The 30/30 just means the lights use 30 watts on both the high and low beam element, which means your calculations are still dead-on.

 

i got my headlights in! i put in 2 xenon blue tint 60watt high/55watt low bulbs. they work great. they are alot brighter and i havent had ne problems yet. my only concern is if they will get too hot. i doubt they will.

I ride a 2000 honda 400EX with maier purple plastic, purple renthal bars, black seat cover,motion pro twist throttle, prm full body skid plate, prm swing arm skid plate, prm front bumper, 22 inch blackwaters on rear, and in the mail are graydon proline aluminum nerf bars and 20 inch turf tamers. go to www.angelfire.com/stars/stuff4

 

Kip,

You may be draining your battery without noticeable short-term side effects. Here is why: Watts/Volts=Amps. I am not sure how many Amps are required for battery charging while riding. My figures will be based on you needing at least 4 Amps for charging. So, 4 Amps x 12 Volts = 48 Watts (rounded to 50 Watts). With your current modified setup, when using the high beam, you are only leaving yourself 1.55 Amps. When using Low beam, you have 2.38 Amps available to charge the battery. Also, Per Honda's service manual, the charge going to the battery at 5000 RPMs (half throttle) needs to be at 15.5 volts. You may want to tax the system with the bike in neutral, and the lights on. Get a Fluke and check out the charging voltage with both high and low beam.

Here's my calculation:

HIGHBEAM - Headlights 60 Watts X 2 = 120 Watts; Taillight 5 Watts; Neutral Indicator 3.4 Watts. Totaled = 128.4 Watts. Subtract this from the 147 Watts produced from the alternator and you are left with 18.6 total Watts available to charge the battery. Remember my "Amps" Calculation above. Here it goes. 18.6 Watts divided by 12 Volts = 1.55 Amps available for battery charging. A: Not enough. Rewind Stator.

LOWBEAM - Headlights 55 Watts X 2 = 110 Watts; Taillight 5 Watts; Neutral Indicator 3.4 Watts. Totaled = 118.4 Watts. Subtract 118.4 Watts from the 147 Watts that the alternator pumps out and you are left with 28.6 Watts available for battery charging. Lets go to the "Amp" calculation again. 28.6 Watts divided by 12 Volts = 2.38 Amps. A: Not enough. Rewind Stator.

I learned all this from the Tech Tips section of this site. If you exit this chat and go to Tech Tips, do a search on electrical (or something close to this search criteria), you will see all the postings asking the same question you have. The only thing I could not find was an actual figure, in Amps, that would be required to keep a battery charged. I really think you have gone over the limit and will need to rewind your stator if you want the battery to maintain its proper charge.

 

Hey guys, don't use more than 30/30 because you will have to rewind your stator.
The solution is simple, get 2 bulbs from BOSH manufaturer of 30 watts, but in HALOGEN, they have some of those and fits perfectly, and you will see the difference is more than 50% more light without destroy the stator.

 

JD,

I don't believe Honda utilized the full potential of the 400EX's head light power (Please refer to my calculations above). If, however, you decide to go beyond the 400EX’s electrical capabilities, then you would need more electricity created. This means you would need to rewind the stator in order for it to produce more electricity.

 

first, what is a stator and can i damage it? next, ive got my bulbs in and i was thinkin, i need to put a different voltage regulator on it so that the lights will get the full 60watts each(i think they are probably still just getting the 40 watts each). plus there is a fuse, 15A, close to the battery that has blown twice since ive put the bulbs in. if i would up the fuse a size or two, would it hurt ne thing. dont say my wires might get hot and melt because im gonna put bigger wires on sometime. thats obvious that little 16gauge wires are gonna melt with 60watts runnin through em. thanks guys for your help

i ride a 2000 honda 400EX with maier purple plastic, purple renthal bars, black seat cover,motion pro twist throttle, prm full body skid plate, prm swing arm skid plate, prm front bumper, 20 inch turf tamers on rear, graydon proline aluminum nerf bars. go to www.angelfire.com/stars/stuff4

 

The stator is the stationary element of the alternator. It is where the electricity comes from. It can be burned open and shorted to ground.

Replacing the fuse with a fuse of a high rating will just burn out something else. On a 12 volt system 15 amps is 180 watts. The charging system is rated at 147 watts at 5000 rpm's, that means the total ampreres assuming 100% efficiency, is 12.25 amps. 120 watts (your bulbs) current draw at 12 volts will be 10 ampreres. Depending on actual voltage, the watts used by the bulbs will vary slighly.

There is no need to replace the voltage regulator, it has nothing to do with the wattage used by light bulbs. The bulb will pull the full rated wattage.
I hope I haven't confused anyone.

 

what should i do about my fuse then? why do i keep blowing it? i need to do something because when that fuse is blown, nothing electrical works and i have to push start my quad.
thanks

i ride a 2000 honda 400EX with maier purple plastic, purple renthal bars, black seat cover,motion pro twist throttle, prm full body skid plate, prm swing arm skid plate, prm front bumper, 20 inch turf tamers on rear, graydon proline aluminum nerf bars. go to www.angelfire.com/stars/stuff4

 

Yes Brian you are completly right, you just will drain your battery faster, my mind was very far when I wrote that for the stator.
But anyway, try the 30 watts bulbs from BOSH, but be sure to ask for HALOGEN.

Thanks for the correction!!!

 

Your lights are drawing too much power. They are overloading your electrical system. That is why your fuse keeps blowing. You can't put in a higher rated fuse either because that will just cause something else on the atv to overload.