Headlight Upgrade - KZ250

Hi all,

My KZ250 has a standard 35/35W incandescent headlight, and it's awful. I'm looking for an upgrade. I figured I could just swap out for a 60/55W halogen and put some relays in, but I've found that the bulb and bulb holder aren't a standard size or shape.

I've had a look around for replacements for the entire headlight assembly, but there's another cathc - almost every other bike (and car) uses a 7" headlight. The lens is closer to 6", the entire assembly is 7" from mount to mount (actually 180mm I think, but close enough). So id I do get an off-the-shelf replacement, I'm looking at changing the mounts too!

Are there any replacement bulbs, bulb holders or entire assemblies that people have used?

Thanks

Maybe have a look around for a modern 125cc or similar headlight, halogen bulbs is the norm these days. Plenty of new and used parts dirt cheap for the Chinese 125 bikes. Changing the bulb connector and wiring in a relay is pretty straightforward.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationYou may want to see if this will fit. Ed

That is nearly the exact same kind of headlamp I had in my Yam RD400 Daytona. A noticeable difference in night driving.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

650ed wrote: You may want to see if this will fit. Ed

That's close, but it only just won't fit. The glass is 6-1/4" and the entire assembly is 7". So I will either need a 6-1/4 surroud to take a halogen bulb (unlikely) or an entire assembly that is 7" wide or less.

Something like this might work:

www.dimecitycycles.com/6-1-4-inch-gloss-...dlight-assembly.html

But it's a little too small (not really an issue), but I'm also in Australia - postage kills the price. I can't really find anything in Australia. My other option is to modify the bracket to take a 7" bulb and housing, which would mean making it 2cm wider.

My question would be if the charging system would handle the extra load.
Steve

60 watt bulb is only around 4 amps. You'd think any small bore street bike should have a charging system that can deliver 6-10 amps at 14vdc, yes?
How about those LED headlights, very low current drain, any good?
The info I found online says the KZ250 charging system can make 13amps at 8000 rpm.
Not sure how that relates to tooling around the city but.....

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationThe way I see it, the standard headlight needs 2.9A and a new halogen needs 5A. I think the charging system can handle the extra 2.1Amps. Also, the system would have been designed to charge with everything on. So:

Headlight: 2.9A
Indicators 1.75A + 0.88A (2 of them + dash light, but flashing, so only on half the time)
Gauge lights: 0.56A
Tail + brake: 2.4A
Ignition: ?

So that's 8.5A, and I'm swapping out the indicator, tail and brake lights to LEDs, which will save about 3A. So I will still be using less than stock with an upgraded headlight.

I ended up getting this: - hopefully this will work fine.

I didn't see what year this bike was... sorry. However the older ones all had an on-off switch for the headlight. So I am thinking the headlight will not be on as much as you might think.
With the engine running at a reasonable RPM, a proper voltage regulator should be charging the battery at around +13vdc to maybe 13.9vdc-14vdc.
So if you pick 13vdc, the headlight will draw 60w/13v=4.6amps.
I'm really thinking this will be OK with your bike if you don't do hours upon hours of night driving.
I'm running a Euro 100w/90w H4 in my 7" Cibie Z lens.
Although I haven't driven from sundown to sunrise, I've never had the battery go dead because of it and it sure is nice being able to see in front of me.
If you use the LED turns signal assemblies, you'll probably need a solid state flasher relay as the current draw is so low, the bi-metal contactor band in the mechanical relay won't really get hot enough to pop on and off.
Also, if the dyno will not gen enough voltage under that load and the battery voltage suffers... then the voltage will be low and the bulb will not be as bright and draw the 5amps you mentioned.... simple Ohm's Law.

I already have a solid state flasher - I had to replace my old one as it was dead, so I got one I was sure that would work for both incandescent and LED.

I checked the manual, and the alternator is designed to output 13.5A at 8000rpm @ 14V. Should be fine, so long as I don't spend much time idling in traffic.

Yes I mentioned that quite a while ago... and I've been told my KZ1000 AR3703 dyno only does about 9amps at high rpm.. Go figure!
I find it hard to believe myself.

So a follow-up:

I've been using my headlight and also installed some heated grips without issue. Until this morning - traffic was running very slow though town this morning, and I'm usually an advocate for keeping my headlight on. Grips were on too. I managed to stall it on a hill, and couldn't get it started again

So the 55W headlight and 15W grips were enough to drain the battery in about 5 minutes at a mix of low speed and idle - I'm a bit surprised at how quickly it drained, but I also have no idea how much it charges at low speed, and also it's a very old charging system. Highway speeds are fine, I haven't had any issues.