[PontiacJack]

Just wondering if anyone has dabbled in brighter headlamps. I was looking at these "HID" & "Xenon" (so called) replacement bulbs, and wanted to ask you guys what you thought and/or your experiences with replacement bulbs.

Personally I'm trying to stay away from anything annoying bright or heavy modifications... BUT would love to see what any of you guys(or gals) have done to their headlamps. (My dad modified a MB CLK500 Xenon Headlamp to fit his 1996 Triumph Tiger, control module, burner and all.)

Cheers!

 

[knightslugger]

Your typical halogen headlamp puts out about 350 lumens of light. Your 4500k HID light puts out about 3500 lumens, consumes less power, and runs cooler. They are single "Filament" (for lack of a better word) so you have to make a choice. Do you want High beams or low beams all of the time? Since the low beam is so wide, i'd apt for that. however, there are kits that have both high beam HID and low beam Filament Xenon pairs. I have no idea how reliable that configuration is though. what i do know is that your straight HID light can withstand more trauma than filament style lamps.

The brighter you get with halogen/xenon filament lamps, the more heat and power they produce and consume.

 

[Lacessit]

The first thing I did with my '06 was to aim the headlight. It was horrible from the dealer. The second thing I did was to buy the Silvania Silverstar replacement H4 bulb. It made such a difference, I replaced the light in my cage as well. I have been thinking about the HID conversion after Knightslugger mentioned it earlier... but I don't think I'm comfortable with limiting myself to only high or low beam. I do a lot of mixed city/backroad riding, and would like to have the "extra" light of highbeams, while not blinding other motorists. I get flashed by motorists already that think I'm using high-beams, just using the Silvania.

I'm still considering the addition of driving lights but haven't made up my mind what to go with or how to mount it/them.

 

[knightslugger]

i would advise against the driving lights.

 

[PontiacJack]

i would advise against the driving lights.

I thought and dismissed this idea, just due to lack of enthusiasm, but why would you stay away from driving lights slugger?

 

[PontiacJack]

Are the stock bulbs the happy medium?

 

[knightslugger]

pretty much. Sliverstar bulbs, i've noticed, puts the filament a little further back in the housing. this creates a more narrow and focused beam and the appearance of a brighter light. while the Sliverstar lights do produce a more natural color than halogen bulbs do, the way the do so reduces light output. They tint the glass bulb which makes it harder for the light to pass though it. if you were to take two bulbs and coat one in the same fashion Sylvania did with the Silverstar bulbs, usable light output from one to the next will be less. to compensate they position the filament in such a way to make it appear that it is brighter when really it's not.

I advise against using driving lights because they are so inefficient of a lighting system.  halogen bulbs, low light output, poor reflector housing, chinsy quality...  to get a decent light you'd have to spend over 100 bucks!  where HID only costs a 20 dollar bill more and produces 10x the amount of light while using less power and producing less heat.  Your charging system (and your battery) will thank you.

 

[bprintz]

I picked up some bulbs that were made by eurodezigns.com (I picked them up on ebay cheaper, figured it was worth a shot lol) They are an Xenon / Krypton mix... The bulbs I got are 8500K (blue... though they look white) and I must say with them I can see probably 2 times further than stock, both on low and high beams. Someone mentioned these bulbs are usually single filament, however the bulbs I received appear to be dual filament as both low and high beam work, and provide different brightness.

A new set of bulbs is a worthy investment, whether it be an HID type bulb or the Silvania ... seeing at night is nice

 

[maverick9611]

i'm using a xenon yellow light . peeps really notice due to the different color. so many new cars have super bright white/blue etc. that a person gets conditioned not to notice it as much. that doesn't happen with yellow. read this article for more info
http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-light-bulbs/yellow-light-bulbs.htm

 

[MrSciTrek]

Same site article on HID installation (requires ballast resistor):
http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/hid-motorcycle-driving-light/

Also some ideas on brighter tail lights:
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/triumph/brake-lights/light-bulbs.htm

 

[maverick9611]

yellow lite site
http://fanteks.net/sales/MHG_YW.HTM

 

[Lacessit]

... while the Sliverstar lights do produce a more natural color than halogen bulbs do, the way the do so reduces light output. They tint the glass bulb which makes it harder for the light to pass though it.

