HID conversion--Gen!

[TomInPA]

I got very good results using the HIDcountry motorcycle kit. The relay harness plugs into the OEM 3-prong plug and take direct battery power. The come on after the engine has started, have a nice flat beam cutoff and good shielding, and the high beam (solenoid reposition of bulb) is very effective in placing the beam ahead on the road as opposed to in the trees. I use teh 4300K color on these.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Thanks for the reply. I knew about the light output ratings, but never saw anything in the 4300 range. I would go 5 or 6k for whiter light.

I didn't know about the Bi-xenon requirement for high/lowbeams...

I'll keep looking as I haven't decided if I'm gonna go this route or not. Yours and Tom's solutions look like pretty good solutions if I decide to get them...

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks for the reply. I knew about the light output ratings, but never saw anything in the 4300 range. I would go 5 or 6k for whiter light.

I didn't know about the Bi-xenon requirement for high/lowbeams...

I'll keep looking as I haven't decided if I'm gonna go this route or not. Yours and Tom's solutions look like pretty good solutions if I decide to get them...

Yo dingbat. Do some research. You want 4300k. Believe me. 4300k is NOT yellow. There is a reason BMW, Mercedes, and all the other OEM car manufacturers use 4300k for their automotive HID lights.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Thanks for the reply. I knew about the light output ratings, but never saw anything in the 4300 range. I would go 5 or 6k for whiter light.

I didn't know about the Bi-xenon requirement for high/lowbeams...

I'll keep looking as I haven't decided if I'm gonna go this route or not. Yours and Tom's solutions look like pretty good solutions if I decide to get them...

Yo dingbat. Do some research. You want 4300k. Believe me. 4300k is NOT yellow. There is a reason BMW, Mercedes, and all the other OEM car manufacturers use 4300k for their automotive HID lights.

Goddammit...I thought everybody was using 5k. I can't believe shit I read on the internet. What's this world coming to??

 

[TomInPA]

4300 K is a very white light. The Clearwater Krista LEDs in this shot are 6000K. As you can see, the 4300 K Lights are not that far off. 6000 has some bluish highlights and can be kinda weird reflecting off street-signs. The 4300K delivers about as much visible light as anything can, but other than the fact they are bright, they don't stand out as "cheap" aftermarket lights...even though they are.

Notice how the headlights appear to be lit only on the top-half of the reflector. This is the beam cutoff and is really important. The bulbs must have adequate shielding to avoid blinding oncoming drivers.

 

[worldbound4now]

I got them from Retro-Solutions, they offer a 10% discount on the cumminsforum using "diesel" as the discount code. I do recommend calling them and talking to them to make sure you have the right stuff. They are very responsive and easy to work with. I have a full season on mine and about 10,000 miles without a hitch. The fit and manufacture quality on my set is very good.

I also have run the "Digital" brand kit from Retro-Solutions after my initial fleabay set of HID lights had one bulb go out following several years of use. I purchased them on 10/26/2010 and haven't had to think much about them since installation. The price was a little extra compared to some kits out there (I think I paid around $150 including shipping), but the lifetime warranty provides some peace of mind and the installation worked out well. I also felt more comfortable with a full digital ballast control versus the flyback diode/loop kits found in some less expensive kits. When I purchased my set, the ballast was a little smaller than my original HID kit, but not as small as the slimline ballasts mentioned in other posts. The build quality seemed great and it was nice to know the ballasts are truly waterproof.

Retro-solutions does have a slim digital ballast kit with lifetime warranty that currently costs $170.99. If I had a space issue, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase their product again.

(I am not affiliated with this company other than being a happy customer)

 

[Fred W]

Actually, the high beam pattern of the FJR Headlight reflectors sucks moist ass. It doesn't matter whether you are running Bi-Xenon HIDs or OEM Halogen H4's, when you shift the focal spot to the high beam location it broadcasts a vertically narrow beam of light. With the HIDs it is just more noticeable because the light in the beam is so much brighter that it is hard to see anything outside the main beam. This is NOT what you really want from your headlights.

A good solution would be to run HID low beam only lamps in the OEM headlamp bucket. The low beam pattern is really quite good, and has a sharp cutoff so you won't blind oncoming drivers when they are properly adjusted. Then, add a set of decent auxiliary lights aimed as high beams. I would try to avoid using HIDs for Aux lights as they take too long to warm up to full brightness. I'd really like to get ahold of a set of 3000 lumen LEDs for that purpose. Having separate lights as high beams is perfectly legal and will actually give you superior lighting.

PS - I agree 4300k is the temperature that you want. 5000k is pretty close.

 

[dcarver]

I've been looking at these

Our Squadron 3” x 3” light is the next generation of LED lighting! This light packs 3,600 Lumens that will truly annihilate the night.

The Squadron exceeds HID output yet weighs only 12oz.

Uses active Thermal Management, Single Layer Solid Core Copper Circuit Board and aircraft grade aluminum housing that maintains LED temperature within the defined operating limits.

If you’re looking for the ultimate in LED lighting technology the Baja Designs Squadron is your answer!

Features:

Available in two configurations. Driving and Spot using precision in house designed optics

Weight: 12oz

Waterproof, Submersible to 3 meters

Hard coated polycarbonate lens

Lifetime Warranty

Specifications:

Total Lumens: 3600

Housing: Billet Machined housing with stainless steel fasteners and mounts.

