General FAQs

You can purchase our products directly from us, either online or by contacting us directly via email or phone (sales@clearwaterlights.com or 916-852-7029), or you can contact your local motorcycle dealership to see if they carry our products. To see which of our products will work with your motorcycle, you can check out the Shop By Bike feature here, give us a call at (916) 852-7029, or send an email to sales@clearwaterlights.com. If your local dealership does not carry our products, let us know and we will happily get in touch with them and introduce ourselves and our products!

For customers in United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, please order though Moto-Hub.com. Contact moe@moto-hub.com to place your order for Clearwater Lights.

Why do we use Posi connects?

We have found that Posi connects are the best "all around" connector for the average Joe, as most of our customers don't even have a soldering iron. When done correctly, Posi connects are very reliable. We have used many hundreds of thousands of them. Soldering requires high level of skill, consistency and expensive equipment that many of our customers do not have. Likewise, crimping has been proven to be inconsistent due to the poor quality of cheap consumer grade crimpers. The crimpers we use at Clearwater Lights are calibrated and require a full "Cycle" and click when completed. This keeps every crimp "honest". We take conscious steps to ensure the installation is as easy for our customers as possible, especially since many do not have the tools that a motorcycle shop would have.

Clearwater Lights kits include a pair of lights, in addition to all of the necessary mounting hardware, for an all-in-one solution to your lighting needs.

A hybrid kit allows you to mix two complementary lights together; for example, a Krista and an Erica, or an Erica and a Sevina, by providing one spotlight and one flood light. We also now offer a Sevina + Super Sevina Hybrid Kit. This allows the rider to increase both daytime conspicuity as well as your near- and far-distance nighttime illumination at a great price. When purchasing Krista or Erica kits, selecting the "Yes" option from the "Upgrade to a Hybrid Kit" menu will automatically upgrade your purchase to a hybrid kit with the next light size up. For example, an upgraded Krista kit will contain (1) Krista light and (1) Erica light. An upgraded Erica kit will contain (1) Erica light and (1) Sevina light. An upgraded Sevina kit will contain (1) Sevina light and (1) Super Sevina light.

 R1200 GSA with a Krista/Erica Hybrid setup

Every Clearwater Lights kit is an all-in-one lighting solution that includes a pair of lights, wiring harness, mounting brackets, and all necessary hardware. If you need a CANopener, that is included as well. You do not have to shop for additional items necessary to mount our lights. We offer universal mounting kits, as well as mounting kits specific to hundreds of available motorcycles. There are even several mounting location options (fork, crash bar, etc.) for most motorcycles. As a result, there is no guesswork on your part, you’ll get exactly what you need to install your lights exactly where you want them.
Clearwater Lights are the brightest on the market, and are designed to be used and abused on all types of terrain and under a variety of conditions. Currently, our primary audience is motorcyclists – all of our motorcycle auxiliary lights are designed and made specifically for motorcycles, by motorcyclists, and we adapt that technology to our other products. We take note of commonly-experienced issues and design flaws so that we can improve and perfect the next generation of each light.
All of the components in our products are made right here in the USA; in fact, our products and most of the materials that we use are designed, fabricated, assembled, and shipped out of the same family-owned facility in northern California.
We offer world-class customer service and product support. When you call us, we answer; when you email us, you will get a response within one business day (or sooner). Your concerns will always be handled by an on-site employee, likely an assembler, installer, or technician - maybe even Glenn (the Clearwater Lights owner and president) himself!
Our products are guaranteed for a year, but if you experience a problem at any time with your Clearwater Lights, even after years of ownership, we are only a phone call or email away. Let us know what’s going on, and we will be happy to work out a solution that keeps you satisfied.

Absolutely! We have over 500,000 satisfied customers worldwide, many of whom installed their kits themselves. If you perform routine maintenance on your bike and are comfortable with basic tools, installation is not difficult. Most installations take between 1-3 hours; however, motorcycles with full fairings can take a little longer. Check out our installation videos here for a better idea of what an installation involves, and never hesitate to email us at sales@clearwaterlights.com if you get stuck!

Yes, we do. Time to complete installations usually range from 1-3 hours. Be sure to schedule an appointment at least 2 days in advance; however, install schedule availability may vary.

There is a Clearwater Lights kit that will work for almost every motorcycle, and we are adding new motorcycles to that list all the time! Check out our Shop By Bike feature here to see the motorcycle-specific kits available for your motorcycle. If your motorcycle is not there, we have universal kits that fit hundreds of motorcycles, and also offer custom fabrication.

