HID / H4 Headlight Conversion?

[Steve]

You lose your high beams? How does that work? Or not work, I guess.

You lose your high beams because your standard bulbs have two filaments, slightly displaced. On the H4 bulbs, the low beam filament is closer to the tip of the bulb, and usually has a shield on one side of it to prevent light from hitting part of the reflector and going UP into oncoming traffic's eyes. The high beam filament is closer to the base of the bulb and is allowed to shine into the whole reflector. The different filament locations also affect the beam pattern due to the useage of different focal points.

The HID bulb is an electric arc. There is only one location for it, and, chances are, it's in the wrong place to start with. The standard filament is oriented front-to-back in the bulb, the HID arc is likely going across the bulb, either side-to-side or top-to-bottom. As cleonard mentioned, there are some recent advances in HID bulbs that will magnetically relocate the arc, but those bulbs are even more expensive. I have also seen some recent bulbs that had a regular tungsten filament for high beams. Yes, most of the time with the lights on is on low beam, but, dangit, I want good lights on low and high beams. 8-[

In general, I will run the brightest bulbs I can in my cars. They all take 9004 bulbs, and I am running 80/100 bulbs. Although my Wing has enough alternator capacity to handle brighter bulbs, \\/ my modulator is not rated for them. Fortunately, I have the newer style lights which are quite excellent for putting light on the road. On me GS bikes, both of them are running stock H4 bulbs. The 850 will be getting a new 7" light sometime in the near future because the reflector is slightly frosted, which is spreading the light out, instead of sending it out to the road. My wife has said many times that, while riding at night out in the country (where I am likely to have my high beams on), she can see the road better with my lights than with hers, even though she is riding 50 yards or so behind me. :shock: But then, I do also have the advantage of a couple of 55-watt driving lights that come on with the high beams.


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[bwringer]

The Sylvania Silverstar is an excellent and widely available standard wattage headlight bulb, and a nearly mandatory GS upgrade.

If you're running a higher wattage bulb, you'll need to upgrade the wiring and connector, preferably with relays. This guy sells VERY nice headlight relay kits:

http://easternbeaver.com/

He claims that a lot of people notice a worthwhile difference by using the relay kit with a good standard wattage headlight bulb, which makes sense to me.

You'll also want to go out right now and look at your GS's headlight connector. I'm using a Silverstar (standard wattage), and I recently found my headlight connector was half melted. I replaced it with a high-temp connector which was about $9 from the local auto parts store (the connections to the bike's wiring were soldered and protected with heat-shrink).

[Suzuki_Don]

On a slightly different subject, but still associated with headlights. Does anyone know what size headlight is used on a '77 GS550. The headlight in my 550 is an 8" H4. The centre is held in by a lip at the top and two screws at 120 degrees from that. I am thinking that maybe the PO put a different headlight shell on the bike. In the owners handbook it shows three screws holding the headlight insert in the bucket. Should it be a 7" headlight.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[TheCafeKid]

My 77 750B uses a 8 incher as well.

[NDAna]

Have HID in my VTX 1800. Hi/lo works great. Uses the moving lamp to gain Hi/lo function.
GS850 has Windjammer with a Hela H4 lamp assembly. Amazing with a SilverStar. Can't wait to put the HID in it! Will report back.
Have well under $200 in both of them and they were purchased 14 months ago. Even less now. DEFINITELY will be staying in the VTX.