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I would check the voltage on the battery when the engine is running.
I had a problem with the poor light from the headlights on my 07 Norge.
Turned out to be a charging problem, never more than 13V at the battery, which would probably mean less at the bulb. This equates to far less light on the road.
The fault was a bad connection in the wire from the alternator output back to the battery, there is a connector in that wire beside the relays roughly, and it was burned.
I ran a new wire of heavier gauge from the alternator output post back to the battery via the fuse. Now get 14.3v at the battery and the lights have improved dramatically.
You can also change the bulbs for high output type, Osram Nightbreaker, or Philips Extreme (others are also available). These put up to 50% more light on the road with no additional load on the electrics, and are a very simple, cheap, plug and play solution.
No alteration to the headlight will compensate for low volts.
Bert, the Norge is a 2007 and has 92500 km. The low beams are really weak at night the is somewhat about the same but a wee better, I have been looking for Led lights and now look for HID’s as you mentionned,no decisions made yetoldgoose -- you didn't say what year Norge you had; whether the lights were too bright or too dim; or whether low or high beam.
If your incandescent bulbs are more than 3 years old and are too dim, consider direct replacements because filaments deteriorate and bulbs darken. Do NOT exceed 55W under any circumstances no matter what magic is offered or you will be buying new housings.
For my 2012 Norge, I replaced the low beam incandescents with 35W 6K HIDs and am very pleased with brightness and pattern. Do NOT exceed 35W as HIDs run hotter than incandescents.
I tried replacing the high beams, which I used for awareness not illumination with internal heat sink LEDs but lifetimes were short.
The problem with HID bulbs is their warmup times, about 8 sec from cold and about 4 sec from warm so low-high-low transitions can be an issue. Not a problem from my night-time driving perspective which was always low beam. With the HIDs I didn't need high beams.
Incandescent and HID bulbs work in project housings due to concentrated light sources; LEDs don't due to light source distribution.
Brian, did you run an additional wire or did you replace the first one? With the bike running I never get more than 13.5/13.7 volts.I ran a new wire of heavier gauge from the alternator output post back to the battery via the fuse. Now get 14.3v at the battery and the lights have improved dramatically.
Brian, I have been away from the forums for long time, The Norge I own is a 2007, 93000 km, last week I removed the fairing brought it at an Auto parts store he sold me the equivalent for H1 bulbs they fit right in but did not have the H3 in stock, I must wait about a week before reinstalling, the new bulbs are the LED types no fan but he says these are new models. They are 4000 lumens, further feedback will come at a later moment after the resultsoldgoose -- you didn't say what year Norge you had; whether the lights were too bright or too dim; or whether low or high beam.
If your incandescent bulbs are more than 3 years old and are too dim, consider direct replacements because filaments deteriorate and bulbs darken. Do NOT exceed 55W under any circumstances no matter what magic is offered or you will be buying new housings.
For my 2012 Norge, I replaced the low beam incandescents with 35W 6K HIDs and am very pleased with brightness and pattern. Do NOT exceed 35W as HIDs run hotter than incandescents.
I tried replacing the high beams, which I used for awareness not illumination with internal heat sink LEDs but lifetimes were short.
The problem with HID bulbs is their warmup times, about 8 sec from cold and about 4 sec from warm so low-high-low transitions can be an issue. Not a problem from my night-time driving perspective which was always low beam. With the HIDs I didn't need high beams.
Incandescent and HID bulbs work in project housings due to concentrated light sources; LEDs don't due to light source distribution.
Brian, I have been away from the forums for long time, The Norge I own is a 2007, 93000 km, last week I removed the fairing brought it at an Auto parts store he sold me the equivalent for H1 bulbs they fit right in but did not have the H3 in stock, I must wait about a week before reinstalling, the new bulbs are the LED types no fan but he says these are new models. They are 4000 lumens, further feedback will come at a later moment after the results
Did you check the voltage?Following this thread concerning the replacement of the headlights on the Norge 2007; after reception of the H3 led bulbs equivalent of originals; I installed everything and went for short ride in the evening. Low beams are about at the same distance as the original bulbs but high beams are kinda disappointing. I do not really know what I will do to remedy but will try to play with the adjusting screws and see what happens. Thanks for watching
The reflector is what gives the light its function, not the bulb. The nature of the LED is such that it does not adequately route the light to the reflector.