Toecutter
What would DoG do?
Yes they did. The problem is, getting them to post up. Highlander, you out there?
Bottom line, if the telescopic capsules have any longevity, they'll be the thing to have in HID headlight upgrades.
Yet another HID experiment
- Thread starter bmwhd
- Start date
Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:
Bottom line, if the telescopic capsules have any longevity, they'll be the thing to have in HID headlight upgrades.
ngarider
Ride More, Talk Less
Mine are still going strong, though I have the large ballasts.
FJR-Richie
Well-known member
I have the same telscopic HIDs as GB and others on here. Installed them about a week before WFO - after first test ride, the right light would no long telescope. E-mailed vendor for resolution and after going through several e-mails, he informed me it was a factory defect so he would send me a new different one. Head to WFO and hit the GGB ride at 4am and boom, lose the other high beam. So now I have no high beams at all.
Retrurned home to find a bizarre package wating for me - not a new telescoping bulb as I expected but some kind of wiring harness which MAY be a hi/low controller (the hi low controller seemed to work fine before as I interchanged bulbs on the first issue to isolate the problem). Haven't tested it yet as I see eBay vendor MCMotoring is back on line selling the telescopic kits the OP of this thread ordered. Ordered that set and when they arrive I will rip out the front end to try out the new hi/low controller to see if that solves the problem - if it does I will have another telescopic kit which I may sell or keep just in case...
Ha, I just hope they don't start a fire!
Retrurned home to find a bizarre package wating for me - not a new telescoping bulb as I expected but some kind of wiring harness which MAY be a hi/low controller (the hi low controller seemed to work fine before as I interchanged bulbs on the first issue to isolate the problem). Haven't tested it yet as I see eBay vendor MCMotoring is back on line selling the telescopic kits the OP of this thread ordered. Ordered that set and when they arrive I will rip out the front end to try out the new hi/low controller to see if that solves the problem - if it does I will have another telescopic kit which I may sell or keep just in case...
Ha, I just hope they don't start a fire!
ngarider
Ride More, Talk Less
And tonight, this kit was ripped from my bike. It took me a month to get another ballast after a DOA, and after about a month, my setup finally kicked the bucket.
One side blew a 20A inline fuse, and the remaining side would no longer actuate the magnet. Having no faith in the hardware, and even less in the seller, the kit came out. I may engage the seller again to get another controller as an aside, but I'm not sure this is a viable long term option.
The light these kits put out is worthy of another try. I'm skipping over to the tiny ballast camp, and changing sellers. We'll see if that works.
Remember: replace those fuses with buss fuses. The ones they come with are cheapo-specials.
YMMV -- mine was low. :|
One side blew a 20A inline fuse, and the remaining side would no longer actuate the magnet. Having no faith in the hardware, and even less in the seller, the kit came out. I may engage the seller again to get another controller as an aside, but I'm not sure this is a viable long term option.
The light these kits put out is worthy of another try. I'm skipping over to the tiny ballast camp, and changing sellers. We'll see if that works.
Remember: replace those fuses with buss fuses. The ones they come with are cheapo-specials.
YMMV -- mine was low. :|
protondecay123
No Delusions of Significance
Sorry to hear about the low mileage.
ngarider
Ride More, Talk Less
I'm back in business as of yesterday with a new kit installed, this time small ballasts and a lifetime warranty. This new kit was a bit more expensive, but if it lasts and the warranty is useful, it's worth it to me.
I wrapped and strapped a standard H4 bulb to the bike, just in case of another failure. Everyone with HID primary lighting should do this. Gen I owners, swapping lights is easy (ok, the left side is...) Gen II, well.... y'all have fun!
I wrapped and strapped a standard H4 bulb to the bike, just in case of another failure. Everyone with HID primary lighting should do this. Gen I owners, swapping lights is easy (ok, the left side is...) Gen II, well.... y'all have fun!
Toecutter
What would DoG do?
ngarider
Ride More, Talk Less
This is the guy you sent me to, toe.... I'm not quite ready to give this thing the seal of approval yet. My other kit made it 2 weeks.
He wants to get a GP setup with this forum. I told him if my kit lived past the 2 week mark and had no strange issues, I'd be willing to pass on to the forum. The caveat is that all the kits would have to be the same components (same ballasts, bulbs), and I think he wanted 10 to make a go at it. I'd get a $25 refund which is the difference in the price I paid and the GP purchase price.
