Joined
·
11,676 Posts
How much of a difference does HID make compared with halogen lights? Is it worth the 150 dollars for the single light upgrade?
HID vs halogen lights
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
Joined
·
4,436 Posts
Depends how much you drive at night in deer country.
I'm cheap, I went with a relay kit and uprated bulb first, and the difference in lighting from stock was pretty amazing.
I'm cheap, I went with a relay kit and uprated bulb first, and the difference in lighting from stock was pretty amazing.
Joined
·
262 Posts
If you are looking for a white/blue effect from your light
you don't have to go HID
there are other opitions that will give you the same effect.
I bought one from a shop and it works great. I still have 1 spare (cuz i bought it in paris) so you like it i can sell that to you.
i bought the pair for 50$.
you don't have to go HID
there are other opitions that will give you the same effect.
I bought one from a shop and it works great. I still have 1 spare (cuz i bought it in paris) so you like it i can sell that to you.
i bought the pair for 50$.
Joined
·
11,676 Posts
Not really looking for a colour change (already have whiter bulbs in there). Just would like some more light/ visibility
HUGE Difference!!! I've put the HID and projector from a Honda S2000 in my R6. Night into Day. Def worth it.
Edited to remove poster sized pic....
- TeeTee
Edited to remove poster sized pic....
- TeeTee
Joined
·
669 Posts
HID's rule. I have no street HID experience but I have two 40watt HID helmet lights that I got for the Baja and they totally outpower my 100watt halogen with a small lense. For the Baja lights we had a 100watt halogen and a 100 watt HID both with 8inch lenses. Awesome lights but not DOT at all. They totally ouitpowered my helmet lights. If you ride at night spend the doe on HID.
Joined
·
11,210 Posts
Running HID's on a bike has some advantages and disadvantages. These two things come to mind.....
Most bikes use a shunt or "dump" style of voltage regulation where the alternator puts out a maximum value for whatever RPM at all times and the regulator lets what is needed get by and dumps the rest as heat. So reducing the draw from the lighting circuit by switching to HID's will mean that more heat needs to be dumped by the regulator. As long as you have a bike that doesn't suffer from regulator related issues *cough"OLD HONDAS"cough* then you'll be fine. Or you may just need to arrange for more airflow past your regulator. But it's worth looking into before you make the switch.
Second the HID bulb needs to generate it's light source at the same physical location as the filament in the old bulb or the focus will be all off. The stock light and reflector is a precise optical system and the location of the light source, the filament, is critical. Even 1/2 a millimeter will alter the light pattern quite significantly and always for the worse. So that's another issue to check into. Be sure your HID emmiter is equivalent to your OEM bulb in this. Specs and equivalency charts are your friend. Also if buying a HID setup off a car wrecker be sure it comes with this proper equivalent bulb. I gather those HID emmiters are pricey.
Most bikes use a shunt or "dump" style of voltage regulation where the alternator puts out a maximum value for whatever RPM at all times and the regulator lets what is needed get by and dumps the rest as heat. So reducing the draw from the lighting circuit by switching to HID's will mean that more heat needs to be dumped by the regulator. As long as you have a bike that doesn't suffer from regulator related issues *cough"OLD HONDAS"cough* then you'll be fine. Or you may just need to arrange for more airflow past your regulator. But it's worth looking into before you make the switch.
Second the HID bulb needs to generate it's light source at the same physical location as the filament in the old bulb or the focus will be all off. The stock light and reflector is a precise optical system and the location of the light source, the filament, is critical. Even 1/2 a millimeter will alter the light pattern quite significantly and always for the worse. So that's another issue to check into. Be sure your HID emmiter is equivalent to your OEM bulb in this. Specs and equivalency charts are your friend. Also if buying a HID setup off a car wrecker be sure it comes with this proper equivalent bulb. I gather those HID emmiters are pricey.
