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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I searched around a lot about this, and found a lot of conflicting and incorrect information about using a H4 bulb in the grom.

So the stock headlight bulb is a type HS1....this is NOT the same as a H1. It's fairly common in small-displacement powersports, but otherwise rarely used so you're not likely to find it in stock outside of bike dealerships. It's a 35/35w bulb, meaning both low and high beam are 35 watt power. The HS1 bulb is almost identical to the much more common type H4 bulb in fitment. The wiring connector is identical. The plate is the only slight difference. On both the HS1 and H4 there are three indexed tabs on the base so the bulb only fits in one way. These are identical. The difference is two tiny front-facing indexing tabs at the 180* position of the plate, or the bottom side. On the HS1 they are spread slightly farther apart than on an H4, enough that a H4 will NOT fit properly just dropping it in to the stock grom headlight, the base won't sit flush since the tabs won't line up with the slots in the headlight.

The solution is easy, take a pair of needle nose pliers and fold these little tabs flat again on the H4, then install as normal. I used a basic Philips xtravision h4 55/60w bulb from walmart that cost like $8. Aside from taking 10 seconds to fold the two tiny tabs down, it was a direct replacement. The stock connector fits right on. Light output is dramatically improved and the headlight no longer sucks. I'm sure some of the HID or LED options are brighter still, but considering the speeds this bike is capable of, it's plenty for me.

Now the question people kept bringing up but nobody had an answer to was: will the higher wattage overload the wiring or drain the battery? Answer: no, it won't. With this bulb on high beam at 60w and the engine at warm idle, I still had 13.2v across the battery, above the standing voltage of 12.6, so the battery was still charging. At 3000rpm on up, it was up to 14.4v, which is the ideal regulated voltage. This was with the stock front running lights. After 30 minutes on, none of the wiring was warm and nothing was excessively hot, so it's not going to melt your headlight or run your battery flat or anything.

This was on a US spec headlight, so I can't confirm no adverse effects with the projector style headlight, since on those the bulb sits in a much smaller fisheye enclosure and could be more subject to heat buildup.
 

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I think it will be okay. I live in Vegas and ran HIDs in small Honda EK style foglights all summer long averaging 100-120 and pavement temps way higher. My car was slammed so these sat 5 inches off the ground. They were cheap knock offs too and I had no melting of any sort.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using HondaGrom.net mobile app
 

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I am looking into making this upgrade since the stock light doesn't do jack for me. It shows about 8 feet in front of the bike and if I am going over 40mph, I feel like it will be way too late to swerve if I see something in my way. The brights are better for distance up the road but they aren't very bright and the light is spread thin it seems. How has the H4 been in this regard?

What about other HID or LED options? Has anyone tried upgrading to these types?

My only other main concern is the hot summers like previously stated with a hotter burning higher wattage light. I know there hasn't been a summer yet for these new lights to be tested on. Is there any assurance I have to my concerns or would it be wise to wait until others have tested this out over summer? I don't like to be the guinnea pig on things like this. $$$
 

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I've been running a Phillips 55/60 H4 with no issues, also no modification needed to install
Just installed one today no modification needed with mine either but I thought the first post said something needed bent straight hope I didn't do something wrong?! (Seems to work fine) I bought the $10 55/65w one not the $20 or $25 ones which I guess would be brighter?!


Sent from my iPad using HondaGrom.net mobile app
 
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