Installing HID, but no light comes on!

**crazy steve** · 01-06-2011, 06:42 PM

Cy is correct. The reason for the 'dip' is to reduce glare for oncoming drivers, so the low-beam cutoff is rotated slightly so it's lower to the left (unless of course, you're in one of those 'wrong side' countries, then it's rotated the other way

). Motorcycles lean going around corners, so there's no point in having it.

As far as using a car light on a bike, it doesn't make that much difference. You can see the difference, but unless you're cranking a hard left-hander you'll get pretty much the same light where you need it. I run a Cibie euro-spec car light in one of my other bikes, and it's much better than the stock one was....

**psycoreefer** · 01-06-2011, 07:11 PM

I found this an interesting read, I skipped down to the part about E code Motorcycle vs E code Auto lamps.

Bosch H4 Lighting

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/BoschH4.html#cycle

**renegade_xs11g** · 01-07-2011, 01:13 AM

pardon the pun!

But a quick & dirty way to clean the inside of you headlight lens....
Remove it...and take the bulb out....get some small ice cubes...fill the lens about half way...pour in salt...swish...

Trust me...it WORKS!

**Poprock** · 01-08-2011, 02:53 PM

Sorry about your difficulty with the HID conversion, Cat. The instructions on mine said to wire the HID power directly to the battery. I ran mine off a wire formerly used to feed a radio in the fairing. The power side of the headlight plug is used to operate the relay that switches from the Hi beam position to the low.
My setup works real good, and it is worth the effort. I agree with the comments people have made that an optimized for HID reflector would be a good thing, but the old one works pretty well if it's still clean and free of rust. Lotsa luck getting your switch done. You'll like it when you do

**CatatonicBug** · 01-14-2011, 03:29 PM

Well, I returned the one I got from Hong Kong (still waiting for the refund), and purchased a different one from HIDMEDIA on ebay. It arrived today and it's definitely different from the Hong Kong one. This one is designed for cars, but even mentions bikes in the instructions. It has full-size ballasts and requires a dedicated +/- connection in addition to the regular plug for the bulb. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, since there is no way to add to the wiring loom into the fairing and keep it neat and clean. I'm hoping I can just tap into existing wiring in the fairing and everything will still work like it should.

**clcorbin** · 01-14-2011, 04:23 PM

Originally posted by psycoreefer

something nobody's mentioned here is that to really get the most out of an HID setup the "reflector" housing is as (or maybe even more) important then the ballast and bulb. A housing that isn't designed for an HID light (or poorly designed) won't give you the shift in focus when the bulb moves from "high" to "low" as it should and has the potential to not just perform poorly but also blind oncoming traffic which is not a good thing. a lot of the cost of the higher end HID setups is the R&D of the reflectors.

This is one of the big reasons you won't see any truely reputable company selling "retrofit" kits that will simply plug into your existing headlight, the good ones all come with a new one.

This is one of those "yeah, maybe" things for me. The existing H4 reflector was designed to focus the light from an H4 bulb that has two elements in it, the high element and the low element AND those elements are in specific locations. IF the new HID bulb puts the arc in the same (or close to it) location, then the reflector will work JUST as well for a HID bulb as it will for the original bulb. It's not like it can tell what type of light source the photons came from...

The original HID conversion kits DID suck! They made no effort to actually put the arc in the right location for the type of housing (H3/H4/H8/9008/etc) and instead just tried to get a bulb "in there". And they SUCKED! Light going everywhere, no good focus down the road, blinding glare, etc.

But over the years, they have been improved a lot and bulb specific kits generally do a good job of putting the arc in the right location. Glare and flare and all those other issues aren't really much of an issue these days.

I can say my kit worked perfectly well in my stock 79 standard housing. The only thing I did was clean out the housing (compressed air) as the silver still looked almost perfect. After a good buffing on the outside, the housing looked like new, nice and clear and shiny on the inside. I don't have any glare problems and have very sharp cutoffs on the beam on both high and low. I'm happy with it.

