Anyone know much about HID kits?

[anonymous-user]

Wedg1e said:

D3fender said:

this is the best aftermarket oem quality kit that you can buy.

Says who? I may as well claim the Honda 90 is the best-handling motorcycle in the world.

It's a Philips oem quality kit as fitted to Audi/BMW/Merc etc, if that's not good enough for you then fine, I'm not bothered, buy what you like.

[anonymous-user]

Vidal Baboon said:

So if I was to hack into the headlamp loom:

Remove the permanent live to the HL Relay & rewire directly from the battery with an in-line fuse, that would do it right?

The existing HL + and - drive the relay, the relay is then wired to the battery with a fuse.

[Vidal Baboon]

D3fender said:

Vidal Baboon said:

So if I was to hack into the headlamp loom:

Remove the permanent live to the HL Relay & rewire directly from the battery with an in-line fuse, that would do it right?

The existing HL + and - drive the relay, the relay is then wired to the battery with a fuse.

That's what I said

10A fuse sufficient?

Edited by Vidal Baboon on Saturday 23 October 11:35

[anonymous-user]

catso said:

From what I've seen of HID kits there is very little difference, other than price, between the ebay Chinese specials and the 'prestige' brands - where do you think they are made?...

Philips and Hella kits are made in Germany actually.

Let's put it this way, I put a cheapo Ebay kit on my pickup, it's been fine, on my Amazon I fitted the Philips kit (£48k car should have at least have an HID option )

It's your money and you can spend it on what you like, I'm just advising, nothing more.

[anonymous-user]

Vidal Baboon said:

D3fender said:

Vidal Baboon said:

So if I was to hack into the headlamp loom:

Remove the permanent live to the HL Relay & rewire directly from the battery with an in-line fuse, that would do it right?

The existing HL + and - drive the relay, the relay is then wired to the battery with a fuse.

That's what I said

10A fuse sufficient?

Sorry, not teaching you how to suck eggs.

Yup, I've always fitted a 10a fuse on my kits, you can be overly cautious and fit a relay/fuse on each lamp, but I have one relay/fuse across both headlamps. Fit the fuse as near to the battery as possible.

[Vidal Baboon]

D3fender said:

Vidal Baboon said:

D3fender said:

Vidal Baboon said:

So if I was to hack into the headlamp loom:

Remove the permanent live to the HL Relay & rewire directly from the battery with an in-line fuse, that would do it right?

The existing HL + and - drive the relay, the relay is then wired to the battery with a fuse.

That's what I said

10A fuse sufficient?

Sorry, not teaching you how to suck eggs.

Yup, I've always fitted a 10a fuse on my kits, you can be overly cautious and fit a relay/fuse on each lamp, but I have one relay/fuse across both headlamps. Fit the fuse as near to the battery as possible.

That's fine.

Now, it would probably have to be that way (for ease of installing) so the DIPPED beam doesn't turn off when switching to MAIN beam.

As a matter of fact, I don't know if the current switch would work anyway- if it puts the power through the MB circiut & opens the circuit on DIPPED, I'll have to get a new switch gear.

I needed a thinner one anyway after fitting the 09 ZX6R twist grip & throttle tubes, it's too big & have had to space the bar end off the clip on by around 8mm.


Any ideas on how to rig it up so they only come on after the bike is running? Not very good having them running whilst cranking it over.

Edited by Vidal Baboon on Saturday 23 October 12:07

[Grommit]

My bike has the dipped headlight switched on all the time, the only switch being to go to main beam. Which is the best to upgrade to HID, dipped, main or both?

[Vidal Baboon]

Grommit said:

My bike has the dipped headlight switched on all the time, the only switch being to go to main beam. Which is the best to upgrade to HID, dipped, main or both?

Thought the main beam was just standard Halogen?

I was under the impression that when a normal halogen system is switched to main beam- the dipped beam system switches off.


I thought HID systems don't like being switched on/off repeatedly & were designed to keep the dipped beam on whilst switching to main.

[Grommit]

No, two separate light enclosures with individual lamps, the dip stays on when you switch to main beam.

[defblade]

Grommit said:

My bike has the dipped headlight switched on all the time, the only switch being to go to main beam. Which is the best to upgrade to HID, dipped, main or both?

HID takes a few seconds to come up to full brightness (10-15 secs maybe) so it's pretty useless on main beam which you need to switch on and off frequently. The systems which do both in the same bulb either move the bulb or a shield to change from one to the other.

[Hooli]

Vidal Baboon said:

Now, it would probably have to be that way (for ease of installing) so the DIPPED beam doesn't turn off when switching to MAIN beam.



Any ideas on how to rig it up so they only come on after the bike is running? Not very good having them running whilst cranking it over.

First bit, Diode connecting mainbeam to the dipped relay trigger wire.

Second one VSR?

[Vidal Baboon]

Hooli said:

Vidal Baboon said:

Now, it would probably have to be that way (for ease of installing) so the DIPPED beam doesn't turn off when switching to MAIN beam.



