks installation under seat.

Close up of Fuzeblocks

The HID headlamp, right and left 4GHID aux. lights and the PIA1100XX aux. lights are all controlled by relays located under the seat for quick access, trouble shooting and replacement.  The relays are all waterproof.

Relays controlling the lights are located under the seat for quick access.  Note the spare relay available for quick replacement.

Close up of relay bank.

After about 25,000 miles, I can say that I am extremely pleased with my light setup.  The 4GHIDs can turn the night into day!  The HID headlamp is a huge improvement over the stock halogen and combined with the PIAA bulb, give an amazing amount of light even without the aux lights on.  The only item I may change this winter is the light brackets for the 4GHIDs.  The current configuration would be prone to damage in the event of a tip over.  I will probably change out the brackets to a forward facing style.

As an added bonus, below are some pictures of my very first aux, light setup on my 1992 Yamaha FJ1200.

PIA1100XX Aux Lighting on a 1992 Yamaha FJ1200