You know, I had read about that on the HID site you linked me to, but thought the Sylvania was one that didn't do that. Regardless, I bought the Silverstar long before I considered HID. Learn something everyday.

I did find that (according to Sylvania) the XtraVision apparently doesn't use the paint method to achieve the color. I didn't look any deeper into it than that though. Also, just for the record; even though the light output may in fact be less than it's potential. With the SilverStar I have installed, my visiblity IS better, and it throws light further. So the design apparently more than makes up for the blue tinting. I've also not noticed any lack in peripheral lighting.

I will concede that it would be an easy decision for me if I could get hi/low HID. I'm just not comfortable with just one level of light.

 

[knightslugger]

like i said, there are dual H4 applications, it's just that the Low beam isn't HID.

 

[MrSciTrek]

Consumer Reports 2003 article concerning car headlights... relates to this topic.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...ssories/hid-headlights-403/overview/index.htm

 

[SuprSonik]

Hi guys, I'm new here

I was thinking about getting an HID kit for my 500R too, but I also didn't really want to lose my high beam. I came across these:

Ebay item: 230053233235

The price is right, he has perfect feedback and offers them in all sorts of color temperatures...plus this caught my attention:

The H4 High/Low HID Conversion kit has built-in magnetic mechanisms that move the Xenon bulbs back and forth to change the lighting angle for high-beam and low-beam (instead of having a xenon bulbs with 2 ballasts, or a Xenon bulb and a halogen bulb).

There are 3 advantages of this kit:

1.you only need one ballast per bulb instead of two ballasts per bulb (lower cost)
2. both hig-beam and low-beam are xenon
3. you don't have to wait 30-45 seconds for the light to come on when you switch from low-beam to high-beam.

Sounds interesting, but I wonder how well it actually works. What do you guys think?

**Moderator Note: Direct E-Bay linking is not allowed. Please see Forum rules in the FAQ section.**[/color]

 

[maverick9611]

that cost alot

 

[SuprSonik]

$125 is a lot? ??? Seems pretty cheap from everything else I was looking at, plus it supposedly functions as both a high and low beam.

 

[PontiacJack]

Hi guys, I'm new here

I was thinking about getting an HID kit for my 500R too, but I also didn't really want to lose my high beam. I came across these:

Ebay item: 230053233235

The price is right, he has perfect feedback and offers them in all sorts of color temperatures...plus this caught my attention:

The H4 High/Low HID Conversion kit has built-in magnetic mechanisms that move the Xenon bulbs back and forth to change the lighting angle for high-beam and low-beam (instead of having a xenon bulbs with 2 ballasts, or a Xenon bulb and a halogen bulb).

There are 3 advantages of this kit:

1.you only need one ballast per bulb instead of two ballasts per bulb (lower cost)
2. both hig-beam and low-beam are xenon
3. you don't have to wait 30-45 seconds for the light to come on when you switch from low-beam to high-beam.

Sounds interesting, but I wonder how well it actually works. What do you guys think?

**Moderator Note: Direct E-Bay linking is not allowed. Please see Forum rules in the FAQ section.**[/color]

This kit looks interesting...

Out of curiosity why are direct links to eBay banned? I was guessing maybe it had to do with eBay policies or maybe even google search results? ... just wondering.

 

[knightslugger]

Too much potential for spam messages by spam users trying to get more people to bid on their auction. this isn't a bidding site, nor is it free advertising. if there is an item on ebay worth checking out, all one needs is the auction item number to check it out. it is much stiffer handed in the classifieds section.

anyway, that kit DOES look interesting, what with the auto positoning magnet relay. i'd be concerned about how much stress that mechanism can withstand. BTW, i just over read that it takes 35-40 seconds for the bulb to reignite? not true at all. the ballasts reignite on command. if they don't, that ballast is GARBAGE.

 

[Lochlyn_Deckard]

Philips MotoVision H4 Headlight Bulbs

Anyone have any experience with these bulbs?

http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_...ent=89083467512&id=in_en_car_lighting&lang=en