Front Lens: Hard coated Polycarbonate

Power Consumption: 44 watts

Uses four T6 Bin Cree XML LEDs at 5000K

25,000 hour LED life expectancy

 

[3dogs]

On my HID conversion I run one headlamp (the left one) on low beam only. The right side switches from low to hi--a good compromise as the hi beam (both left and right) hid kind of sucks.

 

[Fred W]

I agree. That is a good compromise. I did some beam cast testing of that configuration a couple of years ago and, as I recall, it was quite successful.

This post by Warchild effectively shows the problem of the FJR Headlamp High beams (it's not just with HIDs)

And this followup post of mine shows the improvement of leaving one beam in the "low" position.

I forget why I didn't go through with it. :huh: May be time to revisit.

 

[RiderX]

By shedding 40 watts or so with HIDs vs halogens, I hope to be able to see at nite AND stay warm.

Converting from stock lighting to HID will not save much wattage. The ballests use around 4 amps each. (about 55 watts, same as the stock 55 watt bulb) Once they warm up I think the amps may drop to 3.8 or so (that's what I measured on my installation). The light output is worth the conversion but you won's save power useage.

Put a couple thousand miles on after doing HID conversion and have to say I'm extremely pleased. (I also run Alex's 3200 Lm LED lights with a dimmer for night augmentation in lonely rides in Calvert County dodging four legged furry things). It appears I am in the minority in that I'm running HIDCountry 6k Bi-Xenon. They say their 6k temperature bulbs are the same as their competitor's 5k. I definitely didn't want anything blue! The light is very white and matches the LEDs. Highway signs look great and are very clear to me, others have experienced glare. Anyway I love the color temp and I love the lights. Daytime vis is a nobrainer and as an AE driver with many farkles, I am worried about current draw as most of us are.

Here's what I came up with a quality ammeter in the current path:

Stock Phillips Halogen low beam 4.4 A

Stock Phillips Halogen hi beam 5.0 A

BiXenon 3.8A in high or low. On startup, the system gets to 3.8A pretty quickly and stays there (within 15s). If power is interrupted to the ballast and restored, start up tax can jump as high as 6A but only for a short time. Within 90 seconds, stable again at 3.8A

So really a 1.2 A savings changing your consumption 15 - 20 watts over halogen low beams.

That plus the 1.2 A savings to high beam "pays for" one of Alex's 3200Lm LED clusters at full bright (in power consumption). Of course the spaceship lighting up the night sky is comparing apples to oranges. Just wanted to comment on the current differences.

YMMV

 

[bramfrank]

he's got & runs HID aux lights @ 70WATTSjust replace them with LED 30watts aux lights

40watts makes a big diff at easy install

price may be3 an issue, but if real time industries or another vendor has them like burnspots which impressed me at a decent price

So 2 30 watt LED lights will put out fewer lumens that 2 35 watt HIDs and if the 10 watt differential is that serious, then he's already done for.
I tried HID conversions and went back to H4s - Aux HID driving lights are the answer. That, plus wear an extra sweater and turn down the vest.

 

[Pete Bansen]

You want 4300k. Believe me. 4300k is NOT yellow. There is a reason BMW, Mercedes, and all the other OEM car manufacturers use 4300k for their automotive HID lights.

+1

4300K is the effective part of the spectrum for your eyes, doesn't distort natural color and - perhaps most valuable - doesn't look like an illegal aftermarket modification to a police officer. It's the way to go.

 

[SkooterG]

Here's what I came up with a quality ammeter in the current path:

Stock Phillips Halogen low beam 4.4 A

Stock Phillips Halogen hi beam 5.0 A

BiXenon 3.8A in high or low. On startup, the system gets to 3.8A pretty quickly and stays there (within 15s). If power is interrupted to the ballast and restored, start up tax can jump as high as 6A but only for a short time. Within 90 seconds, stable again at 3.8A

So really a 1.2 A savings changing your consumption 15 - 20 watts over halogen low beams.

Excellent. Thanks for providing those 'real world' measurements. A bit different results than a few others that have measured. But another valuable data point.

 

[Pete Bansen]

I tried HID conversions and went back to H4s - Aux HID driving lights are the answer. That, plus wear an extra sweater and turn down the vest.

I tend to agree with that. HID conversion seems to work really well in a projector headlight, but conventional headlight unit/reflector, not so much. HID driving lights - despite the fact that there is warm-up time - seem to be the way to harness HID technology and throw light way down the road in a controllable manner. LED's are nice for a broader pattern up close (and for conspicuity), but they don't have a tight enough beam (yet) to make them a solid solution.

 

[Ryan]

4300K is the temperature that produces a color closest to natural sunlight.

John Ryan

 

[bramfrank]

4300K is the temperature that produces a color closest to natural sunlight.

John Ryan

Note that 3200K is the color of a standard halogen bulb and 4200K is the 'standard' color temperature for OEM HIDs. For some reason Chinese providers run slightly higher color temps, rating their 'traditional' bulbs at a claimed 4300K (I don't trust the specifications of anything made on a ping pong table in China by coolie labor).

I ran a set of 3200K HIDs in a car I owned and they were AMAZING. They were the same color as the original bulbs, just 3 times as bright - but only high cost providers seem to sell them

Note that as HID bulbs age their color temperatures go up - so if you are replacing one of a pair in an older set, you may well notice that the NEW one seems a bit 'yellower' than the older - the reverse of what you'd expect with filament lighting.