Halogen headlight upgrade

[Nessism]

I'd recommend against using high wattagage bulbs since they will suck more current and run hotter. The electrical harness and headlamp plug socket is not designed for all the heat and may melt.

Not sure about the X-treme Power bulb but some of the Phillips bulbs use stainless steel contact tabs, which transfer heat into the harness plug more than plated brass contacts that Sylvania typically uses. I learned this when working at the auto plant - we had a problem with melted plugs when the supplier started using Phillips bulbs. Been leary every since.

Hope this helps someone.

[bwringer]

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/conductors-d_1381.html

http://www.ssina.com/publications/fasten.html

Brass conducts heat and electricity far better than stainless, so the problem with overheating connectors probably came from stainless' greater electrical resistance.

-=-=-=-=-

Anyway, I've found heat-damaged headlight connectors in a couple of old bikes. I think it has more to do with aging plastic and creeping corrosion than the material used for the conductors.

If the connector in your bike is melted, you can get heat-resistant connectors at any auto parts store for about $10 for two.

[Matchless]

Then the ultimate a motorcycle HID conversion kit only 32 Watts!
Have alook here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BI-XE...spagenameZWDVW

[Nessism]

Then the ultimate a motorcycle HID conversion kit only 32 Watts!
Have alook here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BI-XE...spagenameZWDVW

HID bulbs are taller, and reflect differently, than the typical H4 bulb. If you stick one of these bulbs in a reflector shell intended for an H4 bulb the focal point will be off and the lamp projection will be off accordingly. Not sure how much of an issue this is but I do know that the lamp assemblies with OE HID bulbs are designed for them.

[argonsagas]

Something like this will do nicely, as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Truck-Parts-Accessories__H4-Super-White-HID-XENON-6000K-Halogen-Bulb_W0QQitemZ350125039097QQadiZ2865QQadnZCarQ20Q26Q20TruckQ20PartsQ20Q26Q20AccessoriesQQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item350125039097&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A543%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

The xenon bulb at 6000K output is a bright, clean, white light on the road.

A lower rating is more yellow and higher is more blue. White is best. 6000k is pretty close to daylight. (about 5800k)

This is much better than standard bulbs (yellow) and also better a normal halogen (brighter, but still yellow-to-yellowish) because the light is brighter and thus better for you.

[Matchless]

Something like this will do nicely, as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Truck-Parts-Accessories__H4-Super-White-HID-XENON-6000K-Halogen-Bulb_W0QQitemZ350125039097QQadiZ2865QQadnZCarQ20Q26Q20TruckQ20PartsQ20Q26Q20AccessoriesQQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item350125039097&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A543%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

The xenon bulb at 6000K output is a bright, clean, white light on the road.

A lower rating is more yellow and higher is more blue. White is best. 6000k is pretty close to daylight. (about 5800k)

This is much better than standard bulbs (yellow) and also better a normal halogen (brighter, but still yellow-to-yellowish) because the light is brighter and thus better for you.

Your Xenon bulb does need a ballast to make it work, as it does not use a filament. Then you will also need the special bi-xenon type which is a bulb that actually moves in or out and changes the focal point for hi and low. The standard Xenon bulbs are just one beam (Hi I think) and the other beam is then a separate globe, sometimes even stays halogen or vice versa.
These motorcycle conversion kits are designed to have the exact focal point as the original H4 halogen had, thus works fairly well with existing reflector and glass according to some feedback. You do need a seperate fuse, that comes with the kit, as the startup current is quite high and on a " headlamp always on" bike you will need a relay to only switch power to your lights once the bike is running. Some people use a delay relay. This is not included in the kit.
At 32 or 35 Watt only a GS should have some extra Amps to charge the battery and you would be riding safer at night!

[Steve]

A lower rating is more yellow and higher is more blue. White is best. 6000k is pretty close to daylight. (about 5800k)

This is much better than standard bulbs (yellow) and also better a normal halogen (brighter, but still yellow-to-yellowish) because the light is brighter and thus better for you.

Yes and no.

I have done some studying on this topic and can only agree with parts of it.

Yes, daylight might be close to 5800K (That's degrees, Kelvin, for those that are curious), but "daylight-quality" lights at night are not necessarily the best. The current halogen lights that are still on most of the cars are in the 3000K range, which still gives good light. The major purpose of throwing light out in front of our vehicles is to see what's out there. There is a physical phenomenon where, if you produce a colored light, that is what will reflect back the best. Surprisingly enough, there is very little bluish matter on the ground. Most of the blue seems to be above the horizon. What is mostly on the ground tends to be in the brown, green or black category, those being dirt, grass and road. Bluish lights tend to get absorbed by the colors of the earth and the things we place on it. I bought some bulbs a few years ago that were advertised as "Plasma White" bulbs and were even higher power, 80-watt low/100-watt high, for my van. I have always used higher-power bulbs, so I thought I would try these "super" bulbs. I went out for a drive around a dark block to test them out. I cut my trip short just to get home and put stock bulbs back in because I could not see. The bulbs had a decidedly dark blue tint to them, which really reduced useable light output. The HID bulbs are actually mercury vapor sources, so they put out light that peaks in several frequencies, but look bluish overall. Because they have output in the red and yellow ranges as well, they are good lights. There is just no way that you can put a blue filter on a bulb to simulate the color and get the same results. By putting on the blue filter, you are really blocking most of the light that you NEED so you can see what's out there.

