Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner HID/Xenon headlight system fitted.

Hi, guys. I've just fitted a HID system to my Speedie. I wanted something that'd mean I could see things better at night and, also, to make me more conspicuous in the day. I think I've got what I want.

I went with a H4-3 bulb which gives high and low beams, as per the standard bulb. The difference is that a servo is used to move a shield which moves the focus of the light. I chose 6000k temperature rating as, although it's not as bright as the 4300k, I feel the bluer tint will stand out more on the roads.

Fitting: is pretty much plug-and-play. The only extra work was to extend 3 wires so they'd reach from under the seat to the front of the bike. The rest of the work involved was hiding the ballast and relay, routing the wires under the seat and tank and then connecting it all up.
Relay-under the seat (it needs to be connected to the battery anyway so it's probably the best place for it.
Ballast-behind my flyscreen. I got one of the slimline digital ones-it's tiny and, also, water- and vibration-proof.
Bulb-a straight swap for the original. The bit behind the reflector is considerably larger than a normal bulb due to the servo but fit into my 4" shell with no problems. There's no delay in switching between high and low beams and online reports say the servos are reliable and durable.

As I've just mentioned, I have a 4" headlight shell with no room for extra wires. Currently, the wiring is all tied to the underside of my flyscreen bracket and looks pretty messy but I'll be getting some sort of box made to neaten it up.

I've yet to use it in the dark but, in the daylight, and my darkened garage, the difference compared to stock is, erm, night and day. I could probably improve it further still with a decent headlight and reflector; my current headlight (1 from a pair of Dominators) is pretty poor. I'll write a better report as and when I've put a few hundred miles on it but I'm happy that it's gonna make night-riding a more pleasant experience.

I'll post some pictures soon but there's really not much to see. I don't have a before picture for comparison but I'll get a few of the new beam/pattern.

If you want any fitting advice and/or have any questions, please, go bother some other idiot. :P

Erm, no, ask away.

yes pics will be good. i wand a hid on my bike but i hate playing with wires

Frank

Very interesting indeed ... thanks!

I would like to hear your real-life experience with this setup as I'm considering various options.
I suffer from poor lighting considerably, especially on long rides and am currently investigating a lighting solution (additional two lights under the triple-tree) with Fasteddy.
I think a combo solution with an HID setup could possibly be ideal (at night on not-so-good highways ... you can never have too much light ).

It seems a few of us now are looking at the options available for improving what I've found to be poor lighting from a stock headlight. I'd be interested to know if by just changing the headlight to Hid whether this alone would suffice and therefore not requiring adding others?

Update: the reason I did this change was because I often have to travel down an unlit section of motorway and it's pretty unnerving at times and forces me to slow right down. I went down it last night and, although the light output is there, I realised my reflector is abysmal. It wasn't as obvious with a filament bulb.

It seems a new headlight is in order. The original is broken but I'll refit it and take a few photo's for your evaluation but it won't be staying on. As much as I like the 4"er, I feel it's too small to be practical. A 5 3/4" is called for, methinks.

I put one on my stock 07 sm....I used at 8000 bulb....I hate the bulb color...its like a weird purpleish color...but it did brighten up the road a lot...my field of view became much wider and i could see for longer distances...Also reflections are much better with HID....I mounted my relay and ballast under my tank between it and the frame....pretty easy to do...i think you have to hook up 2 wires....power and ground...the rest is just plug and play....

Update 2: in trawling the net, it appears that HID's need headlights that are designed specifically for them. A normal headlight doesn't focus it properly and, as a result, there's a lot of scatter and no clean cut-off's. Over here, it's an MOT failure.

Scott, do you have a problem with the light focus, using the stock headlight unit?

Yes i have the same problem...and yes they do need a special housing to make them work 100%..However they still light up an area better than a halogen.....not sure what MOT means but over here they are not DOT(Department of Transportation) legal when put on aftermarket. I will still not chage back

MOT=Ministry Of Transport (test), a yearly check to ensure a vehicle is roadworthy.

For those considering this modification, my advice is that it's not worth it if you're going to be using the stock housing (or, indeed, anything designed for incandescent bulbs).
Yes, the light is brighter but it's not focused, so to avoid blinding other drivers, it has to be aimed lower than usual, reducing its usefulness.
My recommendation, at this point, would be to get a decent set of halogen and/or HID auxilliary lights from a mainstream player (PIAA, etc) or, if you want to go the HID-headlight route, buy a kit with the correct reflector.