Dual Headlight Mod / Sylvania Silver Star Swap

[Lucky_Devil]

The stock light set-up on my Yamaha FZ6 is such that the headlight only illuminates out of one side while on in the low beam setting, only when turning on the high beam does the other side light up as well. This seemed to be an annoying lack of use of the full lighting potential of the bike (especially since the bulb in that spot was a dual filament H4 bulb, so it has the capability to be on at all times in conjunction with the other). Also annoying was the constant warnings from concerned citizens that my headlight was out. Further research revealed that the bike was already “wired” by Yamaha to have the light come on, but not completely… a wire runs from the high/low beam switch on the handlebar, but dead-ends into a wiring harness connector. If you tap into that wire and run it to the slot on the headlight connector, then you’re in business.

I decided that while I was working on the headlight area already, I might as well swap out the headlight bulbs for Sylvania Silver Star bulbs. These are hands down the brightest bulbs I’ve ever used on any of my bikes. They’re pricey, but worth it in my opinion, especially if you do a lot of riding at night. I was going to wait until I blew a headlight bulb and actually “needed” to replace it… but I got tired of waiting. After running Silver Stars, every other bulb seems dim.

**I would like to mention that if you perform this modification, you do so at your own risk, and doing so may void your factory warranty... blah, blah, blah:boring:**

The following mod was performed on my 2006 Yamaha FZ6 and may, or may not, be applicable for other models/years.

Tools Needed:
Wire cutter / stripper
Wire crimper / pliers
Soldering Iron

Supplies Needed:
14GA wire (length required may vary depending on your particular bike and how you decide to run the wire)
1 Female Flag Quick Disconnect
1 Snap/Bullet Connector (male and female)
Electrical Tape / Heat Shrink Tubing
Wire Loom (optional)
Cable Ties

Solder

[Lucky_Devil]

Step 1) Take the Female Flag Quick Disconnect and expand it a little bit to fit the lamp connector (this is necessary since the connector is slightly smaller than the original and wont quite slide onto the lamp connector). I used a small flathead screwdriver to accomplish this.

[Lucky_Devil]

Step 2) Strip the end of your 14GA wire and crimp it to the end of the connector. I wrapped the connection in electrical tape to help hold it snuggly in the H4 connector.

[Lucky_Devil]

Step 3) Run the wire along the same path as the existing wires, using cable ties to attach it to the wires periodically so it’s not loose… stop when you reach the wiring harness for the front of the bike.

[Lucky_Devil]

Step 4) As mentioned earlier, the FZ6 is already partially wired for both front headlights to function… so I already knew that the green wire with orange-ish/gold-ish/yellow-ish dots on it was meant to operate the low beam portion of the currently high beam only bulb. I traced the green wire with gold dots to the connection harness and clipped the wire (the wire dead ends into this harness, if you look at the other side of the wiring harness there’s nothing there to continue this line). I then cut a little hole in the wrap around this collection of wires further down by the frame of the bike and pulled the wire through. Once the wire I needed was accessible, I snapped the wiring harness connector back into place.

[Lucky_Devil]

Step 5) The next part can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. Personally, I wanted the wires (the one coming from the headlight and the one coming from the light switch handlebar) to meet and snap together where all of the other wires do, so I used the bullet/snap connectors here. This way, if I want to remove my fairings and what-not, I can disconnect the wire along with the other wiring. This is a completely unnecessary step though, since you could just run the previous wire to this wire directly and connect the two and be done with it… so it’s up to you.

The wire from the switch housing wasn’t long enough to reach the other connection harnesses so I soldered some more wire to it to extend it to the other harnesses. I then added the bullet connector to the other end and strapped it down to the existing wiring using cable ties (bullet/snap connectors are attached by simply crimping them directly to the wire). Once you have the one end set up, you can then trim the original wire running from the headlight and add the other side of the bullet connector. I also used shrink wrap around the connectors to help with insulation.

[Lucky_Devil]

Once I tested everything I wrapped the bullet connector with electrical tape just for good measure. For a more professional and tidy look, you could use wire loom to wrap everything back up and hide your new wire.

That’s it!

[Lucky_Devil]

more before and after pics....

Now, not only am I more visible to drivers, but I can see more too :thumbup::riding:

[KCDakar]

Lucky Devil you are the BOMB!!!:rockon:
Great write-up and the pics are great! :thumbup:
On the part that you soldered how far back did you de-laminate the wire and how did you put the wires together? With a twist?

I to have to do a light wiring job on my Dakar and this just makes me want to go out in the dark and start!:bow

[Lucky_Devil]

Thanks Dakar!

I stripped the wire about 1/2" and twisted them together. I also used a clip to hold the two together while I soldered. I would have taken pictures of my soldering job, but I suck at soldering so I decided I didn't want any photographic evidence :lol

What lights are you modding on your Dakar? Enquiring minds want to know...

[KCDakar]

I picked up a set of used PIAA's cheap with a set of home made mounts and they will mount under the beak of the bike. I think I might mount them on the other F650GS that I have so my SO will have better light at night. I don't have as much of a problem seeing at night. :happy

Remember photoshop can fix anything!!!:lol

Thank you again for all the time and effort you put out so we could learn a little about what fun it can be to work on our bikes!! :thumbup:

[Corny]

Nice write up!