Electrosport dual filament HID kits

[user 213]

Ran across this on another list and it looks interesting to me. They offer a H4 kit for a '00-04 Nissan Pathfinder that they say has been used on FJRs successfully so I'm looking for input and feedback from someone that did this already.

Linky: Electrosport

It appears that the filament positions mimic the H4's normal hi/low positions and most of the kit is plug and play. $500 is kinda spendy, but no hacking up bulb capsules or running one hi and one low beam to have hi/low HID. I'd rather go this way and have both lights fully functional on hi and low beams than do the one each kits or a low beam only conversion with aux lights as my high beams.

So who's done this and what do you think of it?

 

[Ignacio]

Reviewed by Warchild about a year ago in various bits here.

 

[Toynut]

The dual bulb kits are okay to use , but, they do not allow for a fast high/low beam switching as there is a lag time for the units to fire. The moving capsule units keep the same bulb position (the arc is not side by side and possibly off-center in the reflector) and can be thumbed high /low quickly. My wife's new Enclave moves the bulb forward and back for high and low beam applications. Typical example:

https://cgi.ebay.com/BI-XENON-HID-CONVERSIO...1QQcmdZViewItem

BTW, You can find the dual bulb kits on ebay, for a lot less.

 

[Warchild]

Avoid.

Trust me.

 

[user 213]

The dual bulb kits are okay to use , but, they do not allow for a fast high/low beam switching as there is a lag time for the units to fire. The moving capsule units keep the same bulb position (the arc is not side by side and possibly off-center in the reflector) and can be thumbed high /low quickly. My wife's new Enclave moves the bulb forward and back for high and low beam applications. Typical example: https://cgi.ebay.com/BI-XENON-HID-CONVERSIO...1QQcmdZViewItem

BTW, You can find the dual bulb kits on ebay, for a lot less.

Toynut - Different type of kit I'm talking about. Yes, it has two bulbs, but it has two filaments per bulb. No moving parts. One filament is positioned for high beam, the other for low, within the same bulb. The low beam stays on all the time, the high beam coming on in addition when you select it.

 

[Bull]

I'm keen to learn more.....

 

[user 213]

I'm keen to learn more.....

Now that I've had time to read the previous threads that Iggy provided, (thanks Iggy), I will attempt to contact Electrosport and find out if the capsule has been changed or improved upon over what Warchild tested a year ago. And some wattage figures.

Re: wattage. I don't see much difference between running low beam only conversions and PHIDs or some other Aux HID lights. 42 watts per bulb, X4 is always going to equal 168 watts. My Sylvania Silverstars are pulling down 120 watts on low and 110 on high, (Silverstars are 60 low/55 hi). So 48 more watts than the halogen max.

For me, this isn't a big issue. I don't want to run Aux. lights. 90% of my riding at night doesn't allow hi beam, never mind aux lights. Still, I don't want to give up the high beam. The alternative has always been the sliding capsule bixenon kits, which are cheaper and use less wattage. I'm not sure there is room for that type of bulb on the right side where the battery is.

 

[Warchild]

I have tested further iterations of this bulb. I was testing as late as last summer, shortly before BBG Hell Week.

Electrosport even bought a FJR headlight assembly and had further research done, more iterations of the bulb.

It's still not what we want. It doesn't work like we would want to see it work.

In the end, the fundamental issue is the reflector housing we have in the FJR. It is simply not conducive to optimum HID high-beam performance. The reflector housing is too halogen-specific. Further, with these "dual-burner" HID bulbs, the low-beam is all over the place. It is much worse than what is acceptable.

We can make the low-beam work if it is shielded properly (as we have done all along with the "Low-Beam Only" units for the past 2- 2 1/2 years.) As you can see in the example "dual-burner" bulbs, they are not shielded whatsoever.

The low-beam is unacceptable, and the high beam is, quite frankly, atrocious.

 

[Ignacio]

Now that I've had time to read the previous threads that Iggy provided, (thanks Iggy), I will attempt to contact Electrosport and find out if the capsule has been changed or improved upon over what Warchild tested a year ago. And some wattage figures.

IIRC, they were suboptimal even after the were redesigned and WC tested the second batch.

I'd go with with recommendation in this thread. It reflects the latest state of the particular capsules.

 

[Bull]

Hi Warchild - I appreciate your input and all the research you've done trying to get a good HID set-up. If a rider didn't want to go to additional lighting, what would you recommend for the best H4 lamp for the feej? What would you say about the 60/55 silverstars for example?

