H4 telescopic HIDs w/ super slim ballasts

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

I had been searching since the beginning of the winter for a telescopic HID upgrade kit with the super slim ballasts. I found one guy on eBay with decent feedback rating that is located in the US that ships units made in Hong Kong with exactly what I wanted, but he only had kits listed that were split in half for single headlight motorcycles. Half kits

I contacted him and he was pretty good at communicating. He gave me a price for a full kit of 137.99 plus shipping of $38. I have ordered one of these kits for myself yesterday (requested the 4300k) but of course I have not yet received it.

I convinced him to list some full kits on eBay as I thought there might be some others who were interested. Anyway, here they are:

eBay auction

TriggerT · Jan 22, 2008

HID ignorant question:

If you were to change to these do you no longer have low and high beams? I know that is the case with some other set ups, but I can't teller from the sellers description.

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

TriggerT said:
HID ignorant question:
If you were to change to these do you no longer have low and high beams? I know that is the case with some other set ups, but I can't teller from the sellers description.

No, you don't lose your high beams. That is the point of the telescopic action. It moves the capsule in for high beam and out for low beam. There has been a good amount of discussion about these and other HID upgrades on the forum. Quite a few other forumites have installed telescopics and most are very satisfied with the results. The consensus is that the telescopics give the best high beam and also a very good low beam which is far brighter than the stock halogens.

The big difference between this kit and the kits that others have been buying is the superslim ballasts. That should make locating the ballasts in the nose of the faring much easier.

Installing HIDs has an added advantage of reducing the power drawn by the headlights to 70W (2x35W) in either high or low beam. The stock halogens draw 110W / 120W in low / high.

The absolute best available lighting is to use the low beam only HID kits and then add Solteks or some other HID type of aux lights for use as high beams. However, that costs upwards of $800 by the time the brackets and aux lights and low beam HIDs are all bought. Installing these also does not preclude installing some sort of aux lights at a later time (like when you hit the lottery) if desired.

Warchild · Jan 22, 2008

Fred W said:
Installing HIDs has an added advantage of reducing the power drawn by the headlights to 70W (2x35W) in either high or low beam.

The power savings is actually not quite that much, though of course there are some savings over the halogen equivalent.

Each HID lamp kit actually consumes ~ 42 watts, but only when they are fully warmed up. They do consume a bit more until they are at full operational temp.

The bulbs are purported to consume 35-watts, the ballast itself will consume another 7-watts (again, once up to temp).

So compared to low-beam you save ~ 13-watts per bulb; a 26-watt savings. Not a massive amount, but every little bit helps.

There have been reports of some noteworthy failures during the earlier iterations of the telescopic units. One recently failed on a female LDRider on a V-Strom that could have ended up being very bad (fortunately, she was able use other people's headlight well enough to get off the road). Hopefully, these units being made today are more reliable. Those that have reliable telescopic units seem to like them pretty well.

The female V-Strom rider is going back to "low-beam-only" HIDs. Scared her pretty badly to be thrown into the dark like she was... :blink:

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

Warchild said:
Fred W said:

Installing HIDs has an added advantage of reducing the power drawn by the headlights to 70W (2x35W) in either high or low beam.

Click to expand...

The power savings is actually not quite that much, though of course there are some savings over the halogen equivalent.

Each HID lamp kit actually consumes ~ 42 watts, but only when they are fully warmed up. They do consume a bit more until they are at full operational temp.

The bulbs are purported to consume 35-watts, the ballast itself will consume another 7-watts (again, once up to temp).

So compared to low-beam you save ~ 13-watts per bulb; a 26-watt savings. Not a massive amount, but every little bit helps.

There have been reports of some noteworthy failures during the earlier iterations of the telescopic units. One recently failed on a female LDRider on a V-Strom that could have ended up being very bad (fortunately, she was able use other people's headlight well enough to get off the road). Hopefully, these units being made today are more reliable. Those that have reliable telescopic units seem to like them pretty well.

The female V-Strom rider is going back to "low-beam-only" HIDs. Scared her pretty badly to be thrown into the dark like she was... :blink:

Thanks for that note, Dale. But why would these be any less reliable than the low beam only units? They are the same basic design with a solenoid added for the movement.

TriggerT · Jan 22, 2008

Fred, have you put a set of these on your bike? Just wondering, since you put the link to them on.

mdisher · Jan 22, 2008

So as I understand it, outside of going with Solteks, this is the **** right?

How much of a ***** is it to mount these on a Gen II... I read Warchilds post on the old one's and I don't want to give up my glovebox and or **** up my vent to mount these.

Are they reliable enough? Can you carry a stock H4 and go back in a pinch on the side of the road if something bad happens?

-MD

Ignacio · Jan 22, 2008

Fred W said:
Thanks for that note, Dale. But why would these be any less reliable than the low beam only units? They are the same basic design with a solenoid added for the movement.

I think you answered your own question there. Solenoids are moving parts and can fail.

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

Ignacio said:
Fred W said:

Thanks for that note, Dale. But why would these be any less reliable than the low beam only units? They are the same basic design with a solenoid added for the movement.

Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question there. Solenoids are moving parts and can fail.

Yes, understood. But when the moving part fails you would still have a low beam, right? Or are you saying that moving the capsule causes the capsule to fail? If so, I'd like to hear more reports of this than one.

Warchild · Jan 22, 2008

Fred W said:
Warchild said:

The female V-Strom rider is going back to "low-beam-only" HIDs. Scared her pretty badly to be thrown into the dark like she was... :blink:

Click to expand...

