Top quality HID kits for the FJR

[SkooterG]

Thanks Todd for the sketch, but it wasn't the electrical connections I was stressing about. It was the placing of all the components. Fortunately for me, my buddy vectervp1 came over tonight and helped me install everything. He's been there, done that several times on HIDs. With someone holding my hand it wasn't so bad.

And I PROVIDED SOME PICCIES.

Thingamabob dual locked to the outside of the battery box.

Both ballast dual locked on top of left headlight.

One of the black box doo-hickeys double-sided taped to the side of the upper left fairing in front of the glove box.

The other black doo-hickey dual locked on top of the right headlight.

All these freaking wires are going to make removing and re-assembling the front end a major ass-pain in the future. Luckily, I don't do that very often. So assuming these HIDs are reliable, it shouldn't be much of an issue.

I just have the front end sitting there mounted, not bolted on at all. Everthing did work. Tomorrow I'll be buttoning everything back up, trying to sanitize some of the wires that hanging about.

Looking forward to road testing these puppies!

 

[Fred W]

The current drawn may not be sinusoidal therefore unless a true RMS measurement is made there is error in the results. FWIW, I measured ~65 watts (didn't use my true RMS meter though) for a 55W HID bulb & ballast at 13.8VDC.

It's way simpler than all that. Since it's DC power, no conversions needed.

But the power consumption (and brightness) of an incandescent bulb varies directly with the applied voltage. If a bulb is rated at 55W at a 12V, it would draw a nominal ~ 4.5 amps and have a DC resistance of ~ 2.6 ohms. Now increase the voltage applied (to that fixed resistance filament) up to 13.8V and you'll now draw ~ 5.25 amps for ~ 70 watts of power consumption.

Skooter,

That is almost the same way that I had installed mine previously, except I located the relay box (and bundled excess wiring in my case) into the large-ish void on the left side of 1st gens (roughly opposite where the battery is on the right) and I positioned the ignitors (aka other black doohickeys) between the headlights rather than on top of the right one.

Your observation about all of the wiring on these cluttering things up in the nose area applies even more-so for the kits without the shortened harnesses (like mine). The clutter was the main reason I removed mine before sending the B5 (Bass Boat Blue Bambi Basher) in for body repairs. I have not yet got around to re-installing them, but based on your pictures I think I will go about shortening the harnesses before I do.

 

[Zorlac]

The current drawn may not be sinusoidal therefore unless a true RMS measurement is made there is error in the results. FWIW, I measured ~65 watts (didn't use my true RMS meter though) for a 55W HID bulb & ballast at 13.8VDC.

It's way simpler than all that. Since it's DC power, no conversions needed.

But the power consumption (and brightness) of an incandescent bulb varies directly with the applied voltage. If a bulb is rated at 55W at a 12V, it would draw a nominal ~ 4.5 amps and have a DC resistance of ~ 2.6 ohms. Now increase the voltage applied (to that fixed resistance filament) up to 13.8V and you'll now draw ~ 5.25 amps for ~ 70 watts of power consumption.

The ballasts are switching power supplies, if you insert a .1ohm resistor in series with it and use a scope to view the waveform dropped across that resistor it's likely a rather nasty looking waveform that you're asking a DC ammeter to accurately measure.
The ballast if designed correctly, would be a constant wattage device and exhibit increasing resistance as the supply voltage increased.

 

[squeezer]

I love the random, cool shit I learn around here by accident.

 

[Fred W]

The current drawn may not be sinusoidal therefore unless a true RMS measurement is made there is error in the results. FWIW, I measured ~65 watts (didn't use my true RMS meter though) for a 55W HID bulb & ballast at 13.8VDC.

It's way simpler than all that. Since it's DC power, no conversions needed.

But the power consumption (and brightness) of an incandescent bulb varies directly with the applied voltage. If a bulb is rated at 55W at a 12V, it would draw a nominal ~ 4.5 amps and have a DC resistance of ~ 2.6 ohms. Now increase the voltage applied (to that fixed resistance filament) up to 13.8V and you'll now draw ~ 5.25 amps for ~ 70 watts of power consumption.

The ballasts are switching power supplies, if you insert a .1ohm resistor in series with it and use a scope to view the waveform dropped across that resistor it's likely a rather nasty looking waveform that you're asking a DC ammeter to accurately measure.
The ballast if designed correctly, would be a constant wattage device and exhibit increasing resistance as the supply voltage increased.

I thought we were talking about measuring the stock headlight bulbs.

And I'm fairly sure we were comparing them to 35W HIDs (not 55 watt HIDs).

 

[Zorlac]

I just threw my 55W HID measurement in as a reference point, not as a 35W HID comparison.