OCFJR - I also appreciate that your looking to improve the front end output. Many of us would like more light at the front end but (speaking for myself at least) are happy to sit on our arses and let you do all the leg work! Keep up the good work,

cheers - (from the big comfy chair by the computer) - Bull

 

[Warchild]

Hi Warchild - I appreciate your input and all the research you've done trying to get a good HID set-up. If a rider didn't want to go to additional lighting, what would you recommend for the best H4 lamp for the feej? What would you say about the 60/55 silverstars for example?

I can only say the following is my gut feel, because I have not yet personally tried these bulbs, yet....

It is my suspicion that these very latest halogen from Osram is likely to be "The Shit" for those who are staying with halogen technology:

Osram "Night Breaker" H4 halogen bulbs from Powerbulbs.com

These are supposedly the very best you can get in halogen technology today. Not cheap; the Good Shit never is....

 

[Bull]

It is my suspicion that these very latest halogen from Osram is likely to be "The Shit" for those who are staying with halogen technology:

Osram "Night Breaker" H4 halogen bulbs from Powerbulbs.com

These are supposedly the very best you can get in halogen technology today. Not cheap; the Good Shit never is....

well - maybe I can leverage my arse off the couch just this once and give these a go - and do a little write-up for the forum crew. I ordered a pair tonight so once they're here and in the bike, I'll let ya'll know if they're good , bad or ugly

[PS - thread hi-jack mode: OFF]

 

[user 213]

WC - Thanks for some more detailed input. While I always trust your judgement, I tend to seek additioinal information on threads a year old, thus my continued interest up to this point. Now that we have a couple of salient points on why the dual filament bulbs are sub-optimal, it's clearer why the overall issue hasn't changed.

The SilverStars have a noticably shorter life than the stockers in my experience, though do provide better, whiter light. Part of the reason I was again investigating HID conversions is that I'm growing tired of replacing the halogen bulbs.

How have the previous Osrams been on bulb life?

 

[Bull]

Personally - I can't talk to life-span yet for the Osrams (having used Phillips mainly in the past) - but I can vouch for the speed of order turn-a-round from PowerBulbs.com - I placed an order late last night and received the shipping confirmation note this morning.

Damn close to the speed of light if you ask me.

 

[user 213]

Personally - I can't talk to life-span yet for the Osrams (having used Phillips mainly in the past) - but I can vouch for the speed of order turn-a-round from PowerBulbs.com - I placed an order late last night and received the shipping confirmation note this morning.
Damn close to the speed of light if you ask me.

I didn't see a wattage listed for those bulbs. 90% more light sounds like the 'Hyper' bulbs in 85 watt. 300 hours listed bulb life, IIRC. About the same as the Silverstars I've been running. Works out to about 15k miles or less for me.

 

[Toynut]

Dale concurs with my opinion on the HID twin bulb capsules, both the twin HID version (H4-2), and the HID/Halogen version (H4L) (although I would be curious to find out if I could install a headlight modulator on the halogen circuit side of the unit) may not work well in a FJR headlight assembly. The twin HID side by side would still take several seconds to fully warm up the High beam side bulb in all probability.

Here is what a vendor that approached my company at Sema had to offer:

https://www.xenon-l.com/pro_lamps.asp

Basically all the different types of H4 conversions are illustrated.

 

[Fred W]

I have tested further iterations of this bulb. I was testing as late as last summer, shortly before BBG Hell Week.
Electrosport even bought a FJR headlight assembly and had further research done, more iterations of the bulb.

It's still not what we want. It doesn't work like we would want to see it work.

In the end, the fundamental issue is the reflector housing we have in the FJR. It is simply not conducive to optimum HID high-beam performance. The reflector housing is too halogen-specific. Further, with these "dual-burner" HID bulbs, the low-beam is all over the place. It is much worse than what is acceptable.

We can make the low-beam work if it is shielded properly (as we have done all along with the "Low-Beam Only" units for the past 2- 2 1/2 years.) As you can see in the example "dual-burner" bulbs, they are not shielded whatsoever.

The low-beam is unacceptable, and the high beam is, quite frankly, atrocious.

Dale,

I'm assuming this reply is specific to the electrosport configuration of dual capsules?

What's your feeling on the telescopic units with a single capsule and high beam solenoids?

I thought those were supposed to be the best thing going for beam pattern and result in lower power consumption. (35W x 2)

 

[Toynut]

What's your feeling on the telescopic units with a single capsule and high beam solenoids?

Check out this thread:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...HID+conversions

 

[Fred W]

What's your feeling on the telescopic units with a single capsule and high beam solenoids?

Check out this thread:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...HID+conversions

Yeah, been there. Read that. That's why I was asking Warchild how those compare to the others (if he's seen them)