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Great prices on slim ballast HID


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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a dual 55 watt setup from DDM in my BB and they work great.

I would probably go with the 4300 bulbs, rather than the 5000, if I had to redo them.

The 5000 are a very bright white and I think the 4300-4500 would look more natural.

With a lifetime warranty on all parts, whats to worry about?

Hank

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With a lifetime warranty on all parts, whats to worry about?

Thanks for the feedback hank. Only thing to worry about would be the bulb dieing on a long trip. Guess one could always carry the original bulb as a spare or even pick up a H9 at an autoparts store.

And agreed, 4300 is much better. The light is more natural. I have used both and it is a bit of a difference, the 5000 is very "white".. the 4300 is a lot more like sunlight.

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With a lifetime warranty on all parts, whats to worry about?

Thanks for the feedback hank. Only thing to worry about would be the bulb dieing on a long trip. Guess one could always carry the original bulb as a spare or even pick up a H9 at an autoparts store.

And agreed, 4300 is much better. The light is more natural. I have used both and it is a bit of a difference, the 5000 is very "white".. the 4300 is a lot more like sunlight.

I reckon the 5300k ones I have are great, I actually prefer the fact they are a "whiter light" that isn't so "natural" as I believe it is more likely to be noticed than "just another random light" :icon_think:

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I just put in the dual 55w w/ 5300 light and can't believe i didn't do it long ago. awesome light & easy install. i'm in the camp that believes in doing whatever we need to do to be seen - accordingly the superbright "unnatural" spectrum i think greatly increases day & night visibility to others. reflections off reflective street signs are almost glaring w/ high beam on.

I just installed a volt-monitor from twisted throttle - indicates that when running both high/low lights at idle w/ brake lights on, charging is under 11.5. maybe the 2 yr old battery.

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With a lifetime warranty on all parts, whats to worry about?

Thanks for the feedback hank. Only thing to worry about would be the bulb dieing on a long trip. Guess one could always carry the original bulb as a spare or even pick up a H9 at an autoparts store.

And agreed, 4300 is much better. The light is more natural. I have used both and it is a bit of a difference, the 5000 is very "white".. the 4300 is a lot more like sunlight.

I reckon the 5300k ones I have are great, I actually prefer the fact they are a "whiter light" that isn't so "natural" as I believe it is more likely to be noticed than "just another random light" :icon_think:

Good point from that perspective. From the riders seat I think the 4300k provides better light for "seeing".. but you are probably right about the 5k being better for "being seen".

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  • 1 year later...
Any long term feedback on these units? The price is really cheap, that scares me.. but I need HID for the new bike.

Have had identical units from DDM on the fife's expedition for approaching 2 yrs now. 1 ballast puked, and was replaced under warranty w/no hassle. Have a set on the bbird now, 3+ mos w/no probs. Now used daily due to time change. Reccomend picking up a euro right hand handlebar switch to let you keep them off unless you need them. Cost ~$40 shipped.

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  • 2 years later...

I have read some about HID conversions, but depending on the company and product, some were having to switch out to some sort of updated wiring harness to run the 55watt HID's, any of you have to do that, if so, what was involved? I was thinking of a 35w low beam and 55w high, but dual 55's sounds awesome. Im looking to upgrade for two reasons, one of course is more light output, but the 2nd is to ease off some of the electrical load on my bike as im looking at adding a USB plug or two for my cell phone/GPS unit.

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I have read some about HID conversions, but depending on the company and product, some were having to switch out to some sort of updated wiring harness to run the 55watt HID's, any of you have to do that, if so, what was involved? I was thinking of a 35w low beam and 55w high, but dual 55's sounds awesome. Im looking to upgrade for two reasons, one of course is more light output, but the 2nd is to ease off some of the electrical load on my bike as im looking at adding a USB plug or two for my cell phone/GPS unit.

My ZX-14 has 2 low beams and 2 hi beams. If I installed 4 HID's with the 35 watt ballasts, I'd pick up 80 extra watts of power.

I had the 55 watt ballasts in my BB and just loved it so I'm not sure what to do. Last winter, I rode with heated liner, pants and gloves and the charging system was fine but a little extra wattage cant hurt.

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  • 4 weeks later...

55w HID isn't necessary and doesn't really increase the actual usable street lighting much if at all.

