Increasing Visibility?

[ThreeWheels]

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with driving with your foglights on. You can make yourself more visible by lighting up the side reflectors on the fenders and the rear saddlebags.
The 2020 has the foglights on all the time.
You can also light up the A-arms if you're so inclined.
More Lights Is Good Lights.

[MONK]

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with driving with your foglights on. You can make yourself more visible by lighting up the side reflectors on the fenders and the rear saddlebags.
The 2020 has the foglights on all the time.
You can also light up the A-arms if you're so inclined.
More Lights Is Good Lights.

I agree with all of this except the 2020+ RTs don't have fog lights.

[ThreeWheels]

The 2020 limited has "signature lights" and there is an optional "auxiliary light" that are on whenever the bike runs.
The auxiliary light is a foglight.

[Possible]

I agree, but that seems to as big an issue with motorcyclist as it is auto drivers these days. I was on two wheels last year heading for a week in the mountains. I looked in my mirror and didn't see my buddy's headlight. I turned around and found he had cleaned out the ditch. Honda was toast, he was scuffed but ok. Reason? He was fiddling with phone mounted on the handlebars.

Sometimes you just have to face the facts that climbing on two wheels doesn't necessarily make you smarter.

[Terraplane8Bob]

The best advice -- and the ONLY piece of advice I offered my son when he threw a leg over his first motorcycle was -- Ride as if you NEVER have the "Right-of-Way" !
It would save a lot of grief for all of us if we all did it -- every time !

[Steve W.]

I tell people that I feel that I have survived my 45+ years on a motorcycle because I follow two rules:
1. You are invisible. Because people don't see you, they do whatever they want in front of you.
2. There are a select few that <can> see you, ... but they're aiming at you.

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[askitee]

My .02, I've posted this before..... Fire Engine's get hit by other vehicles a lot more often than you might think !!!!! ..... and nothing on the road has More lights plus very, very Loud horns than a Fire Truck ...... Lots of lights should help .... however don't count on it ..... I drive as tho people are TRYING to Hit me ...... good luck .... Mike

I concurr with Bluenight911. In the rider training I participated in we were told to assume everyone is an idiot out to get you. I do feel my own alertness and attention to what is going on around me has saved my bacon.

Being an ex-firefighter I have had my share of drivers who are in the car on planet earth but their attention is somewhere else. For us if we were involved in an accident under lights and sirens it was our fault for not paying sufficient attention.

Lights, headlight modulators, high vis gear and noisy pipes might help but they don't guarantee us a trouble-free ride. Being alert and mindfull to the environment around us will give us the best chance.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I concurr with Bluenight911. In the rider training I participated in we were told to assume everyone is an idiot out to get you. I do feel my own alertness and attention to what is going on around me has saved my bacon.

Being an ex-firefighter I have had my share of drivers who are in the car on planet earth but their attention is somewhere else. For us if we were involved in an accident under lights and sirens it was our fault for not paying sufficient attention.

Lights, headlight modulators, high vis gear and noisy pipes might help but they don't guarantee us a trouble-free ride. Being alert and mindfull to the environment around us will give us the best chance.

Thanks for chiming in ..... this coming from someone who actually deals with it, adds credence to my statements .... and thank you for your service ..... Mike

[BlueRibbon]

What modulator do you use? Is it on one or both headlights? If both, do they flash together or wig-wag?

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

What modulator do you use? Is it on one or both headlights? If both, do they flash together or wig-wag?

I use a Kisan modulator made for use with LED bulbs. I don't know that anyone offers a plug and play unit. I installed mine 5 years ago and made the wiring harness for it myself. Since the RT headlights are single filament the modulator works for both high and low beams. Both lights modulate together. It's illegal to have them wig-wag since that's what emergency vehicles do. As a point of information modulators do not flash the lights. That is expressly illegal since, again, that's what emergency vehicles do. The lights modulate between 100% bright to 20% bright at a rate about twice as fast as emergency vehicle lights flash.

