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Has anyone installed a TRUE HID light kit on their bike?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fern
  • Start date Start date
F

Fern

Guest
Have been thinking about installing a HID light kit on my bike. This includes a ballast and a Xenon gas filled bulb (Philips bulb and Hella ballast). Kits normally run about $200-250. The light this kit emits is very bright, looks like daylight. Same kits come standard on BMW's and high end cars.

Has anybody tried an HID kit on their bike?
 
You know,

I've read that without a new reflector assembly as well, (that has an even sharper cutoff than our H4 bulbs already do), HID lamps will actually perform worse than a standard H4 halogen due to excess scatter, and will also make you more prone to head-on collisions due to blinding the driver coming toward you, again due to the improper reflector assembly..

Does the kit you are looking at provide an entirely new lamp assembly?
 
I agree, and I've seen a real world example to prove it. A buddy of mine put HID lamps into his Nissan Sentra SER. Although the light is very bright and white, there is no specific spread pattern with the stock lenses, and no difference between low and high beam settings.

By comparison, if you upgrade your bike to an H-4 system and then further upgrade the bulb to a Sylvania Silverstar, you'll see a "close to HID" result that is (pardon the pun) light years better than what you started with! ...did this on my 1100G (at Joe Nardy's suggestion -- thanks Joe!) and it's like riding a different bike at night!

Hope this helps,
Steve 8)
 
earlfor said:
I do not believe the GS electrical system has enough output to run the HID lighting. You would be better off with an H4 xenon/halogen Sylvania Silverstar. That will give you a 100 watt output with a power consumption of 55 watts. The Silverstar H4 xenon on my 1150 lights a path 4 lanes wide and 350 feet long on high beam. That is adequate. The bulbs can be $30 to $50 depending on where you buy them. Walmart sometimes carries them for about $40. Best lighting money I ever spent. :-)

Earl
Click to expand...
 
Come up to Canada, Canadian Tire has the Silverstar bulbs for 27CDN.

Steve
 
Well Shoot Steve, you could make your fortune by heading south and selling them on streetcorners from under a raincoat. :-)

Earl


srivett said:
Come up to Canada, Canadian Tire has the Silverstar bulbs for 27CDN.

Steve
Click to expand...
 
earlfor said:
Well Shoot Steve, you could make your fortune by heading south and selling them on streetcorners from under a raincoat. :-)

(Pssssst......YOU, yeah you.........wanna buy some primo lightbulbs?) :-)
Earl


srivett said:
Come up to Canada, Canadian Tire has the Silverstar bulbs for 27CDN.

Steve
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Sliverstar sealed beam. I don't like screwing around with the bulbs. Works great. It is also best to power your headlight with a direct line controlled by a relay. With the stock wiring scheme my light got so dim I almost couldn't ride it at night. With the relay and the Silverstar night riding is no longer a problem.
 
dpep said:
Sliverstar sealed beam. I don't like screwing around with the bulbs. Works great. It is also best to power your headlight with a direct line controlled by a relay. With the stock wiring scheme my light got so dim I almost couldn't ride it at night. With the relay and the Silverstar night riding is no longer a problem.
Click to expand...

Haven't heard of the Sliverstar, D -- I DO like the Silverstar though! Personally I'd avoid the sealed beam, if only because the convenience of being able to carry a spare along makes for safer night riding, especially if you're out in the middle of nowhere when it blows. Also, with a sealed beam, if a rock hits it you're done ... If a rock hits the lens and bulb style you don't necessarily lose your headlight. Either way, though, Silverstar is the way to go!

Steve 8)
 
Earl: What I could do is travel down to the US loaded with the Silverstar headlights and return to Canada with Mach III razor blades. Up here they cost about 20CDN for 4 blades! I would be a millionaire by the end of September no doubt. :)

Steve
 
I dont understand why a relay. The stock headlight switch and wiring supports a standard 55/60 watt Halogen H4 bulb. The Silvestar produces the light of a 100 watt halogen, but with the same power consumption of the standard 55/60 H4. There isnt any increase in power consumption. A relay may be a good idea, but I dont see that it is required and have not found I need one.