The main benefit is light output not necessarily a big power savings IMO.

 

[Grumpy]

The current drawn may not be sinusoidal therefore unless a true RMS measurement is made there is error in the results. FWIW, I measured ~65 watts (didn't use my true RMS meter though) for a 55W HID bulb & ballast at 13.8VDC.

It's way simpler than all that. Since it's DC power, no conversions needed.

But the power consumption (and brightness) of an incandescent bulb varies directly with the applied voltage. If a bulb is rated at 55W at a 12V, it would draw a nominal ~ 4.5 amps and have a DC resistance of ~ 2.6 ohms. Now increase the voltage applied (to that fixed resistance filament) up to 13.8V and you'll now draw ~ 5.25 amps for ~ 70 watts of power consumption.

Skooter,

That is almost the same way that I had installed mine previously, except I located the relay box (and bundled excess wiring in my case) into the large-ish void on the left side of 1st gens (roughly opposite where the battery is on the right) and I positioned the ignitors (aka other black doohickeys) between the headlights rather than on top of the right one.

Your observation about all of the wiring on these cluttering things up in the nose area applies even more-so for the kits without the shortened harnesses (like mine). The clutter was the main reason I removed mine before sending the B5 (Bass Boat Blue Bambi Basher) in for body repairs. I have not yet got around to re-installing them, but based on your pictures I think I will go about shortening the harnesses before I do.

Scooter, and as the filament wattage goes up so does the output of the lamp. The life goes down just as fast. For example a 10 % over driving of the lamp results in a 30 % increase of light output with the life decreasing to 30% of rated life. No free lunch.

 

[FRJ Jc]

I love the random, cool shit I learn around here by accident.

Ditto!

 

[FRJ Jc]

Just received the kit and WOW :yahoo:

Very very nice kit. Very impressed by the packing job, the burn in sheet and the quality of the product. Thanks for the great offer Todd.

 

[Stacey]

PM sent

 

[bmwhd]

Just a quick update - A big batch of 5K is on the way. Should be here any day. Thanks for your patience. It always takes a while to negotiate these large block buys since they always start at a minimum of 1,000 units per order

 

[SkooterG]

Well, so far, I am not real happy with the kit. Maybe I am just not an HID kind of guy.

I REALLY should have listened to some advice by a friend and gone with the 4300K bulbs. I am not liking the violet hue that the 5000K bulbs put out. I still have more testing to do, so perhaps I'll become more postive in the future, or the kit will grow on me.

I suppose color is a personal thing, but I would highly recommend 4300K.

Some more info HERE.

 

[BobOdenweller]

Finally got my kit installed. It was pretty easy, actually. Installed the light fixture (without the bulb) and the boot together, then carefully installed the bulb without letting it touch anything. Hardest part was tucking the wiring harness out of sight. Not a big deal, but I wouldn't want to try it on a naked bike, make me thankful for all that plastic. I haven't had a chance to ride the bike yet due to weather, but the bulbs seem pretty bright and white, perhaps a slight bluish tint. I think that is exactly what I was looking for to help make my bike more conspicious. I still need to adjust the aiming of the bulbs. I was thinking I would first shine the headlights of our car on the garage door from a distance of 30' (length of our driveway) and mark the spot and then adjust the motorcycle to be shining toward the same spot. How did other people do it?

 

[cardingtr]

I marked the original light level from 15 feet distance, installed the HID and positioned the bike the same way and light level.

 

[bmwhd]

I would like to point out that the issues SkooterG has with his kit seem to be an anomaly. We're working with him to resolve. The 5K bulbs should have no violet in them at all. None of the others we've tested look like those in his photos. My partner and I are checking to see if we inadvertently shipped him something other than the 5Ks. We've offered and number of solutions for SkooterG and are awaiting his guidance.

 

[Duster19]

Todd,

Will you be PMing folks when you have more kits in?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[JamesK]

The current drawn may not be sinusoidal therefore unless a true RMS measurement is made there is error in the results. FWIW, I measured ~65 watts (didn't use my true RMS meter though) for a 55W HID bulb & ballast at 13.8VDC.

It's way simpler than all that. Since it's DC power, no conversions needed.

But the power consumption (and brightness) of an incandescent bulb varies directly with the applied voltage. If a bulb is rated at 55W at a 12V, it would draw a nominal ~ 4.5 amps and have a DC resistance of ~ 2.6 ohms. Now increase the voltage applied (to that fixed resistance filament) up to 13.8V and you'll now draw ~ 5.25 amps for ~ 70 watts of power consumption.

