Motorcycle Auxiliary Driving Lights
Adding a set of high performance auxiliary driving lights (spot lights) is generally a fairly simple and affordable upgrade that significantly enhances your ability to see and to be seen.
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Seeing and being seen is important for motorcycle safety. Unfortunately, many motorcycles’ stock lighting ranges from barely adequate to outright poor. As a result, many riders choose to add auxiliary lighting to not only light the way in the dark but also increase their conspicuity while riding in traffic.
When riding off-road at night, having auxiliary lighting is vital in enabling you to react quickly to your surroundings and potential dangers such as branches, sudden terrain changes and animals.
Spot lights are typically available in two varieties — lights that project a somewhat short but wide light pattern (a 30 to 35 degree spread is common) and lights that project a longer and narrower light pattern (20 degrees).
30-35 Degree Wide Beam
20 Degree Long beam
CAN MY BIKE SUPPORT ADDITIONAL LIGHTS AND WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
Lighting options are divided into three categories
Halogen bulbs: This system has been around for many years and comprises a bulb with a filament. These type of systems consume the most power and relative to their modern counterparts (HID or LED) are very inefficient.
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HID/Xenon: A newer technology that delivers 3x the light of conventional halogen headlamps while consuming considerably less power.
The HID (High Intensity Discharge) Xenon bulb does not use a filament commonly found in normal halogen motorcycle light bulbs. Instead, the bulb is filled with Xenon gas which is excited via a high voltage ballast to create a white arc light.
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LED (light-emitting diode): The latest technology that has evolved into the most efficient power consumption light form of all three derivatives. LEDs also offer a long service life, in excess of 50 000 hours.
LEDs are extremely sturdy and can handle shock and vibration much better – for much longer. Further advantages include low power consumption, low heat output and a very efficient, bright light output.
Good quality LEDs (such as Cree) however remain at the top end of the price spectrum. Beware of cheap and inferior LED products as they will be a disappointment not only in light output but also service life.
The type of light that you may want to add to your bike will be dependent upon the capacity of its electrical system.
If it has the capacity to support an additional 100 to 150 watts of power, using conventional halogen lights is possible. They will however not be as bright as HID or LED options, which also require substantially less power.
DOES MY BIKE HAVE ENOUGH ELECTRICAL OUTPUT POWER?
Every motorcycle has a rated amount of electrical power that the bike’s system can generate to keep it running and to power items like the headlights, tail and signal lights, fan motor and various other electrical devices located throughout the bike.
Beyond that, most bikes can support another 100-200 watts of power to run miscellaneous electrical items such as a GPS unit, a radio or a set of spot or fog lights. The amount of extra power is going to vary from bike model to model, so it’s best to either check your owner’s manual for “Generator Charging Capacity” or “Alternator Output”. Alternatively, consult your dealer.
A typical set of halogen driving lights, each drawing 55 watts of power, will need an additional 110 watts of power to operate properly. However, if your bike’s electrical system output is limited, you may be forced to consider using a more energy efficient lighting system such as LED lights (which only draw around 10 Watts each) or HID (Xenon lights which draw about 35 watts each).
LED spot lights represent the pinnacle of current light technology. Their light output is unrivaled relative to the unit’s size and low power consumption.
​Desert Fox LED spot lights have been designed specifically for motorcycles and are available in two derivatives:
Desert Fox Raptor PRO – A lighting system with advanced features not found in other motorcycle spot lights
Desert Fox Raptor - Our cost effective offering.