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Headlight Replacement for 2000 Arctic CatsJuly 11/03 Written by Greg I'm frequently out riding after dark, and I've noticed the stock 2000 Arctic Cat headlights really aren't that bright. I blew a bulb last weekend, and decided to use that as an excuse to upgrade my headlights. I figured that a simple bulb replacement would work, and would only cost a few dollars for a pair of 55w halogens. As it turned out, these were some kind of weird dual-filament bulb, 35w low beam, and 36.5w high beam, with a base that nobody in the shop had seen before. Okay, so it wasn't going to be as simple as swapping out bulbs. Perhaps it was time to buy a whole new set of lights! Yeah, that's it... I was always over-driving the stock lights anyways, and some nice new aftermarket solution would be cool. After examining several sets of lights from various manufacturers, I eventually convinced myself that I "needed" a pair of Hella Micro FF driving lights. The housings were sized similarly to the stock lights (120mm wide by 87mm height, by 65mm depth), and incorporated Hella's Free-Form reflector technology for a better beam pattern. They also used readily-available 55w H3 bulbs. And of course, they were the most expensive set of the ones that I checked out, coming in right around the Cdn$200 mark with tax. Update: A pair of these lights are now only US$89.37 with free shipping to a US address, from Amazon.com. (Nov 8/08) The installation went very smoothly, and took about an hour. Dismantling the stock light housings required the removal of a small Phillips-head screw at the bottom of the housing, then pulling off the front bezel and lens assembly. The bulb was unplugged by pushing and twisting the plastic mount. I then cut the stock ends off, leaving just the wires. The stock housing was then removed after popping out the cable strain-relief with a screwdriver. There are three wires in the factory harness; white, black, and yellow. White is low beam, and black is ground. The yellow wire is for the high beam, and is no longer needed. I kept the yellow wire long as I have future plans for it. I installed the H3 bulb into the new lens assembly. I poked the white and black wires through the rubber grommet, then pushed the grommet into the hole at the rear of the light housing. I installed female spade connectors onto the white and black wires, and covered them with heat-shrink tubing to prevent shorts. I slipped a piece of heat-shrink over the H3 bulb's wire, then plugged the black wire onto the lens assembly ground, and attached the white wire to the H3 bulb's wire. I then slid the H3's heat-shrink up to cover the joint. I installed the lens assembly into the housing, then discovered that the Arctic Cat's oval mounting hole was a shade too small for the supplied bolt. A few seconds with a Dremel widened up the hole, and I was able to mount the housing. The light is aligned with an Allen (hex) wrench, and its versatile pivot mount allows movement in all directions. I oriented the mount such that the captive nut faced the center of the quad, and the Allen head faced outside. Luckily, the new light housing was perfectly centered in the light guard, using the factory mounting tab. The other light was mounted in the same fashion. The kit included a set of opaque stone shields, good for protecting the glass lenses from flying rocks when you're following somebody. After sunset, it was time to test them out! Needless to say, there was a HUGE difference. The Hellas lit up the terrain way down the trail, and they also cast a nice glow directly in front of the quad. I was no longer over-driving my lights, which made night riding a whole lot safer. I highly recommend this upgrade if your quad has the same style of lights as mine did. Hella Micro FF Driving, p/n 74500 (1FA 007 133-811) NotesI kept the factory 10A fuse in place just to see what would happen. It hasn't blown after several days of use, but I do carry a 15A spare in addition to the 10A spares, just in case. According to Ohm's Law, I=P/V, or current_draw = 110w/12v which is 9.17 amps. I did try a set of Micro-FF fog lights first, but the beam pattern wasn't suitable for a headlight replacement. |
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