www.CVOHARLEY.com
Custom Vehicle Discussions => Screamin' Eagle® Electra Glide® => Topic started by: Twolanerider on March 02, 2007, 03:16:22 AM
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As a function of both declining night vision now that I've reached the latter half of my 40s and the fact that our headlights pretty well suck I'd been watching intently as people tried the Harley HID lights, PIAA bulbs and a variety of other alternatives. I'd changed from the stock single element housing on the 05s to the dual element housing; that helped a little. Then upgraded to H9 bulbs for both elements. That helped a little more (and the bulbs were free with a credit at the parts store). But short of going to the HID headlight that's as good as it got. And it wasn't good enough.
It was still the case that when riding at night I'd look for the interstate rather than stay away from it. Just so I could ride with cage traffic and use their lights because they reached out so much farther than did my own. Someone here suggested the optics in the 07 housing was better but a rep at the local parts counter told me it wasn't a new part number. I rode an FLHX at night and personally didn't see much difference. So it seemed fruitless to spend the money for the housing.
All the while kept looking for alternatives that would do better than the Harley HID light for overall effect and cost/benefit. That thing is just a lot of money to spend and still have to keep half the system halogen. Kuryakyn and the other alternatives all had problems. One Kuryakyn offering was simply ugly as sin. Another uses a proprietary mounting ring that doesn't accept the decorative headlight rings so many of us like. Most options required using an ignitor that was large enough that mounting would either need to be in front of the battery (not an option for me due to a little compressor for the air horn already living there). And two ignitors for dual bulbs was just out of the question for reasons of size and heat generation.
Then about three weeks ago finally stumbled on to a vendor ( http://www.xtralights.com ) offering the normal generic HID retrofits and a new offering with a fully digital ignitor. That changed everything. Much less power draw on start up. Much much less power draw during operation. Almost immediate (.002 sec) firing of the bulb by the ignitor. Almost no heat generation. And, to make it all possible, the ignitors are small.
The power draw is such that NO NEW wiring is necessary. No relay of the circuit and no step out of the headlight circuit during engine firing. The only connection to the vehicle is just plugging your stock headlight socket in to the power leads for the ignitor. That's it.
This company's standard HID upgrade kits were competitive to a bit cheaper in price than the rest of the market. These units with the digital ignitor were, of course, more expensive than the alternative. They're not cheap. Two complete kits to install HID in both high and low beam cost about $500.00. But that's about what the Harley light cost and with it you've only got one HID bulb for low beam. Evne though you're firing both bulbs at the same time you're still reaching out with a halogen for high beam.
The Harley kit is also a bit of a chore to install. Most have talked of removing or at least raising the tank to neatly complete the install. Not counting removing and reinstalling the fairing installation of both of these kits took about 25 minutes total (even inside my fairing).
A couple of the members here knew this little task was coming and have ask for illustrations of the install. To pave the way for their own installations. So, here goes:
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You start with a kit. The digital ignitors are generic and work with all the bulbs. The only difference inside is which bulb gets packaged.
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The generic ignitor. Note the red and black bare leads. Each kit includes a headlight and socket and terminals to match your application. So you install those plugs on this wire pair. Then all you have to do is plug your existing headlight power socket in to the newly installed socket on the ignitor.
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HID bulb. The company offers many many different headlight bulb options. So matching up to your (car or) bike application shouldn't be a problem.
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Two HID bulbs (H9 and H11) in the dual bulb element.
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I was fortunate to have the mounting brackets that were part of the Hawg Wired amplifier installation already in place. The ignitors are small enough and thin enough they could mount easily on the back side of those brackets. Two sided tape is supplied. I used wire ties also to make sure.
If the brackets and amp parts were out of the way there would be plenty of room to mount them against the inside of the inner fairing. The company also supplies generic mounting brackets as part of their kit. So you've got a variety of options.
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In place. One like this on each side.
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The SEEGs came stock with a single element headlamp. So we've got a single headlight socket.
The dual light kit includes the housing, bulbs and a pigtail that plugs in to the single socket to then give you two separate sockets for each bulb.
You could use the sockets supplied with the HID light kits to make the ignitors plug and play in to those sockets on the end of the pigtail. I had an old headlight socket in my tool box, however, that I could use to make a custom pigtail on the end of the ignitor harnesses. One power wire from each ignitor to the high and low beam wires respectively and bring the two ground leads together. With that I could do away with the dual bulb pigtail completely. Plug the new custom ignitor pigtail directly into the single bulb socket on the bike and, in so doing, eliminate two complete sets of connectors in the circuit.
This just made it more efficient and neater for my particular installation. You could use the stock plugs if you've got dual bulb to begin with. If you've still got a single bulb element they've got a HID kit for that application too. To get high and low beam I think I remember reading that it did have a slightly more involved wiring installation. But even that didn't look at all difficult. And you could still have HID function on both high and low beam. This is the two ignitors wired together to one headlight plug that I then plugged in to the bike's headlight power socket to power the entire HID system. One simple connection and not a single wire or connector on the bike was altered in any way.
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Once it's all installed and tidied up you're adding so little new harness that it blends in to the background noise. Since the sockets for the bulbs (the sockets with the yellow sealing bands in the picture) are the same for each bulb I went ahead and printed up a label to denote high or low beam. Just in case someone besides me ever takes the fairing off.
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The connections to the bulbs themselves.
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Low beam HID. Just like we could always accomplish with the HD offering.
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High beam HID. That's new :2vrolijk_21: .
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Didn't start working on this until about 12:30 this evening. After it was done took it out for a short cold ride around town. First impressions were very positive. It seems to do a great job and is a distinct and noticable improvement over the H9 (PIAA high beam) bulbs that were in both sockets before.
I did not get out on the highway tonight to see how far the light really stretches out. It is going to be a big improvement though. I already know that much for sure. Just have to wait to find out how much.
As can be seen from the low beam photo above, however, now I need to find some spotlight bulbs with a blue tint to them. Anyone got any ideas :nixweiss: ?
Summary of the install would point out that there is apparently little or no heat issue with these ignitors. I left one of the lights on in the garage for just under 10 minutes while the fairing was still loose. Reached in to touch the ignitor with my hand and it wasn't even warm. So at least at this point I'm not worrying about this as a potential issue.
Engine start up power draw measurements were fine. No worries there. Overall system draw once fired with these lights is so much less than the stockers that there is a side benefit of this installation. Previously with the heated seat, heated jacket, heated gloves, radio, amplifier and other normal things turned on I had to run with the high beam headlight. Running with the low beam (higher wattage bulb) and spotlights all but maxed out the charging system. Not quite, but almost. Enough so that I was considering rotor and stator alternatives. With these lights running their draw is so much less I'll have reserve capacity again. And a fair amount too.
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Nice install 2ln. Thanks for the heads up & report.
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Nice install 2ln. Thanks for the heads up & report.
Thanks. It was fortunately a simple little chore to guinea pig out. Actually took longer to post it all here and jig the pictures than it did to do the work. Hopefully seeing how easy was the chore and knowing of the available alternatives will let our interested friends consider it more strongly. Because these pigs need some help at night.
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As a function of both declining night vision now that I've reached the latter half of my 40s ...
Is the what I have to look forward to? At 39, I'm just starting my mid-life crisis. Now you're telling me that I'm gonna loose my night time vision. Is there any thing else I need to know?
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Is the what I have to look forward to? At 39, I'm just starting my mid-life crisis. Now you're telling me that I'm gonna loose my night time vision. Is there any thing else I need to know?
I got glasses for the first time about a year and a half ago AJ. At 39 I was still testing better than 20/20 and didn't notice any difference at night. I'm told this is pretty normal for about this age, in fact better than many. But I still find it annoying. Even with the night vision of a 19 year old our headlights would still suck though.
What else to know though..... :nixweiss:
Oh yeah, at 39 I still had hair :huepfenlol2:
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I got glasses for the first time about a year and a half ago AJ. At 39 I was still testing better than 20/20 and didn't notice any difference at night. I'm told this is pretty normal for about this age, in fact better than many. But I still find it annoying. Even with the night vision of a 19 year old our headlights would still suck though.
What else to know though..... :nixweiss:
Oh yeah, at 39 I still had hair :huepfenlol2:
Well, I still have my hair! But I do wear glasses. :orange:
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The very day i hit 40 i was at the eye dr saying no to the bi-focal word. i still dont have em but ... Hey Don, can I assume the hid would not work with a headlight modulator? They cycle I believe 120 times a min. :nixweiss:
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Don,
Great find! Looks great, easy install. Please let me know if you come up with something for the running lights.
BTW, you're getting good at spending my money! :huepfenjump3:
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The very day i hit 40 i was at the eye dr saying no to the bi-focal word. i still dont have em but ... Hey Don, can I assume the hid would not work with a headlight modulator? They cycle I believe 120 times a min. :nixweiss:
Bi-focals. Yeap. That's what happened here. Went from never having had glassed to bi-focals all at once. Knew the need was coming for about a year. Then just couldn't put it off anymore. Fortunately I can still pass the driver's test without them.
HID with a headlight modulator would be a now go. Ignitor needs to keep the bulb energized. These digital ignitors can fire very quickly. But the systems aren't designed for modulation.
Since modulation is all about being seen rather than seeing I'm sure now the red bike that stupendously ugly difference between the blue HID and the harsh yellow/white spot lights will attract everyone's attention :huepfenlol2: .
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Bi-focals. Yeap. That's what happened here. Went from never having had glassed to bi-focals all at once. Knew the need was coming for about a year. Then just couldn't put it off anymore. Fortunately I can still pass the driver's test without them.
HID with a headlight modulator would be a now go. Ignitor needs to keep the bulb energized. These digital ignitors can fire very quickly. But the systems aren't designed for modulation.
Since modulation is all about being seen rather than seeing I'm sure now the red bike that stupendously ugly difference between the blue HID and the harsh yellow/white spot lights will attract everyone's attention :huepfenlol2: .
2L,
Forgive me for not doing my own homework, but are the bulbs in the spots replaceable? HID maybe? If so, $1,000 full front-end light upgrade? Would have to bury that receipt in the back yard.
Chief
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Bifocal is not so bad, especially since now I can read the newspaper. ;D
The light looks a little on the Blue side of the color spectrum. I really understand the need for the higher intensity lights, cause I too upgraded my 97 RK with the dual Bulbs, but on the oncoming traffic side of things, I can't tell is someone has their Hi-beams on, riding on these back country two lane unlit roads out here in the country. These country roads are dangerous enough at night without being blinded. Know what I mean? I guess it's a necessary evil.
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As always, a great write up and install report Don! They look really good! Now onto the spots :confused5:
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Don,
Great find! Looks great, easy install. Please let me know if you come up with something for the running lights.
BTW, you're getting good at spending my money! :huepfenjump3:
Thanks Ernie. This was something that I'd really been needing to accomplish if I was going to ride at night very much. The stock light package was so poor you just didn't trust it at night out on the two lanes. So I feel pretty good about finding these that both at least initially seem to work so well and were so easy to go on.
While looking I did find a place that offered a HID version of the spotlights. Never pursued it though. Their ignitors were a bit larger. Still would have required one ignitor for each bulb. And I knew I didn't want to give up what limited fairing space I had for ignitors for the spotlights. The headlights were the goal.
As is I've got to be about done inside the fairing. Really no space to shoe horn anything else new in there. There are some bulbs that perform a lot better than the stock pieces. But, at least for me, HID was the headlight alternative rather than the spotlights.
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2L,
Forgive me for not doing my own homework, but are the bulbs in the spots replaceable? HID maybe? If so, $1,000 full front-end light upgrade? Would have to bury that receipt in the back yard.
Chief
Chief, Harley offers us a few different spotlight options. They're all a replaceable bulb of some type or another. Harley offers nothing for HID lights for the spots. I only found one place that did. But that still required one ignitor per bulb and they weren't fully digital ignitors. So they were larger and, if I remember, had a relatively extensive hook up to them. Not anything I was interested in.
