Soltek HID Light Kit Night Photo's

[skyway]

I just recieved a set in the mail today, so I couldn't wait to see how they perform at night. Now I'm not by any stretch of the imagination dialed in the ways of HID, in fact I am very green to this subject. So I'm not going to tell you what I think of them, instead here's a few photo's that put them into perspective. I spent about 20 seconds aiming the HID's and I know I can dial them in better.

The photo's aren't great by any means, and don't fully capture what I was looking at.

FJR Low Beam only

FJR High Beam

Now with the Soltek HID's lit up

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

Sign me up. Damn close to the "Eyes of God" as I remember from WC PHID's. Of course money might be a little tight after the V-Strom DL650K7 purchase. These might be a great addition for the watt challenged weestrom. Maybe a skyway bracket is in order for the little guy. Mike in Fremont

 

[HIGHLANDER]

WOW they're the shitz alright !!!! :blind:

Howza about a pic with them mounted on the bike pleeeeeeze !! :hyper:

 

[madmike2]

Howza about a pic with them mounted on the bike pleeeeeeze !! :hyper:

THAT, my friend, is supposed to be in the works.

See...I told you...Skyway is the "farkle-devil-from-hell"! I really believe my credit card company calls him at home and gives him ideas...... :dribble:

Sure, Skyway, tease us, tickle us, lure us, when you don't yet have a bracket designed and made!

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Howza about a pic with them mounted on the bike pleeeeeeze !! :hyper:

THAT, my friend, is supposed to be in the works.

You giving away Sky's trade secrets AGAIN !!!!! :headbonk:

 

[skyway]

Sure, Skyway, tease us, tickle us, lure us, when you don't yet have a bracket designed and made!

Hence no install photo's. The bracket for the light is key to this farkle being feasable on the FJR.

The wiring installed very fast though, there's only 2 wires per light to deal with. Even I can handle them without any burning smells.

 

[Ignacio]

Sure, Skyway, tease us, tickle us, lure us, when you don't yet have a bracket designed and made!

I'm glad you outed him. That little trickster. He's got his work cut out for him.

Damn close to the "Eyes of God" as I remember from WC PHID's.

Damn! I would venture a guess that they beat PHIDs and FF200 HIDs. I would guess that with all those coherently organized photons that the reflector is a bit .....ummmm.....beefier than the others.

It seems there *might* be another photon emission choice in the works. Who o' who was an early investigator to give us this tantalizing look?

 

[Toecutter]

Who o' who was an early investigator to give us this tantalizing look?

Hmmm?
Are those both spots, drivers, or a combination?

fukin'

I could spare another 84 watts to match my headlight bulbs, and still run heated grips!.

 

[skyway]

Who o' who was an early investigator to give us this tantalizing look?

Hmmm?
Are those both spots, drivers, or a combination?

Both lights are drivers. I'm amazed at how far ahead I can see and focus my eyes with these lights. When I turned them off it went black, as the stock FJR lights offer no light whatsoever ahead in the range of this HID setup.

 

[skyway]

Sign me up. Damn close to the "Eyes of God" as I remember from WC PHID's. Of course money might be a little tight after the V-Strom DL650K7 purchase. These might be a great addition for the watt challenged weestrom. Maybe a skyway bracket is in order for the little guy. Mike in Fremont

I'm right there with you Mike. This light will be a key farkle for me on a second bike, as I plan to swap lamps between it and my FJR.

 

[SkooterG]

I wanna see direct comparisons to the PHIDs. Sure they look great compared to stock lighting. So do the PHIDs. And the PHIDs aren't nearly so damned BIG. Though no doubt the integrated ballast is a major plus.

Certainly, these lights are awesome, probably better than the PHIDs, but by how much? Direct comparisons are needed!

 

[bigdolma]

is that really the FJR or brought your 4X4 in for the photo?

 

[rickcorwn]

I wanna see direct comparisons to the PHIDs. Sure they look great compared to stock lighting. So do the PHIDs. And the PHIDs aren't nearly so damned BIG. Though no doubt the integrated ballast is a major plus.
Certainly, these lights are awesome, probably better than the PHIDs, but by how much? Direct comparisons are needed!

+1 on the comparo. Who's in Skyways neighborhood with a set of PHIDs!

