NO
bulbs have nothing to do with regulators
regulators control the voltage of the alternator and therefore the amperage output of the alternator
what higher wattage bulbs will do
if you have plastic reflectors , they will melt the reflectors
if you run too high a wattage bulbs , you will burn the wiring harness to the lights as the current draw will exceed the wire capacity to handle the amps
if you have current 55/65 head light h4 bulbs then going up to 55/85 will be about as high a wattage you can go before you have to consider relays for each bulb and the reflector quality
Surely demanding a higher current from the alternator, for higher wattage bulbs, requires a higher voltage from the regulator?
NO--- the voltage regulator is set at 14.5to 14.8 volts or else the battery boils
the voltage controls the current ( amps produced)
using bigger wattage bulbs only uses extra amps which the regulator adjusts to up to the maximum amperage that the alternator can produce
So if you have--for discussion-- a 100 amp alternator fitted, the the voltage is set at 14.5 volts and the amps produced will depend on the amps required
so on starting, the starter draws 500 amps which comes from the battery
the voltage regulator sets at 14.5 volts to overcome the 13.5 volts of the battery and that pushes amps into the battery until the cells will not accept any more current and so the amps drop of to what is required to run the electronics
now when you turn on the lights, the requirement is for more amps so the regulator now lets more amps from the alternator to compensate for what is being used from the battery
for discussion --your lights draw 10 amps and the electronics draw 10 amps you have a need of 20 amps which the alternator now provides through the regulator amps setting and not from the battery
now we go to extreme and put very large driving lights (200 watts per light) and there are 4 lights
the amps are now exceeding the 100 amp capacity of the alternator ( still at 14.5 volts) and so after a period of driving the engine starts to falter and stops, because the battery is supplying the extra amps and goes flat.
it amounts to this- for your line of thinking, the bulbs are 12 volts regardless of the wattage and if you increased the voltage because of the extra wattage then the 12 volt bulb would blow out as they will only handle the 12 volts or 13.5 max from the battery so a 200 watt bulb is still only 12 volts the same voltage as a 5 watt bulb--12 volts
Thanks for the assistance, Bill. Why I asked this was because the regulator on this bike had blown and I found that the Bulb being used was a 60/55W instead of the recommended 35/35.
Thanks again.
My mistake , I took it that it was a car not a motor bike. however the principle is the same regardless but the reason for the regulator failure may be different
positioning of the regulator may place it in a hot environment and if fully electronic , that would cause the components to over heat and fail
for example in a car if the regulator is external to the alternator it is placed on the fire wall or inner guard well away from the engine heat source
if it is internal in the alternator it is cooled by the fan attached to the back if the pulley
another point is all regulators are not equal as some manufacturers use components that are working at the limits while others give their components a safety margin to allow for power surges, heat, constant current etc so on replacing a regulator , first determine if there is a circuit problem--- wire damage , dead short etc ( bike auto electrician will have the knowledge) and then invest in a quality regulator not necessarily the OEM brand
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