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As always, a great write up and install report Don! They look really good! Now onto the spots :confused5:
Thanks Jim. And you're really really right. Need to find a different bulb for the spots.
Knew there'd be some difference in appearance. Just couldn't know beforehand how much; and how ugly they'd be. Fortunately the spots just widen the field rather than extending it so all I'm looking for now is just a good bright bulb with a blue hue to it. Don't have to worry about anything expensive. The headlights took care of that part.
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Bifocal is not so bad, especially since now I can read the newspaper. ;D
The light looks a little on the Blue side of the color spectrum. I really understand the need for the higher intensity lights, cause I too upgraded my 97 RK with the dual Bulbs, but on the oncoming traffic side of things, I can't tell is someone has their Hi-beams on, riding on these back country two lane unlit roads out here in the country. These country roads are dangerous enough at night without being blinded. Know what I mean? I guess it's a necessary evil.
Ron, the times I've been in a cage with HID lights people don't seem to flash them too much if you accidentally stay on high beam. Even if it happens occasionally if someone mistakes this low beam for a high beam it'll still be worth gain. Fortunately the low beam optics disperse the light such that I really don't expect it. But I'm not going to worry about it happening too much.
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I think you are right and I agree. Personal safety is paramount.
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OK, dumb question time...... would this have worked with your stock headlight housing? I'd like to do something like the with the SERK, but i have a sealed bulb, not sure what the actual parts list i would need is
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Thanks Jim. And you're really really right. Need to find a different bulb for the spots.
Knew there'd be some difference in appearance. Just couldn't know beforehand how much; and how ugly they'd be. Fortunately the spots just widen the field rather than extending it so all I'm looking for now is just a good bright bulb with a blue hue to it. Don't have to worry about anything expensive. The headlights took care of that part.
Don, these are what I'm running in the spots: http://www.luminicsbulbs.com/881_bulbs.php
They're not perfect, as you can see in the photo, but they're a helluva lot closer that what comes stock. Actually, to the naked eye, and when lighting up a wall along with the HID headlight, they're closer than what these photos depict. :nixweiss:
(http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3588.0;attach=17230;image)
(http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3588.0;attach=17231;image)
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Thanks for all the detail pics. I upgraded my bulbs on my softail and it was a big difference. I know changing these bulbs also allowed other drivers to see me better which is also a big plus. I haven't been able to ride at night yet because of the weather so I don't know how the lights on my FLHTCUSE2 work. If the sun doesn't come out soon I am going to have to move! :2vrolijk_21: T MAC
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OK, dumb question time...... would this have worked with your stock headlight housing? I'd like to do something like the with the SERK, but i have a sealed bulb, not sure what the actual parts list i would need is
Neal, I'm pretty sure I remember my last Road King (2000 model) using an H4 bulb rather than a complete sealed beam. There are companies out there that are now offering sealed beam replacements with the ignitors built in to the housing somehow. Have also read of reliability issues with them. Can't speak to real stats though.
If your's takes an H4 this same company I bought from has an H4 kit that uses this small ignitor. They've even got an H4 dual kit that works for both high and low beam with the single bulb. You can see the product here:
http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349
If it is a sealed beam (I could've changed it out on the Road King and only be remembering how it ended up and not how it began) there are several options to swap the light housing itself within the nacelle. Some are pretty good looking too. If you have trouble finding something let me know and I'll dig back through the info I saved as I was looking for the ones I eventually found.
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in about 99% sure its a seald unit
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Don, these are what I'm running in the spots: http://www.luminicsbulbs.com/881_bulbs.php
They're not perfect, as you can see in the photo, but they're a helluva lot closer that what comes stock. Actually, to the naked eye, and when lighting up a wall along with the HID headlight, they're closer than what these photos depict. :nixweiss:
Thanks Brian. I was going to call you today or tonight to ask about this. Remembered that you'd paid more attention it than anyone else but couldn't find a thread that listed what you'd found.
Do you happen to remember the color temp of the bulbs you've got? The place the new HID headlights came from actually offered several options but I chose the relatively standard 8000k blue color. I have found this place ( http://www.automotivelightingusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10_12&products_id=998 )offering a 6000k "pure blue" but was waiting to order until I'd spoken with you.
If your packaging didn't specify I might go ahead and get these. Can then post some pics to compare against yours to see if one or the other of us would then have a better option.
Thanks :2vrolijk_21:
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Thanks Brian. I was going to call you today or tonight to ask about this. Remembered that you'd paid more attention it than anyone else but couldn't find a thread that listed what you'd found.
Do you happen to remember the color temp of the bulbs you've got? The place the new HID headlights came from actually offered several options but I chose the relatively standard 8000k blue color. I have found this place ( http://www.automotivelightingusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10_12&products_id=998 )offering a 6000k "pure blue" but was waiting to order until I'd spoken with you.
If your packaging didn't specify I might go ahead and get these. Can then post some pics to compare against yours to see if one or the other of us would then have a better option.
Thanks :2vrolijk_21:
Don, I believe it does say on the packaging, but I can't remember what it said off-hand and the box is out at my mom & dad's. I'll be out there later tonight, though, and will check it and let you know!
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in about 99% sure its a seald unit
I probably changed it out on my Road King Neal. So only remembering what was in it at the end rather than the beginning. You'll still have options though. Harley offers light housing replacement that accepts the H4. Some of the Tri-Bar or other light housings have quite good optics, accept the single H4 and work within the nacelle.
There are direct bulb replacements anymore also. Though any option involves removing the existing lamp. That being so were I considering it I'd probably be interested in a housing that takes the H4 just because it would then keep the bulb and ignitor separate in case of later failure. Get a sealed beam replacement with the ignitor all made in one unit and if either part fails you're buying everything.
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Don, I believe it does say on the packaging, but I can't remember what it said off-hand and the box is out at my mom & dad's. I'll be out there later tonight, though, and will check it and let you know!
Cool. Thanks! I'll wait to buy anything until you've had a chance to check so we can compare what they're supposed to be.
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(http://www.xtralights.com/images/bixenon_compare.gif)
looks like the dual bulb is taller, wonder if this will be a clearance issue?
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I was fortunate to have the mounting brackets that were part of the Hawg Wired amplifier installation already in place. The ignitors are small enough and thin enough they could mount easily on the back side of those brackets. Two sided tape is supplied. I used wire ties also to make sure.
If the brackets and amp parts were out of the way there would be plenty of room to mount them against the inside of the inner fairing. The company also supplies generic mounting brackets as part of their kit. So you've got a variety of options.
With double sided foam tape, do you think sticking the ignitors to the inside of the fairing would be OK?
Chief
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With double sided foam tape, do you think sticking the ignitors to the inside of the fairing would be OK?
Chief
With foam tape I'd have worried (not have done it). The two sided stuff included with the ignitors is that thinner nearly nuclear capable stuff that it takes a pry bar to remove something from.
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(http://www.xtralights.com/images/bixenon_compare.gif)
looks like the dual bulb is taller, wonder if this will be a clearance issue?
Neal, again speaking to the housing I used in my last Road King I feel confident there would have been plenty of room. There is a lot of depth there between the socket itself in the back and the glass/plastic in the front.
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i was thinking rear protrusion back towards the neck of the frame
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i was thinking rear protrusion back towards the neck of the frame
I was obviously considering the other direction. Thinking rearward, however, my first reaction would also be to expect enough room. Basing it on how bar beyond the headlight bucket you have to reach in there to get at the rear most of the two little nuts that hold that top piece of trim on. I seem to remember that being pretty deep. Easy enough to find out though. Call and ask them how deep the bulb is than yank the headlight bucket and see if it'll fit.
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Cool. Thanks! I'll wait to buy anything until you've had a chance to check so we can compare what they're supposed to be.
Don, just got back. Prolly oughta go with the ones you had scoped out. The Lumincs Hyper White are only 5,150K. If I'd have seen the ones you found, I'd have got those instead. Maybe they just weren't out yet. :nixweiss: Anyways, I'll probably just go ahead and get some of those Luminics Pure Blue jobbies, myself. :2vrolijk_21:
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Don, just got back. Prolly oughta go with the ones you had scoped out. The Lumincs Hyper White are only 5,150K. If I'd have seen the ones you found, I'd have got those instead. Maybe they just weren't out yet. :nixweiss: Anyways, I'll probably just go ahead and get some of those Luminics Pure Blue jobbies, myself. :2vrolijk_21:
Before you do wait and I'll give them a call. Will try to hit them up for a discount for three sets. One set each for the bikes and one spare bulb for each of us (cause you know eventually one of those little buggers will burn out).
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Before you do wait and I'll give them a call. Will try to hit them up for a discount for three sets. One set each for the bikes and one spare bulb for each of us (cause you know eventually one of those little buggers will burn out).
Works for me! Thanks, buddy! :2vrolijk_21:
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Works for me! Thanks, buddy! :2vrolijk_21:
Cool. Will hit them up tomorrow or Monday; whenever they're open again.
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Cool. Will hit them up tomorrow or Monday; whenever they're open again.
No hurry on my end!
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No hurry on my end!
Well yeah, yours aren't as ugly as mine :huepfenlol2: !
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Brian, before we get something on the way take a look at this image. The HID lights on my bike in the images earlier in this thread are reported as 8000k. All the various literature and propogande I've seen the last few weeks while really looking at this hard again tended to suggest that that was the most common HID color temp as well. 8000k is the light second from the right in this image.
6000k is one step to the left of that. The 881s in that ad posted earlier are advertised as 6000k. But I've found sources for 8000k 881s also. Let me know which you think yours is closest to and we'll proceed accordingly.
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Hmmmm, it's tough to say for sure, but I don't think mine's as blue as the second from the right one. I think the middle one is closer to mine. But, having said that, I'd rather be a little more on the blue side than the yellow or white side, so if you're going to opt for the 8,000K 881s and can get a few bucks off on a set of 3, I'm in!
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Just to clarify, mine's more like the one I circled, I think. The 8,000K is the one next to it on the right?
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Just to clarify, mine's more like the one I circled, I think. The 8,000K is the one next to it on the right?
Ok, the one circled is 6000k. All those color temps are regularly common options (and apparently have little to do with how far down the road they shine). Will see what we can come up from a bulb seller later today and let you know. Whey they get mailed to you, need any tacos too :nixweiss: ?
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As can be seen from the low beam photo above, however, now I need to find some spotlight bulbs with a blue tint to them. Anyone got any ideas :nixweiss: ?
Very, very informative Don! Great detail and nice setup you've done! You need to publish that in the Bagger Mag :2vrolijk_21:
This is what I'm running in my spots with updated lenses from an '06. KYO Super Beam EX 881 Xeon white.
http://store.racinglab.com/kyosuexxewh8.html
I'm currently using a PIAA Xtreme White Plus headlight bulb.
The KYO bulbs are almost a perfect to my PIAA headlight. They're much brighter than the oem spotlights. For the price, you wouldn't be out much if they didn't match your new HID setup perfectly. They also have other options you can look into.
Hope this helps,
Grover
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:oops: I finished reading the rest of this thread after I posted the above info. I see you and Brian already have it figured out :2vrolijk_21: The site above also sells Luminics... Is there a price difference from where you were looking before?
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Ok, the one circled is 6000k. All those color temps are regularly common options (and apparently have little to do with how far down the road they shine). Will see what we can come up from a bulb seller later today and let you know. Whey they get mailed to you, need any tacos too :nixweiss: ?
Whats in take to get on the buy list? :nixweiss:
I have the same HD HID as Brian does and would like to get my spots a cleaner lite :2vrolijk_21:
jeffj
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Whats in take to get on the buy list? :nixweiss:
. . .
Jeff, I don't know, but I'm sure Don will come up with something entertaining! :huepfenlol2:
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Let us know how well they work toward the blue scale, I changed out to some on mine but they are still too yellow for me compared to my HID, even though they are supposed to be blue.
Did mine by cutting out the stock bulb and replacing it.
Looking forward to your report.
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. . .
Whey they get mailed to you, need any tacos too :nixweiss: ?
