Upgraded to HID Xenon

[JesterNT]

I had a slight issue with the H4 bulb in my 7” tri-bar light, the wiring caught fire.  Apparently the shielding must have rubbed through or simply melted.  Since I was rewiring the headlamp and replacing the “standard” H4 halogen bulb.  I wanted something brighter! I read the posts about the OSRAM Night Breakers, Silverlight, and others.  I also read the other posts about HID.

After reading from multiple sources I decided I wanted to try HID.  It uses less power ,35 watts vs the 55/60 of halogen.  I like the idea of pure white light instead of the yellow tint of halogen, and IMO vehicles with HID are more visible at night.

I ordered a kit from DDM Tuning because they come with a lifetime warranty on all parts.  You can get kits cheaper on ebay but the warranty is usually 6-12 months. 

I opted for the 35 watt 8000K Bi-Xenon.  Bi-Xenon gives you high/low beams instead of the usual low-beam only of most HID bulbs.  If you read up on HID you’ll see why low-beam only isn’t such a big deal with xenon.

The kit was compact and fit into the headlamp enclosure with out too much trouble.  BUT the bi-xenon bulb would not fit!! It was too long and hit against the speedometer cable.  There was no way to move the cable as it hit dead center.  The bi-xenon uses a small electric motor to tilt the bulb for high/low and this makes it about 1.5” too long.  If you plan on going HID with an H4 bulb you might have a hard time finding a bi-xenon short enough to fit.  Be warned.  I returned the bi-xenon for a low-beam only H4 that was MUCH shorter.  It was no longer that a normal H4 halogen bulb. 

I installed my low-beam only HID and took it out last night and WOW.  I was astounded at how much brighter and clearer the road was!  There was so much light I couldn’t fathom that oncoming traffic wasn’t getting blinded.  I drove through town for almost 20 min and didn’t earn a complaint. I headed out of town on un-lit back roads that I had ridden at night just days before.   It might be tacky to make a night and day reference but the HID light was so much brighter and clearer!  It was amazing how much farther I could see.  There was no blinding washout of objects in front and to the sides like one might expect with extremely bright lights.   

I headed home with a big smile on my face!  I did not receive a single high beam flash from oncoming traffic, which surprised me.  They say HID is less blinding than halogen and I can’t argue.

[iowarider]

Nice, thanks for the right up. hope you follow up so I can see how you like it when you have lived with it a while. I did not know a high/low HID was even made.

[olhogrider]

If you don't mind, how much did it cost? I don't have the tri-bar. Do they have a bulb housing?

[JesterNT]

They don't have a bulb housing, you would have to pick that up somewhere else.  The HID kit was about $30 with $10 shipping.  http://www.ddmtuning.com/

JP Cycles and Nfieldgear both cary Adjure headlamp housings they run $80-$100. 

[Kevin Mahoney]

Be careful about the heat from the bulb. I think you will be alright becuase you RE is all steel, but just watch it at first

[olhogrider]

35 watts and you don't miss the high beam? They do warn of the heat from the 55 watt setup.

[JesterNT]

The low beam of the xenon has more light than the high beam of my halogen ever did.  I checked the bulb on Sunday after a 1 hour ride in 107 degree heat.  The housing and wiring all seem to be fine. 
I'll update this post if I encounter any thermal issues from the HID setup over the next few weeks.

[The_Rigger]

Isn't an 8,000°K arc light awfully blue-shifted?  Personally, I'd stick with 4,300°K for pure white light, certainly no more than 5,000°K.  YMMV, of course...

[JesterNT]

Yes the 8k was quite smurfy.  I recently switched to a 5k with a xenon low beam and halogen high.  This bulb fist nice and is much shorter than the Bi-Xenon I tried at first.

[The_Rigger]

I replaced the H7 halogens in the low-beam projector lamps in my cabriolet with 4,300°K xenon HID capsules, designed specifically for that make and model car...  Lovely, brilliant white light, and gobs of it. The high-beams are pretty much an afterthought now.

I will insert a caveat here, though: The light from an HID arc capsule emanates from one singular point: the arc gap between the discharge capsule's anode and cathode. The halogen reflectors in our vehicles are designed to throw light forward through the lens, but only if the light source (the filament in halogen incandescent lamps) is precisely located at the focal point of the lamp assembly's reflector...

When you go looking for an HID conversion, be as sure as you can possibly be that the arc gap is located in *precisely* the same spot as the equivalent halogen lamp's filament is, or the output from the lamp's arc will not be located precisely at the reflector's focal point, and you will get, errr, "somewhat less than optimal results" (which is a fancy way of saying your bike's headlamp will look Totally Rice and not work worth a cup of lukewarm spit).

Just a word to the wise...