We suggest that street riders utilize the Darlas at a minimum, for added daytime and nighttime conspicuity. Studies have shown that motorcycles are noticed more readily by motorists if light comes from more than one source on the motorcycle, and adding Darlas to your motorcycle will provide you with the recommended “triangle of conspicuity.” If you are a street rider who rides primarily during the day, these will make you more visible in daytime traffic and during poor weather, and will also provide some added illumination in the rare instances that you may be riding at night.
For riders who do more nighttime and/or off-road riding (especially where the path may not be well lit by street lights), the added illumination from our larger lights, such as Kristas, Ericas, or Sevinas, a hybrid combination, is a safety necessity. They will increase your conspicuity, while also providing near- and far-distance illumination of the path ahead. You can also add a set of Darlas to our larger light kits for a discount. More information about matching Clearwater Lights to your riding style is offered in the FAQs specific to the different light kits that we offer.

Do your kits include mounting hardware?

Yes - Clearwater Lights kits are a one-stop-shopping experience! Everything you need to install your lights is included in the kit you will receive, including all mounting hardware.

Clearwater Lights use top quality, reliable parts for every step along the design-build process, including Posi-Products connectors. Wiring is silver-plated, fine strand copper with very tough, high-temperature Teflon insulation. The conductors are housed in a tough polyethylene jacket with silicone lubricant to improve long-term vibration resistance. High-grade silvercontent solder is used on all internal electrical joints. Adhesive coated shrink tube is used on all of our harness systems and relays.

Clearwater Lights proudly utilize Cree LED lights and LED components in all of our products.
Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs and LED lighting.

Yes, our lenses have been carefully chosen to produce an effective light projection for many riding styles. We have several different optics and characteristics of light projection to ensure our customers get Clearwater Lights that match their riding/driving style. Depending upon the model light, we have a spot optic, fog optic and a driving optic. Darlas and Ericas utilize a driving beam which projects a large circular beam. Kristas and Sevinas utilize a spot beam and/or optional fog beam. The Dixi utilizes both a driving beam and spot and/or optional fog beam. There are a number of possible combinations to allow for tailoring a Clearwater Lights setup for a specific riding/driving style.

Kelvin color temperature is a way to describe the appearance of light emitted from a light bulb. The color temperature of the emitted light is equivalent to a piece of metal heated to that same temperature in Kelvin, on a scale of 0 to 10,000. The light temperature that we use in our lights is blue-white, which mimics daylight. This temperature is frequently used for safety lighting (which we consider our lights to be) due to its crisp, attention-grabbing ambience.

Yes, we can offer you the lights at a lower cost without brackets. Please email us at sales@clearwaterlights.com, and we will be happy to work out a price.

Motorcycles and cars traditionally use fuses to protect wires against shorts and possible fires. BMW has an electrical control system on many of their motorcycles produced after 2005, called a CANbus system. CAN stands stands for "controller area network." The CANbus system is a computer-controlled protection system that serves as a set of automatic fuses, directing all operational input from the rider to this computer in order to produce the desired output. For example, rather than the rider engaging the turn signal button and the input going directly to the turn signal, the input first goes through the computer before the turn signal comes on. Blown fuses result when the wiring gets overloaded because too much power is being used. With a CANbus system, instead of having to replace a blown fuse, the computer automatically turns off the electricity to the wire connected to the feature that isn’t responding. The computer then turns the electricity back on once the overload condition stops. When a person adds accessories to a circuit drawing power away from the battery, such as a set of auxiliary lights, a GPS, or heated gear, the computer senses this, and may turn off the power to the circuit if it is perceived as a problem. Sometimes this causes a problem with operating the motorcycle.
Clearwater Lights do not cause such problems because we have developed a CANbus-specific wiring harness, called the CANopener, which derives all the necessary power directly from the battery rather than other circuits.

Yes, they are. They can be dimmed with the Wonder Wheel on CANopener bikes, or a separately mounted dimmer knob for non-Wonder Wheel bikes.

We use a "dimming" method that actually fools the human eye into thinking that the intensity of the lights is being reduced. While in fact, we are running the LEDs at full power but turning them off quickly so that the eye is "averaging" the intensity and we "think" the light is lower in intensity. So, we turn the lights OFF 50% of the time when the intensity is set to 50%. In the span of one second, the lights are turning on and off approx 250 times! BMW also uses this method to control the brightness and heat output of their LEDs. It is called PWM. Pulse Width Modulation.