Thanks, but we're having tacos for dinner tonight. How 'bout some pizza instead? :nixweiss:
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Whats in take to get on the buy list? :nixweiss:
I have the same HD HID as Brian does and would like to get my spots a cleaner lite :2vrolijk_21:
jeffj
Jeff, I didn't see your post here until after I'd ordered the parts for Brian and I. I'll call the vendor back and see if another set can get added on. Price ended up being $16.00 per set mailed to me. Priority mail on to you probably another five bucks or so. Will see if another pair can be added on to the order and let you know.
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Thanks, but we're having tacos for dinner tonight. How 'bout some pizza instead? :nixweiss:
I can't believe you asked for that? :huepfenlol2:
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Jeff, I didn't see your post here until after I'd ordered the parts for Brian and I. I'll call the vendor back and see if another set can get added on. Price ended up being $16.00 per set mailed to me. Priority mail on to you probably another five bucks or so. Will see if another pair can be added on to the order and let you know.
Thanks Don, just let me know
jeffj
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I can't believe you asked for that? :huepfenlol2:
:oops:
:huepfenlol2:
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Jeff, I didn't see your post here until after I'd ordered the parts for Brian and I. I'll call the vendor back and see if another set can get added on. Price ended up being $16.00 per set mailed to me. Priority mail on to you probably another five bucks or so. Will see if another pair can be added on to the order and let you know.
How long will this price be good for? Is it too late to get on the band wagon :confused5: I can send you paypal to cover everything including shipping + tacos.
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How long will this price be good for? Is it too late to get on the band wagon :confused5: I can send you paypal to cover everything including shipping + tacos.
Mark, I've got to come clean here. As good a deal as I thought 103 and I were scoring, I ended up screwing us out of a couple bucks a piece.
After seeing Jeff's post I emailed the company and got a phone call back from them. Got some real nice kid on the phone. He called me Mr. Carey. The boy quickly explained that it was going to be ok and that the friend could get the same $16.00 price. They sell on eBay too and that's the regular price there. If you're buying more than one set it's even a little bit cheaper.
So as good a deal as I thought 103 and I had scored; well, we still did ok. To get a pair for $16.00 go right here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200084870061
I just checked and that's a currently active listing for some more of the lights.
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Mark, I've got to come clean here. As good a deal as I thought 103 and I were scoring, I ended up screwing us out of a couple bucks a piece.
. . .
Hey, Don, no worries! I just appreciate you chasing these down for us! :2vrolijk_09:
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Hey, Don, no worries! I just appreciate you chasing these down for us! :2vrolijk_09:
I must have missed something here. Don, are these bulbs for the running lights and look good with the HID headlight?
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I must have missed something here. Don, are these bulbs for the running lights and look good with the HID headlight?
That's it exactly Ernie. Or at least that's the hope. The color temp on the new headlights I put in is 8000k. The Harley headlight (I was told by a local tech here who seemed to know what he was taking about) is about 7200k.
With either the stock spotlight bulbs come across as a harsh yellow in comparison. My spotlight bulbs had been previously changed when one burned out. I'd replaced them both with something brighter and "bluer" than the originals. They still looked dull and ugly compared to the HID.
A bit of surfing found these 881 bulbs advertised as also being 8000k color temp. Being from different mftrs of course they won't be a dead on match. But they'll have to be much much closer. And any suggestion of "blueness" is going to look a lot better setting side by side with the HID headlights.
For anyone with the Harley HID headlight I had a conversation yesterday with the tech at the local shop. Asking what he'd done as I remembered his bike looking ok at night. A nice match actually. He said he'd tried 6000k bulbs and 8000k bulbs. The 8000k bulbs looked better. He described a tiny bit bluer looking much better than anything that was even a little bit yellower in comparison.
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I was obviously considering the other direction. Thinking rearward, however, my first reaction would also be to expect enough room. Basing it on how bar beyond the headlight bucket you have to reach in there to get at the rear most of the two little nuts that hold that top piece of trim on. I seem to remember that being pretty deep. Easy enough to find out though. Call and ask them how deep the bulb is than yank the headlight bucket and see if it'll fit.
stuck my hand behind the nacell today and theres about 1/2" behind the plug to the neck of the frame
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Group buy? I'd be interested in both the headlight and the spots
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stuck my hand behind the nacell today and theres about 1/2" behind the plug to the neck of the frame
You're screwed.
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Group buy? I'd be interested in both the headlight and the spots
Ernie, the spot bulbs get through that eBay seller. It was the same price for one as for several.
Which way are you thinking about for a HID headlight? The Harley kit or the package like I just did in your existing housing?
I don't remember if you've got the original housing in yours or had changed to that dual bulb housing. If you've changed to the dual bulb housing the lights I used allow use of a HID lamp for both high and low beam and those low power consumption digital ignitors. Along with that it's also a less than half hour install.
If you've still go the H4 bulb in the stock single element housing look at that one Neal was illustrating earlier in this thread. It would also allow dual beam HID function but with a bit more involved in the hook up. Still not difficult. But a bit more involved in wiring in a relay.
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You're screwed.
looks like i would need to go with a dual bulb setup like you are running. could be a bigger budget then i want to put into the head light
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Don,
I have the stock H4 light. I was thinking of the Bi-Xenon H4 for both high and low beams. It's $324, but for 2 or more they list it at $304.
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looks like i would need to go with a dual bulb setup like you are running. could be a bigger budget then i want to put into the head light
They are just a pigtail out the back Neal. Almost no space needed at all. You would get stuck with buying a lot more stuff though. Housing and both bulb kits. Probably kill 600 bucks real fast.
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Don,
I have the stock H4 light. I was thinking of the Bi-Xenon H4 for both high and low beams. It's $324, but for 2 or more they list it at $304.
All the 05 bikes started that way Ernie. Honestly don't know if the 04s still had a sealed beam or had gone to the H4. If forced to guess I'd presume they used the H4 too though. So surely someone would be interested in joining you. Though for only $20.00 difference you ought to try to round up a bay are comrade. Otherwise the extra shipping to get the second unit on home would just about eat up the savings.
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If anyone was interested in those 881 style lights mentioned earlier in this thread you might wish to reconsider.
They're advertised by their seller as being a good color match to an 8000k lumens HID light. They're not. They are a good bright bulb. Brighter than the stock bulbs for a pretty good price. So if you're interested in just a brighter bulb they still might be worth a little interest. They're not a color match to the blue of a good HID light though. At least not an 8000k HID.
Brian, I'll ask the tech out here again specifically whose bulbs he's using and where he got them. I know they're a good match to your light as I've seen it lit up at night. The Harley HID will apparently be a little "less blue" than this HID; but I'm guessing they'd still be pretty close. This is what the bulbs from the eBay seller look like against mine.
Brian, you even want to mess with these? I can send them back while we look for another option.
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And I had such high hopes. :nixweiss:
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If anyone was interested in those 881 style lights mentioned earlier in this thread you might wish to reconsider.
They're advertised by their seller as being a good color match to an 8000k lumens HID light. They're not. They are a good bright bulb. Brighter than the stock bulbs for a pretty good price. So if you're interested in just a brighter bulb they still might be worth a little interest. They're not a color match to the blue of a good HID light though. At least not an 8000k HID.
Brian, I'll ask the tech out here again specifically whose bulbs he's using and where he got them. I know they're a good match to your light as I've seen it lit up at night. The Harley HID will apparently be a little "less blue" than this HID; but I'm guessing they'd still be pretty close. This is what the bulbs from the eBay seller look like against mine.
Brian, you even want to mess with these? I can send them back while we look for another option.
Don, as long as you can get a full credit, go ahead and return them. Those suckers aren't even close to the same as your headlight. I'm pretty sure the 5,150K Luminics that I'm currently running are closer to my headlight than those are, or would be. They don't hardly look blue at all. :confused5: I'll have the bike back home for the season tonight and will snap a shot in the dark similar to the one you posted, so we have something to compare. I'm thinking the 6,000K Luminics may be all I need. :nixweiss:
Thanks for trying!!!!!!
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Got the Xtralights HID light installed yesterday. What a difference. Takes most of the challenges out of night driving when you can see! Love the headlight! Now for the spots...
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Don, as long as you can get a full credit, go ahead and return them. Those suckers aren't even close to the same as your headlight. I'm pretty sure the 5,150K Luminics that I'm currently running are closer to my headlight than those are, or would be. They don't hardly look blue at all. :confused5: I'll have the bike back home for the season tonight and will snap a shot in the dark similar to the one you posted, so we have something to compare. I'm thinking the 6,000K Luminics may be all I need. :nixweiss:
Thanks for trying!!!!!!
I was also disappointed in their visual impression. They are nice bright lights; they've got that going for them. I think the stockers were 37.5w if I remember correctly. These are rated at 55w on the bulb but seem noticably brighter than the 50w 886 bulbs they replaced. But they sure ain't blue.
I actually had high hopes too. The glass bulb has a definite and pronounced blue tint. And it's not a painted on thing. It's natural in the glass. Fire them up though and, pttttttthhhhhhhhh.
Guess it was worth the experiment. Maybe there's a reason the Luminics cost more :nixweiss: ? They're not offered in an 8000k color temp. I'm assuming their 6000k offering is the next best thing to try though. I'll guinea pig them myself before sucking anyone else in next time though. Sorry guys...... :oops:
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Got the Xtralights HID light installed yesterday. What a difference. Takes most of the challenges out of night driving when you can see! Love the headlight! Now for the spots...
Glad it performs well for you Ernie. Have had mine out a couple of evenings too. Like you, very pleased with the performance. With the dual bulb housing on my red bike the first thing that took a bit of getting used to was the tigher focus of the high beam. This new light stays pretty tightly focused. It shoots a long tight beam down the road.
No one blinked back at the high beam either. Even after I'd adjusted the lights up (they needed a lot of upward adjustment compared to the originals). With this long narrow beam I may even alter my spots to work on high or low beam now. That long beam with spots kicking out sideways may be the ultimate solution.
Glad yours works well too. For a relatively simple installation these are a nice improvement. You even got off better than I did pricewise. The dual bulb only needs the one ignitor so you saved some cash :2vrolijk_21: .
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No one blinked back at the high beam either. Even after I'd adjusted the lights up (they needed a lot of upward adjustment compared to the originals). With this long narrow beam I may even alter my spots to work on high or low beam now. That long beam with spots kicking out sideways may be the ultimate solution.
Don, the cut off line on the HID's is great and does allow for a major adjustment up to get the maximum distance on low beam. I'll check my spots as well, I put in some from NAPA last year that were supposed to be blue, but as I recall they look yellow next to the HID.
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Don, the cut off line on the HID's is great and does allow for a major adjustment up to get the maximum distance on low beam. I'll check my spots as well, I put in some from NAPA last year that were supposed to be blue, but as I recall they look yellow next to the HID.
Roger, especially after bringing these up to an appropriate adjustment I can't say enough about the improvement. My original lights were so poor (and the dual bulb housing was an improvement over the original single bulb housing) that on a dark night no matter how straight the road might be I'd only be comfortable doing 50 mph unless there was other traffic in front of me. Just couldn't see any farther than that. Curves would sneak up on you in a hell of a hurry.
Had tried the dual bulb housing. Had put H9 high beams in to replace both bulbs. It was just never very good. Now, in one immediate change, it's finally good. No longer do the lights from the car 6 car lengths behind shoot farther than mine do. This was a good change.
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Roger, especially after bringing these up to an appropriate adjustment I can't say enough about the improvement. My original lights were so poor (and the dual bulb housing was an improvement over the original single bulb housing) that on a dark night no matter how straight the road might be I'd only be comfortable doing 50 mph unless there was other traffic in front of me. Just couldn't see any farther than that. Curves would sneak up on you in a hell of a hurry.
Had tried the dual bulb housing. Had put H9 high beams in to replace both bulbs. It was just never very good. Now, in one immediate change, it's finally good. No longer do the lights from the car 6 car lengths behind shoot farther than mine do. This was a good change.