IMO and experience modulators work because people's brains respond to changing conditions and tend to ignore static conditions. A modulator creates motion that brains are more likely to respond to. When people say, "I didn't see him," they very well actually may not have. Remember, we see with our brains. Eyes are just a data input source to the brain. Brains are biologically programmed to give lower priority to static images than moving images. A motorcyclist heading down the road is a somewhat static image to someone looking down the road. Also, a brain sees moving images frame by frame. Turning your head may cause a gap to appear between frames. A narrow image such as a pedestrian, bicyclist, or m/c rider may be narrow enough that it falls in between frames the brain is processing. In that case it is a true physiological fact the person did not see the ped or biker.

[Possible]

Headlight modulators? Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em.

[Steve W.]

Headlight modulators? Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em.

Then it's quite possible that the ones you have seen were not run by responsible users.

I have one on my Goldwing (Kisan) and have had it for years. Won't go anywhere without it, but you do have to use it responsibly. For example: going down the two-lane country roads around my house, it gets noticed. I notice people coming down their driveways and ALMOST pulling out in front of me. I wave to them (using all my fingers) when I go by. There are several 4-way stop signs in the area. As I approach them, I turn the modulator OFF. I do not want to be mistaken for an emergency vehicle that will be blasting through the intersection. On the freeway, if I am among the faster traffic, the modulator is ON. If I am stuck behind a vehicle for any length of time, it's OFF. It's also OFF when following anyone on a two-lane road. The whole idea of the modulator is to draw attention, not to irritate.

Yes, it gets turned on and off several times during a ride, but it's a simple matter of selecting high beam or low beam. It does not in any way guarantee that you will be seen, but it IS another tool available for use.

I have not yet seen one of Kisan's LED modules in use. If I knew it would work with the LED headlight I have in my Suzuki, I would install one. Because of the single-filament headlights in the RT, I don't know how it could be properly implemented, as I don't think it's allowed to modulate both beams.

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[Lew L]

I'm interested in the headlight modulator for my also. I have one from Kisan on my poor, old , slow V-Max and it has been trouble free for years. I always turn it off when following another vehicle.. I think it will work with a single filament if the high beam sensor is connected to the shutter control on the ------- Your thoughts????

I've seen enough cars start to pull out then stop short when I've had the modulator on ( and probably going a bit too fast) , I believe it WORKS. But it is a V-Max and the boost is addicting.

Lew L

[Steve W.]

I think it will work with a single filament if the high beam sensor is connected to the shutter control on the ------- Your thoughts????

The high beam sensor has to see an active 'high'. I will have to check the wiring diagram to see if there is constant current to hold the shutter open. If there is just a momentary trigger signal to change the shutter, it won't work.

If the signal is, indeed, momentary, one possible solution would be to dig into the headlight assembly and install a microswitch that would be activated by the open shutter. Considering the effort involved in that, let's just say that I don't feel the need for a modulator quite that bad.

For the electronic engineers in the bunch, a latching relay would do the trick, but that is not within my realm of expertise.

.

[MONK]

The issue I have with headlight modulators is that there may be some who are planning on turning in front of me and when they see my headlights flashing, they might think I'm signaling them to turn when in fact, I'm definitely NOT. This happened to me a couple of times way back in the day when I DID run a headlight modulator. I chased them down (that was back in my younger, hotter headed days) and asked what their malfunction was. They said they saw me flash my headlights, signaling them to go ahead and turn. I immediately ripped out the modulator after that and have never used once since.

[ThreeWheels]

I tell people that I feel that I have survived my 45+ years on a motorcycle because I follow two rules:
1. You are invisible. Because people don't see you, they do whatever they want in front of you.
2. There are a select few that <can> see you, ... but they're aiming at you.

.

