In Support of Headlight Modulators

Disclaimer: I work for an insurance company, so after a while, everything looks like an accident could happen. Believe me…I’ve seen it all. Plus, before they went on my bikes, I had countless cars look at me, not see me, and pull out.

What modulators are: they are a plug a play unit that makes your headlight appear that it’s flashing on and off. Installation takes a few minutes, unless you install it backwards and you have to factor in the time you saved not reading the instructions offset by the time it takes to order a new one. The instructions actually make installation fool-proof.

What they do: They make distracted cagers more likely to stop whatever nonsense they are doing and notice you. Since “I never saw him” is a typical excuse for hitting a biker, a modulator improves your chances.

Flashing gets attention…as most men at Bike rallies will attest…so why not put the “flashing principle” to work to reduce your chance of being hit?

Cost: about $100

They have a light sensor so they don’t modulate at night.

They are legal. They don’t actually flash on and off…but shine from 100% to 20% to 100% so they look like they are flashing.

As far as I can tell, they don’t shorten bulb life. I use something like a 100w/55w H4 European bulb so it’s easily seen in the daylight. The pulsing seems to reduce the current draw, so I’ve never smoked a wire using the higher wattage bulb. YMMV.

Some can be wired to the low or high beam circuit. I use the high beam so I can turn it on using my hi-low beam switch and leave it off when I don’t want to use it. Others come with standard connectors so it automatically runs on the high beam circuit.

The P’witz crew have installed modulators on all my V-twin bikes. I installed the one on my BMW K1200LT.

Caution: watch our for A.C. electrical systems (like some scooters) where you need to specify A.C.

I’ll see you down the road.

Thug