High color temps are LESS VISIBLE than the lower ones. 4300 is ideal, above 5500 things start to go downhill.

I've had the 35w kit in my K1200LT for about a year and a half, it's perfect all around. Beam pattern, brightness, and no issues. Pretty easy to install.

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55w HID isn't necessary and doesn't really increase the actual usable street lighting much if at all.

High color temps are LESS VISIBLE than the lower ones. 4300 is ideal, above 5500 things start to go downhill.

I've had the 35w kit in my K1200LT for about a year and a half, it's perfect all around. Beam pattern, brightness, and no issues. Pretty easy to install.

OK, I think you're talking about 2 different things.

The ballasts are available in 35 watt or 55 watt sizes. The 55 watt ballast is supposedly 40% brighter than the 35 watt, using the same bulb...IIRC.

Bulb color is a different animal with 4300 being closest to sunlight light, 5000 being a bit white, and higher numbers go from blue to purple hue, giving off less effective light.

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I'm talking about both. The 55w option doesn't give much if any increase in usable light on the road, and high color temps reduce effectiveness.

From the DDMTuning website: "3,200- 3,400 Lumens at 35 Watt and an astonishing 5,000 Lumens at 55 Watt"

Carlos, maybe you know more about this stuff than I, so please clarify.

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More light output doesn't equal more usable light reflected back to you to see. I've read a number of articles on the matter and all of them say 35w is ideal. Several of the manufacturers of kits also advise you to use the 35w option.

Blinding drivers is counter-productive and dangerous to you, so just saying "more is better" is foolish.

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Seriously? Do you not see the direct light from all the headlights around you? The 55w option increases direct light a great deal, but useful reflected light from the road is not significantly better because a properly-aimed headlight doesn't have very far to go.

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Carlos, I'm not trying to be argumentative but I just don't follow you.

How bout an example..I put the DDM 55 watt, 5000k kit in my BB.
The BB reflector has a very pronounced cut off design which results in a horizontal line, below which is brightly illuminated and above which not so much. I aimed the headlight so that line was below the top of the trunk line on compact cars. It illuminated everything below the line like daylight and never once, in 4 years and 40,000 miles, resulted in an oncoming driver flashing his lights for me to go to low beam. When switching to high beam, it lit everything up both way down the road as well as out to both sides. I live where there are a lot of animals running around and the lighting made for a much more relaxed ride after dark. So, what did I learn?
1. The 55 watt setup didn't blind oncoming drivers.

2. If there was a 100 watt kit, I'd buy that. Why? Because in this case, more IS better.

BTW, I did a bit of Googling and read some articles on bulb degradation when using both the 55 watt and 35 watt ballasts.

The 55 puts out more light but the bulb degrades to a point where it equals the 35 but continues to degrade to failure which happens much quicker than the 35; something like 1000 hours vrs 4500 hours. This might be worth considering but is less an obstacle when the DDM ballasts and bulbs come with a lifetime warranty.

If you happen to have a link to something that would clarify things better (for me), I'd be interested in seeing it.

For now, I'm sticking with my actual experiences and resulting conclusions.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I've had the DDM low beam 55w kit in for about three years now, no problems. I opted for the 4500k kit and have no issues but I wonder what the 3000k bulb would look like? When I talked to DDM then they told me that when the bulbs get old they tend to fade to the higher end of the Kelvin scale so a 3000k natural light bulb would slowly fade toward a 4500k white light.

I opted to go the heavy wiring/ relay install and have had no issues but whoever said " no problem- it' s a 30 minute install" is full of crap! Probably took in excess of three hours but that included the relay harness and securely mounting the ballasts with double sided tape and foam tape so they don't bounce around AND wiring in a separate bulb socket for the DDM kit so that if I'm on the road and a bulb fails I can use the original socket for a halogen bulb and keep going.

I had the high beam as well as the low beam but ended up taking the high beam out. I found that when driving at night and I saw a car coming around the corner I'd switch to low beam and back to high beam when the car had passed. Problem was that the light takes several seconds to come on so the temporarily I had NO lights! A couple of interesting moments resulted in me switching back to a halogen high beam and having a spare 55w system downstairs.

Ray

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All the plug and play kits blind drivers. Just buy and affordable projector and put an HID behind it. Best money you can spend and we're talking <$150 bones here.

Put the light on the road, not into the sky.

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