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DDM tuning has some super pricing on HIDs at the moment


Justin

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Curious....

Other than installing the kit, does the HID require a higher fuse, new circuit, etc. for the load?

I've debated going HID, but as I don't do much night riding it's never been a pressing issue.

They've come down a lot in price.

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I did no upgrades when I installed mine that I bought through the group buy we had here a few years ago. It flickers when you first start the bike up, but coming off of idle for about 15 seconds gets you past the startup draw. After that, no issues.

As to the benefit, VISIBILITY, both for you at night and for other cars. There's no mistaking an HID. I have them in all my cars, and I won't go back. I actually hate driving my mom or dad's cars just little trips to the store or something at night because HID has ruined me!

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Anyone have HID's from DDM? Wondering on the color of the 55W 4500K kit. Some claim the extra W means you are over driving the bulb and need a higher K. But I got no experance with them. Ideally I'd like 4300K as apparently it is the whitest but at that price it is hard to go wrong.

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Anyone have HID's from DDM? Wondering on the color of the 55W 4500K kit. Some claim the extra W means you are over driving the bulb and need a higher K. But I got no experance with them. Ideally I'd like 4300K as apparently it is the whitest but at that price it is hard to go wrong.

From what I under stand you only need the 35w and most are getting the 6k because the 4500k is to much like day light and is not seen well during the day time driving.

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Anyone have HID's from DDM? Wondering on the color of the 55W 4500K kit. Some claim the extra W means you are over driving the bulb and need a higher K. But I got no experance with them. Ideally I'd like 4300K as apparently it is the whitest but at that price it is hard to go wrong.

I had to do a quick Google search to figure out what K to order.

http://www.manyadeal.com/page.html?id=24

I went with 55w because that's what the XX uses for stock bulbs. I went with 4500K because it was the best improvement over stock bulbs.

The light temperature is more one of aesthetics, and while I don't know the value of 3000K, the site I found said that 4300K was 3X brighter than stock and the color was very close to standard headlights; with yellow light being reflected off the road (important as it's part of what you need to see distance effectively). Since 4500K was the closest, I went with that. This range was recommended for off-road use because it was for maximum visibility.

The higher temps do more shifting into the blue and violet range, but while you initially retain 3X the brightness, you eventually go to only 2X the brightness, and all you're gaining is the "bluish" look of HID systems. At that point, you're doing it more for cosmetics than anything else.

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I've had a pair of DDM 55 watt 5000K installed for a year now.

If I had it to do over, I might try the 4500K's, but I'm sure either will satisfy.

Easy install, no problems, lifetime warranty, easier to be seen...whats not to like?

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I have the original Group buy HID's from McCollough(SP?)

I run 6000K in the Low beam and 5000K in the High beam

I have found that the 6000K is more visible in daylight and 5000K appears brighter at night

I have had them installed a few years now with no problems

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I personally don't like the blue color of HID's. I've seen 35W Kits at 4300K and that color works great for me. I can't imagine 4500K being much off.

From there website is says ... "55w kits tend to wash out some of the color of the HID bulb due to the light output( for example, a 55w 8000k will look similar in color to a 35w 6000k kit)."

So I'm wondering if I should order higher K bulb to get the same white as 35W 4300K.

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Anyone have HID's from DDM? Wondering on the color of the 55W 4500K kit. Some claim the extra W means you are over driving the bulb and need a higher K. But I got no experance with them. Ideally I'd like 4300K as apparently it is the whitest but at that price it is hard to go wrong.

DDM's colors are tested and spot on. The 4500k is the best if you are out for the best visibility at night, as it's closest to pure sunlight. 4500 isn't the "whitest", it's more yellow-white, like sun light. 5000-5500 is in the pure white range, anything above that and get into the blues and violets.. which while the look "cool" do not have as much visibility at night.

There are tons of people using DDM kits over on the Busa forum and all I see is positive feedback.

Anyone have HID's from DDM? Wondering on the color of the 55W 4500K kit. Some claim the extra W means you are over driving the bulb and need a higher K. But I got no experance with them. Ideally I'd like 4300K as apparently it is the whitest but at that price it is hard to go wrong.

I had to do a quick Google search to figure out what K to order.

http://www.manyadeal.com/page.html?id=24

I went with 55w because that's what the XX uses for stock bulbs. I went with 4500K because it was the best improvement over stock bulbs.

The light temperature is more one of aesthetics, and while I don't know the value of 3000K, the site I found said that 4300K was 3X brighter than stock and the color was very close to standard headlights; with yellow light being reflected off the road (important as it's part of what you need to see distance effectively). Since 4500K was the closest, I went with that. This range was recommended for off-road use because it was for maximum visibility.

The higher temps do more shifting into the blue and violet range, but while you initially retain 3X the brightness, you eventually go to only 2X the brightness, and all you're gaining is the "bluish" look of HID systems. At that point, you're doing it more for cosmetics than anything else.

Good choice. DDM's 4500 is tested to be a true 4300 from what I understand. I have an old set of McCulloch on the XX, 4300 low, 5k high. The low beam at 4300 is far better at night than the 5k high and it is by far the best color.

