HID Lighting - thoughts and ideas

[Bixxer Bob]

Sparked (groan...) by Chris Canning's question on HIDing his Girly, and a latent plan to do mine, I thought I'd kick off a thread.

A quick look for H4 HID kits as produced this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H4-H4-3-Bi-Xenon- ... 4cec24c1c5 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H4-H4-3-Bi-Xenon-HID-Conversion-Kit-Low-High-Beam-U-K-/330379346373?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4cec24c1c5)

They have very thin ballasts so should be eassy enough to find a home for them.

These bulbs work the same as the ones in my Nissan 4x4 in that when you change from dip to main they move a shield around the bulb to give the right pattern.  This avoids the warm-up time HIDS need when flashing main beam.  This works ok on cars no doubt, and should work on the Tigger as the standard H4 bulb relies on two filaments - one shielded, one not - for dip and main.  So far so good, but many of us use an extra relay set to allow both lamps to illuminate on dip and main.  If I remember  rightly, and I'm happy to be corrected here, the lamp glass is specifically shaped to be either a left dipping or right dipping lense and so you actually have two dipped or two main beams, but one of the dips is always wrong and can dazzle oncoming traffic.  The problem I can see with this is that whilst we'd get away with this with an ordinary bulb (I've not had any problems so far - touch wood) I think a HID bulb could potentially draw too much attention and a ticket.

I suppose the "wrong" dip could be screened out with a European light filter for driving on the right abroad, but MOT time could get interesting...

Thoughts???

[John Stenhouse]

Two thoughts, and one of them isn't popular.
1/ HID lights on anything that doesn't either self level or have self levelling headlights are illegal. Not popular, but true, I hate these lights if they are badly set at all they are blinding. Even if they're set properly half the population doesn't seem to know where tha dip switch is!  



2/ As for the lens thing, since my 885i came from the factory with both lights working all the time as standard can you say for certain the later lenses were different? I'm not sure without putting an 885 and a 955 side by side.

[KuzzinKenny]

Have a wee looky here...........

http://www.bikevis.com/store.html (http://www.bikevis.com/store.html)

they have some nice lights !!

KK

[Bixxer Bob]

Have a wee looky here...........

http://www.bikevis.com/store.html (http://www.bikevis.com/store.html)

they have some nice lights !!

KK

Nice site Kenny!

1/ HID lights on anything that doesn't either self level or have self levelling headlights are illegal. Not popular, but true, I hate these lights if they are badly set at all they are blinding. Even if they're set properly half the population doesn't seem to know where tha dip switch is!  

Good point well made John.  It's wise to be clear to anyone contemplating HIDs that they are indeed illegal on new vehicles unless fitted as John describes.  To the best of my knowledge, the retrofitting of HIDs is still a grey area as it hasn't been tested in court; but as usual I'm happy to be corrected.  My 'Bird still sails through it 's MOT though... :roll:

[NKL]

Does anybody know how they react to being turned on then off then on again when you go through the start up when Triumph can't be arsed to provide an on-off switch for the headlights

[Chris Canning]

Have a wee looky here...........

http://www.bikevis.com/store.html (http://www.bikevis.com/store.html)

they have some nice lights !!

KK

Nice site Kenny!

1/ HID lights on anything that doesn't either self level or have self levelling headlights are illegal. Not popular, but true, I hate these lights if they are badly set at all they are blinding. Even if they're set properly half the population doesn't seem to know where tha dip switch is!  

Good point well made John.  It's wise to be clear to anyone contemplating HIDs that they are indeed illegal on new vehicles unless fitted as John describes.  To the best of my knowledge, the retrofitting of HIDs is still a grey area as it hasn't been tested in court; but as usual I'm happy to be corrected.  My 'Bird still sails through it 's MOT though... :roll:

Illegal  :D ,if thats the worse I ever do I'll be more than happy,nice sentiment John,but having had a life time of being persecuted for riding a bike doesn't even come on the scale of considerations.

