Author Topic: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?  (Read 254 times)

Offline brider

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Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« on: June 15, 2025, 09:04:54 AM »
Happy Father's Day all!

I have an '07 Norge that was wrecked and I replaced everything wrecked, including replacement headlight assembly. The replacement assy has the lights aimed all wrong, so with the black closeout-cowl removed to access the aiming screws, might as well upgrade the bulbs.....

I see the manual shows both lo/hi as 55w, I really am only interested in upgrading the low beams. Any suggestions welcome. Not interested in installing anything requiring ballast-kits or anything.

Note: While the cowl is off, I wired in a momentary switch to mitigate the weird SI #2 condition on these bikes. Once installed, I tested by trying the factory starter button first and since the bike had been sitting for a week (rainy & miserable here) it tried but did not spin, so I hit the newly-installed switch dangling from it's wires and voila! started right up!
'85 Cal II Auto
'71 Ambo project
'02 GasGas EC300
'07 Norge
Wish'd I'd never sold:
'72 Red Eldo
'74 White Eldo LAPD
'77 Convert with DB bags
'06 Gas Gas EC300
'86 LM IV

Offline DoubleGuzzi

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2025, 09:34:53 AM »
Strange bulb spec. The standard EU/UK is 60/55W AFAIK. You can readily buy upgrade bulbs that keep the same wattage (and hence current draw) but are between 10% and 130% brighter than standard. Higher brightness at the expense of longevity - they run hotter.
I've used various ones over the years and are road legal in the UK, unlike "off-road" 100W bulbs. Osram Night Breaker is a popular choice.

[Edit] Occurred to me that perhaps the Norge does the daft one-light-at-a-time thing and that they're not H4 (H7?). The above brighter options still applies but availability is likely much less. Example: LUCAS H7 12v 200% Brighter - probably burn out in a couple of months!  :undecided:
« Last Edit: June 15, 2025, 10:42:21 AM by DoubleGuzzi »
Nearly natural progression.. SS50, Z200, Z250B, Z400J, (H100), GT750, K100, ZR1100, 900 Trident, 955 Sprint ST, (ZR550, M600), 900 ST, (B750), V7III CS, (V50II).

Offline kingoffleece

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2025, 10:07:17 AM »
High beam 12v 65W (H1) x2
Low beam 12v 55W (H3) x2
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Offline DoubleGuzzi

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2025, 10:50:28 AM »
Your starter for 5..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-0730005-12336-PR-Premium-Bulb/dp/B003NDX9E0
Other products are available.  :angel:
Nearly natural progression.. SS50, Z200, Z250B, Z400J, (H100), GT750, K100, ZR1100, 900 Trident, 955 Sprint ST, (ZR550, M600), 900 ST, (B750), V7III CS, (V50II).

Offline Kiwi_Roy

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2025, 12:04:39 AM »
Have you thought about trying an LED lamp, I find them much brighter.
You may have to try several before you find one with a good light spread, I use one with an integral cooing fan.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2025, 12:39:20 AM by Kiwi_Roy »
17 V7III Special
76 Convert

Moto Guzzi - making electricians out of riders since March 15 1921

Offline Kiwi_Roy

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2025, 12:42:57 AM »
Happy Father's Day all!
 
Note: While the cowl is off, I wired in a momentary switch to mitigate the weird SI #2 condition on these bikes. Once installed, I tested by trying the factory starter button first and since the bike had been sitting for a week (rainy & miserable here) it tried but did not spin, so I hit the newly-installed switch dangling from it's wires and voila! started right up!
By SI #2 I assume you are referring to what's known as Startus Interuptus?

https://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzi007/schematics/2007_Norge.gif
The depiction of the starter item (25) is nonsense it actually has two coils inside the solenoid, 1 draws about 10 Amps but the other draws over 40
Note: The 40 Amp coil is only in circuit for as long as it takes to pull the starter gear into mesh then the 10 Amp coil holds the gear in place while cranking.
Startus Interuptus is caused by too much resistance between the battery and the starter solenoid, the solenoid draws around 50 Amps for a split second and it needs a really low resistance to provide that otherwise all you hear is the relay clicking. or if it takes too long the 15 Amp fuse B will blow.
Many owners have improved this by snipping the yellow wire feeding the Start relay near the relay  and providing a larger feed from battery Positive via a 20 Amp in-line fuse, that's fine but the wire the factory supply from the relay to the solenoid Brown/Green is also seriously under size consider replacing that with a 16 gauge also.
You might wonder why the 50 Amps doesn't blow the 25 Amp fuse, this is because the heavy current is only there for a fraction of a second then it drops to 10 Amps.
I had a Griso wired simarly to the Norge and I measured the time it took between pressing the Start button and when it started to crank, I managed to cut the time in half by up-sizing the wires.
An alternate way of solving SI is to wire a separate relay mounted beside the starter solenoid powered from the large Hot terminal close wired to the solenoid terminal. the new relay coil will be powered via the original Brown /green wire with the other coil terminal connecter to chassis.
BTW Neither of these options change the starting logic.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2025, 01:28:14 AM by Kiwi_Roy »
17 V7III Special
76 Convert