Thanks for that note, Dale. But why would these be any less reliable than the low beam only units? They are the same basic design with a solenoid added for the movement.

Dunno. The speculation is that the "snapping" back and forth when the solenoid moves the bulb from one location to another is the eventual culprit. Apparently, over time (and how much time, or rather, how many hi/lo switching operations, I don't know) the "snapping" back and forth introduces problems of some sort. I don't have particulars on the matter, as I haven't pursued the telescopic solution all that much after hearing about the problems some LDRiders have seen with them.

Like I say, maybe the units being manufactured now don't have the problem.

Too, it's less of an issue or concern for me nowadays, since I am no longer using the FJR as a rally bike. The Blackbird has H7 bulbs, and the 'Busa has a H7 low-beam, and H9 high beam, so these single-filament bulbs aren't a problem.

In fact, I am just now wrapping up installing a H9-based 4300K HID kit in my 'Busa's high beam.... B)

Note how the filaments line up pretty nicely... critical top proper focal point location:

This is the Busa's H9 High-Beam housing and stock H9 connector.... that latter isn't used for the HID kit:

Unlike the Gen II FJRs, the Busa has copious room (thankfully enough) in the nose cowling for two full sets of HID kits even using the old tried-n-true McCullough G5 kits.

1) Incoming HID power leads for the upper (low-beam) bulb

2) HID connectors for the lower (high-beam) bulb

3) Ignitor for the high-beam bulb, double zip-tied to sub-frame

4) Ballast for the Low-Beam, wrapped in several layers of thick mil-spec duct tape to prevent scratching subframe.

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

TriggerT said:
Fred, have you put a set of these on your bike? Just wondering, since you put the link to them on.

No I have not yet received mine. I will be doing this as soon as I get em if you want to wait and see.

Renegade said:
So as I understand it, outside of going with Solteks, this is the **** right?
How much of a ***** is it to mount these on a Gen II... I read Warchilds post on the old one's and I don't want to give up my glovebox and or **** up my vent to mount these.

Are they reliable enough? Can you carry a stock H4 and go back in a pinch on the side of the road if something bad happens?

-MD

I have a 1st gen so won't be able to vouch for that even after I do mine.

I do not think switching back to the halogen H4 would be very difficult, though you'd have to probably remove some panels. The wiring will remain unmolested.

Let me clarify: I have no interest in this eBay auction. I have decided to buy a kit from this guy and he has an auction up for others. This is why I did not post this as a Group Buy or anything like that. I can't vouch for anything just sharing the opportunity should anyone else decide that this is something they'd like to try.

Warchild · Jan 22, 2008

Fred W said:
Yes, understood. But when the moving part fails you would still have a low beam, right?

Only if it "fails" in the low-beam position. If is happens in the high-beam position, that could be a problem. I don't know if they have a "fail-safe" mode.

Or are you saying that moving the capsule causes the capsule to fail?

Yes, apparently, in her case, anyway.

I'll try to find out the details. But, again, I have no idea if the ones that she had are the ones in this kit or any other, for that matter. Maybe the ones that are coming to you are from a different source.... who knows, Hong Kong is a big place, lots of little manufacturing shops there. Place has undoubtedly changed a lot since I was last there (1988). For one thing, it's under communist China control nowadays.

Fred W · Jan 22, 2008

Warchild said:
I'll try to find out the details. But, again, I have no idea if the ones that she had are the ones in this kit or any other, for that matter. Maybe the ones that are coming to you are from a different source.... who knows, Hong Kong is a big place, lots of little manufacturing shops there. Place has undoubtedly changed a lot since I was last there (1988). For one thing, it's under communist China control nowadays.

OK, thanks.

And for anyone that's on the fence I commit to taking a close look at these when they do come in and see if I can determine any weak points. I will try to document my install, though others have already done so and report back here.

Grumpy · Jan 22, 2008

Fred, the important part is to get lamps that come apart so that you don't have to cut the rubber boot on the back of the headlights. Holler if you have problems and I'll see if I can offer advice.

Jim

GalaxyBlue · Jan 22, 2008

Mine still are functioning perfectly. They have been in for 8 months now.

TriggerT · Jan 22, 2008

GalaxyBlue said:
Mine still are functioning perfectly. They have been in for 8 months now.

Do you have the exact ones shown on the link to the E-Bay listing?

Fred W · Jan 24, 2008

Warchild said:
Fred W said:

Yes, understood. But when the moving part fails you would still have a low beam, right?

Click to expand...

Only if it "fails" in the low-beam position. If is happens in the high-beam position, that could be a problem. I don't know if they have a "fail-safe" mode.

Or are you saying that moving the capsule causes the capsule to fail?

Click to expand...

Yes, apparently, in her case, anyway.

One more thing that occurred to me last night was that on an FJR we have two redundant headlamps, so even if one headlight somehow failed you wouldn't be stuck driving in the dark. But I thought the Vstrom also has dual H4 type headlights, no? I don't see how that rider lost both her headlights at the same time.

TriggerT · Jan 24, 2008

If she hit one of the potholes in Chicago that would take both of her lights, and her suspension, and tires, and, and , and......

TriggerT · Jan 24, 2008

ON the "Color Temperature" what is the difference? As the number goes up, are the lights going to have more of a blue tint? Sorry, but I am a little color blind, and can't tell the difference on the E-Bay listing page. What color temperature HID's have people been using?

H4 telescopic HIDs w/ super slim ballasts

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