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???
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! :evil:
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.
Have a wee looky here...........
http://www.bikevis.com/store.html (http://www.bikevis.com/store.html)
they have some nice lights !!
KK
Quote from: "KuzzinKenny"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!
Quote from: "John Stenhouse"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:
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
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"Quote from: "KuzzinKenny"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!
Quote from: "John Stenhouse"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.
Quote from: "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
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..... :?
Quote from: "KuzzinKenny"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)
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"Quote from: "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
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.
Quote from: "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%$£^&g annoying when some twat rides towards me with badly adjusted super bright headlights dazzling me.
Hey maybe I'm just a sesitive soul :lol: Told you it wasn't popular
Quote from: "John Stenhouse"Quote from: "Chris Canning"Illegal :D ,if thats the worse I ever do I'll be more than happy,nice sentiment John,but having had a life time of being persecuted for riding a bike doesn't even come on the scale of considerations.
Ever thought that decisions like that might be why you've been persecuted all your life?
I personally find it f%$£^&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:
Quote from: "Chris Canning"Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"Quote from: "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
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:
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.
(http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h185/wing2541/asstdpictures2008029-1.jpg)
That's a MASSIVE ballast box, where on earth do you put the fuel?? :?
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"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
I went through this process last year before the border run trip. After adding up the watts for heated vests/grips/GPS and spotlights and having blown the original stator which had lasted 7 years to this point I considered HIDs.
A friend had the 'shutter' type HIDs on his Wee Strom and looking at his set up it gave great light and the slimline ballasts would fit somewhere on Tigger.
Then after I had replaced the Stator and the regulater with a MOSFET type from Ricks, eliminated the plug in joint between the reg/rec and performed the Sasquach voltage modification I found I had enough power for my farkles without the HID conversion and instead went with Philips +50 bulbs ( my tigger has the dual headlight mod).
This is a matter of personal taste I undertand but with the plus 50s and two Hella 50 watt spotties mounted to the crashbars I had more than enough light to travel safely at 65 mph at night and keep an eye on the critters. I didn't get flashed once by irate motorists, but Phil did on his Wee and at one point one of his shutters jammed on the High setting, pissing poeple off even more.
I haven't given up on the HID idea and in fact am planning to convert my two Hella FF50s to HID which wil give me a bit more light and lower the overall watts a little so I can run a vest for my wife. But at this point as a headlight replacement I think there are easier solutions which give reasonable outcomes
A bit late in here but answering an early BB query about dipping and lens.
Bikes for Europe and USA (right handers) have a different set of lens than those for UK, Oz/NZ (left handers).
I bought my Girly in Spain and brought it back to NZ so had to change the lens to "comply" with the requirement for the light to 'dip' away from the centerline.
FWIW. Rather than buy 2 new lenses I brought just the one required to dip left (in my case), then swapped the relays so only that light works when dipped. (Effectively I guess I now have 2 'low' beam lens but they work OK for me as I don't do a lot of night riding.
Well as far as I'm concerned the more postings the better,I have to confess to be a little taken aback at how little there is on the site about HID,as I said before,having it on another bike,I've just been too bone idle to bother with the Tiger despite the abysmal lights,and I've had nearly 10 years :oops:
I only have use for decent lights,one serious ride a year which is a 200 mile trip back from Portsmouth on the way home from the Le-Mans 24 bike race,but it is ridden a pretty illegal speed and hence why I(we) have used the BM most times,as with an HID it's broad daylight for a mile up the road.
I'm still hoping the HID-50 man(Les) will put his two peneeth in,but I think he needs to do his home work with the relay that runs both lights at the same time(I think!!)
I'm thinking HID right side and halogen on the left