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The color temperature---3000, 4300, 5000, 6000, 8000, etc...........has nothing to do with the brightness, or lumens produced.

True, but color temperature affects reflectivity off of surfaces. Shining a bright purple light on stuff doesn't make it that much more visible at night compared to an equally bright yellow light.

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I ordered one for my high beam. Didn't pay attention to the fact that they ship UPS by default which spells doom if you live in Canada as the "brokerage" fees are often more expensive than the product. So a few hours after ordering I call back in and after checking with the shipping department, they switched it to USPS no problem at all. Excellent experience! Good price... win win.

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The color temperature---3000, 4300, 5000, 6000, 8000, etc...........has nothing to do with the brightness, or lumens produced.

True, but color temperature affects reflectivity off of surfaces. Shining a bright purple light on stuff doesn't make it that much more visible at night compared to an equally bright yellow light.

Yes, but your previous statement that 4300k is 3x brighter than stock gives the false impression that the color temperature is an indicator of brightness.

As far as utilizing the 55 watt option because that's what the stock bulbs are, that's an inapproriate comparison....comparing incandescent bulbs to arc lights. Its obvious that even the 35 watt HID's are vastly brighter than the stock 55 watt bulbs, indicating that wattage would only be a suitable comparator for bulbs of similar design.

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I ordered one for my high beam. Didn't pay attention to the fact that they ship UPS by default which spells doom if you live in Canada as the "brokerage" fees are often more expensive than the product. So a few hours after ordering I call back in and after checking with the shipping department, they switched it to USPS no problem at all. Excellent experience! Good price... win win.

Glad to hear that, I emailed them last night as I can't seem to order online from my postal code. Hopefully they will ship USPS to me.

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You can't with your postal code? That's weird. Just make sure you specify as the only form (and I'm assuming they themselves) default to UPS. When I talked to the guy in shipping he knew exactly what was up with UPS and he couldn't agree with me more and had no problem shipping USPS. That's a huge plus. I've bumped into companies who will ONLY use UPS so I end up not being able to buy from them as they ultimately wouldn't be cost efficient.

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Wow.... $60 to do all four headlamps on the Wing. If the bulbs weren't such a pain in the ass to get to, I might actually do it.

Plus, the headlamps on the Wing are awesome on the Wing in stock form, anyway.

The HIDs on the Bird are probably the best upgrade I've ever done.

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Would suggest going to eBay UK and getting a euro throttle side switch that allows you to turn the headlamp off

I did it, just to ensure the longlevity of the HID ballasts/circuits. And because I hate riding with my lights on all damn day <g>

Cheap, bolt on upgrade, and postage for this light part is reasonable from across the pond.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, got my kit and semi-installed it.

A few points to note.

1. The bulb end comes in a plastic case. I thought the whole thing went into the assembly, but you have to take it off. This requires cutting the base off (it's cheap plastic and easy to do). Nothing in the instructions tells you to do that.

2. The extra base to the bulb (used to hold it firmly in place when the securing spring is locked down) DOES NOT FIT as designed. I had to use a wire cutter to break away the excess and then use a file to smooth down the edges until it fit properly. This is a glaring oversight on the manufacturer's end because, again, nothing in the instructions tells you to deal with it.

3. Once I cleaned the bulbs down real good with alcohol, I put them in. The next matter was wiring. The power leads from the kit to the XX's harness are oddly routed. They also used a waterproof boot that really doesn't work well with the OEM boot one on the XX. So, I did the following....

  • I pulled each power leads until it was at the end of the boot and carefully used a mat knife to slice the hole wider so it could be pulled through safely.
  • I then moved their boot up against the bulb, routed the ballast wires through the XX's OEM waterproof cover and put it on over the new bulbs. If you have problems getting the XX boot to stay on, it's likely the mating surfaces and dirty (which reduces the "stick" of the rubber on the plastic). Cleaning the surfaces seemed to solve this problem.
With all this done, I used some zip-ties to keep the wires together. I then connected the wiring together to test. They take a second or two to power up, and I don't know if with every start up you need to go from LOW to HIGH and back or not, but once both high and low beams were full on, you could go back and forth with no flicker or dimming.

Now, I just need to figure out where to best mount the ballasts. There's not a lot of wire length to work with, so any tips from those who have a HID system would be appreciated.

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK, so I ordered the 55w 6000k kit and I also ordered a $10 528T DEI delay controller off eBay. I installed the transformer using the supplied double sided tape on the vertical face of the left air duct, the delay box and other small HID box I attached to the frame behind the dash.

The light output is very nice, just a slight bluish tint. The high beam looks positively yellow by comparrison :icon_confused:

The far extent of the beam has such a defined edge that I'm actually going to lift the beam slightly to illuminate more road.

I'm VERY happy with the result and would recommend it to anybody.

(I now have white LEDs in my dash, the brightest LED taillights superbright LEDs offer, chrome bulbs for my turn signals, it all looks really nice together.)

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