**clcorbin** · 01-14-2011, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by CatatonicBug

It has full-size ballasts and requires a dedicated +/- connection in addition to the regular plug for the bulb. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, since there is no way to add to the wiring loom into the fairing and keep it neat and clean. I'm hoping I can just tap into existing wiring in the fairing and everything will still work like it should.

You might want to be careful there. HID systems use much less power WHEN THEY ARE RUNNING than the old bulbs do (30W versus 55 or 65W), BUT they pull a LOT of current for that split second when they strike the arc. If the voltage drops too much on their power line when they are trying to strike the arc, they might now light reliably. Make sure they have a very low impedance power line back to the battery (larger gauge, shorter run, clean connectors, etc.).

Personally, I wold figure out how to run a power line for it directly from the battery. I can't believe it would be that difficult to do as you just have to follow the stock harness and route it that way. Either way, good luck!

**Poprock** · 01-14-2011, 05:00 PM

Agree with the above, with this add: there is probably one or more uncommitted wires in your fairing harness. My Pacifico has a 9 pin connector. Find one not doing anything, connect it to battery through your APU. Then, within the fairing run your power to the ballast. Gauge isn't too critical on such a short run. I drilled a hole low in the fairing and ran a ground to the fairing bracket. If you have two blank wires in the harness, one could be a ground and that would be a real neat install. You are going to like the light.

**CatatonicBug** · 01-15-2011, 06:14 PM

I got the new kit installed today, and it works perfectly!

I was able to locate a + wire in the fairing that is only used for the clock maintainer wire in my radio. I tapped into the ground circuit already there, and ran a test before actually installing it, and it fired as soon as the engine cranked. This time, the headlight stays on after turning off the engine too (as long as the key is still on), and doesn't flicker and turn off. The high beam works as it should as well, and there is a definite change in the beam spread when the hi/low switch is flipped.

The + wire on this kit has it's own 30a fuse in it. That seems a bit high for a headlight circuit, but I left it in there. There's another smaller fuse down the line anyway, so I guess it's just another fuse in the circuit. I'll keep an eye on the circuit to be sure things are kept clean and not overheating.

**natemoen** · 01-15-2011, 06:46 PM

Mind if I ask how much the kit was?

**CatatonicBug** · 01-15-2011, 07:17 PM

Originally posted by natemoen

Mind if I ask how much the kit was?

Not at all! I paid $58, with free shipping. It's a car kit, so it comes with 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs, but only one wiring harness.

**natemoen** · 01-15-2011, 09:38 PM

Originally posted by CatatonicBug

Not at all! I paid $58, with free shipping. It's a car kit, so it comes with 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs, but only one wiring harness.

That's hardly more than the Hong Kong crap, and you got spare parts!

**CatatonicBug** · 01-15-2011, 11:59 PM

I know... That's what I get for being cheap.

**79XS11F** · 01-16-2011, 08:14 AM

Originally posted by CatatonicBug

I got the new kit installed today, and it works perfectly!

I was able to locate a + wire in the fairing that is only used for the clock maintainer wire in my radio. I tapped into the ground circuit already there, and ran a test before actually installing it, and it fired as soon as the engine cranked. This time, the headlight stays on after turning off the engine too (as long as the key is still on), and doesn't flicker and turn off. The high beam works as it should as well, and there is a definite change in the beam spread when the hi/low switch is flipped.

The + wire on this kit has it's own 30a fuse in it. That seems a bit high for a headlight circuit, but I left it in there. There's another smaller fuse down the line anyway, so I guess it's just another fuse in the circuit. I'll keep an eye on the circuit to be sure things are kept clean and not overheating.

What part number is this new kit that is proper? I bough one of the units from Kong Kong last year as well and it turned out to be a single "low" beam light for a 4 light system. It was useless.
Rob

**CatatonicBug** · 01-16-2011, 04:19 PM

Not sure on the actual Part Number, but the ebay number is 260658706603. It's a Xentec brand, with full-size ballasts.

Installing HID, but no light comes on!

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