It is difficult to explain to anyone that doesn't see it the change made by an HID light. In other threads folks have questioned the choice of an expensive light. If you only need it once and it saves you tail hide by picking up a critter an extra 100 plus feet out or a car pulling out of a driveway on a country road or whatever, that is priceless to me.
Anyone that is ever on the road at dusk or night time could not make a better investment for safety to me.
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It is difficult to explain to anyone that doesn't see it the change made by an HID light. In other threads folks have questioned the choice of an expensive light. If you only need it once and it saves you tail hide by picking up a critter an extra 100 plus feet out or a car pulling out of a driveway on a country road or whatever, that is priceless to me.
Anyone that is ever on the road at dusk or night time could not make a better investment for safety to me.
I totally agree. It was hard for me to swallow $300+ for a headlight but now that I have it anything else would be like going back to an 88 cubic inch engine. It's that much of a difference!
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ok, i scored a dual bulb setup. so i'm still considering this.
Don you said you originally did 2 H-9's before going HID but once HID you have 1 H-9 and 1 H-11. why not use 2 H-9 HIDs?
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Repeat of Don's setup so we can get 'em side-by-side:
(http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11544.0;attach=24561;image)
And, my H-D HID headlight and Luminics 5150K 881 bulbs in the spots:
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brian, looks like your bulb is "whiter" than don's
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. . .
Guess it was worth the experiment. Maybe there's a reason the Luminics cost more :nixweiss: ? They're not offered in an 8000k color temp. I'm assuming their 6000k offering is the next best thing to try though. I'll guinea pig them myself before sucking anyone else in next time though. Sorry guys...... :oops:
Don, I think I'm just gonna bump mine up to the Luminics 6000Ks and call it a day. :drink:
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brian, looks like your bulb is "whiter" than don's
Neal, I've not been able to confirm the color temp on the Harley branded HID headlight. Have so far seen it referenced or been told it was, alternatively, 4250k, 5000k, 6000k and 7250k.
I know for sure that the blue on the new ones I installed are BLUE. And they stay blue shining all the way down the road. Some HIDs on cages I've driven started out bluer and then faded back some as they got warm. These things start blue and stay that way.
It was actually a bit eerie to get used to for the first few miles. It's an unusual caste of light to look in to. Once you learn that you can trust you begin to realize that contrast and other highlights within the beam are actually very very good. From every visual comparison I've run cross so far though these new lights are a true 8000k blue. So now matter which of the several options for the Harley light might actually be correct it won't look as blue as do these new lights in the red bike.
The company I got them from offer their kits in several color temps actually. Several temps less blue and down through the white and gray ranges "lower" than what I chose and a purple hued HID bulb with a color temp "higher" than what I chose. They all were represented as casting their light roughly equally down the road. So that color doesn't seem to directly represent the effectiveness. I just liked the blue color....
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Don, I think I'm just gonna bump mine up to the Luminics 6000Ks and call it a day. :drink:
Brian, from what little I've looked so far that's likely the best option. Nothing else I've found advertised seems to come close. The "True Blue" branded lights at the parts stores or Wal Mart are only going to below 6000k; and they're not any cheaper than the Luminics parts. Pretty sure those will be my one other shot also. They'll be "good enough."
The other option is actual HID versions of those lights. They'd be about a dead on match. Better light too. But that's a lot of freaking money for spotlights. Plus, no place else to mount the second pair of ignitors....
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ok, i scored a dual bulb setup. so i'm still considering this.
Don you said you originally did 2 H-9's before going HID but once HID you have 1 H-9 and 1 H-11. why not use 2 H-9 HIDs?
I thought about doing just that Neal. But I was hoping that the HID lights would in fact be good enough that I would want more distinction/differentiation between high and low beam than just the optics would provide. Also the output difference between the two HID bulbs was actually quite minimal. So there wasn't a lot of difference to be gained or lost anyway.
Given the effect of the two lamps in my reflector housing I am pleased with the effect of the two bulbs that are in there. The high beam bulb reaches plenty far enough out there now and does so without getting a flash back from oncoming drivers. If a brighter bulb were in that location I might not be able to get by with that. I was hoping to be able to; and so far anyway it seems to be working out that way.
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i usually kill the HI if i see oncoming, i was thinking it might save a few bucks by ordering 2 of the same
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i usually kill the HI if i see oncoming, i was thinking it might save a few bucks by ordering 2 of the same
There seems to be little enough practical difference between the two I'd honestly not be too worried. It will be a night and day improvement no matter what.
I'd wanted to keep the high beam on option open just in case they weren't as good as I was hoping they'd be. Had needed to use high beam almost exclusively before to get any even moderately funcitional light so was working with that as a baseline.
With the new ones, however, things work well enough that the switch from high to low is effective either way. So will actually use both ranges now. So far so good.
Speaking to the 881 type bulbs again; am beginning to wonder if there may not be a good option. It looks as if the "bluest" option will be Luminics 6000k. But noticed today the product disclaimer. They are just standard 27 watt 881s to begin with. And they're apparently not using a unique element of any kind to get the color temp or a natural glass. Disclaimer read to the effect of: Bulbs are double coated, will impede lighting effectiveness, use them to look cool but don't expect great light.
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By the way Neal; which dual bulb housing did you get?
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67864-04
(http://a1276.g.akamai.net/7/1276/734/2ff6c396e05f10/resource.harley-davidson.com/media/images/productphotos/PNA/67864_04_M_1db5f.jpg)
Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp Kit
The Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp features advanced reflector optics and separate bulbs for high and low beam functions. The euro-inspired projector beam styling combines a state-of-the-art look with a CAD designed faceted reflector bowl that is optimized for crisp patterns and light cut-off. The single upper bulb functions in low beam, and both upper and lower bulb operate in high beam. The low beam setting produces a wide curb-to-curb light pattern, and the high beam adds focused light down the center of the lane without compromising width. Kit includes housing, 55-watt low beam halogen lamp, 35-watt high beam halogen lamp and all necessary mounting hardware. Does not meet ECE regulations.
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i ordered a pair of H9 HIDs last night
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Speaking to the 881 type bulbs again; am beginning to wonder if there may not be a good option. It looks as if the "bluest" option will be Luminics 6000k. But noticed today the product disclaimer. They are just standard 27 watt 881s to begin with. And they're apparently not using a unique element of any kind to get the color temp or a natural glass. Disclaimer read to the effect of: Bulbs are double coated, will impede lighting effectiveness, use them to look cool but don't expect great light.
just a thought but having "white" sposts that dont match the blue.... would the contrast help make you more noticeable to on-coming?
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i ordered a pair of H9 HIDs last night
I was all over the net last night and couldn't see what might work any better than some of the stuff we all have tried for the spots. Sure would like to hit on something.
Good luck on your project Neal.
just a thought but having "white" sposts that dont match the blue.... would the contrast help make you more noticeable to on-coming?
I think it can, the change to more power was a great add on mine for the brightness and visibility in daylight to the oncoming vehicles IMO.
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67864-04
(http://a1276.g.akamai.net/7/1276/734/2ff6c396e05f10/resource.harley-davidson.com/media/images/productphotos/PNA/67864_04_M_1db5f.jpg)
That's what I guessed. It should work well. Not sure if you'll shoe-horn both ignitors inside the nacelle or have to put one in the hole in front of the battery (or stuck anyplace else out of the way). Won't be a bad job in any case though. And you'll love the light.
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just a thought but having "white" sposts that dont match the blue.... would the contrast help make you more noticeable to on-coming?
There is certainly "contrast" between them; that's for sure. The original looks like awfully yellow and harsh in comparison. But the contrast should certainly be noticable.
Quite frankly from a bit of distance back it wouldn't surprise me if an oncoming vehicle thought it was seeing two vehicles approaching. At least until the lights merged enough that it had to be one source.
A pair of nice bright spots in conjunction with these lights do work really well. No complaints at all about their function. The look I can certainly live with as trade-off for the effect. Just would be nice to stumble in to an easy, effective and inexpensive option to solve everything though :) .
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I was all over the net last night and couldn't see what might work any better than some of the stuff we all have tried for the spots. Sure would like to hit on something.
Good luck on your project Neal.
I think it can, the change to more power was a great add on mine for the brightness and visibility in daylight to the oncoming vehicles IMO.
Rog, short of spending a lot more money and using actual HID lights in the spots as well I've not found anything either. And after considering those 6000k Luminics bulbs a bit more I'm not actually considering them.
They may end up looking a little better. But that's all they'll do. Not only are they the stock 27w output to begin with the masks on the bulbs to make them shine blue will effectively ruin even that minimal amount of light. After it filters out all the good white and other shades of light that our eyes like to leave just that blue shade it'll only be leaving about the worst possible light for the human eye to take advantage of. Not a great idea.
That's actually one of the cool things about the HID lights. There is a TON of good bright white light going down the road. The various colors are just a byproduct. So we still see well and the color is just an "accessory" byproduct. But with the standard type bulbs filtered to leave only blue we'd really have very very bad light.
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That's what I guessed. It should work well. Not sure if you'll shoe-horn both ignitors inside the nacelle or have to put one in the hole in front of the battery (or stuck anyplace else out of the way). Won't be a bad job in any case though. And you'll love the light.
i'm hoping i can shoe horn both of them in. i'll find out when i get the parts in and get started
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rumor has it theres is no significant difference between the H9 and H11 HID lights.
at least thats what the vendor claims
(2:34:24 PM) naitram113: i have a question re: an order i just recieved
(2:34:33 PM) Xtra Lights: ok
(2:34:46 PM) naitram113: i ordered DBXH9-8K
(2:34:52 PM) Xtra Lights: ok
(2:35:04 PM) naitram113: outter box has H9 checked, but inner box is marked H11
(2:35:23 PM) naitram113: lights also labeled 8K H11
(2:35:45 PM) Xtra Lights: that's OK, that must be a mis-marked
(2:35:56 PM) Xtra Lights: don't worry about it, they will fit perfectly
(2:36:06 PM) Xtra Lights: let us know if they don't
(2:36:16 PM) naitram113: are the bulbs any different ( H9 v. H11 )?
(2:36:24 PM) Xtra Lights: Not much
(2:37:05 PM) Xtra Lights: they are almost identical
(2:37:25 PM) naitram113: ok, i'll assume that they will fit then
(2:37:39 PM) Xtra Lights: exactly
(2:37:42 PM) naitram113: thankyou
(2:37:46 PM) Xtra Lights: np
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Those must be the folks that coined the phrase “close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades”.
djkak
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back a few pages in this threadDon indicated that he had interchanged the H9 and H11 halogens and noone has been able to determine if there really is a difference between H9 and H11 HID
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back a few pages in this threadDon indicated that he had interchanged the H9 and H11 halogens and noone has been able to determine if there really is a difference between H9 and H11 HID
Their bulbs don't even have the lock tab on them that distinguishes the fitment capability of normal H9 an H11 bulbs. If there's any difference it is minimal. The different reflector areas make a huge impact on how they illuminate down the road of course. But the difference ends up being in the optics, not the bulbs.
Still love the bulbs.....
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got the dual Halogen unit in today.
the low is an H11 and the high is an H8
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got the dual Halogen unit in today.
the low is an H11 and the high is an H8
If you look at the locking tabs on both bulbs side by side you'll see theres little difference. A little snip on the H11 and it will fit in the high beam slot. Now you'll have a 55watt high beam. Still doesn't do much. >:(
I can't wait till you guys find a replacement for the spots. I'm using Silverstar 55's which are better then the stockers but still too yellow.
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looks plenty bright from that angle
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doing a SERK write up
Dual HID SERK (http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=11962.0)
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I've done some night riding with the HID and there is no comparison. Will never have a stock headlight again. That being said, a couple of comments/questions.
Is anyone other than me running the HID ho/low bulb with the stock SEEG headlight? One thing that I notice is that both the headlight and the bulb have a deflector. Installed "as is" it looks like only the top half of the headlight is lit even though I get a very good light pattern, etc. I was thinking about removing the metal deflector from the bulb, leaving the one in place in the headlight, to see what it looks like.