Earl

Mr. Jiggles said:
I ordered my Silverstar directly from Sylvania for just over $20. Don's right - definitely install a relay.


Jeff
Click to expand...
 
Hmmm, sounds like a good "after hours" business. heh

Earl

srivett said:
Earl: What I could do is travel down to the US loaded with the Silverstar headlights and return to Canada with Mach III razor blades. Up here they cost about 20CDN for 4 blades! I would be a millionaire by the end of September no doubt. :)

Steve
Click to expand...
 
Earl,

Have you seen any research reports to support the claim that the SS bulbs produce the equivilent luminosity of a 100 watt bulb? I'd be interested to see it, if its based in fact I may consider one myself.
 
I dont understand why a relay. The stock headlight switch and wiring supports a standard 55/60 watt Halogen H4 bulb.
Click to expand...

Yes, the stock switch will carry the current for an H4 bulb, but at significant voltage drops. You won't realize how bad it is until you run a straight wire, then see the improvment. Even late 90's bikes are pretty poor in this area. I seldom ride at night, so I have not been too motivated to try it out on my ZX-9 yet. In time, maybe...

Mark
 
I havent seen any research reports. When I made the conversion from a standard halogen to the xenon silverstar, I compared the specs for the two that were on the box. :-) I see a big improvement with the silverstar.
I just checked my spare silverstar bulb box and I was wrong about the power consumption. It produces 910/1500 lumens low/high beam and consumes 65/72 watts. I dont have the specs for the prior H4 bulb.

Earl


condensr said:
Earl,

Have you seen any research reports to support the claim that the SS bulbs produce the equivilent luminosity of a 100 watt bulb? I'd be interested to see it, if its based in fact I may consider one myself.
Click to expand...
 
Earl - I think that if the mission is to improve ehadlight brightness then in addition to upgrading the lamp itself it's probably also a good idea to improve the flow of current to the lamp. When I did thelamp upgrade I did the relay install at the same time. I was surprised to see how much "junk" that had accumulated inside of the wires supplying current to the lamp. I'm assuming that there was drop in current flow relative to when it was shiny and new but haven't measured it. From Don's description that was the case for him. The relay install isn't hard to do and IMO worth installing, with the downside being a loss of space in the headlight bucket.

On the other hand if someone is contemplating doing the H4 upgrade but can't do the relay install I say just go for the lamp upgrade.

Jeff
 
Planecrazy said:
By comparison, if you upgrade your bike to an H-4 system and then further upgrade the bulb to a Sylvania Silverstar, you'll see a "close to HID" result that is (pardon the pun) light years better than what you started with! ...did this on my 1100G (at Joe Nardy's suggestion -- thanks Joe!) and it's like riding a different bike at night!

Hope this helps,
Steve 8)
Click to expand...

I've also done this and the difference is like having three stock headlights inside your one new sylvania silverstar headlight. It's that bright!

Dm of mD
 
Mr. Jiggles said:
Earl - I think that if the mission is to improve ehadlight brightness then in addition to upgrading the lamp itself it's probably also a good idea to improve the flow of current to the lamp. When I did thelamp upgrade I did the relay install at the same time. I was surprised to see how much "junk" that had accumulated inside of the wires supplying current to the lamp. I'm assuming that there was drop in current flow relative to when it was shiny and new but haven't measured it. From Don's description that was the case for him. The relay install isn't hard to do and IMO worth installing, with the downside being a loss of space in the headlight bucket.

On the other hand if someone is contemplating doing the H4 upgrade but can't do the relay install I say just go for the lamp upgrade.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Can you help us out with a wiring diagram for the relay install?
I have no clue on how to run a relay and I just installed mine straight into the stock wiring harness. If I can get mor light out of it by running it straight off the power with a relay I want to do that.

Tthanks in advance.
Dm of mD
 
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