Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

For all the legendaries of xbhp, please help me with my issue.
I have a 2014 July model P180. The specs are same as UG4. But there are some changes like, Pilot, Head lamp, Display, Brake light, shall never get ON with the Engine OFF. And the side stand ON Indicator in the display. I forget its presence.
My plan is to upgrade its light. It has a 9A battery. I have decided to directly go for 55W bulb without any modification. I shall use a voltmeter to keep an eye on battery regularly. And I shall update my results/week to this thread. If anybody has already done this Exp please give the results.
Yes I know, people mention to use a Avy 180 coil and an Ape RR OR a Direct fit HID. But before going for that I just need to conduct a experiment about.
I have planned to decrease load on battery. I shall go for a low wattage bulbs for Turn Indicator, Number plate light & Pilot( Parking). Please mention a good 55W bulb with less heat output/ which shall not melt my P180 plastic reflector. Thank you

Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

For those who think that using 60W bulb will increase load on battery, Please visit the below link.

Pulsar 180 Voltage test with 55/60W halogen Bulb - YouTube

Here I have removed the rear number plate bulb and installed 28 SMD Pilots each.

Its about a month with 55W bulb, And I didnt face any problem. This test helped me a lot to clear my doubts. I hope it clears yours too. I had conducted the same Experiment with the Analog Voltmeter and Found the same results. Thank You

Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

I'm using 60/55w jagan headlight in my p180 without any mods. Simple plug n play..so far no problem found. Have to check reflector after prolonged use...

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Oh. me too the same bulb. Jagan. I bought it from maruti showroom. Costing 91INR. Its overheating a lot. Now I again shifted to 35w bulb from osram. A night racer plus costing 580. Believe me its even less brighter than stock. No improvement. I have plans to fix twin spot lamps of 15w each. Thats why I downgraded to 35w so that I can save some watts.

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Overheating is common with higher rated bulbs. Did you experience any ill effects from it?

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Not at all. I have also done the voltmeter test and found no problems. Just we need maintain Minimum speed of 3500/4000rpm to maintain a constant voltage of ~14 volts

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

In that case, I'll stick to this setup for time being.. Hope the reflector can handle the heat
Never thought our bike would be so friendly to headlight upgrades..

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Of course you can. But you can't get any better brightness than stock, unless you change the gauge wire to higher thickness. Personally experienced and shifted back to 35. I was ready to increase coil thickness, but it will void my bike warranty. But you can go for it if your bike is not under warranty. But best option is to switch to stator assembly of avenger 180 and this will be reliable than manual. This will cost around 600 INR ( saw this in previous posts ) and try to decrease load on battery by ripping the rear plate lamp. Shift to led pilots.

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Headlight wire gauge or alternator wire gauge? So far the bulb seems brighter than stock ones for me..

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Yes. It may be just 10% brighter. The guage I mean for staror coil aka alternator

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Then no worries since I don't have much city driving at night. Even then, the day time ride will charge the battery. During highway runs, the tacho never runs below 5k..

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

The voltage should not be less than 14 volt when you park your vehicle at night. Else the bike wont start in morning. Because the normal voltage on pulsar is 14.35 volt if the battery is perfect.
Power=current*voltage. Ie =12*9= 108 watts/hr. That means you can get 108watts for 1 hour. If you calculate the consumption during night considering tail+display+rear number plate+ pilots+ horn( occasionally) in pulsar 180 will be around 90 watts with 35 watt bulb. It is less than 108. With 55 it will be around 115 watts. Its almost near. But need to maintain 4000 rpm to maintain 14 volts. For 35 watt 3000 rpm is enough.
All these calculations show that if you run with 55/60 bulb for 1 hour with rpm less than 3000rpm, then your battery wont charge because the stator doesn't have capacity to do it. And the voltage will be less than 13 volt when you park previous night.
Sorry I already ate your brains. Hope you understood the concept. See my video in youtube. The link is in previous post. At the end of the video you can see the result. And also for you running less than an hour in night that too not less than 5k rpm, never creates any problem. Blindly you can drive without any worries
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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

I understand your calculations well as I do know little bit about them..so no worries Thanks for your efforts in making those calculations. I'll have to check if my bike's battery can handle the load. Else I'll change back to stock bulbs. How is the battery voltage at 14v? The battery is rated as 12v 9Ah right? Btw, how's your plan for the spotlights? Won't they look odd??

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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

Actually I am mechanical. So not much knowledge on battery. Always practical will not be equal to theory.
So I have no explanation for why its 14v instead of 12. I have just mentioned what my voltmeter read.
And also the fog lamps look odd. I have already checked every spot/fog in market. All are so huge in size. I have seen an H4 led bulb of just 12w producing better than 35w halogen, and that too with a small cooling fan. Shop quoted a price of 1100 INR. But looks cheap with no guarantee.
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Re: upgrading headlight of pulsar 180 UG4

I'm mechanical too....may be my love for bikes made me choose out.. Led with cooling fan, as per my experience, will fail soon due to it's own heat.. Where do you intend to fix the lamp?

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