BOOOOOM...............I did it! Thanks to all you guys on the forum I actually managed to put together a light system for my bike. I wanted something really bright primarily because I'm going to be commuting in Charleston, SC where there tends to be a heck of a lot of morning fog and drivers with bad eyesight. I started with 2 PILOT 55 W running lights that I bought from Advance. (40.00). These come with a good wire harness with built in fuse and rocker switch. I then called Zbattery and ordered a HR15-12 (13ah) battery. One note on Zbattery. They are great folks. I spoke with Brian and told him what I needed. He called me back in 5 min. after speaking with their engineer who was out of town on a family emergency and recommended the forementioned battery. The battery, recharger and alligator clips were 57.00 with shipping. If I run two 55 w bulbs........according to the formula DCCommuter posted earlier I should get ...12 times 13=156. 156/110=1.42hours in theory. But in reality half or .71 hrs or about 40 minutes of burn time.
I also ordered the yellow strobe and a couple of MR-16 bulbs (35 watt flood 4700 degree and a yellow one to see if if did any better in the fog).
Well I got everything wired together just after dark and went outside to try it out. I have not mounted the battery yet but plan to put in it a toolbox on a back rack tomorrow. MAN!, It was bright. I could spotlight deer with it. I pulled the car beside the bike for a comparison and the lights on the bike were brighter than the dims on the car. Also they were whiter. The PILOT box the lights came in states that it is HID white beam. I don't think they are HID lights, just HID simulated but man they are bright.
Regarding the tail lights. I was a little underwhelmed with the amber strobe that came today and an optronics red beehive that i picked up from Advance that has a bulb. Also the mr-16s came today and there is no way to replace the existing bulbs in the lights with the ones I ordered because the lense and reflectors on the Pilots are sealed into the housing. The bulbs I ordered online came with the bulb sealed to the the reflectors. If I change bulbs it will have to be just bulbs and not the reflectors. Oh well........... all in all I'm pretty happy. The system did cost a little over $100, but there is no way I would have been able to buy a comparable system for anywhere close to that. I still plan to tinker with the rear lighting. I have been thinking about a 6" diameter strobe like goes on wreakers with the revolving reflector.
Again, thanks to all who have contributed to the thread.
On a side note. I used a socket bar to make a mount for my rear lights. They are stainless steel and therefore will not rust. Also they are strong enough to bend to whatever form you need and still support a considerable amt. of weight. Also I visited a metal recycling yard today, and they had a ton of old bikes. They let me have any accessories off of them I wanted (reflector mounts, reflectors, racks, etc) for free.