HID kit?

[davidqc]

Sounds to me as though you have a Xenon copy, not a real Xenon headlight...

A brilliant post there amigo.

Indeed, on inspection, my 'Xenon' bulb does have a filament . Two to be precise. The bulb is 7500K - toward the blue side of the spectrum - but there is no noticable blueish tinge when the lamp is on (day or night). Ah well, never trust an eBay salesman with your daughter .

However, the difference in illumination is still quite startling.

Stock bulb:

dim_lights.jpg

The 'fake Xenon' bulb:

bright_lights.jpg


For £6.99 delivered, I've nowt to complain about in that respect.

[slabo]

Just spent 15 minutes reading this thread. Thanks, very informative, especially from Bikerdoc. Now i know what to lookout for. But where did you buy your kit in China?
Normally when i see cars fitted with such lights, especially on well lit streets in urban streets, i feel the urge to chase the car and smash in the lights. Light is too bright, blindingly bright. Looks cool, but blinds other drivers. And you don't need it anyway. I think thats a matter of setup, mean using the HID bulb with the OEM reflector.
Now in China, i am nothing thinking twice about putting these lights. Many streets are not lit, and I china, I ALWAYS assume there is someone crawling somewhere in the middle of the street wearing black. I am always right of course let them go blind, i would like to see what im about to hit.
important reading:: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

[humanbeing]

Light is too bright, blindingly bright. Looks cool, but blinds other drivers. And you don't need it anyway. I think thats a matter of setup, mean using the HID bulb with the OEM reflector.
Now in China, i am nothing thinking twice about putting these lights. Many streets are not lit, and I china, I ALWAYS assume there is someone crawling somewhere in the middle of the street wearing black. I am always right of course let them go blind, i would like to see what im about to hit.
important reading:: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

This guy's product is quite polular in the chinese motorcycle forums

[sparky]

When I first got my Adrenaline 125, I had the same problem you guys with poor lighting from the stock 35/35 bulb. I must admit the high beam was adequate, and the dipped was sufficient most of the time but as soon as I came across oncoming traffic I just couldnt see and had to slow right down. I did have concerns over the the effects of putting a higher wattage bulb in, and initially opted into investing in a quality halogen bulb of the same wattage, but this had no affect. I then opted for a 45/45 bulb, which made a slight improvement and had no affect on the performance or reliability of the bike. But, this still wasn't enough of a improvement for me to be confident riding at night on my 30 mile commute from work every night, especially with the the British winters. So I tried a 55/55 car bulb, and bingo! The improvement was brilliant. There is a slight drop in revs when you switch the lights on, but i havent really noticed any drop in performance, and I havent had any reliability issues either, as I have since covered 10'000 kilometers in the past 12 months I have been using this bulb.

Therefore, I would personally recommend saving yourselves some money, and opting for a 55/55 bulb.

[euphonius]

Dear Bikerdoc,

Curious whether you've gone ahead with and swapped out the HID for a new halogen bulb, and whether you are happy with the outcome. For me it's a matter of policy not to ride at night, but for those times when there's no other option, I'd like to beef up my JH600 lighting.

So what is the RMB 270 kit you used?
And is the halogen an improvement?

thanks!
jkp

...I have fitted two systems, one each for two of my three of my bikes here in China. One system has been fitted to my Dragstar 1100cc cruiser while the other was fitted to my CFMoto 250cc large scooter (aka Honda Helix). The HID systems are Chinese brands, and are the top end units, with HID xenon high and low beams (25W), as opposed to many of the units which are 25W high beam xenon with a standard 50W halogen low beam (sometimes the halogen wattage is even lower).

<snip>

I've had the HID's fitted now for about 5 months (cost CNY270 per set), and they have proved to be hassle free. The issue with the HID units for me has been that the intensity of the white light tends to be too focused with not enough spread effect on either high or low beam, and this is true for both bikes that I've fitted the HID system. The other issue for me, is that the HID hasn't a wiring loom that allows integration of the standard "passing" switch which is separate to the head-light on/off switch, and when pressed would momentarily activate the head-light high beam. Though I tend to ride with my head-lights on no matter the time of day.

While I like the white intensity and penetration of the HID overall, the majority of the beam is too focused to an area in the front of the bikes with much less spread of the light beam as I'd like and is normal on the halogen bulbs. For that reason I'm likely to remove the HID from the Dragstar and fit a 130/100W halogen, which is what I run in my car. They're damn good. I also miss not having the ability to use the passing switch with the HID light....

[bikerdoc]

Dear Bikerdoc,

Curious whether you've gone ahead with and swapped out the HID for a new halogen bulb, and whether you are happy with the outcome. For me it's a matter of policy not to ride at night, but for those times when there's no other option, I'd like to beef up my JH600 lighting.

So what is the RMB 270 kit you used?
And is the halogen an improvement?

thanks!
jkp

No didn't get round to swapping out the HID light, it's bright enough but just don't like the lack of spread and also the lack of not being able to use the passing switch. Aside from that there's little wrong with the HID. If I could I'd like to get me a better brand like Philips who do have car kits but they are wired a little differently, and I havn't checked hard to find their motorcycle kit or if it's available in PRC. My Halogen 130/100W stays in it's box for the time being. I'll have to check on the brand and get back to you.