The ballasts are switching power supplies, if you insert a .1ohm resistor in series with it and use a scope to view the waveform dropped across that resistor it's likely a rather nasty looking waveform that you're asking a DC ammeter to accurately measure.
The ballast if designed correctly, would be a constant wattage device and exhibit increasing resistance as the supply voltage increased.

I thought we were talking about measuring the stock headlight bulbs.

And I'm fairly sure we were comparing them to 35W HIDs (not 55 watt HIDs).

Only last week I was rewiring some of the connections to my Soltek HIDs, and took the opportunity to measure the current draw to see how close/far the actual figure is from the specs in the documentation, after 2.5 years of extensive use. The docs state a start up current of around 10A and a steady current of around 3.5A per lamp. Well that is pretty much what I saw a touch under 20A on initial power up, which settled to around 7.3A after about 10-15 seconds. The specs for the Solteks are: 35W, 3,200 lumens & 4,200K (the light output remains really nice and white) each.

 

[JamesK]

Hi Todd,

I apologize if you've already answered these questions before, I've just read so many posts on the subject that things are getting a little blurred.

If you can, would mind just quickly comparing/contrasting these two "locally" offered HID kits with yours, TIA?

ApexCone

ApexCone with detailed pics of the kit

DDM HID Kit for Motorcycles

SharpHID

I notice that the DDM kit does not seem to have a shield, at least not a metal shield so i'm not sure if the clear one is UV resistant and how well the Hi/Lo function is likely to work...

I've been running a set of Soltek HIDs for a few years, and really think the white color their 4,200K 35W bulbs put out is just the right kind of while for me to actually see well at night. So can/have you obtained the 4,300-4,500K bulbs you were planning on ordering before?

Also a quick question for the 55W HID owners, do you have any problems with these kits being too bright for use at night in populated areas or when riding with others at night?

And I know this is not typically a problem but do you sometimes feel they put out a little too much light, thus throwing off your night vision? I ride at night as much as I can, I love riding the twisties at night, hence my question about too much light and effects on your night vision.

 

[SkooterG]

Only last week I was rewiring some of the connections to my Soltek HIDs, and took the opportunity to measure the current draw to see how close/far the actual figure is from the specs in the documentation, after 2.5 years of extensive use. The docs state a start up current of around 10A and a steady current of around 3.5A per lamp. Well that is pretty much what I saw a touch under 20A on initial power up, which settled to around 7.3A after about 10-15 seconds. The specs for the Solteks are: 35W, 3,200 lumens & 4,200K (the light output remains really nice and white) each.

Forgive me if I totally screw this up, cause I ain't no gEEk, but based on my rudimentary knowlege of EE, you seem to be using a lot more than 35 watts each side.

P=VI. So 12V X 7.3A = 88 watts. Or wouldn't it more accurately be 14V X 7.3A = 102 watts since the system while running is generating approximatelty 14.0 volts?

Unless I am all fuked up, which is entirely possible, 102 watts is a hell of a lot more than 70.

 

[JamesK]

Only last week I was rewiring some of the connections to my Soltek HIDs, and took the opportunity to measure the current draw to see how close/far the actual figure is from the specs in the documentation, after 2.5 years of extensive use. The docs state a start up current of around 10A and a steady current of around 3.5A per lamp. Well that is pretty much what I saw a touch under 20A on initial power up, which settled to around 7.3A after about 10-15 seconds. The specs for the Solteks are: 35W, 3,200 lumens & 4,200K (the light output remains really nice and white) each.

Forgive me if I totally screw this up, cause I ain't no gEEk, but based on my rudimentary knowlege of EE, you seem to be using a lot more than 35 watts each side.

P=VI. So 12V X 7.3A = 88 watts. Or wouldn't it more accurately be 14V X 7.3A = 102 watts since the system while running is generating approximatelty 14.0 volts?

Unless I am all fuked up, which is entirely possible, 102 watts is a hell of a lot more than 70.

Sorry for not being clear, I was measuring at the Battery +ve terminal of the Soltek wire harness, so the readings quoted are for the PAIR of the Soltek HIDs. Also the engine was at idle so the Voltage would have been closer to 13.2 with the Solteks running. At hwy speeds when the Datel is showing around 14V running the Solteks drops the reading to 13.5-13.6V @ say 4k rpm.

Interestingly enough while my Hi/Lo headlight relay is on the blink so that the Lo beam only comes on if I tap on the relay (now that I've figured out the part# a new one is on the way) I got the opportunity to see the difference in power consumption b/w the Halogen 55W bulbs and the Solteks and according to the Datel the Halogens definately take more power than the Solteks.

Another observation I'd made while measuring the Soltek current draw was to measure the power consumption of a couple of simple PIAA 55W lights, these sucked over 8.5A (two lights) constantly, and produced light that was nothing compared to the HIDs.