If anyone is chomping at the bit, and doesn't care for the GP route, then:
John Sharp
[email protected]
$275 gets you the telescopic kit with slim ballasts and a lifetime warranty
If you do contact him, do mention fjrforum. Provided my kit holds up well, I'll put something together for a self-buy GP which will save you $25 if we get enough folks.
He wants to get a GP setup with this forum. I told him if my kit lived past the 2 week mark and had no strange issues, I'd be willing to pass on to the forum. The caveat is that all the kits would have to be the same components (same ballasts, bulbs), and I think he wanted 10 to make a go at it. I'd get a $25 refund which is the difference in the price I paid and the GP purchase price.
If anyone is chomping at the bit, and doesn't care for the GP route, then:
John Sharp
[email protected]
$275 gets you the telescopic kit with slim ballasts and a lifetime warranty
If you do contact him, do mention fjrforum. Provided my kit holds up well, I'll put something together for a self-buy GP which will save you $25 if we get enough folks.
BrunDog
Well-known member
Not for nothing, but my telescoping, small ballast kit (shown in the thin ballast thread) was $170 shipped. Don't think it has a "lifetime" warranty, but is at least one year. Who knows if any of these guys are going to be around in a few years?
-BD
-BD
GalaxyBlue
Well-known member
Hmm,
These seem to be hit or miss on the quality.
Mine still function as they should,
HOWEVER,
I have not ridden the FJR since WFO due to work and a family emergency, So.... I guess i have about 3 weeks of use on these and all is well.
Adam
These seem to be hit or miss on the quality.
Mine still function as they should,
HOWEVER,
I have not ridden the FJR since WFO due to work and a family emergency, So.... I guess i have about 3 weeks of use on these and all is well.
Adam
bmwhd
Well-known member
BugR
Well-known member
Mine are still working after a hard riding summer >10,000 miles, one blub however has turned pink and maybe going red, not a manufacturing problem though as I touched the blub with my hand (No gloves) while playing with the alignment just before EOM. Skin oil and blub envelopes don't mix.
Chris
Chris
Toecutter
What would DoG do?
Jester
Member
I'm putting that in this weekend Bob. Dave and I are taking our time as this is the first time I've had this much plastic off her.
So far So good!!
ngarider
Ride More, Talk Less
I've still got Johns kit on my bike, and no problems of any kind since install day. The first time I lit them, one side did not fire. A restart, and it fired... and has every time since.
Still carry an H4 halogen, but it's thankfully gathering the proverbial dust.
Still carry an H4 halogen, but it's thankfully gathering the proverbial dust.
jack
Well-known member
Toecutter
What would DoG do?
Click on the link, two posts before yours, in Jester's post, unless lowest price is the biggest factor.
I found some Chinese ebayers but not comfortable with their offerings. One was $40 for the kit + $52 shipping. lol They also look like older kits.
SharpHID.com has dual bulb hi/lo H4 kits for $140 but DDMTuning.com seems to have the same kit for $95 + reasonable shipping. I'm leaning their direction.
edit - just noticed DDMTuning order process is NOT on secure web server (https. Kinda funny about that.
You guys have done a lot of work on this. Thanks.
Best,
- c bob
SharpHID.com has dual bulb hi/lo H4 kits for $140 but DDMTuning.com seems to have the same kit for $95 + reasonable shipping. I'm leaning their direction.
edit - just noticed DDMTuning order process is NOT on secure web server (https
. Kinda funny about that.You guys have done a lot of work on this. Thanks.
Best,
- c bob
Last edited by a moderator:
bmwhd
Well-known member
I have no idea if the vendor I purchased from is still around but my cheap-a$$ HID's continue to work great. I commute on the bike every day and have had no issues. I run the same basic setup in my old R80 now too. I've gone to the slim ballasts on all of them as well.
bmwhd
Well-known member
Of course, two weeks after posting the above, one of my capsules failed. Never had that happen before. I happened to have a spare bixenon H4 and verified it was working with the installed ballast/igniter/wiring before doing the swap. I'd forgotten what a pain in the arse it is to get those darn things back in the headlight housing until I remembered my own advise and used a zip tie to bend the dust boot backwards and bind it into a tiny ball.
At startup the capsule would attempt to fire, glow briefly, and then go dark. Once removed I could see the center globe was dark and burnt looking. About 13k miles on this setup but I've used HID components from the same company on my Tahoe for nearly 200k miles with no issues.
I also have to report that I now have a very small amount of what appears to be heat damage to the reflective coating inside the headlight housing. On both sides there's a spot about the size of a dime that's slightly foggy looking. I'm really surprised by that too given that my previous experience has been that the HID capsules give off less heat then their halogen brethren.