[Bixxer Bob]

Does anybody know how they react to being turned on then off then on again when you go through the start up when Triumph can't be arsed to provide an on-off switch for the headlights

Another good point that I'd missed because I've fitted a ligth switch to my 2005 Girly.  My Blackbird hates it.  You turn the ign on, HIDs spark up. Press starter, engine fires up HIDs go out.  HIDs won't fire for a minute or two which I thought was due to colling down, but having read the other post of fault finding, might be down to low volts as the battery recovers  :roll:  More investigative work to do..... :?

[daveb]

Have a wee looky here...........

http://www.bikevis.com/store.html (http://www.bikevis.com/store.html)

they have some nice lights !!

KK

I know one of the guys who has used these guys previously, he recommends them, his bike is on their site, sorry its not a Tiger but its a TDM900

http://www.bikevis.com/forum/index.php?topic=209.0 (http://www.bikevis.com/forum/index.php?topic=209.0)

[Chris Canning]

Does anybody know how they react to being turned on then off then on again when you go through the start up when Triumph can't be arsed to provide an on-off switch for the headlights

Another good point that I'd missed because I've fitted a ligth switch to my 2005 Girly.  My Blackbird hates it.  You turn the ign on, HIDs spark up. Press starter, engine fires up HIDs go out.  HIDs won't fire for a minute or two which I thought was due to colling down, but having read the other post of fault finding, might be down to low volts as the battery recovers  :roll:  More investigative work to do..... :?

Now for what ever reason mine on the BM isn't like that,it takes a millisecond to spark up,no matter what the circumstance.

[John Stenhouse]

Illegal  :D ,if thats the worse I ever do I'll be more than happy,nice sentiment John,but having had a life time of being persecuted for riding a bike doesn't even come on the scale of considerations.

Ever thought that decisions like that might be why you've been persecuted all your life?

I personally find it f%$£^&g annoying when some twat rides towards me with badly adjusted super bright headlights dazzling me.

Hey maybe I'm just a sesitive soul  :lol: Told you it wasn't popular

[Chris Canning]

Illegal  :D ,if thats the worse I ever do I'll be more than happy,nice sentiment John,but having had a life time of being persecuted for riding a bike doesn't even come on the scale of considerations.

Ever thought that decisions like that might be why you've been persecuted all your life?

I personally find it f%$£^&g annoying when some twat rides towards me with badly adjusted super bright headlights dazzling me.

Hey maybe I'm just a sesitive soul  :lol: Told you it wasn't popular

Starting as a 16 year old who couldn't find his backside with either hand,I don't remember holding any grudges against anything or anyone,that soon changed the moment I got on a motorcyle,from being run off the road,to just being flatly refused service,it still goes on even today.

Toddington services wouldn't switch the pump on without me taking my crash helmet off,even though my wife was in the queue ready to pay  :twisted: ,no I wouldn't do it.

Almost certainley I'm that twat with badly ajusted headlight thats just come up behind you,get TF out of the way and there's not a problem I'll be gone in a milli second,unless you want to make an issue of it  :D ,I've had a steep learning curve over 41 years of riding,the art of survival is look after number one, and F the rest of e'm,yes you should get out more  :D

Having had an HID on my BM for years,just can't work out why I haven't put one on the Tiger,they truely are a wonder  :oops:

[Bixxer Bob]

Does anybody know how they react to being turned on then off then on again when you go through the start up when Triumph can't be arsed to provide an on-off switch for the headlights

Another good point that I'd missed because I've fitted a ligth switch to my 2005 Girly.  My Blackbird hates it.  You turn the ign on, HIDs spark up. Press starter, engine fires up HIDs go out.  HIDs won't fire for a minute or two which I thought was due to colling down, but having read the other post of fault finding, might be down to low volts as the battery recovers  :roll:  More investigative work to do..... :?

Now for what ever reason mine on the BM isn't like that,it takes a millisecond to spark up,no matter what the circumstance.

May be because mine, despite the Bosch labels,  are cheap Chinese jobs???  :oops:

[Chris Canning]

It's embarrassing even posting it,but look at the size of the ballast box,how times move on e'h,but still works well.

[Bixxer Bob]

That's a MASSIVE ballast box, where on earth do you put the fuel?? :?

[Chris Canning]

That's a MASSIVE ballast box, where on earth do you put the fuel?? :?

Funny init how Honda owners have such a great imagination,bit of a contradiction in words :P