Wiring up a Linhai 300 so that both lights work

[ScootForFun]

So does anyone know how to wire up the front headlights so that both lights come on at once in low beam setting?

I saw a post somewhere from another guy that apparently did this, but instructions were not provided. I am planning on upgrading to 55/60 watt H4 bulbs soon, and while I am in there replacing the bulbs, I'd like to do the rewiring as well.

I have two reasons I'd like to do this. 1) I want more light on low beam settings, cause I feel the stock lighting is not that great. I have the need to occasionally commute on the LH300 at night, so I want to be able to see better, especially on the perimeter and in corners. 2) I would much prefer a more symmetrical look to it with both lamps on at once. With just one lamp to either side, it uncenters the lighting. Not to mention that a cop might inadvertently pull me over, thinking a headlight is out.

I don't know who's bright idea it ever was to fix position the headlamps on a bike, and not have them turn with the front forks so the pathway is lit in the direction of the turn.

I suppose both lights in high beam at once, especially if upgrading to 55/60 watt bulbs, would probably be too much and possibly blind other drivers?? And that might also be too much for the electrical system, which is not exactly known for its ability to handle higher wattage loads for accessories and such? Not sure, would like some more opinions on all these things from the esteemed dawgs! If it takes an upgraded charging system, I might be willing to go there too.

[bhinch]

I installed the HID-35w...H4-9003 base...Bi-xenon which is Hi/Lo....super slim ballast....works great....also changed to LED's for the brake and turn, which freed up some power for the lights to work properly.....my scoot handles the HID's quite well....purchased off Ebay....

[nulldevice]

I went the double H4 55/60 watt bulb route. These are the same bulb as put in some cars, you won't blind the oncoming drivers. I found unless you spend about all your time on the open road I would forget about running two at once. The electric system just doesn't have the generating capacity nor the wires to carry the amperage. I also found the head light reflector design is so bad you don't really gain much for distance and nothing for side view.


Keep your stock 35/35 watt head lignts
Replace the back tail/brake lights with LED replacements
Get a couple of these and mount them on your scooter.
www.ebay.com/itm/Waterproof-Convex-Lens-LED-White-Floodlight-10W-DC12V-Tracking-Number-/370606953870?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5649e5558e

Get the white, not warm white ones with the convex lens or do like I did and make your own. Led lamps have dropped enough in price there is no great savings, if any, making your own now. Three years ago there was.

[ScootForFun]

Thanks you guys for the suggestions. JR at Scooter Professor forums seems to feel that the electric system does have the capacity to support the 55/60w bulbs, but he didn't say if it would support both on at once. And if it won't, then how could it support an additional 20w from two 10w additional floodlights? And where should they be mounted on a LH300? Seems like you would need some adjustability in the mounting mechanism to get them to focus and supplement the stock lighting just right...

I'd definitely want a switch for those things, so I could only switch them on at night. Interesting project though.

[chromestarhustler]

upgrade your 35 watt bulbs to 35 watt hid,

[ScootForFun]

Well ok, so I have an update.

Mission accomplished. I now have both the new 55/60 watt headlamp upgrades in, and they are both on at the same time, in both high and low beam modes. Will probably install a kill switch so that I turn on the lights after starting, just to reduce drain on the battery and help with starting the motor. But it is starting just fine even without it.

The fun came when I just drove it a few minutes ago on a dark night late, and on a nearly totally dark long street in a rural area. Now I have been putting up with the stock lighting for nearly two years now, and have driven this bike many times at night, so I know what that feels like well. And what an amazing difference. In high beam mode, that double high beam of light now is nearly as good as on my Ford Explorer in high beam mode. I mean like WOW.

Major difference on low beams too. I have to disagree profusely with above poster who said that not much is gained to the sides. Yes, there is. Lots. Enough that my thoughts of adding separate lights have gone out the window. Don't need em. I'll drive this thing all night long now, and that's what I wanted. Was extremely reluctant before of driving at night...Not no more!

But here's the deal. I have to test this further for battery drain before I am putting up any kind of how to post...because I don't wanna be responsible.
But I am running a Battery Tender Junior, and plan to keep it on the bike after each or every few trips, just to be sure I replenish that battery. I may also try mounting a second battery on the bike in parallel, to help out. I could also replace rear lights with LEDs to reduce power consumption overall.

The Linhai 300 stator is an 18-pole stator, and not too awful shabby at all, compared to cheaper scooters that use many less poles and cannot handle these kinds of higher loads. So with a bit more testing, I might have a winner. Then again, maybe not. But that's the update for now on this, and if I can find a method that works for the longer term, I will put up a how to post.

At idle, multimeter in battery mode showed 12.56 volts with the double low beams on, and 12.46 with high beams on. That may not be enough to maintain the battery on its own without the aid of the Battery Tender. I haven't tested voltage with higher rpms yet, so don't know yet about that.

[onilegion]

Hi Scoot,

We also faced a somewhat similar dilemma with our Bali-style scoot. The high beams gave great focused distance but little width or any medium-to-close illumination, while the low beams gave great width but very insufficient distance.

We soldered-and sealed in a very simple jumper between two of the leads close to where they enter the "back" of the High-Low-Pass switch that gives us:

1) low beams only in the low position (great for well-lit urban areas and daytime use) and
2) high+low beams in the high position and
3) standard flash-to-pass function

We use much lower wattage headlight bulbs (halogen version of the stock wattage bulbs producing a total 2 bulbs/2 filaments each, 72W of illumination, which is still more than the stock illumination from the Helix or the Foresight)) and therefore have no problems with battery drain. At idle with full electrical load, including our Spar cooling fan, our system voltage sits at 14.28V.

So if we understand your mod, you will have 2 bulbs/1 filament each in the high or low positions. So your draw should be 120W and 110W respectively in the two switch positions. The specs on your engine family indicate that your generating system can produce 224W at 5,000 rpm. So as you have noted you will probably be just fine at mid-to-high cruising speeds but you may go a little negative at idle and low cruising speeds. Overall though we bet it will all average out OK. Cool mod!

Scoot on,
onilegion <><

[ScootForFun]

Well to do it right though, I really need to add relay(s) and heavier wiring direct to battery, to take the higher amp load off the stock wiring and dimmer switch. Turns out the LH300 produced for Japan actually has 55/60 bulbs in, and therefore they probably have a higher grade dimmer switch and wiring already on the bikes over there. But with the stock switch for USA models, it's not going to hold up with a constant 9 or 10 amp draw. The entire circuit to the headlamps is going to have to be custom installed to run this much light on the bike. But man, I am hooked on that killer lighting, for sure. Gotta happen. So I am working on it still. Will update later.

[linhai300]

with the low beams only run a trip switch in between the low beams so during the day time run only the 1 single light and at night flip the switch on and run the two low beams when done switch off.i replaced all lights on back of my linhai with LED's and the front running lights with LED's and the front head lights with 55/65 and at night there bright very bright