hid kits

[unclebeaner]

anyone have any luck with any of these kits in our bikes? entertaing the idea of installing one

[SqDancerLynn1]

Depending on your state it may be illegal

[unclebeaner]

here in michigan its legal begal

[salty_monk]

I put one on a 1000G for a guy who wanted to create extra capacity for his heated vest.

His had Halogen main beam so you need to start with it on main beam then switch over once in motion (chugging on the starter overloads the ballast).

Came from www.hidonline.com I think. Was a H4 conversion. All the gubbins fitted in the headlight bucket with a shove...

Personally I wouldn't bother!

[bakalorz]

anyone have any luck with any of these kits in our bikes? entertaing the idea of installing one

Let me start by saying that as far as I'm concerned my HID light is absolutely great. I love it.

This is pretty long, hope it provides some useful info.

---

When I first started to find out about HIDs, I was trying to find out about the different types ... the car ones are pretty simple ... if you get an actual HID (with a ballast) its probably
legit.

For motorcycles using H4 bulbs (thats us), the situation is complicated by there being 2 filaments in one H$ bulb (oops, typo ... but it fits)
This doesn't lend itself well to HID, because (the common wisdom is that) its pretty bad for the life of the bulb to be switching it on and off a lot.
So putting two "filaments" (actually arc chambers) in one bulb and switching between them frequently would be horrible for bulb lifetime.
Also when you first turn on an HID the light is pretty dim for a second or two, and them ramps up to full. Again, not what you want when switching between high and low beams.

So what did the makers of HID H4s come up with:

The cheapest H4 HIDs are low beam only, they don't do the high beam at all (the low beam just stays on when you switch to what should be the high beam)
They usually say "low beam only" in the advertising.
The theory is that this low beam is so much brighter than a H4 halogen on low beam that you don't really need your high beam ...
This idea actually works pretty well in my car. the HID low beams have a long enough reach that the halogen high beams are pretty much pointless ... But in a BIKE ?


Thanks, but no ... I want a REALLY bright high beam, so that its pretty darn bright during the day, and makes all the left turning soccermoms in their minivans quake in fear that the apocalypse is descending upon them from behind a nuclear fire, waking them from their torpor before they cut a close left in front of me ... THATS what I want...

If anyone claims they didn't see me, I want the only possible reason to be because their eyes have been seared shut from staring at my light too long.


So further investigation revealed that there are HID-H4s which are marked Bi-Xenon and Hi-Lo. These all have a round cylinder an inch or two in diameter and an inch or two long behind the light capsule.
Inside the cylinder is a solenoid. It moves the bulb element back and forth behind a shield like the one in a halogen bulb. So instead of two filaments, there is only one gas chamber, but it moves into the two places the the two filaments would have been ... SLICK ... You get both high and low beams using one gas capsule, and both beams are HID.

So I was all set to get one and started shopping Ebay for price and shipping speed. (most of the HID kits ship from hong kong, normal shipping is 15 to 20 days, an expedited shipping is 4-5)
I found a Hi-Low HID that was pretty reasonable, and shipped from a warehouse in the US.
Curiously, while they did say hi-lo, they did not have the word Bi-Xenon in their ad ... so I called their 1-800 number and asked if theirs had the solenoids and did both High and Low beam ... Well not exactly ... the salesdude says they used to sell those, but had a really high rate of returns within the warranty period.
The mechanical movement just couldn't hack the vibration.

So what they sold now was a low beam HID, with a high beam halogen mounted in the high beam filament position ... The HID low beam is always on, but when you switch to high beams, the halogen high beam comes on in addition to the HID low beam, so no mechanical movement, no on/off cycling for the HID element ... did I want one of those.

I thought about this for a while, but decided against it. One of the points of the HIDs for me is to free up some extra current to use for other lights, vests, etc.
And having both a HID lowbeam and a halogen Highbeam on at the same time costs a lot of extra current instead of less current.
Also, I WANT the HID on the High beam ... nuclear lights of the apocalypse and all that ... what to do ???

I eventually got one of the solenoid operated Bi-Xenon bulbs.
My reasoning is as follows ... what brand of motorcycles are the majority of the lights probably sold to in the US ... what brand of V-twin motorcycles has a reputation for shaking a lot ... does my GS have anywhere near the vibration of a Hardley-Ableson ... probably not ... I'll gamble that it survives long enough to be useful.

Looking for them some more, I saw that the H4 kits intended for cars (instead of motorcycles) came with TWO bulb assemblies and two ballasts for about $10 more ... so If I got those, I would have a spare bulb for when the vibration broke mine ... so thats what I got.

This ended up being good for another reason too: The Bi-Xenons all come with a relay to interpret your high beam switch and send the signal to activate the solenoid. This relay also provides the power to the ballast. Since the car one has to power 2 ballasts which are on opposite sides of the car, one of the ballast wires is much longer ... this let me locate my relay under the seat, and get power to the ballast which is mounted under the tank, between the sparkplug coils.