[ThePope]

Sounds to me as though you have a Xenon copy, not a real Xenon headlight... easy way to know, when you turn on the headlight, does it take a second to turn on, then during several more seconds the light gets brighter and brighter, yes/no?

Attachment 1234

If yes, then somewhere your headlight system will have a ballast, if not, then you have a imitation Xenon.

Attachment 1235

Another method is simply remove the bulb, remembering not to touch the glass, and look inside, do you see a filament?

Attachment 1236

In Xenon bulbs there's no filament, only a mixture of gases the main gas being Xenon.

Attachment 1237

I know from personal experience that many Chinese brand headlight bulbs state that the bulb is/use Xenon, or is extra white white-light etc. but it's still Halogen no matter how you candy coat it! In other words they are complete BS!

Xenon lights provide a reproduction of daylights natural spectrum so visibility of the road and what is in front of you seems much more like what you see during the day. Not only is this much easier on your eyes but it is much safer for the driver/rider especially during hazardous conditions such as rain, fog, or snow. Xenon lights also last significantly longer than standard headlights with most having as much as ten times the lifespan. Another great benefit to xenon is although they provide you with more light they actually use less battery life than standard halogen lights. The lights are generally six to eight times more energy efficient providing you with less worry if your must use your headlights without your vehicle running or just generally care about putting less stress on your vehicles battery.

First off, how does it work? The system includes a bulb(s) and a power ballast(s) to drive them. Unlike a halogen bulb, which is a glass globe with a physical filament in it (which heats up to glowing when current passes through), an HID bulb has no filament. It functions much the same as an arc welder. At either end of a glass tube with a globe in the centre, is an electrode. The centre globe is filled with a combination of elements, among which is xenon gas. The power ballast is basically a transformer, which takes the 12 volt input from your car and boosts it tremendously. Xenon gas lights need an initial surge of over 22,000 volts to ignite, and a steady 75-85 volts to stay lit. The transformer in the power ballast steps up your 12 volt car voltage to these levels to drive the lights. However, the current is very, very low, and the result is a power draw of only 35 watts, a lot lower than the power draw of halogen lights. When the ballast fires that initial starting voltage, the electricity arcs between the electrodes in the bulb, through the xenon globe, molecularly exciting the xenon gas and causing it to emit light.

Next, you'll need the colour temperature. The temperature, or "warmth", of the light is described in degrees Kelvin. Any manufacturer that offers HID lights as standard or optional equipment, puts out kits with a colour temperature of 4300K (4300 degrees Kelvin). Again, this is a measurement of colour, NOT of physical temperature. They offer 4300K bulbs because natural sunlight/daylight is very close to that colour, and from behind the wheel, the combination of light colour and light intensity rivals that of daylight. It's also a colour that is easy on the eyes, and long night drives are more relaxing than with the yellowed halogen light - One will likely feel less fatigued with HID lights than with halogens.

With colour temperature, the higher the number, the more blue the light gets. The lower the number, the more it trends to yellow (a 3000K HID kit in your foglights would be a blazing yellow/amber colour, great for cutting through rain, driving snow, or fog). 4300K light is very crystalline white on the road. Moving upward through 5000K and 6000K kits, you'll get a richer white with tinges of blue. I have had 4300K and 5000K in past cars, and currently have 6000K HIDs in my Audi. I like the 6000K best, but that's personal preference, although it does seem to have the fullest light.

Going beyond 6000K, you start getting into a seriously blue spectrum, and this is not recommended - sure it looks cool, but blue is one of the worst colours for visual definition, and does not penetrate distance nearly as well as the whiter colours of the spectrum. Going to 10,000K and above makes the light almost purple - again, cool for looks, but lousy for driving.

Remember that 25W Xenon is the same as 55-60W Halogen.

Thanks for the info!

[ThePope]

I found this HID kit on taobao:
http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm...d55e27b&pm_id=

Just installed the 35W 6000K light spectrum xenon HID. Even the simplest of mechanical tasks can be a bit of a challenge for me at times, and I managed this in about an hour and a half, including removing the gas tank to run the wire under to the battery (a first for me).I think they were around 130RMB. It feels like night and day difference. There are some areas of the G324 from Guangzhou that I ride out of that just turn into dust and trucks and people who don't care if you are blinded and crash and die as long as they can see clearly and better than you, driving with their high beams on. Hopefully this will aid in making my ride a little safer. I love the white light!

Although I didn't take these photos at the time with the intention of posting them here (so they're not under the exact same enviornmental conditions and perspective) you can get an idea of the difference of the light level and focus.

Thanks again to biker doc for the info regarding lights.

Lights.jpg

[Cromson]

@ThePope

There is clearly a difference, in comparision to the old bulb which looked like a candlelight. ;) Is it still the CQR250 you driving around?

BTW. did you get the 10元 from the taobao-shop for giving positive feedback? (5 stars)

[bikerdoc]

Did a post on my recent upgrade of the twin H8 35W Halogen bulbs to HID on my CFMoto 650TR.