Moto Guzzi - making electricians out of riders since March 15 1921

Offline MCR

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2025, 01:04:01 AM »
The latest models of Osram Night breaker are excellent and last a long time but I suggest you put LED lamps that make a natural white light at a fifth of the consumption and therefore without heating. However, you must choose ones that are suitable for polyellipsoidal projectors, that is with a single chip on a single side, otherwise the light beam is fragmented. You will therefore have to orient yourself on fan-cooled bulbs and therefore with a perforated rubber cap, otherwise without forced cooling you cannot have very powerful LEDs

Offline brider

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2025, 11:59:56 AM »
Thanks, all.

For the bulbs, I just went to NAPA and bought their house brand of brightest-white H3 replacements. On first try last night during the aiming procedure, they're a big improvement over what was in there. For as little as I drive at night, these should be fine. Tried an LED conversion kit in my kid's car and I learned the hard way about having incompatible reflectors. They were awful and a waste of $$.

Learned something: The Norge headlight assembly is sealed and the reflector mechanisms are not removeable/replaceable! The replacement assembly (ebay used) I have mounted SOMEHOW had a dis-connected left-side-lo-beam vertical adjustment screw. The screw anchor became un-anchored from the reflector, so that the reflector was flopped down to almost the full-"down" position, and no amount of screwing the adjustment screw had any effect on the vertical beam position. Looking at my crashed assembly that I kept (it was just the clear plastic fairing over the lenses that was cracked), I could see inside how the adjustment screw was anchored to the reflector, and I could see no way on god's green earth how it could have become un-attached in a sealed unit. I was figuring on swapping out my (crashed) good reflector unit for my mysteriously disconnected replacement unit, but that's when I discovered there is no way of cleanly opening up the unit to do the swap. Grrrrr!

So, since the reflector will still adjust horizontally, and will pivot floppily in the vertical direction, I figured out a way to hold it in one position very Rube-Goldberg-like. Guess it doesn't matter the vintage, any Guzzi may require a barnyard-fix at some point.

'85 Cal II Auto
'71 Ambo project
'02 GasGas EC300
'07 Norge
Wish'd I'd never sold:
'72 Red Eldo
'74 White Eldo LAPD
'77 Convert with DB bags
'06 Gas Gas EC300
'86 LM IV

Offline brider

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2025, 12:10:33 PM »
Also, re Roy's follow-up of my "SI #2" mention, I call it "SI #2" because it is NOT the condition of the original SI I was attempting to solve with my momentary switch, it was this other condition I learned about in this thread discussion:

https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=122792.0

I already did the original SI fix on this Norge. Now it has a momentary remote starter button installed.

'85 Cal II Auto
'71 Ambo project
'02 GasGas EC300
'07 Norge
Wish'd I'd never sold:
'72 Red Eldo
'74 White Eldo LAPD
'77 Convert with DB bags
'06 Gas Gas EC300
'86 LM IV

Online Haioku_Mantan

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Re: Norge headlight bulb upgrade options?
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2025, 12:54:28 AM »
The latest models of Osram Night breaker are excellent and last a long time but I suggest you put LED lamps that make a natural white light at a fifth of the consumption and therefore without heating. However, you must choose ones that are suitable for polyellipsoidal projectors, that is with a single chip on a single side, otherwise the light beam is fragmented. You will therefore have to orient yourself on fan-cooled bulbs and therefore with a perforated rubber cap, otherwise without forced cooling you cannot have very powerful LEDs

Would something like the HELLA LED Retro Fit 226971511 - H3 LED Fog Light Bulb – 6500K work?
https://ibb.co/vxGgk011
'07 Norge

 


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