[1 Thump]

JesterNT: Would you think that the bixenon would work well with this kind of setup: http://nfieldgear.com/enfield-store/aftermarket-parts-accessories/lighting/complete-cafe-headlight-kit.html

[JesterNT]

Yes that looks to be plenty deep.  I measured my bixenon that did NOT fit the C5 housing and it needs 1.85" of open space at the back of the bulb.

[GreenRE]

They don't have a bulb housing, you would have to pick that up somewhere else.  The HID kit was about $30 with $10 shipping.  http://www.ddmtuning.com/

JP Cycles and Nfieldgear both cary Adjure headlamp housings they run $80-$100.

Thats 30 bucks including bulb, ballast, wiring etc ??

[JesterNT]

The kit comes with slim balast, wiring harness, and a standard (low beam only) H4 xenon bulb, the price has even gone down it's now $25.  You can pick the kits up on ebay to for cheep also.  I just went with DDM tuning because it comes with a life time warranty.  I had to order the bixenon separate on ebay ($12 shipped). 

[iowarider]

JP cycles will send you their two inch thick, not kidding, catalog that is filled with goodies that should be able to be fit on the RE's. Normal for the RE tweaking of most. They have lamp housings that look Retro and several varieties of turn signals. This is first hand knowledge as I live about an hour drive from there home warehouse. They specialize in Harley parts, but hay,most of the time, "parts is parts". The catalog is free and makes great reading to get ya through cold winter nights. Clothing as well. Just don't do as I did and ruin the front cover from drooling on it. 

[Darkside]

JesterNT, Silly question what color bulb did you get the H4 in.

[AgentX]

Hi-

For $25, this is a great tip!  Thanks for sharing.

Questions, though, from the newb- when you guys speak of needing a "bulb housing", are you speaking of something other than the normal reflector into which my current H4 halogen plugs in?  (I ditched my casquette and am using a separate, aftermarket headlamp enclosure mounted to the fork legs by tabs.)

And for installation, what goes where?  Looking at what I suppose is the ballast with the mysterious black plug connection, I am a bit concerned as I've got nothing to plug that into.  Do you need to cut it off and splice it in to the normal wiring harness, or does it accept some sort of connector you can add to the Bullet's wiring?

Thanks!!

[AgentX]

Alright, got mine fitted up, too!  Low-beam only.  I think I might have been able to use a dual beam since my bike has a separate headlamp bucket, but this looks like it'll be brighter than my highbeam now anyhow.  Bike's not running yet so I have no ride report, but jumping power from the battery gives a great preview.

Setup comes in 2 parts--bulb and ballast, with weatherpak connectors between them. 

Electrically, you just connect them to each other (there's only one way to do it) and then there are only two lines coming off the bulb...power and ground.  They have male blade connectors and are fitted in what looks like an H4 bulb configuration, but they're just power input and ground.  I cut them off, along with a rubber surround which didn't fit anything on my bike, and crimped on appropriate connectors for my setup. 


I am hazarding a guess that routing the on-off power surge through the bar switch is doubleplusungood, so thought a relay was the best plan.  Bar switch power (high and low beam leads spliced into one line so both settings give me power to the relay) into the relay switch terminal, with the complimentary terminal running to ground.  Pos power from the battery running across the switched terminals into the positive side of the bulb; negative side of the bulb out to ground.  That's all it took.

Only weird thing I can't figure out is whether the bulb itself is oriented properly.  The filament (or whatever it is in an HID) has a little reflector opposite it.  I would expect this to be positioned underneath the bulb when it's installed, but instead it sits on the bulb's left side.  And the bulb has only one possible orientation in my lamp bucket; the bulb base won't fit any other direction.  We'll see if it's a problem in use.

I also needed to relieve some plastic from a small section of the bulb base so that my particular housing's bulb retaining clip would close.  A minute with a small file was all it took.

[The_Rigger]

I am hazarding a guess that routing the on-off power surge through the bar switch is doubleplusungood, so thought a relay was the best plan.

Good plan. HIDs don't draw much amperage once they're up and stable, but the amperage surge when the cold lamp strikes up it's arc can be pretty heavy.

Only weird thing I can't figure out is whether the bulb itself is oriented properly.  The filament (or whatever it is in an HID) has a little reflector opposite it.

High-Intensity Discharge lamps don't have a filament; they have a small arc gap. Ideally, the arc is burning across the gap in precisely the same position WRT the reflector's focal point as an incandescent's filament is in. As a matter of practice, though, the arc is often shifted slightly. That little reflector may be there as a way of compensating for the capsule's arc gap not being in precisely the same place as an incandescent filament.

I'd be curious to learn how your experiment works out. I've done a bit of experimentation putting HID lamps in my four-wheelers and GoldWings, over the past few years.

[AgentX]

Yeah, half of my headlamp is dark.  Still a hell of a lot of light, but seems like the reflector should be on top.

Unfortunately doesn't look like my reflector can rotate in the headlamp housing.  I'll look at cutting new slots in the reflector and turning the bulb itself.