Second question. Is everyone running the 8000K bulb? Again, while the light pattern and visibilty is great the light definitely throws a blue tint. I'm thinking about changing it for the 6000K bulb, or even the 4300K bulb. This will give me a whiter light and make matching the spots a little easier. Thoughts?
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I've done some night riding with the HID and there is no comparison. Will never have a stock headlight again. That being said, a couple of comments/questions.
Is anyone other than me running the HID ho/low bulb with the stock SEEG headlight? One thing that I notice is that both the headlight and the bulb have a deflector. Installed "as is" it looks like only the top half of the headlight is lit even though I get a very good light pattern, etc. I was thinking about removing the metal deflector from the bulb, leaving the one in place in the headlight, to see what it looks like.
Second question. Is everyone running the 8000K bulb? Again, while the light pattern and visibilty is great the light definitely throws a blue tint. I'm thinking about changing it for the 6000K bulb, or even the 4300K bulb. This will give me a whiter light and make matching the spots a little easier. Thoughts?
Ernie, you saw the pics of mine to start this mess. 8000k same as yours. I'd seen a couple of cages that had upgrade kits that were ostensibly 6000k and 8000k respectively. So I know I liked the look of the 8000k better.
Granted, the 6000k will throw about 5% more light down the road. But there's already such a tremendous and effective improvement I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be worried about that 5%.
Unfortunately either of them is going to make the spots look ugly harsh and yellow in comparison. Those luminics 6000k bulbs are an option. But their coating filtering out everything but the blue is going to make that low wattage bulb close to useless as an end product.
So far I've come to accept that with the good HIDs we're going to be pretty well hosed for anything that makes the spots look good in comparison. Finally having really good headlights at night, however, is enough to make me not worry about it too much. Maybe as part of next years spring spruce ups it'll get HID spotlights too. Those little digital ignitors making doing it as least possible in terms of space and power consumption. But man I like the light we've gained.
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Don, I totally agree. Like I said, I'll never go back to halogen on the bike again...
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Don, I totally agree. Like I said, I'll never go back to halogen on the bike again...
You think you're going to pull that extra deflector out of there? Were I in the same boat I'm pretty sure I would. It and the bulb's own hardware seem obviously redundant.
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High beam HID. That's new :2vrolijk_21: .
don i cant tell form this picture, are both bulbs on in this pic?
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don i cant tell form this picture, are both bulbs on in this pic?
Neal, if you're asking if I set it up so that high and low beams are on at the same time the answer is no. Would've been easy enough to do. But I was guessing it wouldn't be necessary. Also didn't want the power draw unless it later proved to be necessary. It's worked out such a nice wide spotlight set in conjuction with the HID light is damned effective. I did go ahead and change it to allow spots on with either high or low beam. High beam long reaching HID combined with the wide arc of the spots is good light. The low beam HID shoots so wide and well that it actually competes with the spots for side coverage.
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ok, i was curious. i originally wired simillar to your setup ( based on your write up ) but then decided to use the dual halogen pig-tail since it had the relay that fired the low when the hi was on. didnt want to lose the wide field of low beam when hittting the hi beam.
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Great thread. I think I am sold on the HID kit idea.
For spots I use Silverstar 893St's. They are 38watts and throw a nice bright 4000k 990 lumens. Wires are not running warm so the circuit seems to have no problem with them
http://www.sylvania.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=72&EXTRA_ARG=FILTERNAME%3D%2540URL%00%26FILTERVALUE%3Dwww%252Esylvania%252Ecom&host_id=42&page_id=3540224&query=893+st&hiword=893+st+
Marshall
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You think you're going to pull that extra deflector out of there? Were I in the same boat I'm pretty sure I would. It and the bulb's own hardware seem obviously redundant.
Did some experimenting and removing the deflector from the bulb itself is the way to go, leaving the HD deflector in the headlight.
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Did some experimenting and removing the deflector from the bulb itself is the way to go, leaving the HD deflector in the headlight.
Good to read Ernie. Both of them seemed redundant in a way that had to hurt the light's display. How was the projected beam effected by leaving just one reflector like normal?
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I definitely spread the light a lot more. While I've only had it out at dusk and not full blown darkness, The light is a bit less focused and more spread out. Plenty of light
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For the people that have done the HID's from Xtralights-
Would you get the blue "most popular" or the white automotive if you did it again?
Going from an H4 bulb like Ernie, and getting HID high and low beams in the same bulb, will you have 1 or 2 ignitors?
Thanks, Bob
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For the people that have done the HID's from Xtralights-
Would you get the blue "most popular" or the white automotive if you did it again?
Going from an H4 bulb like Ernie, and getting HID high and low beams in the same bulb, will you have 1 or 2 ignitors?
Thanks, Bob
Bob, with the H4 bulb you'll have one ignitor and a bulb that is basically two bulbs in one. Also a little harness to go with the bulb to make it all work. They've got a diagram on line to see what you'll be doing. Simple affair.
The color choice is really just that. A choice. I went with what I did because I just liked the looks of it best. The light down the road is going to be great in any case.
The downside to getting the headlight in the higher K color rating is that there's not a spotlight option to match it; at all. So no matter how good you think the headlights look (separate from how well they perform) the spotlights look crappy hanging next to them.
To avoid that, or at least minimize it, go with lower K color bulbs. It's either that or live with the dissimilarity. (or get really anal about it and order a set of HID spotlights to match like those that will probably be here Monday or Tuesday......)
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For the people that have done the HID's from Xtralights-
Would you get the blue "most popular" or the white automotive if you did it again?
Going from an H4 bulb like Ernie, and getting HID high and low beams in the same bulb, will you have 1 or 2 ignitors?
Thanks, Bob
For me, I'd go with the 4300 or 6000k, I like the look of the 8000k, but the light is a bit too blue for me.
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For me, I'd go with the 4300 or 6000k, I like the look of the 8000k, but the light is a bit too blue for me.
Even though I chose the 8000k specifically because I liked the look best, it did take a little getting used to. The color (separate from the brightness) is a cool enough color that your first reaction is that you must not be seeing everything. You quickly realize that you are and acclimate to the difference. You do in fact see fine. But it is "different."
If I were doing it again I'd choose the lower color rating too. Just because of the difference in the appearance of the spotlights. It's great light no matter what. But the spotlight thing is annoying. And expensive. Again. Didn't realize it'd be like that to begin with though.... :oops:
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To avoid that, or at least minimize it, go with lower K color bulbs. It's either that or live with the dissimilarity. (or get really anal about it and order a set of HID spotlights to match like those that will probably be here Monday or Tuesday......)
;D ;D ;D
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67864-04
(http://a1276.g.akamai.net/7/1276/734/2ff6c396e05f10/resource.harley-davidson.com/media/images/productphotos/PNA/67864_04_M_1db5f.jpg)
Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp Kit
The Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp features advanced reflector optics and separate bulbs for high and low beam functions.
........................................................
Well that was waaaaay more than I wanted to spend on my headlight but it is all ordered now!
New HD twin bulb halogen set up & then the xtralights HID H9 conversion. From all your comments I know it will be worth it! :nervous: I never ride much in the dark I suppose mainly because I couldn't see as well as I wanted to. I have tried many different halogen bulbs but all as you know they make very little difference over stock lighting.
Thanks especially to twolane for starting off this unexpected hole in my wallet! :soapbox: (best part of 800 ozz $)
Cheers
Aussie
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Last questions fellows-
With the HID bulbs, are they as bright in the daylight as your old bulbs (so other people can see you)?
What do you do if you are on a trip and the bulb(s) fail or the ignitor fails? Do you carry a spare HID bulb or do you carry an old style bulb to get you home?
I ordered a Bi-Xenon H4 kit (4300 white) from Hd-Dude tonight for my 05 and thought of these questions.
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Last questions fellows-
With the HID bulbs, are they as bright in the daylight as your old bulbs (so other people can see you)?
What do you do if you are on a trip and the bulb(s) fail or the ignitor fails? Do you carry a spare HID bulb or do you carry an old style bulb to get you home?
I ordered a Bi-Xenon H4 kit (4300 white) from Hd-Dude tonight for my 05 and thought of these questions.
Bob, from all the reliability stats (industry, mftr, consumer, etc) the reliability on the various HID components and bulbs is supposed to be much much greater than standard bulbs. Given that I'm not carrying a spare bulb for the headlight now. There is some level of insurance provided by having the dual bulb housing here. If one fails you've still got another bright light. But given their suggested MTBF and their relative costs, combined with having separate bulbs in the nose for redundancy, a spare set of parts seems overkill to me.
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One of the reasons I went HID is its life rating. They're rated in the thousands of hours while a halogens life span is rated in the hundreds. That and try to find an H9 bulb while on the road.
Ask me how I know. :(
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Thanks 2Lane and 05Ultra on the life of the HID's-
Do you think you are visible to others with these bulbs?
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Last questions fellows-
With the HID bulbs, are they as bright in the daylight as your old bulbs (so other people can see you)?
What do you do if you are on a trip and the bulb(s) fail or the ignitor fails? Do you carry a spare HID bulb or do you carry an old style bulb to get you home?
I ordered a Bi-Xenon H4 kit (4300 white) from Hd-Dude tonight for my 05 and thought of these questions.
My girlfriend actually commented that people seem to see us during the day now and I'm no longer getting cut off. MAJOR reason to go HID!
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One of the reasons I went HID is its life rating. They're rated in the thousands of hours while a halogens life span is rated in the hundreds. That and try to find an H9 bulb while on the road.
Ask me how I know. :(
OK, I'll bite...
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Do you think you are visible to others with these bulbs?
Ask TC. He rode ahead of me in daylight for quite awhile. Chief was awhile also. But I think that was only after dark. On the ride from Woodstock back to Birmingham TC definitely had the chance to see how noticable they'd be in daylight conditions though.
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OK, I'll bite...
Was doing a ride 2 years ago and hit a bump....Lights out!!!
NO ONE stocks the H9. Not even the dealers. TG for the passing lights...
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this is a 3 way comparison
stock H4 low beam
HD dual halogen low beam
HID low beam
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Ask TC. He rode ahead of me in daylight for quite awhile. Chief was awhile also. But I think that was only after dark. On the ride from Woodstock back to Birmingham TC definitely had the chance to see how noticable they'd be in daylight conditions though.
Definitely brighter in the daylight, and remarkable at night. This is on my list after I recover from the lastest outlay of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Definitely brighter in the daylight, and remarkable at night. This is on my list after I recover from the lastest outlay of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
No time like the present, I can't believe you are riding around blind Terry.
First mod I did before taking delivery of the SEUC.
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Definitely brighter in the daylight, and remarkable at night. This is on my list after I recover from the lastest outlay of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thanks for all the replies and pictures guys. I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered from Jim yesterday.
TC-you spent some serious $$$ on the wheels, brakes, rotors, pulley etc.. My wife would ban me from the site. ::)
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Thanks for all the replies and pictures guys. I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered from Jim yesterday.
TC-you spent some serious $$$ on the wheels, brakes, rotors, pulley etc.. My wife would ban me from the site. ::)
You let her know where you go? :huepfenlol2: If Cindy saw this week's additions I'd be there too Boatman.
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You let her know where you go? :huepfenlol2: If Cindy saw this week's additions I'd be there too Boatman.
No chit!!!! Didn't take me but one time for shop to call my house and leave a message on voice mail that my parts were in. When I picked up those parts I immediately had them change the contact phone number to my cell phone. Now when she notices something new I give her the same line she gives me when I notice new clothes/things she has.... "Oh that, I've had that forever. You don't pay attention." ;) ;D
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
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d00d, I may have told this story here before, but Cindy once had seen a receipt from the gun shop. While watching the tube that night she casually said, "those rifles aren't as expensive as I thought they'd be."
What are you talking about? "I saw the receipt from Kesselring's, I thought they'd be more." I gave her a puzzled look knowing I never left a gun receipt where she'd see it.