---

So lets talk about some potential problems with HID lighting.

Contrary to what some say, the beam pattern is for all intents and purposes the same. I checked and compared pretty carefully when I put mine in.
The most outspoken opponent of HID conversions is Daniel Stern Lighting's webpage. He states that putting in HIDs makes the light violate the legal beam pattern.
He's right, but if you read the analysis carefully, the reason they violate the pattern is that they are brighter at all points in the pattern, and some points have legal maximums.
So basicaly the HIDs are too bright ... bummer

AFAIK, there is a federal DOT standard that basically says you can't change to a different light source from what the vehicle came with.
All the states basically end up incorporating it by refrence to the federal one. Which means that they are technically ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE for on road use.
How much this is enforced is a potentially different story.

One thing that I think has a huge influence is the color temperature that you pick. If you pick a blue or purple color, you are asking to be pulled over, or have a charge tacked on if pulled over for something else.
For two reasons:

First, all the Racer boys in the civics with fart-can mufflers use blue and purple HIDs, so if the cops see blue or purple they pretty much KNOW off the bat it's illegal. The lowest color temprature white looks brighter white than halogen, but its not obvious enough that they will notice it offhand.

Second, the higher the color temp, the more it is distracting to both other drivers (and the police). Blue light diffracts more than other colors in both air and in the interior of the eye. (thats why its at one end of the rainbow) This makes it harder to get rid of the irritation by looking away, because the light scatters in anyway.

Two other reasons to stay away from blue are: the bluer bulbs put out less actual light, so don't help you see better.
Rain, fog, and snow diffract blue MUCH more, so you get more glare if your lights are blue (thats why fog lights are yellow instead)

For all these reasons, as far as I'm concerned there is only ONE choice for color temperature for motorcycle lighting: 4300k

-

Another issue to be aware of with HIDs is potentially dangerous voltage levels.
The ballast takes the 12-14 volts from the battery and steps it up to high voltages. Close to 100 volts when its running, and thousands of volts to start the arc.
If any of that gets to you while you are riding, you will have a VERY bad day.

This has two implications to me. Any wire between the ballast and the bulb has to be carefully routed so that it doesn't get cut or chafed near the steering head. And if a wire does get cut, I'm not going to try to repair or reinsulate it myself, cause I'm not sure that I can do it so it withstands thousands of volts ...

-

And one final disadvantage of HID lights ... When I installed mine, I was checking out the brightness. One of the things I noticed is that if I was looking at my bike from within the high beam zone, the headlight was so bright that it totally swamped out the front turn signals. I'm going to try to get the brightness of the signals up (and/or move them farther from the headlight), but in the meantime, I have to be aware that anyone in front of me probably won't really see the turn signals unless looking very carefully for them.

[bakalorz]

anyone have any luck with any of these kits in our bikes? entertaing the idea of installing one

Oh, and by the way ... the Ebay kits shipped from china were running about $50 - 65, compared to much more from other sources ...

[shedman1300]

A mate put them in his suzuki. Although they worked well, we ride in a small group and he doesnt like leading.
He copped so much flack by people telling him to pass them or stop following them that he took them out.
Riding with those hids behind you can be off putting (they are bloody bright)
Just my 2 cents but each to there own.

[unclebeaner]

ordered up a set i write up how they proform when installed

[fastpakr]

I've been running a bi-xenon set from DDMTuning.com for three or four thousand miles now on the Vulcan 500. No problems with it so far. Their system is $40 plus shipping ($15 or so) and they have a good customer service reputation from what I've read. I'm happy with mine and plan on getting another system for the Silverwing when it's on the road.

[jimfj]

did you get the 35W or the 55w from DDM tuning? How hard to install??

Jim

[fastpakr]

I have the 35w kit. Installation is extremely easy. By far the hardest piece of the puzzle was just finding an out of sight place to park the ballast and power junction box. Wiring it in is as simple as it gets. Two power cables to the battery, unplug the old bulb and connect it's plug into the new system, and plug the HID wiring into the new lamp. That's basically all there is to it.

[jimfj]

I see they have the kit for the dual range of bulbs, do you feel the single 35w is bright enough for both or do you feel the need for a highbeam??
What color temp did you use?


This whole topic is very interesting to me. I seems to me that my stock H4 bulb just doesn't put out the light it should. I know the technogy is almost 30 years old. I want no part of the purple or blue, I just want the extra light in front of me. I ride alot in the evening, and it just makes sense.

I have been trying to figure out a way to put a set of driving/fog lights on my bike but always hesitated because of the somewhat puny charging system. This might be an alternative.

[fastpakr]

I have the 35w hi/low system. A servo moves a shield when switched to high beam to adjust the beam pattern.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-35W-55W-Single-HiLo-Motorcycle-HID-Kit

Mine is a 6000K kit. White with no bluish tent whatsoever.

[bluepinner]

Could you write a tut or directions for me? I would really like to do this mod.

[fastpakr]

https://www.ddmtuning.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=11&nav=0,1