Joined
·
327 Posts
filament placement is important... and so is light housing style (reflector vs. projector).
if your OEM is halogen bulb + reflector housing, then when you go for HID, there will be some amount of glaring even if you adjust it very well. (this is the case with my car)
If your OEM is halogen bulb + projector, I am not sure if HID bulb works well with that (in terms of beam pattern and glaring). Previous generation Integra and current gen Mazda3 are like this. Anybody with those cars and did HID conversion care to comment? (sorry, I am thinking like a cager today)
If you adjust the filament placement and light aiming well, you will still get a very nice illumination of the road!
if your OEM is halogen bulb + reflector housing, then when you go for HID, there will be some amount of glaring even if you adjust it very well. (this is the case with my car)
If your OEM is halogen bulb + projector, I am not sure if HID bulb works well with that (in terms of beam pattern and glaring). Previous generation Integra and current gen Mazda3 are like this. Anybody with those cars and did HID conversion care to comment? (sorry, I am thinking like a cager today
)If you adjust the filament placement and light aiming well, you will still get a very nice illumination of the road!
Joined
·
11,676 Posts
Thanks for the info TeeTee. I'm not too worried about the power thing (my bike is an 06), and i run accessories anyway (gotta love that heated vest). The power requirement is 35 watts to 55 so the drop isn't that much anyway. I've ordered a kit specific to my F4i, so it should be good with regards to bulb size etc.
Joined
·
420 Posts
another thing is some hid's not housed inside projectors can fog up your headlight lens plastic permanently from the inside..looks like a slightly condensed headlight in certain angles..and very apparent when you switch the hids on. Im not too sure why it does this, could be the heat it generates, especially how the motorcycle headlights are ON all the time during riding. but all in all, it looks like crap. Im considering to switching back to halogen and buying a new low beam headlight for my RC.
Joined
·
290 Posts
I can get you guys a full HID kit 2 bulbs 2 ballasts new in the box for $250 you can even split it with someone else just tell me what size your stock bulb is eg. H3, H4, H1, 9006, 9004 etc. because these kits are plug and play! I have it on my 636 and my truck. I actually put it in the high beam slot and just adjusted the aim down a bit. People flick their high beams up at me on the oncoming but if you've ever been hit by a left hand turner, you wont care either!
Joined
·
6,141 Posts
Color temp (4000K, 6000K, etc.) has nothing to do with brightness. Color temp is just the color it puts out. The higher the number the more blue/purple you get. Lumens is actual measure of light output. And I believe HIDs have 3X to 4X the output of halogen bulbs. Plus they run at a lower wattage (35W) plus they last longer than halogen bulbs too.
For me, I run HIDs on all my bikes cuz I like riding at night, its more functional IMO. If you really want the most output, get a 4000K HID kit for your bike, I had 4k on my 04 R1 and riding at night was a dream! If you want something more stylish get 6000K for a bluer tint. I wouldn't go anything over 6 cuz the trade off in light output doesn't make it very beneficial IMO.
Does your bike have projectors or a multi-reflector? If you have a multi-reflector your benefits of going to HIDs wont be as great if you had proejectors. Projectors can control the beam and light output much better than reflectors. I noticed that the HIDs on my gixxer (reflector) were better than halogen but not as good as my R1 (projectors) so if you can install projectors as well. Also if you have a reflector setup, it can blind on coming traffic if you dont get the correct bulbs.
Joined
·
11,676 Posts
Just got the HID's on my low beam (multi - reflector) tonight. Makes a crazy difference. I have 8k bulbs and it throws out a much better light than the old halogens. Managed to see people crossing the street further away than i ever would have seen than the old lights. Totally happy.
Joined
·
408 Posts
since were on the subject of lights; Is having angels eyes for a bike more a "form over function" sorta thing, if not would i get the same illumination as halogens or less? and has anyone ever done that to their bike? ive seen em on cars and i think they look great...but for a bike, i would like to be seen and to be able to see things clearer ahead of me when riding at night!
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
