brianmacza Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Installed my HID on low-beam yesterday - made an incredible difference The low-beam was a 55w Hella bulb, and I always found the output to be wishy-washy - the only time I was happy with the headlamp was if there were no cars about to show me how bad it really was. On a dark road I could see fine, but the light from passing cars or streetlights made me realise that I was partially blind at night. The HID installation has forced me to lower my beam considerably to prevent the lamp from blinding oncoming motorists - Measuring before and after I found that the lamp cutoff was at 41" (and I never got flashed by oncoming cars) - I had to lower it to 36 1/2" to keep people almost happy. This was measured with me sitting on the bike, off the mainstand and my kids running with bits of chalk - I'm in big shit with the amount of chalk on the wall :roll: The Light wash is now an intense rectangle that covers a 2-lane wall to wall, and extends out further than my previous bulb ever did. The installation was simple - plug the old spade connectors for the H7 bulb plug into the ballast, the bulb has a normal H7 type backing plate, and the ballast is cable-tied to the instrument cluster supporting frame. Installation took 35 minutes all told, apart from adjustment of the beam. All in all, a great upgrade - now I just have to find someone to take the 2nd ballast/bulb kit off my hands and I'll be a happy boy. I took photos with my trusty Nokia 9500 camera/phone/thing - will upload them when I can Before: After: The kit: (crap pic - I used my phone, dammit!!! :oops: Where it lives: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beondwacko Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 If you think that the low beam is killer,,,,, try the HID on High beam as well. I swear you can see for a mile on a clear road. I at times get oncoming traffic flashing me with brights when I'm riding 2 up. Then I hit my brights.......... yeah it takes a few seconds to get really bright ,,, but after that ,,,, I usually don't get flashed by the same car again. At least that was in NY ,,,, down here in Fla ,,,, most of these cagers are just assholes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rider99XX Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 How much for the kit?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmacza Posted August 23, 2005 Author Share Posted August 23, 2005 The guy I bought the kit from is http://www.xenonlights.co.za/ His name is Johan, and he is prepared not only to split a kit up into 2 bike units, but will mix and match if you have 2 bikes with different bulb patterns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodeRash Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Warchild, our resident lighting expert recomends (on his web page) that you check the low beam cutoff point from a distance of 15 feet. Stock, the cutoff point is 31.5 inches, and he recomends that you raise this to around 35 inches. On my bike, I found that 35 inches was a little too tall. I used 34 inches for the cutoff. I replaced my stock bulbs with better quality 55 watt bulbs (Phillips Vision Plus), but have not yet converted to HID. I would think that 36.5 inch cutoff may be a little high, but if you don't get flashed by oncoming cars, and you are happy with the light pattern, you'll be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mack82097 Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Does the HID kit come with a reflector or projector to help focus the light? I've seen HID kits installed in cars using the OEM halogen reflector and the results have been not so good. The HID light is not focused, there's hotspots, and there is a fair amount of glare for the oncoming drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MileHi Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Does the HID kit come with a reflector or projector to help focus the light? I've seen HID kits installed in cars using the OEM halogen reflector and the results have been not so good. The HID light is not focused, there's hotspots, and there is a fair amount of glare for the oncoming drivers. Not the case with the 'Bird... It's like the headlight modules was designed for HIDs... Not so the interior of the cowl... :roll: I just spent the better part (well, on and off) of the past two days trying to find a place for my ballasts. I think that if I had to do it again... I'd get the HIDs with the longer wires. My shorter ones really limited where the ballasts could go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mack82097 Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Does the HID kit come with a reflector or projector to help focus the light? I've seen HID kits installed in cars using the OEM halogen reflector and the results have been not so good. The HID light is not focused, there's hotspots, and there is a fair amount of glare for the oncoming drivers. Not the case with the 'Bird... It's like the headlight modules was designed for HIDs... Not so the interior of the cowl... :roll: I just spent the better part (well, on and off) of the past two days trying to find a place for my ballasts. I think that if I had to do it again... I'd get the HIDs with the longer wires. My shorter ones really limited where the ballasts could go. Which HID's did you get? The McCulloch's on eBay have pretty long wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MileHi Posted August 24, 2005 Share Posted August 24, 2005 Which HID's did you get? The McCulloch's on eBay have pretty long wires. I got some JSMs off of Ebay... The leads are only about 15 inches long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StPeteXX Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Do you still have that other ballast set available? what temp bulb is it? Is this something similar or the same kit you installed? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/10000K-McCu...996255531QQrdZ1 Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmacza Posted August 31, 2005 Author Share Posted August 31, 2005 Yup.. still have it... 6000k bulb from " target="_blank">http://www.xenonlights.co.za/ B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Rich, If you are not interested in the 6000 kit I will jump in and work a deal out with Brian John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StPeteXX Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 How much?? Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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