HID headlights

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n2ppn

n2ppn

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Here is one more "upgrade" you can try:

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I did this along with the LED upgrades to ALL my incandescent lights on the bike AND am changing the 35W halogen Driving lights to HID as well... better have your sunglasses on at night if I'm behind you with all of 'em on!!


Rich
 
Hi Dan and all,

The HID headlight is a single beam (the ones that tilt the HID bulb to give you the "high beam" are too long to fit into the fairing without making a hole in it and I didn't want to do that just yet) 4300K (now) upgrade kit I bought off eBay for about 35 bucks... it came with TWO ballasts and TWO lamps (spares for an emergency) and was real easy to install... just pulled the headlight wires back into the fairing from the left side turn signal opening (after removing the turn signal of course) and hooking up the new HID ballast to the existing wiring (didn't even have to use wire connectors, the kit was already made up to fit the old headlamp socket) wrap a little electrical tape around the connection, snake the new HID lamp socket back out of the fairing at the headlight grommet, replace the old halogen bulb with the new HID lamp, plug it in, re-install the headlight assembly (I used some double faced tape to hold the ballast in place inside the fairing, you can do the same), replace the turn signal assembly and you're done...

Take cold adult beverage break...

Total time for the upgrade (including extra time if you never removed your headlight assembly from your fairing before) less than one hour MAXIMUM!!



The first kit I bought I ordered with 5000K lamps.... that's the one in the picture.... I found them way too "blue" for my tastes.. They lit up the road signs and other reflective surfaces like nothing else I ever had on the bike!! but the road surface wasn't appearing as bright as it had before with the halogen OEM lamp at 55 Watts (we even had High output 90 watt ones in the bikes for a while back in the eighties, but they were hard on the alternator and charging systems.... 90 watts lo and 110 watts hi beam) so I ordered another set of HID lamps at 4300K (as the numbers get smaller, the light goes from blue to yellow) so I would get a "whiter" light from my HID headlight...

The 4300K lamp was perfect! it was still a little "blue" but it was now lighting up the road surface much better.

The Driving lamps on my bike are wired to the hi-beam circuit, when you put on the hi-beams, the driving lights would come on, I originally did this so that when I needed the additional light to see something far off, it would give me the "fill-in" lighting from the driving lights as well and totally illuminate the road. I changed them out from 55 watt halogens to 35 watt halogens last year.... helped with alternator load considerably... now I have waiting to go in the HID ballasts and lamps to upgrade them to HID from 35 watt halogen (also 4300K) the power consumption will remain the same, but the light output will be incredible (total 105 watts HID with all three on at once)... I'm just debating on whether or not keep them activated by the hi-beam switch, or make them independent...

Rich
 
This is really good information Rich.
Great deal for 2 kits.
Do you have a link? I think I have enough play money to order.

Does the HID high and low switch back instantly like a regular bulb?
I'll eventually install a high/low modulator also so do know if it will work with it?
 
Dan,
I used the single beam HID lamps... the dual (hi/low) beam ones have a magnet and a coil mounted to the lamp assembly that when you hit the Hi beam switch, it uses the electromagnetic coil to tilt the HID bulb to a different angle.... this changes the focal point of the internal reflector of the lamp housing and "simulates" the hi beam effect... by moving the actual position of the lamp inside the headlight housing, it changes the pattern of light being emitted by the headlight, not the actual brightness of the lamp..

Typically HID lamps require a "start-up" period before they reach full brightness as everyone will remember from being inside a gymnasium when the lights went out and then had to restart. Because of this the technology of the "tilting" automotive HID lamp was created....

I will have to add a diode to the electrical system on MY bike to keep the low beam energized as I switch on the driving lights for additional lighting on dark roads. Because of the lack of "instant-on" for high beam use there are even some after-market manufacturers that have halogen bulbs wired for the high beams and HID for the low beams.... this way when you hit the brights, the halogen bulb gives the additional light for the high beam situation...

Since I personally felt that I needed the low beam to be HID and didn't have any reason to need a high beam from the same headlight (because of the driving lights and how they were wired to the high beam circuit)...

But I may reconsider the need if I can find a source of low profile HID dual beam lamps..

As far as a link to eBay, I used a seller called XtremeHID... I think a link to his eBay store is:
https://stores.ebay.com/xtremehid

Their feedback is like 99.6% and over 12 thousand sales... I didn't hesitate to buy from them and was always pleased with the speed of delivery and communication with me. The only thing is that I think they only have single beam HID kits. But if you search eBay for dual beam HID you will undoubtedly find many other sellers.... just look at their feedback scores and if they are in the US (non-US sellers take longer to get your purchases to you due to US customs) My personal preference is for feedback score to be as close to 100% as possible for a LARGE number of sales... there will always be dissatisfied people out there, so if someone has less the 100% I read the complaints to see what the problems were....

I don't want to hijack the thread so if you want to move it to a different topic or forum, please do... (DONE)


Rich
 
I did a little research out there last night...

There are also some versions of the H4 HID lamp with a SECOND halogen lamp mounted on the mounting plate that is used for the high beam application...

I have not experimented with any of these bulb types, I have read though (on other websites) that because of having to move the HID lamp over to the side to allow for the halogen bulb to be mounted on the holder, it affects the performance of the HID lamp (it's no longer on the center of the reflector) and the halogen bulb doesn't really "do the trick" for hi beams...

Also I read that there have been reports of the magnetic types of hi beam actuators (which can also slide a cylindrical collar up and down over the HID lamp as well as tilt the lamp assembly) have early failure rates and may not be reliable especially in motorcycles...