Then it hit me.........Oh that wasn't a receipt for the two rifles honey, that was for my new binoculars! :oops: her bad.
She doesn't look at my receipts anymore, Swarovski EL 8x42's $1450.00, the look on her face, PRICELESS ::)
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Last night I had to sneak into our sunroom like a teenage kid to call Hd-Dude to order the light kit. Fortunately she was watching "Dancing with the Stars" but she still gave me a couple of looks. ;D
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Had a bit of garage misfortune this afternoon. No more HID spotlamps to install.
Had started to do this one evening last week. Then real life had the nerve to intrude on my play time and I didn't get it done. Friday night just bailed on the project for the moment and put the fairing back on for the weekend. Taking it off was as far as I'd gotten.
Was out riding this afternoon and while out someone put a boot against the side door of the garage here at the house. Busted the door frame with dead bolt too. Weird thief though. Grabbed almost no tools, grabbed an old air cleaner cover, drabbed the HID spotlights package and the roll of 3M paint protective film I'd never gotten around to putting on yet. A few other small bits and pieces. But aside from the lights and the 3M film nothing taken was worth more than 20 bucks.
Normally the lawmower is nosed up against that door. For some reason it wasn't today. Whomever it was didn't go on in the house. Nothing touched there and animals still inside. I hope he'd be so kind as to come back while I'm here sometime. But as it is little of consequence was actually taken. So I'm not fussing too much. Just going to bail out on the HID spotlights though. Not buying yet another package to go at it again. The ones I've got work just fine :2vrolijk_21: .
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Had a bit of garage misfortune this afternoon. No more HID spotlamps to install.
Had started to do this one evening last week. Then real life had the nerve to intrude on my play time and I didn't get it done. Friday night just bailed on the project for the moment and put the fairing back on for the weekend. Taking it off was as far as I'd gotten.
Was out riding this afternoon and while out someone put a boot against the side door of the garage here at the house. Busted the door frame with dead bolt too. Weird thief though. Grabbed almost no tools, grabbed an old air cleaner cover, drabbed the HID spotlights package and the roll of 3M paint protective film I'd never gotten around to putting on yet. A few other small bits and pieces. But aside from the lights and the 3M film nothing taken was worth more than 20 bucks.
Normally the lawmower is nosed up against that door. For some reason it wasn't today. Whomever it was didn't go on in the house. Nothing touched there and animals still inside. I hope he'd be so kind as to come back while I'm here sometime. But as it is little of consequence was actually taken. So I'm not fussing too much. Just going to bail out on the HID spotlights though. Not buying yet another package to go at it again. The ones I've got work just fine :2vrolijk_21: .
That really sucks Don! Sorry to hear about the low life no good piece of sh*t that took your stuff. Its good it was not worse.
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That really sucks Don! Sorry to hear about the low life no good piece of sh*t that took your stuff. Its good it was not worse.
Absolutely could have Jim. So I'm not losing a bit of sleep over it. Whomever the asshole was could have had free rein of the house and garage for quite some time. Lots of tools. The stuff taken was all on or near a cart that happened to be near the door that got kicked. So the guy probably gave it the boot, had a "oh chit, what did I just do" moment, and grabbed what was in reach. The dog and cat didn't get out, everything else is fine, already been to Lowes to get another door that I'll finish up installing in the morning, so it's all good. Or at least good enough.
(though I still wish he'd come back while I'm here.....)
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Absolutely could have Jim. So I'm not losing a bit of sleep over it. Whomever the asshole was could have had free rein of the house and garage for quite some time. Lots of tools. The stuff taken was all on or near a cart that happened to be near the door that got kicked. So the guy probably gave it the boot, had a "oh chit, what did I just do" moment, and grabbed what was in reach. The dog and cat didn't get out, everything else is fine, already been to Lowes to get another door that I'll finish up installing in the morning, so it's all good. Or at least good enough.
(though I still wish he'd come back while I'm here.....)
Twolane,
Sorry to hear about you break-in. Why do these assholes do it? But as you said it could have been a lot worse. Since your not too pissed about it I'll try & add some humour to this!
Maybe you need a real Dog!
Cheers
Aussie
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Twolane,
Sorry to hear about you break-in. Why do these assholes do it? But as you said it could have been a lot worse. Since your not too pissed about it I'll try & add some humour to this!
Maybe you need a real Dog!
Cheers
Aussie
Holy crap from a large dog! Photoshop is a wonderful tool. But that's just freaky.
Also, and no disrespect to her intended, but I've never taken Dizzy for the "guard dog" type :nervous: .
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Sorry to hear that Don. It doesn't matter where you live if no one's there. Pieces of chit! I'd love to hear this story if you were there instead! >:( Hoist! 8)
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Holy crap from a large dog! Photoshop is a wonderful tool. But that's just freaky.
Also, and no disrespect to her intended, but I've never taken Dizzy for the "guard dog" type :nervous: .
I understand where you are comming from :-X
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Sorrry to hear about your breakin. It was a strange theft with so much to chose from. You looked at the bright side and it could have been much worse. Breakin and stealing is just not right. >:(
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(though I still wish he'd come back while I'm here.....)
I bet you do! :rifle:
On another note, how many other dressers might be riding around with HID passing lights installed? Not many I'd bet. Might be worth asking around or giving the heads up to the local dealers to be on the look out...
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FYI, I swapped out the 8000k bulb with a 4300k bulb and I like it a lot better. ;D
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No time like the present, I can't believe you are riding around blind Terry.
First mod I did before taking delivery of the SEUC.
I have at least upgraded the bulbs in both high/low/spots and have them wired to run all the time...better, but no cigar yet.
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Holy crap from a large dog! Photoshop is a wonderful tool. But that's just freaky.
Also, and no disrespect to her intended, but I've never taken Dizzy for the "guard dog" type :nervous: .
Yea, I don't think those eyes would scare many folks off, Don. Like Shug...
Really glad to hear the animals were there and unharmed.
Sorry to hear the SOB broke into your things, man. I had the same thing happen several years ago in my basement...grabbed a handfull of rods/reels, toolbox, lawn equipment...probably about 2 minutes worth = 6K. Be glad, as I was, that the bastard didn't go into the house poking around for cameras/guns.
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FYI, I swapped out the 8000k bulb with a 4300k bulb and I like it a lot better. ;D
Thanks for your help Ernie, the 4300 white is what I have on order from Hd-Dude.
Bob
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Pulled the trigger for a pair of 4300K H9's from Xtra Lites $459. Should be here soon.
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I am so sorry to hear about your break-in. Reminds me that I should Always set the security alarm, even if I am going to be gone a couple of minutes around the block. You just never know, and it would have been wonderful for the young lad/lads to have run out of your garage right into the arms of the local constabularies. Ruffians. Too young to know what they were doing, they were just doing. Unfortunately sounds like it is one of your neighbor kids. Not enough taken for it to have been planned, and a look out vehicle standing by ready. Wonder why they would take such few things. Do you think it was because they were in boxes?
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I am so sorry to hear about your break-in. Reminds me that I should Always set the security alarm, even if I am going to be gone a couple of minutes around the block. You just never know, and it would have been wonderful for the young lad/lads to have run out of your garage right into the arms of the local constabularies. Ruffians. Too young to know what they were doing, they were just doing. Unfortunately sounds like it is one of your neighbor kids. Not enough taken for it to have been planned, and a look out vehicle standing by ready. Wonder why they would take such few things. Do you think it was because they were in boxes?
Actually doubt it was neighbor kids. The local group is all either families with younger children or old farts. There's not any teenagers in the local couple of blocks.
Don't have a clue who it was or why they only grabbed what the did. The alarm wasn't set so it didn't scare them off. But something kept him/it/they from coming any further in then they did. They probably frightened themselves when they actually did the did. That's good for me. But it's bad for the next person when the dumass has his nerve up to try it again. Next time he'll have thought it through a bit more and won't freak out and run. And since he got away with it there will very likely be a next time.
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Type: Package
Status: Delivered
Delivered on: 05/04/2007
10:42 A.M.
Delivered to: MARIETTA, GA, US
Service Type: GROUND
Things are going to be looking brighter pretty soon in Marietta.
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Cann't wait, mine are in the mail so the speak.
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Type: Package
Status: Delivered
Delivered on: 05/04/2007
10:42 A.M.
Delivered to: MARIETTA, GA, US
Service Type: GROUND
Things are going to be looking brighter pretty soon in Marietta.
Delivered more than 12 hours ago. Are they on yet?
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Delivered more than 12 hours ago. Are they on yet?
Yes and no. I've got a conflict with the harness / clutch cable combo hitting the back of the low beam bulb. I don't know how much room you've got, but I'm definitely hitting.
The problem stems from the fact that the OEM bulbs have right-angle connectors while the HID bulbs come out straight. Total length is over 1 inch extension from behind the bulb. The culprit is a main branch of the harness, I believe it to be the Ultra Overlay Harness that loops in underneath the radio. It hits with the wheel striaght, and with a right turn, gets worse as the harness extends further forward.
I'm playing a game now of trying to relocate / reroute the offenders to eliminate any conflict. I've already lost one locking tab due to excessive side force on the socket.
So far, not a problem free install.
The lights kick butt, but I would like to be able to bolt the fairing on.
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Chief;
You may want to try to install the ballast and relay and leave the bulb leads hanging below the radio area.Then pull the headlamp housing out of the fairing (4 T-25 screws). Then put the fairing back on and you will be able to see and manipulate the offending harnesses / cables. I had to do this on an install yesterday.
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Chief;
You may want to try to install the ballast and relay and leave the bulb leads hanging below the radio area.Then pull the headlamp housing out of the fairing (4 T-25 screws). Then put the fairing back on and you will be able to see and manipulate the offending harnesses / cables. I had to do this on an install yesterday.
Well, I got it. The offender is the main audio harness bundle, along with the clutch cable. A few cable ties looping up to the bottom of the radio allowed me to raise the bundle just enough to get the necessary clearance.
My only concern is IF this bike ever has to go to the shop, the tech opeining the fairing in SOP, may result in a broken bulb. Maybe the process will require removing the headlight assembly as you suggest before taking it to the shop for service.
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Yes and no. I've got a conflict with the harness / clutch cable combo hitting the back of the low beam bulb. I don't know how much room you've got, but I'm definitely hitting.
The problem stems from the fact that the OEM bulbs have right-angle connectors while the HID bulbs come out straight. Total length is over 1 inch extension from behind the bulb. The culprit is a main branch of the harness, I believe it to be the Ultra Overlay Harness that loops in underneath the radio. It hits with the wheel striaght, and with a right turn, gets worse as the harness extends further forward.
I'm playing a game now of trying to relocate / reroute the offenders to eliminate any conflict. I've already lost one locking tab due to excessive side force on the socket.
So far, not a problem free install.
The lights kick butt, but I would like to be able to bolt the fairing on.
My overlay harness for the Harmon Kardon stuff was routed up over the top of the radio. When installing all the Harmon Kardon and HawgWired stuff it just looked like the most obvious place to it (since I didn't have anything to directly compare against that weekend). No hard rubs on anything on the red bike.
Keep plugging. A routing will present itself. You need a beer :2vrolijk_21: .
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Well, I got it.
Damn, got to read ahead in a thread before answering sometimes.
But it's done!
Yeah!!
HID rocks :bananarock: !
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Damn, got to read ahead in a thread before answering sometimes.
But it's done!
Yeah!!
HID rocks :bananarock: !
Jim's suggestion of pulling the headlamp was a great one. It really makes it easy to see exactly what the environment is.
Initial observations: I got the 4300k HID which is real white. Doesn't matter, when compared to the yellow 881's in the spots, its still a terrible match. Need to do something about the spots.
Part of the benefit of installing the new lights is aiming the headlamp. Mine was so WAY low, it was hitting the ground about 30 feet in front of the bike. No wonder 2Lane's outshone mine so bad. It was like walking with a flashlight it was aimed so low. I'll be benefitting from better lights AND proper aiming. I suggest everyone check the aim of your lights. The factory sets them WAAAAYYYYY low.