This is the finest advice for anyone on a motorcycle.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

The issue I have with headlight modulators is that there may be some who are planning on turning in front of me and when they see my headlights flashing, they might think I'm signaling them to turn when in fact, I'm definitely NOT.

I don't recall this ever happening to me in 15 years of riding with a modulator.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

The high beam sensor has to see an active 'high'. I will have to check the wiring diagram to see if there is constant current to hold the shutter open.

It is. The low beam wire is the one connected to the bulb. When the lights are on high beam the low beam circuit is powered by a jumper on the left side headlight connector and the high beam circuit actuates the shutter. I'll have to look at my wiring diagram for my installation and see what needs to be done to power the bulb through the modulator in high beam mode but not in low beam.

Kisan shows a P&P modulator kit for the Yamaha Tenere which uses a shutter system and LED bulbs. In fact they show two kits, P115W-T4 and P115W-T6. The T6 instruction sheet includes instructions for a CanAm Spyder P&P kit for LED lights but I don't find it on their website. I've sent an email asking about it. I'll post more info when I get it.

[Possible]

I don't recall this ever happening to me in 15 years of riding with a modulator.

It's not common in the US, but pretty common overseas, for a flashed light to indicate someone to proceed.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

It's not common in the US, but pretty common overseas, for a flashed light to indicate someone to proceed.

That's one of reasons, I think, that modulators cycle so fast, to distinguish them from usual light flashing situations.

[Lew L]

It is. The low beam wire is the one connected to the bulb. When the lights are on high beam the low beam circuit is powered by a jumper on the left side headlight connector and the high beam circuit actuates the shutter. I'll have to look at my wiring diagram for my installation and see what needs to be done to power the bulb through the modulator in high beam mode but not in low beam.

Kisan shows a P&P modulator kit for the Yamaha Tenere which uses a shutter system and LED bulbs. In fact they show two kits, P115W-T4 and P115W-T6. The T6 instruction sheet includes instructions for a CanAm Spyder P&P kit for LED lights but I don't find it on their website. I've sent an email asking about it. I'll post more info when I get it.

I also e-mailed Kisan. Andy's reply was that the modulator in question was out of stock and not on the website . He said he would keep me posted. And I'll keep all of you up to date.

Lew L

[Steve W.]

For those that have LED headlights and a modulator, how well is the 'low' setting presented? I ask because the light I have in my Suzuki (TruckLite 27270C) has a built-in regulator. Anything less than about 10 volts and it simply does not light. In my thinking, that would lead to ON/OFF, rather than the legal BRIGHT/DIM. Even if it is reduced via pulse width modulation, it seems that it would lead to some serious flickering on the 'low' setting.

Next question, how well does it work on 'regular' LEDs like the kit from LaMonster?

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[IdahoMtnSpyder]

For those that have LED headlights and a modulator, how well is the 'low' setting presented? I ask because the light I have in my Suzuki (TruckLite 27270C) has a built-in regulator. Anything less than about 10 volts and it simply does not light. In my thinking, that would lead to ON/OFF, rather than the legal BRIGHT/DIM. Even if it is reduced via pulse width modulation, it seems that it would lead to some serious flickering on the 'low' setting.

Next question, how well does it work on 'regular' LEDs like the kit from LaMonster?

.

I have the TricLED bulbs in my headlights. I took a video of the modulation and looked at it frame by frame to confirm the bulbs did not go completely dark. I don't know if the brightness is controlled by pulse width or not, but to just glance at the bulbs they look like they do go dark. The challenge is to simulate the gradual fading and gradual brightening that you get with an incandescent bulb. The Kisan does that pretty well.

[Tango]

We will be heading to Lamonster Garage in the spring to get some lighting added on. Being seen is the name of the game. Tom

[jnt]

The fogs on my RTS are almost always on - mostly for the added visibility. I did the same on previous 3 Beemers, and it proved to work in more than one instance.
The only downside I can think of is bulb life from constant use. They also help on local/unlit streets at night.