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Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:21 pm
by RedexRobB
What bulbs exactly go into the ZXR?

cos ive read here that the H4-P43T are the ones that will fit viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7145&p=57061&hilit= ... lbs#p57061

however, ive just received some and they dont actually fit at all even tho they have been advertised as doing so. Got round it the usuall way by cutting the tags off.

Or is this a case of a giraffe fitment where we can get them from kawasaki only? Iv contacted the seller (ebay) to tell them this and would like to give them the proper information. Could be that its an import maybe? But my understanding is that ZXR's all use the same fitment?

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:53 pm
by mongo
They ZXR 400 takes H3 or H7 bulbs i think, cant remember off the top of my head. They were expensive because of the 35w/60w fitment they were supposed to be.

But yeah the H4's will go in fine if you cut the tabs and they are held in place by the metal clip.... The bike can run fine with the uprated wattage of normal H4's anyway so long as you have a decent battery.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:19 pm
by raynaldo03
i had that exactly problem when i got some brighter ones off the internet so i went to a kawasaki dealer to see what the crack was and they told me that although my bike was in fact a uk model it still had jap bulbs and to get the exact fitment ones that you dont have to chop up you have to buy form a dealer at around £20 each!!!

probly best to just stick to cuting them lol

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:32 pm
by WelshD1K
can get hid kits of ebay for £40 .... :D

and they work guy on BCF got them in his blade

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:58 pm
by mongo
raynaldo03 wrote:i had that exactly problem when i got some brighter ones off the internet so i went to a kawasaki dealer to see what the crack was and they told me that although my bike was in fact a uk model it still had jap bulbs and to get the exact fitment ones that you dont have to chop up you have to buy form a dealer at around £20 each!!!

probly best to just stick to cuting them lol

I bought the proper bulbs online from somewhere, i dont have the receipt to hand, but it was around £16 for 2 inc postage.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:57 pm
by crushedlizard
My L2's an import and uses H4's but only has 1 tag, not the usual 3. Not sure on the history of my bike - whether someone swapped unit for a UK etc. Certainly never had a problem during MOT's but I imagine they are easily adjusted(?).

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:40 pm
by Jamz
I think it's just the top tag that locates. £16 a bulb is a bargain - I was paying at least £20 and I haven't even had the bike for about 5 years now!

Very over-priced, but to give them their dues they are great headlights especially when you compare them to what else was around during the ZXR400's production run.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:44 pm
by Jamz
Looking at my spare bulbs I can confirm that the H4 P43T's will not fit a standard ZXR400 headlight unit - they're the common fitment H4 that fit just about any other bike or car.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:08 am
by WelshD1K
try finding a bulb for a ns 125 ....

it takes freaking lambreta bulbs ><

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:37 am
by Mori Man
Bulb's are called H4R out here - tried fitting one into my car yesterday as the right side bulb blew and after 10mins of fecking aboot realised it was the ZXR's I had in hand, Doh! :smt005

The general Electric bulb shown in the other post is identical to the bulbs in my H2 with the three prongs much the same size.

Just found some 100mm fish eye HID units with an outer LED ring running light :smt004 (Bit like what's in BMW motors now) that will get grafted into the H fairing :smt003

MM!

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:42 am
by WelshD1K
Mori Man wrote:Bulb's are called H4R out here - tried fitting one into my car yesterday as the right side bulb blew and after 10mins of fecking aboot realised it was the ZXR's I had in hand, Doh! :smt005

Just found some 100mm fish eye HID units with an outer LED ring running light :smt004 (Bit like what's in BMW motors now) that will get grafted into the H fairing :smt003

MM!
ohhh
how much r they ?

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:37 pm
by RedexRobB
well im not convinced by the ones i got anyhow, when i was out with actionman and carlingboy last weekend i couldnt even tell if they were on. I could normally see my old bulbs perfectly in the reflection on the back of a shiny car bumper but couldnt really see that well. Especially compared to the other two's who i could see fine. I could also see road signs at night with my old bulbs along the motorway, but coming from the GF's the other night all i could see was the floor about 10 feet in front of me. Main beam is spectacularly bright and is even better then my old ones, but dipped beam it seems is just shite, theres just no dispersion of light :S

Thought that perhaps they arent seated correctly, so checked that just now and they are fine, measured old and new together and apart from being ever so slightly longer the new ones are exactly the same. Checked the adjustment of the reflectors in the headlight unit and compared to a photo of the back i took when i fitted the old bulbs, and they are pretty much the same.

Now, i did only pay 6.99 for these posted, so im assuming i got what i paid for; i didnt pay much and didnt get much perhaps? Gonna try a different set as im just not happy with dipped beam on these. Only way id be happy was if i could ride around on full beam all the time but thats no good to other road users unfortunately :(

My old bulbs are Irridium (i think) coated, would that make a difference? Gonna try and find the same as these seem to work so well and definately stand out as they did produce a multicoloured glow.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:09 pm
by Mori Man
From what I saw, you can't just cut away the annoying tab !

When you set the bulb into the lamp the beam reflect's in a pre-determined pattern.

For best results this must be central to the pre-determined position, how do you know you are lining these up right when you have free space?

Although H4 modified work, unless you know the degree to set them in at they will never work the same!

I don't do much riding myself at night now but one thing that never worried me was dazzling oncoming or any traffic !!

I am happy to supply direct replacement bulbs at cost as these are a safety issue if you are struggling to find them!

Personally I would not be running a make shift set up at night!

MM!

MM!

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:28 pm
by raynaldo03
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/rmu972 ... 17306.html

i fitted these bulbs to mine as the standard ones were next to useless, u have to chop 2 of the locating pins off and cut a slot in it but have had 2 MOTs so far and nothing said and they are proper bright.

Re: Headlight bulbs

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 3:33 pm
by RedexRobB
Mori Man wrote:From what I saw, you can't just cut away the annoying tab !

When you set the bulb into the lamp the beam reflect's in a pre-determined pattern.

For best results this must be central to the pre-determined position, how do you know you are lining these up right when you have free space?
Thing is it worked perfectly fine before hand as the last ones i had in there were also H4's. And ive only cut away the two bottom tags and left the top one in place, so surely theres no way for me to get it wrong? Im not locating the top tag in any other slot other than the one its meant to go in either.

I really do think its the bulb here, i only paid 6.99 for a pair delivered so im thinking they are just cheap n nasty? What i dont get is why full beam is so good and dipped beam is so shite, it was shocking, it doesnt even show up road signs or cats eyes that i would normally have seen with my other bulbs on dipped beam.