Not dark enough yet for real testing, but I'm heading back out in a few for some on-road testing and adjusting.
More to come.
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I got a chance to ride a bit last night. Overall, very pleased with the upgrade.
I did notice that motorist's behavior in my presence has changed a bit. It appeared that they were more aware of me. I noticed that people moved over more readily that I'm used to. The response was similar to the response I get on the '99 with my amber spots. I can only assume they think I am some official vehicle; either that, or they can't see chit with me behind them and want to get rid of me. Either way, I'll take it.
I wish the hi-beam reflector optics were better because I think we're losing possible range with the hi-beam. When the hi-beam on, you don't get that immediate range doubling, but mainly, just more light. A tighter focus would be very beneficial.
With that said, the difference from my poorly aimed stock set-up is trememdous. Some of that is from proper aiming, and some from the new units. Since both were done at the same time, I can't separate out the difference.
Now, I have to admit that I goofed when doing the install. I never saw the extra cable ends they supplied until I was cleaning up. I did read the instruction sheet all the way through, but the information given was pretty rudimentary. The never mentioned the extra connectors.
The extra connectors are needed to connect the OEM wires to the ballasts. The connectors that come on the ballasts do not mate to the OEM connectors on our bikes. If I had used the supplied extra connectors, I would not have cut the GDO harness like I did. Instead, I cut off the ends of both the GDO harness and the ballasts and installed Deutsch connectors. The Deutsch connectors work perfect, but it turns out this wasn't necessary.
This is a pretty expensive upgrade, but after riding with the new lights, I'm with Ernie in saying I can't ever go back to halogen. It IS that addictive.
I'd be glad to help anyone who wants to do this but feels its too much to handle. If you can get here, I can show you the light.
Chief
"I can see clearly now..."
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Chuck, your prior adjustment might not have been off that far. The HID lights shoot differently. I had adjusted my prior headlights to their most effective position. Then after installing the HID's had to adjust them again much higher. So you were likely pretty close to begin with for the old lights. The improvement you're seeing is just HID.
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Thanks for all the tips guys mine should be here this week, can't what to finally see the light.
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I received my bi-xenon H4 setup on Friday from Hd-Dude and with tips from Jim, I installed it today (Thanks Jim). I have not had a chance to ride yet with the new light. I went directly to the battery with the hook up. I mounted the ballast to the supplied bracket, then attached it to the RH speaker fairing brace (in the threaded hole), and then put foam between the ballast and the inner fairing.
My question is this-when I turn the ignition on, there is a humming/buzzing noise coming from underneath the fairing that I did not have before. Is this noise normal????
Before putting the fairing back on, all I did was made sure hi/low beams worked, then buttoned her back up. Now the fairing is back on, I hear the noise, so I don't know which piece is making the humming noise.
Thanks to anyone that can shed some light on the noise.
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I received my bi-xenon H4 setup on Friday from Hd-Dude and with tips from Jim, I installed it today (Thanks Jim). I have not had a chance to ride yet with the new light. I went directly to the battery with the hook up. I mounted the ballast to the supplied bracket, then attached it to the RH speaker fairing brace (in the threaded hole), and then put foam between the ballast and the inner fairing.
My question is this-when I turn the ignition on, there is a humming/buzzing noise coming from underneath the fairing that I did not have before. Is this noise normal????
Before putting the fairing back on, all I did was made sure hi/low beams worked, then buttoned her back up. Now the fairing is back on, I hear the noise, so I don't know which piece is making the humming noise.
Thanks to anyone that can shed some light on the noise.
Have not heard any buzzing before on these, I have installed a few now and the only noise that I have is a bit during the initial start-up. When you made up the molex connector are you sure the polarity is correct? Not sure if it would even work if it wasn't but just a thought. Let me know.
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Bob, on both my own and the other bike I've done these lights to there is a noise at their start up. It's not a buzz or a humming or a crackle and pop; but it is almost a little bit of all those. Really can't describe it accurately. But whatever it is is quick, sudden when the ballasts are energized, then just as quickly goes back away.
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I do hear a 'singing' when I turn the bike on, especially if the fairing is not closed up. It's kind of in the same octave of the fuel pump, not real hi-freq, but high enough.
I will make one note on installing them, and that is to not do as I did and stick the ballasts on top of the CB and XM modules. I am getting definite interference through the radio, especially on weak stations. I'll have to find more appropriate locations for the igniters.
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When you made up the molex connector are you sure the polarity is correct? Not sure if it would even work if it wasn't but just a thought. Let me know.
Jim-
I crimped the wire connectors on the wires, and then stuck them in the connector so the red's would match up and the black's would match up to the other connector.
When I switch from hi to low beams, I hear what I guess is the relay clicking. I rode to work this morning, they (lights) stayed on, and the volt gauge read 14V like it should.
There is just a constant light hum coming from the radio area of the fairing with the ignition on. Can't hear it with motor running.
The other module (small box) I assume is the excitor. It is mounted close to where the radio antenna plugs in. The AM radio works but I noticed it cuts out under overpasses so I need to see if the antenna lead is slightly ajar from radio or the excitor needs to be moved from the radio antenna plug area. :nixweiss:
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I will make one note on installing them, and that is to not do as I did and stick the ballasts on top of the CB and XM modules. I am getting definite interference through the radio, especially on weak stations. I'll have to find more appropriate locations for the igniters.
Chief-I may have to move the excitor also then (at least the small box that doesn't look like a relay and is not the ballist).
Looking at their website again, the excitor is made into the ballast. Then there is 2 relays (relay and then a high/low relay).
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Bob;
The clicking you hear when going from hi to low is normal for the Bi- Xenon H4 bulb, the bulb actually moves in and out of its socket a bit via an electro-magnet.
Try moving the electrics away from you radio as far as possible, that should eliminate any interference there.
On another note I did a dual H4 setup on a Road Glide yesterday and it worked great LOTS of light from the dual bulbs!
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Bob;
The clicking you hear when going from hi to low is normal for the Bi- Xenon H4 bulb, the bulb actually moves in and out of its socket a bit via an electro-magnet.
Try moving the electrics away from you radio as far as possible, that should eliminate any interference there.
On another note I did a dual H4 setup on a Road Glide yesterday and it worked great LOTS of light from the dual bulbs!
Two of those in the nose of RG should knock out tremendous amounts of light. Did it work as well as would be expected? Sounds like a very good setup for lights on those.
If the newer Road Glides still have the heat problem inside their headlight housings that some of the older ones used to you'd have a nice side benefit there too. Less damaged housings because of the lesser amount of heat produced.
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Don, I only had a short jaunt on the bike but the initial impression was yes that they will work very well. The owner will be giving me some real feedback after he gets some more time in the saddle.
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Was there ever a conclusion, or at least a summary of possibilities, to upgrade the spots? I'm sure they won't match the HID units, but what upgrade would be recommended to improve the 881's?
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Was there ever a conclusion, or at least a summary of possibilities, to upgrade the spots? I'm sure they won't match the HID units, but what upgrade would be recommended to improve the 881's?
Chuck, there are 881 HID kits. I was going to do just that before someone liberated the light kit from my garage. You'd have to open up the brackets and light standard to allow passing two wires rather than one directly from the inside of the fairing to the bulb. But it'd be do-able. Then just find a place to mount two more ballasts.
Working with standard bulbs, however, there aren't a lot of options. Perhaps the easiest might be going to the HDI section at the bottom of the parts breakdown page for our bikes. The international lights used to meet European requirements are better than what DOT makes HD give us. So swapping to international housings and bulbs could be relatively easy alternative to try.
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Chuck, there are 881 HID kits. I was going to do just that before someone liberated the light kit from my garage. You'd have to open up the brackets and light standard to allow passing two wires rather than one directly from the inside of the fairing to the bulb. But it'd be do-able. Then just find a place to mount two more ballasts.
Working with standard bulbs, however, there aren't a lot of options. Perhaps the easiest might be going to the HDI section at the bottom of the parts breakdown page for our bikes. The international lights used to meet European requirements are better than what DOT makes HD give us. So swapping to international housings and bulbs could be relatively easy alternative to try.
I remember reading all of the permutations of bulb swaps, Luminics etc., and was hoping there was an easy bulb swap to improve them. Some improvement should be easy.
I can't imagine what that thing would be like with 4 HID bulbs running. It would be interesting to see tho. Is there a limit to how far you can extend the leads downstream of the ballasts?
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I remember reading all of the permutations of bulb swaps, Luminics etc., and was hoping there was an easy bulb swap to improve them. Some improvement should be easy.
I can't imagine what that thing would be like with 4 HID bulbs running. It would be interesting to see tho. Is there a limit to how far you can extend the leads downstream of the ballasts?
Don't know what the effective limit might be to in any way impact on the digital ballast. But I do know they'd work in our environment.
I tried a chassis ground scenario to avoid having to pull the second home run and, therefore, having to open up the holes in the brackets/mounts to allow for the second wire. They fired, but flickered. Then made the connections that would be used and wired it all up loose without actually installing it through the bike. That worked fine.
Then set it all aside to actually finish the install the next night. Set the light kit parts back in their box for safe keeping and planned ahead for the next evening. It was during that next day that the garage got broke in to though. So never got to button it up. At that point I bailed. Plugged the original connectors back together inside the fairing, put the fairing back on, and decided I liked it the way it is just fine (at least for now).
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do you guys have halogen style plugs in the spots? just noticed the 881 reference
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do you guys have halogen style plugs in the spots? just noticed the 881 reference
Neal, HD has five or six different auxiliary optics housings for the spotlights (for domestic consumption). I think there are three different bulb options among them if memory serves me correctly. The plugs that terminate inside the housings are universal though. Just a couple of spade terminals; one hooked right to the chrome housing for a common and the other back to source in the headlight harness. They mate to those spade terminal with appropriate pigtails off the various bulbs.
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I'm running 5800k halogens in my spots and they are still VERY yellow compared to the HID headlight...
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Hope this helps someone who will be doing the HID install themselves. It is not a hard job, just laying everything out under the fairing for placement of wiring and components. I thought I had the job done right the 1st time with a nice install but lost my AM radio reception with radio noise. Most people probably don't even use AM but I listen to it going/coming to work. Had the fairing off 3 more times (could use a Zipper), kept moving components until the radio noise problem was solved. I had mounted the ballast on the supplied bracket and mounted to the RH radio speaker/fairing brace and one of the relays tie strapped to the same brace. THIS is is where I SCREWED up-I placed the cylindrical excitor that comes off the ballast by the RH side of the radio. The further I moved it from the radio, the better. Ended up doing away with the metal ballast bracket and self adhesived the ballast to the RH inner fairing-figured I would keep it off of metal too. I originally laid the cylindrical excitor next to the radio as it laid in there nicely and the leads off it easily reached the back of the headlight plugs. Now it is zip tied on the RH side bottom fairing to a wire harness as close to the bulb as I could get it so the leads would work.
So, if you've read this far, my tips to potential installers would be:
1) keep all the headlight components as far from the radio as possible.
2) remove the headlight assy when the fairing is in place and look the situation over inside so wires/components are placed properly.
Thanks to Jim for his help & Don for his pictures/help.
Now all I need is some nightime riding (and now the days are getting longer). :)
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Hope this helps someone who will be doing the HID install themselves. It is not a hard job, just laying everything out under the fairing for placement of wiring and components. I thought I had the job done right the 1st time with a nice install but lost my AM radio reception with radio noise. Most people probably don't even use AM but I listen to it going/coming to work. Had the fairing off 3 more times (could use a Zipper), kept moving components until the radio noise problem was solved. I had mounted the ballast on the supplied bracket and mounted to the RH radio speaker/fairing brace and one of the relays tie strapped to the same brace. THIS is is where I SCREWED up-I placed the cylindrical excitor that comes off the ballast by the RH side of the radio. The further I moved it from the radio, the better. Ended up doing away with the metal ballast bracket and self adhesived the ballast to the RH inner fairing-figured I would keep it off of metal too. I originally laid the cylindrical excitor next to the radio as it laid in there nicely and the leads off it easily reached the back of the headlight plugs. Now it is zip tied on the RH side bottom fairing to a wire harness as close to the bulb as I could get it so the leads would work.
