Welcome to Bazza's Place

Here is a mod I found on the net thanks to Clint Buhs creativity. His website is here and is a great help with installing the Hella Unit's on the B-12. http://cabuhs.net/headlights.htm Thanks to Clint for this one. We will officially name this the "Rowdy Red Mod".

If you own a 2001-2005 Bandit S model, you know how unsatisfactory the lighting system is. I was faced with two options. One was to install I.R. replacement bulbs for the Bandit or to replace the entire projector units with ones from Hella. (There are much more expensive options such as HID lighting, but I did not feel that installing $1000.00 worth of HID lights in the Bandit was a sound financial move, or are they legal).

I bought a set of the Toshiba I.R. bulbs from Susquehanna Motor Sports, and they actually performed well but It looks as though these I.R. bulbs are no longer available from them.

Here is what I feel is the biggest problem with the stock Bandit lighting.

The factory wiring harness.

If you have followed the Bandit light issue at all, you know that most of the poor performance of the Bandit lighting reported by most owners is due to either poor factory focusing of the projector units, or a black build-up that occurs on the inside of the Bandit's stock units. I found both of these present with my units. While the I.R. Bulbs are an improvement over stock. I also found a huge voltage drop on my stock wiring when to the light bulb connections. I used a simple voltage meter to test this with the bulbs in & the bulbs out. I found that with the bulbs out the stock wiring produced 12.5 volts at the bulb base, but with the headlights attached I registered a measurement of 10.5 volts on the low beam side & 9.5 volts on the high beam side. (It's easy to test this on your bike with a simple voltage meter). Now most of you will ask, is this a bad thing? Yes it is according to Susquehanna motor sports. A voltage drop will cause a severe drop in the lumens or light output any light will produce. See the chart below.

Now from what I have seen on my bike, it appears the all of my lighting problems were due to unsatisfactory wiring in the bike. From what I can tell, I suffered a drop of 53% in light output due to the factory wiring. Now keep in mind with the stock wiring in my bike at least, any bulb I used would not be putting out it's potential light output. (You can see this proven in the pictures) Now this issue is not just a Bandit issue. A friend of mine has a KLR and owners report a similar problem and recommend installing aftermarket wiring harnesses. The owner of Easter Beaver is a BMW rider and well, he also saw the need for aftermarket harnesses.

In a recent conversation via E mail from James at Easter Beaver, he suggested that switching & connectors in a wiring harness will also cause voltage drops, and again I would emphasize this is not just a Bandit problem.

I purchased a new wiring harness from Eastern Beaver and installed this in the bike. The manufacturers claims are true as I see no voltage drop when I repeat the test with the new wiring harness. If you do anything to you headlights, I would strongly recommend the purchase of a wiring harness first. I could not build a harness for much less than what this fellow sells them for and the service & shipping was great. Top quality stuff. In fact I could not even purchase the high quality leads & compact relays he uses in my town anywhere. A very large & bulky waterproof automotive relay was $20.00 USD at my local Napa store, and you would need two of these just to start.

Here is a link to the harness I used.

(PS I don't get commission here folks!)

http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/Non-H4_Kits/non-h4_kits.html

The black dust...

Inspection of my stock units revealed a bit of the black dust, but it was not as bad as other owners have reported. The reflective coating on this inside of the units was found to be worn off in a couple of places and it's my opinion that what ever the manufacturer used for this reflective coating appears to be affected by heat as the wear on mine was found ahead of the bulb location. While I can't be certain, in my case it looks as though heat affected the coating and was what probably created the "black dust". But in any case, on my bike the black dust was not much of an issue, but that does not mean it would not have been in the future.

The focus of the stock units.

I found that the Hella units put out a far superior light, due to better focusing. I have included some comparison pictures here, but as always, it's a little difficult to see the full difference in pictures. I had 2 family members present at the time I took the shots, and all agree that the Hella units put out a much better light. (clearer & better focused especially at long distances not shown in the pictures here) While it would have been easier just to go with the bulb replacement, I opted to go with the Hella modification as some people have reported on the BBS's that the black build-up will return after cleaning of the stock units & I did not ever want to pull the headlight assembly apart again. One thing I did notice as another comparison, the HR bulbs were better than stock, but they did nothing to improve the focusing issue. Another reason why I went with the "Hella Mod"

The Hella replacement units use the new H-9 65 watt bulb which is new on the market and a bit difficult to get a hold of right now, but should become easier. They are used in the new Ford Focus, and many European cars. In fact, I suspect these same cars are using the Hella projector units. Here is a photo of them. There are many aftermarket auto headlight kits also using the Hella Units.

The nice thing about them is you will only need to carry 1 spare bulb on long trips, the bad thing is availability right now. (They are much easier to find in the U.S. & Europe though)

Here are before & after photo's of the Bandit's lighting. Please note I still have to align the new Hella units as they are pointed a bit high.

Stock Low Beam / Hella Low Beam

Stock Low & High / Hella Low & High

Now here are some photo's showing what a difference wiring makes

Hella Low Beam Unit (Stock Wiring) / Hella Low Beam Unit with New Wiring.

(Now am I convinced my Bandit came with undersized wiring? Yes I am.)

Now Here is a 3 bulb comparison with both low & high beams on This comparison is a bit poor as the Hella units were not properly aimed. (High beam set too high) My seat of the pant's opinion is that the Hella low beam unit was far superior to stock in light distribution compared to the stock units with the I.R. bulbs, (A much wider & clearer beam) but the high beam unit is about the same as the Hella unit. However, if the black dust issue is a problem with your bike, the Hella units are the way to go. (On paper the H-9 bulbs in the Hella units project 2100 lumens each and the I.R. bulbs project 1700 lumens (low beam) and 2300 lumens (high Beam) I know of a local fellow that had the black dust build up so bad that it covered the inside of the bug eye lens, so the brightest bulb will not do much if this is the case on your bike.

My recommendations for the cheap fix would be 1) New Wiring Harness, 2) I.R. Bulbs, 3) Hella units. However if you have the black dust issue, the I.R. bulbs will do nothing to fix that, so in that case I would go the Hella Route.

Stock Units I.R. Bulbs Hella Units

These photo's were taken with the stock wiring in place. Please note that I had a trouble light on in the garage on the 1st picture so the ambient light in the garage is brighter.

Believe me folks, I tried my best to not go through with the Hella mod because of the work, but after much playing around, I do feel it is probably the best permanent solution to the Bandit light dilemma.

Total Cost:

Hella headlight units & H-9 Connectors from Susquehanna Motor Sports: $119.50 USD http://www.rallylights.com/Hella_90mm_Halogen_and_Xenon_HID_Headlamp_Modules.aspx

Universal Headlight Wiring Harness from Eastern Beaver $45.95 http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/Non-H4_Kits/non-h4_kits.html

J.B. Weld Epoxy Resin (I used this instead of bolting the units in place) $12.00 USD

Total Cost: $177.45 USD. (Updated prices on 02/09/2009)

If you are thinking of doing this mod and need some advice, please feel free to E mail me at: zukemanca@yahoo.com

Here is a view of the finished modification.