 

[kaitsdad]

Now with the Soltek HID's lit up

If you look really close, you can see the paint starting to blister on that LPG tank -

Skyway, be careful with those things. ...... :blink:

 

[Toecutter]

I wanna see direct comparisons to the PHIDs. Sure they look great compared to stock lighting. So do the PHIDs. And the PHIDs aren't nearly so damned BIG. Though no doubt the integrated ballast is a major plus.
Certainly, these lights are awesome, probably better than the PHIDs, but by how much? Direct comparisons are needed!

I'm sure they are comparable in beamcast, so no reason to dump your current setup for these. But, if you don't have a current setup, these are a great choice, given the ease of install and not to mention the three year warranty. The person I spoke to at Baja said ALL components are covered, even the bulbs. With the concern about switching them on and off frequently and the negative effect on bulb life, warranty alone makes a purchase decision over other brands a no-brainer for me.

Not to mention the aesthetics, and the ultra-cool brackets Skyway is bound to come up with that will keep them from contacting the road in case of a tip-over!

Ian, did you get a spot beam to test? The drivers look awesome, but maybe a combo would give ultra-far downrange visibility. The deer and cows could be partially cooked by the time you get there. Mmmm, BBQ!

 

[huron52]

Thanks Skyway for buying up a set and showing us how they perform.

I do remember the Warchild is working on a Group buy in end of January. I can wait a little while and see how that works out. I am impressed!

 

[Warchild]

Well, I suppose I'll let the cat out of the bag, then.....

I obtained the very lamps you see above (literally, the same lamps) from Baja Designs last week as part of a proposed Group Buy.

The prices for the Group Buy were attractive beyond all measure. Since we have Baja Designs dealers looking at this forum, I'll not get into the pricing specifics, but as I alluded to in the original thread several weeks ago, they are nothing short of astounding.

When the Solteks finally arrived, I was taken aback at their size and heft.

Only then did I realize that we have never actually seen the outside housing dimensions. Yes, we knew the lens itself was just 4" in diameter - larger than the PHIDs, smaller than the Hella FF200s - however, none of the PDF brochures or other on-line literature from Baja Designs actually speaks to the total dimensions.

So......

When I finally took the Soltek out of the box, it was immediately apparent that they are NOT going to fit on the existing Top Gun brackets. No way, no how. They are physically too big, and too heavy. You can not place them "upright" because they will strike the mirror stalk. You can not place them "hanging down" because the housing is so huge, the inboard side of the lamp strikes the fairing body.....(!)

At that point, I decided I am not in a position to pursue this project any longer. The only way to mount these lamps and not have them bounce all over hell and creation is to fabricate a new, massively beefier bracket. Since all components reside within each lamp housing, their weight is substantial compared with the PHIDs. Very substantial. To simply extend the existing Top Gun bracket outboard another inch or so to accommodate this lamp would create, IMO, a moment arm that is unreasonable for this application. To preclude the beamcast from jittering all over (and eventual bracket failure due to fatigue), a modified Top Gun bracket would not only have to extend outward another inch, but be heavily reinforced with angled gussets, etc. to provide a more stout platform for these hefty boys. Alternatively, another mounting solution altogether would have to be designed, prototyped and tested.

This is something I don't have the equipment to do.

Therefore... I offered them to Skyway in the hopes that he would be willing to take on the bracket problem. He agreed to tackle it, so I sent these lamps to him last Friday. Which brings us up to the present.

Now, then, I did do a side by side comparison with the PHIDs before firing them off to Skyway. It should be no surprise that the Solteks do indeed throw out a lot more light, because their reflector housing, like the rest of the lamp, is rather huge compared with the PHIDs. The beamcast, however, appears much more tightly focused, even though these are the "Driving Lamp" pattern.

So, without further ado...... at 22ft from my garage door, bike up on the centerstand, PHID on the left, Soltek on the right:

 

[skyway]

I wanna see direct comparisons to the PHIDs. Sure they look great compared to stock lighting. So do the PHIDs. And the PHIDs aren't nearly so damned BIG. Though no doubt the integrated ballast is a major plus.
Certainly, these lights are awesome, probably better than the PHIDs, but by how much? Direct comparisons are needed!

You got some gas in that bike of yours?

 

[sgoat]

Yikes! The Soltek beam looks like it could burn a hole thru the garage door.