I will probably stick to the single beam HID with the driving lights as my Hi Beams added to the headlight...

Rich
 
Very good info here....I sure wished my headlight put out more juice....at least on the road. It lights up the overhead road signs just perfectly. It will not adjust down any further. I been considering HID, but do NOT like the blue stuff...it's annoying as hell, imo. The light(s) in this discussion sound like what I am looking for! All I need am a little more $$$ to play with....
 
I know what your saying about that blue light, I hate it too but I think right around 4000k the color is real close to halogen.
For $35 it's worth trying especially if it puts out more light forward and being seen while using less power.

My main concern is buying a kit that IS so cheap since I've seen similar 2 lamp kits going for over $100.
 
Do you have a radio?
I had to switch back to H4 because my new stereo (mounted between stock hondaline speakers) got inteference from HID. My old radio (mounted in the left glove box) was okay.
 
skiri251":2ysa8p5w said:
Do you have a radio?
I had to switch back to H4 because my new stereo (mounted between stock hondaline speakers) got inteference from HID. My old radio (mounted in the left glove box) was okay.
Click to expand...

Holey Mackerel - you have more packed onto that motorcycle than I can get into a moving Van
 
1060dsl":3dd6sehs said:
Holey Mackerel - you have more packed onto that motorcycle than I can get into a moving Van
Click to expand...

:smilie_happy: Do you realize there's a young-un sitting in the rear? Hard to see, but he's there! :mrgreen:
 
Now I missed that for sure, I see that rascal now though... aaahhh he's blends right in don't he..I think I have a H-4 set up, I may consider this mod.. sounds good..
 
I wonder why I got interference (the radio picked up a noise). Was it just a matter of routing cables?

As for my avator pic, my son likes to wear camo shirt and pants so that helps him become invisible.
We are used to sidecar camping with lots of stuff and cannot shake off that habit quite yet.

I used to go motorcycle camping solo with Coleman peak 1 gas stove getting gas from motorcycle gas tank and just a half gallon of water for cooking a meal and coffee, but now completely spoiled.
 
:headscratch:
I s'pose there would be a solution for the RFI with the HID set-up...perhaps a capacitor in-line either on the HID power wire, or on the power wire to the stereo?
 
OK,
Here's the nitty gritty... The HID ballasts are are switching power supplies... they sometimes generate electrical/RF interference. RF Interference can be heard in your sound system as a humming, or buzzing or high pitched while that does not vary with engine speed or engine off.. sometimes it is almost inaudible, other times it will compete with the music...

RF Interference can usually be eliminated in several different ways...

Grounding
Make sure that EVERYTHING HAS AS MUCH GROUNDING AS POSSIBLE hooked up to is... nothing should rely solely on the frame of the motorcycle as it's only grounding point... Run new heavy guage ground wires back to the negative terminal of the battery.

Shielding
You can take the offending device and enclose it with a metallic shielded enclosure that is grounded.... this works for devices that don't send interfering signals out through their wiring and just emit the "noise" from their internal parts... You can also use shielded wiring to and from the offending device and or the device receiving the interference, make sure that the shield is grounded at both ends of the wire (otherwise by grounding only one side of the wire, you can create an "antenna" out of the wire and make noise worse). Tin foil can be used as shielding material to determine if shielding would work... if noise decreases or is eliminated increase it a bit more, if it eliminates it then make the shielding a little more permanent.

Relocation
Sometimes moving the offending device further away from something that is picking up the noise will reduce or eliminate the noise. If your ballast makes noise when near the radio, move it to the other side of the fairing... if noise goes away great! If it reduces, try one of the other methods to eliminate it completely.

Filter
Adding noise canceling or filtering devices to either or both the power leads TO the device picking up the noise (sometimes the noise is transmitted through the power leads) and the external audio inputs (like for iPods, or MP3 players, etc.) with an AUDIO ISOLATION TRANSFORMER will stop noise from entering the amplifier through the external inputs. RF Chokes (round donut shaped rings of ferrite can be used on cables and wires also to try to eliminate electrical or RF noise. Filters can be found at several different locations like Radio Shack or car audio install shops.. A typical 20A rated power line filter should cost about $25 and filter single mode (one power line or the other producing the noise) and common mode (both power lines producing the noise) noises... an audio isolation transformer will have RCA jacks for the input and output (you can always modify these if needed).


I had to add an audio isolation filter to my iPod input for the mega sound system as the external input picked up the HID ballast... it wasn't loud, but I wanted nothing but music coming out of my speakers.

Oh the speaker wires don't need to be addressed in trying to fix RF interference as they don't usually connect to any input places inside the radio or amplifier they are hooked up to..

Rich
 
Thanks.
The stereo power cable goes along balast and HID cables quite a length.
That might have done it. Like I said, I had a different stereo mounted in the left glove box and it was okay (just the radio didn't pick up enough stations, so I ditched it.)
Mine is several year old hi/lo hid with a solenoid and solenoid quit working after a few years.
I will buy a new one. The one you showed looks good.
 
As far as HID color goes believe it or not the closer you are to 3000K the whiter the light... 3600K is the closest to white you can get.... the 4300K is still a little blue but a whole lot better than the 5000K which was BLUE to say the least... so I would say to order something in the 3000K to 4000K range for the whitest light you can get at HID brightness...


Rich

Toytender, I just have a lot of experience in "search and destroy" missions for RFI/EMI interference... Ham Radio and electronics background tend to do that to ya after a while.... once had to track down a source of "ground bars" being displayed on a live video feed from highway cameras going to the NYSDOT traffic control center... now that was fun!!!
 

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