If I add high powered LED lights to my vehicle, will I need a second battery?

No, not at all. In fact, adding a second battery will make your alternator have even less power for your accessories. Two batteries require twice the charging power (amperage) to keep them charged. Even fully charged, a battery is a “load”.

It is not necessary to add another battery if you are planning on driving or riding your vehicle while using your accessory. Adding a second battery is a good idea if you want to use your accessory while the vehicle is at rest and the engine is not running. This is the idea behind a “house” battery in an RV or boat. The extra battery is only for powering accessories while at rest. The main battery, sometimes called the “coach” battery is for starting the engine. Often times, both batteries are isolated to keep them from becoming depleted.

On a motorcycle, there are various electrical components that need power while the bike is running. Fuel injection systems, ignition systems, computers and such all need power to keep the engine running. This power needed can be as high as 400 watts! Depending on the headlight design, the low beam may or may not be used while the high beam is activated. Single headlight bikes generally use an H4 bulb that only uses the low OR the high beam. Dual headlight bikes often use BOTH the low and high beam. The difference in power usage can be up to 65-150 watts between low and high beams. Motorcycles come with alternators that provide power to keep the engine running plus some “extra” to charge the battery and run accessories. This “extra” power varies across bike brands and models. With the introduction of “adventure” and “touring” bikes, manufacturers have increased the alternator capacity (watts) to allow the addition of more accessories (heated garments, radios, lights).

For example, a BMW R1200RT motorcycle (years 2013-2020) is unique in that it has a single 55 watt low beam headlight housing and (2) 55 watt high beam housings. So, this bike uses 55 watts on low beam and 165 watts on high beam. This is because all (3) beams are on during high beam. Now, if you compare this to a similar year range R1200GS with the factory LED headlight, it uses about 25 watts on low and about 45 watts on high. So, with the RT you have over 100 watts LESS available power for accessories. For 2021, BMW redesigned the RT headlight to an adaptive LED version. So, power usage on the brand new RT will be comparable to the GS.

Do I have to use the dimmer?

No. However, without the dimmer, Clearwater Lights will be on full (100%) power whenever the bike is running.

Clearwater Lights cannot guarantee that your radio(s) will not have interference; however, in thousands of installations, we have seen RF interference in only about six cases. Of those six cases, we were unable to remove the noise in four. Clearwater Lights’ president and founder, Glenn Stasky, has a background that includes many years of experience troubleshooting noise problems in car audio installations, in addition to lecturing on techniques for solving noise related problems in high-end automotive sound systems. By nature, motorcycles do not have a steel chassis and ground planes for noise isolation like automobiles do; therefore, motorcycles are in fact more susceptible to noise, and noise troubleshooting can be time-consuming. If you are experiencing noise or RF issues related to the installation of Clearwater Lights on your motorcycle, we suggest that you look at the grounding configuration of your radio(s). Also, consider moving the antenna and re-routing the antenna cable. The noise can be entering the radio either via the antenna or the input power wire. A quick test for this would be to power up the radio(s) from an auxiliary battery that is NOT connected to the bike. If the noise goes away, consider adding a noise filter on the input power wire. If it does not go away, disconnect the antenna cable from the back of the radio(s). This will help indicate if the noise is coming in from the antenna or the cable. Simply moving the antenna to the rear of the bike can also sometimes help.
A good radio installation/troubleshooting shop may ask these questions:
1-How many radios do you have on this bike?

2-Who installed them?

3-What other accessories are on the bike?

4-How many antennas are on the bike?

5-Where are the antennas located?

6-Where are the grounds located?

7-Are any antenna cables bundled with the power wires?

8-Does your bike interfere with any of your friend's bikes when you ride together?

You can also try powering the LED lights from an auxiliary battery and then move the lights closer to your bike. This will help you isolate the cause.
Here is an interesting statement that Glenn used to make in his lectures: "All motor vehicles that use an internal combustion engine with an alternator will have noise in any audio system connected to that vehicle. Every time. On some vehicles, the noise may not be perceptible, on some it may be unacceptable. The difference is how well that noise is minimized."
It appears that any LED light with a switching power supply may cause interference in your radio; not just Clearwater Lights. There might be an alternative radio installation technique that will help. Until then, we recommend that you consider converting to a standard halogen bulb.

We offer a discount for active duty military; thank you for serving our country.

Clearwater Lights Warranty