In the "for what it's worth" department: I also used to knock all the yellow fog lights on the theory that "I wanted to see more than just the yellow stuff, so I'll just continue with my white fog lights." I have since had the pleasure of experiencing PROPER yellow lights and agree that a proper yellow fog light does have advantages over a white light in really nasty conditions. A lot of the "proper" part of a fog light comes from pattern and aiming, but the yellow color minimizes glare, which allows your eye to concentrate on what's out there. The same thing holds true for the HID lights. They put out quite a bit of ultraviolet (UV), and that is what scatters in the fluid inside your eye, and that is what causes the strain. That is why "Blue-Blocker" and similar sunglasses are so effective, they block the UV. If it helps so much to block the UV during the day, why produce it at night?

.

[Matchless]

Steve,
Some interesting facts you mention there and as I have not had the opportunity to actually compare or ride with any type of HID, your actual experience is very informative. I do have experience of being on the receiving end of these lights and I must say they can be intimidating!
I think someone somewhere mentioned that the HID lights seem to attact more bugs at night!!
I am not sure what the actual situation is out your way, but it seems as if more cars are starting to come out with HID lights and maybe they will become predominant in the future. So it seems that even with some negative factors, the manufacturers are fitting them to new models and we may be in the same era as the move from ordinary bulbs to halogen.
My Silverstar is more to the liking of my budget, so I do not plan any upgrades soon, unless HID becomes much cheaper and more readily available.
Thanks for that bit of insight.

[Steve]

As Nessism hinted, an HID conversion is not practical because of the difference in focal points and operating characteristics. However, a true HID light can be a work of art. They throw out an incredible amount of light, usually with a good pattern. That pattern concentrates a lot of light at the upper edge, where it will be thrown the farthest. Unfortunately, that is also what tends to glare in the eyes of oncoming traffic if the light is not properly adjusted to light the roadway.

A lot has been said about the quality of Silverstar bulbs, but you guys seem to have the advantage. The Silverstar bulbs we get here all have a slight blue tint. As I mentioned in my rant above, a tinted bulb ... well, ... sucks. Your Silverstars have clear glass, which is a definite advantage.

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[Mysuzyq]

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A lot has been said about the quality of Silverstar bulbs, but you guys seem to have the advantage. The Silverstar bulbs we get here all have a slight blue tint. As I mentioned in my rant above, a tinted bulb ... well, ... sucks. Your Silverstars have clear glass, which is a definite advantage.
.

+1 on that...the European Silverstar I'm running is made by Osram, and does not have Sylvania anywhere on the packaging...no blue tint like the N. American ones, and also significantly brighter, according to actual measured light output (unfortunately, I have lost the link to a cool U.K. site that specializes in automotive lighting, that has tested all of the most popular bulbs , and rated them accordingly). While the Osram xenon Silverstars are rated at +50% brighter than regular H4 (AFAIK, our domestic Silverstars are not), the Night Breaker line is rated even higher, but there was a significant reduction in bulb life, according to the tests. BTW, Osram Silverstars are now available through a few N. American vendors.....CAS being one of them.

http://www.casporttouring.com/store/merchant.mvc?store_code=CST&screen=PROD&product_code=17184

I won a pair of Type-R "5000K' bulbs a couple years ago ($6.00 on ebay), but didn't bother installing them.....the tips appeared to have been badly painted, and according to tests, the light output was actually below that of stock bulbs, likely due to the blue tinting that seeks to simulate HID lamps (regardless of the hype printed on their package). I threw them in to sweeten the deal on a pair of Progressive Suspension shocks I ebayed.
In the large 1100E headlight, the Silverstar is almost overkill, esp to cars I ride behind after dark, due to the big sweet spot of the 'train-light' lens.
Tony.

[Nessism]

I bought some Ostram Silverstar bulbs from ebay. Price was same as locally available Sylvania Silverstars.

Those doppy blue bulbs are trying to copy the bluish light pattern thrown by true HID bulbs. No thanks.

HID bulbs do tend to throw a lot of light so the OE cars that use them tune the reflector to meet the DOT standards; as Steve mentioned, they tend to have an abrubt high pattern cut off so they do not to blind oncomming traffic.

Interestingly, OE automotive HID headlamps have a very high theft rate in the north east part of the US. New York and Newark have a crazy high theft rate on these. The punks steal the headlamps and ballist and resell them for big bucks. Crazy stuff.