Any ideas on how to rig it up so they only come on after the bike is running? Not very good having them running whilst cranking it over.

First bit, Diode connecting mainbeam to the dipped relay trigger wire.

Second one VSR?

Would'nt you just run the trigger from the MAIN to the DIPPED trigger as well? So in effect, both triggers for the relay are in series?
Why or how would fitting a Diode keep the DIPPED relay trigger circuit closed? Any diagram- because I'm useless at picturing stuff in my mind


VSR? Voltage something Regulator? Thought about a capacitor, but that would still be draining the battery while cranking.

Edited by Vidal Baboon on Saturday 23 October 22:06

[Hooli]

Vidal Baboon said:

Hooli said:

Vidal Baboon said:

Now, it would probably have to be that way (for ease of installing) so the DIPPED beam doesn't turn off when switching to MAIN beam.



Any ideas on how to rig it up so they only come on after the bike is running? Not very good having them running whilst cranking it over.

First bit, Diode connecting mainbeam to the dipped relay trigger wire.

Second one VSR?

Would'nt you just run the trigger from the MAIN to the DIPPED trigger as well? So in effect, both triggers for the relay are in series?
Why or how would fitting a Diode keep the DIPPED relay trigger circuit closed? Any diagram- because I'm useless at picturing stuff in my mind


VSR? Voltage something Regulator? Thought about a capacitor, but that would still be draining the battery while cranking.

There is a way of doing it with just relays & wires, I can't picture it now though.
As a Diode only allows current one way if you fit it between the trigger wires so current can flow from main to dipped, then the dipped relay is powered when main is on. But being a diode the current is stopped from turning main on when your using dipped.

VSR - Voltage Sensing Relay. They only trip when the voltage passes a set level, so the cranking of the starter causing the voltage to drop will switch the lights off till the alternator pumps the voltage up again when the bike has started.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

If your dipped beam turns off when you switch to high beam (bad luck) - you can make this cheap circuit so the HID lights stay on all the time.

(Phear my l33t paint skillz)
So you locate the main and dipped beam wires, feed them both through an IN4001 diode to the relay. The capacitor just stops the relay clicking off too quickly when switching from high to dipped and visa-verse.

Edited by Dr Doofenshmirtz on Sunday 24th October 21:54

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

D3fender said:

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

A typical HID Balast will draw around 6.5 amps/90 watts at cold startup (which is more than a standard 55 watt/4 amp Halogen bulb at +2.5 amps). After about 20 seconds the current will drop to around 3.5 amps/48 watts. Your existing wiring should easily cope. You don't need a relay.

It's only the H4 Bi-xenon kits that require a separate power feed...the other kits take the power directly from the existing lighting wiring (which of course is already fused).

You're missing the point, it's not the startup draw that's the isssue, if one of the ballasts/ignitors/lamps shorts or if they develop a fault and 20kv's go through your electrical system then you'll wish you had wired directly to the battery and not to the existing wiring.

It won't make any difference in that highly unlikely scenario. All you're doing is duplicating the bikes existing lighting circuit.

[Wedg1e]

D3fender said:

It's a Philips oem quality kit as fitted to Audi/BMW/Merc etc, if that's not good enough for you then fine, I'm not bothered, buy what you like.

I did

And I wouldn't be under too many illusions about Mercedes being such great cars; our new workshop is located next to a Merc garage, you should see the almost-constant stream of cars being dropped-off by breakdown truck
Or how about the Audi A4 that one of our sales guys owns: despite repeated visits to the dealers it still keeps dying in the outside lane of the motorway.
Or the BMW 3-series our service manager had that just loved to eat cambelts... along with half the engine.
And they're just the ones I know of...
Though I've never heard of the headlamps failing, so maybe you have a point

[Vidal Baboon]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

If your dipped beam turns off when you switch to high beam (bad luck) - you can make this cheap circuit so the HID lights stay on all the time.

(Phear my l33t paint skillz)
So you locate the main and dipped beam wires, feed them both through an IN4001 diode to the relay. The capacitor just stops the relay clicking off too quickly when switching from high to dipped and visa-verse.

Edited by Dr Doofenshmirtz on Sunday 24th October 21:54

ETA

Got it, thanks for that

Was having a brain fart moment.

Edited by Vidal Baboon on Monday 25th October 08:46

[PIGINAWIG]

HID should only be fitted to a projector type headlight or a light specifically tailored to accept the HID bulb.

Anything other than that is 'probably' illegal.

Even if you are getting a much better light as the rider/driver, the poor buggers coming the other way do not appreciate it, especially in wet conditions.

The plod will not enforce it though, until a head on collision or similar occurs and the driver can blame the aftermarket hid's for being unable to see etc.

Best way to settle any concerns is to call your insurance company and ask if you're still covered 'If I fit an hid kit to REPLACE my halogen bulbs'

[Fats25]

Why have all the HID questions come to the top of the threads? Weird - that is the 2nd one in a few minutes!

[BigHeartedTone]

High Intensity Discussion.













I'll get my coat.