So, if you've read this far, my tips to potential installers would be:
1) keep all the headlight components as far from the radio as possible.
2) remove the headlight assy when the fairing is in place and look the situation over inside so wires/components are placed properly.
Thanks to Jim for his help & Don for his pictures/help.
Now all I need is some nightime riding (and now the days are getting longer). :)
BM,
How about pulling the fairing ONE MORE TIME and shooting some pics where you have the components. I too am picking up the interference. I have the round units strapped to parts of the harness where the cables worked well. Looks, and sounds, like a no-no.
:worthless:
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Mine are strapped down to harnesses on each side of the radio also. No interference here though. I think I just go so much stuff stuck inside the fairing that it all absorbs all forms of energy that pass inside :o .
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I'm doing an install this afternoon on an SEUC, I'll snap some photo's of where stuff ends up.
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Mine are strapped down to harnesses on each side of the radio also. No interference here though. I think I just go so much stuff stuck inside the fairing that it all absorbs all forms of energy that pass inside :o .
Sounds like you've created a self-contained black hole.
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Chief-
Wait for Jim's pictures but you can also see the cylindrical excitors in Don's pictures on the 1st page of this heading.
You probably have 2 of everything, but my cylinder is tie strapped to the RH lower wire harness next to the clutch cable/throttle cable. It would have been nice to have 6-10 more inches of wire off that cylinder that plugs into the headlight wires.
Regarding the fairing removal, it is not a hard job at all. Every time I think it will stay on for a while, one of the wise guys on this site finds something new to put under there. Hope I don't need to take it off for a while though. May be in luck as Don/Jim have no more room under theirs. :)
On the 1st install, my cylnder was actually touching the side of the radio and I don't have the Harmon Kardon like Don.
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Sounds like you've created a self-contained black hole.
You'd have to see it to believe it. :o I don't think there is room in there for a toothpick now.
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
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Chief-
Wait for Jim's pictures but you can also see the cylindrical excitors in Don's pictures on the 1st page of this heading.
You probably have 2 of everything, but my cylinder is tie strapped to the RH lower wire harness next to the clutch cable/throttle cable. It would have been nice to have 6-10 more inches of wire off that cylinder that plugs into the headlight wires.
Regarding the fairing removal, it is not a hard job at all. Every time I think it will stay on for a while, one of the wise guys on this site finds something new to put under there. Hope I don't need to take it off for a while though. May be in luck as Don/Jim have no more room under theirs. :)
On the 1st install, my cylnder was actually touching the side of the radio and I don't have the Harmon Kardon like Don.
Mine are ty-rap'd to the audio harness under the radio. Sounds like yours are attached to the harness for the handlebars. I'll be happy if it is the round ballasts, and not the square ignitors, because I have them stuck to the top of the XM and CB modules on top of the radio. They fit real nice there, but I originally thought that was the culprit. Maybe it;s the ballasts instead. Sounds like some testing is in order.
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Sounds like you've created a self-contained black hole.
Well that would suck !!
:huepfenlol2: :drink: :huepfenlol2:
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Jim,
Where did we put mine? I'm not getting any interference or noises.
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which style HID are you using? 2lane used the digital system which i also used in my SERK
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You'd have to see it to believe it. :o I don't think there is room in there for a toothpick now.
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
You'd be surprised D00d. Before the parts got liberated I'd already done a layout that had two more sets of the ballasts in there for the HID spotlights. It was close, but it fit ??? .
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Jim,
Where did we put mine? I'm not getting any interference or noises.
I put them down low on the right side of the fairing. Don't remember exactly what i mounted the igniter to. The ballast is double stickied to the inner faring.
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which style HID are you using? 2lane used the digital system which i also used in my SERK
That's the one, Xtralights sent me by mistake on an order a pair of the standard non-digital ballasts. They are about 5 times as thick, and overall larger than the digital and weight lots more. We'd all have a hard time finding a place for them.
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which style HID are you using? 2lane used the digital system which i also used in my SERK
Same ones, digital ignitors coupled with the round ballasts. Ignitors stuck on top of the radio stack and ballasts ty-rap'd to bundles under the radio so the leads are right at the rear of the bulbs. I may add some wire to lengthen them and move them away from the radio.
I'm afraid to attach them to the outer fairing braces because those already break too regularly. I don't want to add any more weight on them to shake around.
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Chief-
I actually think the noise/interference is from the ballast but it travels thru the cylindrical part attached to the ballast that I'm calling the excitor. To be honest, I don't know what the wiring harness was/is that I tie strapped it to-looking from the front it was just left of the clutch/throttle cable and the cylinder laid just under it along the lower edge of the fairing.
Naitram-
We are all using the ballast pictured and it has a cylindrical excitor that comes off the one lead from the ballast and then 2 leads go from the cylinder excitor to the headlight bulb(s).
Just for everyone's sake, I have the bi-xenon setup for the stock 05 H4 bulb like Ernie's and not the dual setup bulb like most of you have.
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Those new digital ballasts were what really made this a simple proposition. The prior options had kept me from doing it.
Then these things hit the market and after they'd been out for a bit (to suggest they weren't crapping out terribly) it was time to bite the bullet and get good light. Small, light, almost no heat, surprisingly low power requirements. Just about perfect for our needs (too bad they're not cheaper though).
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Chief-
Don't be afraid to use the supplied double sided tape on the ballasts-I think the inner fairing will break before the ballasts would come loose.
Jim/Ernie-
It sounds like mine is mounted as you did Ernies.
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Don-
These are quality looking parts compared to Kuryakyn's and the MOCO's. The MOCO doesn't even have a Xenon high beam option. Thanks for the homework otherwise i'd be with the stock light.
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Don-
These are quality looking parts compared to Kuryakyn's and the MOCO's. The MOCO doesn't even have a Xenon high beam option. Thanks for the homework otherwise i'd be with the stock light.
I'd been looking for a long time Bob. Neither the Kuryakyn nor the HD options intrigued me at all. And both even more expensive when considering you're really only doing on beam. Then saw these. Ran the specs on them and was pretty quickly satisfied they'd do what was needed for our environment quite well.
So far and so good. And the light is great. Damn it's nice to be able to see at night.
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Chief-
Don't be afraid to use the supplied double sided tape on the ballasts-I think the inner fairing will break before the ballasts would come loose.
Jim/Ernie-
It sounds like mine is mounted as you did Ernies.
The stuff they supplied with mine wasn't actually two sided tape (foam tape) but that 3M tape used to adhere automotive emblems to car bodies. That's stout stuff. If it holds an emblem on a car going down the road and survives rain, snow, sleet, hail, debris, grime and road salt it should live inside the fairing just fine (though I put a tie wrap around mine just because I could and I'm anal about such things).
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Chief-
Don't be afraid to use the supplied double sided tape on the ballasts-I think the inner fairing will break before the ballasts would come loose.
Jim/Ernie-
It sounds like mine is mounted as you did Ernies.
I did use the supplied tape. That's what I'm mounting the square units, what I'm calling the ignitors, to the top of the CB and XM modules on top of the radio. Aren't the ballasts the round units just before the lights?
Do I have it backwards? Square units = Ignitors and Round cylinders = ballasts. At least that's what I'm calling them.
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The stuff they supplied with mine wasn't actually two sided tape (foam tape) but that 3M tape used to adhere automotive emblems to car bodies. That's stout stuff. If it holds an emblem on a car going down the road and survives rain, snow, sleet, hail, debris, grime and road salt it should live inside the fairing just fine (though I put a tie wrap around mine just because I could and I'm anal about such things).
Didn't you mount the square boxes to the HW satellites?
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Chief-
The rectangular box that Naitram has pictured with the writing is the ballast and the cylinders coming off the ballasts are the ignitors/excitors.
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Chief-
The rectangular box that Naitram has pictured with the writing is the ballast and the cylinders coming off the ballasts are the ignitors/excitors.
Looks like I got it backwards once again. Found this on the xtralites site
(http://www.xtralights.com/images/HIDtechpict.jpg)
Power => Ballast => Ignitor => Bulb
Now don't y'all go forgetting that again.
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Didn't you mount the square boxes to the HW satellites?
Yes, had those HW brackets already there for convenient access. Speaker component on the front side. So hung the ballasts on the back side of them. Used that two sided 3M tape supplied and put a tie wrap around them for good measure (actually two tie wraps).
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... but that 3M tape used to adhere automotive emblems to car bodies. That's stout stuff. If it holds an emblem on a car going down the road and survives rain, snow, sleet, hail, debris, grime and road salt it should live inside the fairing just fine ...
Don told me about this 3M tape once while installing the air cleaner cover, and it stopped me from using liquid nails.
I had to get help from the Auto Zone folks to find it, but he is right, it is some strong stuff.
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67864-04
(http://a1276.g.akamai.net/7/1276/734/2ff6c396e05f10/resource.harley-davidson.com/media/images/productphotos/PNA/67864_04_M_1db5f.jpg)
Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp Kit
The Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp features advanced reflector optics and separate bulbs for high and low beam functions.
........................................................
Well that was waaaaay more than I wanted to spend on my headlight but it is all ordered now!
New HD twin bulb halogen set up & then the xtralights HID H9 conversion. From all your comments I know it will be worth it! :nervous: I never ride much in the dark I suppose mainly because I couldn't see as well as I wanted to. I have tried many different halogen bulbs but all as you know they make very little difference over stock lighting.
Thanks especially to twolane for starting off this unexpected hole in my wallet! :soapbox: (best part of 800 ozz $)
Cheers
Aussie
I'm starting to get a bit :soapbox: now! I ordered my dual lamp housing (& a couple of other goodies) from Chicago HD on 23rd April & they still have not shipped yet, they say they are very busy because it is spring! I just think it is poor service especially when they hit you credit card the day you place the order. I will probably will have paid my card before I even see the parts! WTF! I have found that on my last few orders they (Chicago) are getting slower & slower! (no mention of back orders from them either)
I generally recieve orders from the USA in around 5 days. This includes my HID lighting kit which has been sitting there since 28th April.
I may have to give Chicago a miss & buy from M&M they are very fast & very friendly as well. Their prices on HD parts are very close to Chicago also.
Cheers
Aussie
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I'm starting to get a bit :soapbox: now! I ordered my dual lamp housing (& a couple of other goodies) from Chicago HD on 23rd April & they still have not shipped yet, they say they are very busy because it is spring! I just think it is poor service especially when they hit you credit card the day you place the order. I will probably will have paid my card before I even see the parts! WTF! I have found that on my last few orders they (Chicago) are getting slower & slower! (no mention of back orders from them either)
I generally recieve orders from the USA in around 5 days. This includes my HID lighting kit which has been sitting there since 28th April.
I may have to give Chicago a miss & buy from M&M they are very fast & very friendly as well. Their prices on HD parts are very close to Chicago also.
Cheers
Aussie
Don't feel alone Bro. I placed an order w/them on April 14, and it just shipped yesterday. Took several emails to finally get my stuff shipped to me. They'll send you an email and say that if the stuff has to be ordered it should be ready to ship to you in 7 - 10 days, but that's not holding true. I was told a week ago that all my parts were in and was in line to be shipped. After waiting 6 more days I sent them another email asking how could everything be there and it take almost a week to ship, the next day I got an email stating my order had been shipped. I have some more stuff I want to order and told them that in the email and also told them that this experience hasn't been a promising encounter. I'll wait for my parts to get here and then decide if I'll order from them again. :nixweiss:
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
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I'm starting to get a bit :soapbox: now! I ordered my dual lamp housing (& a couple of other goodies) from Chicago HD on 23rd April & they still have not shipped yet, they say they are very busy because it is spring! I just think it is poor service especially when they hit you credit card the day you place the order. I will probably will have paid my card before I even see the parts! WTF! I have found that on my last few orders they (Chicago) are getting slower & slower! (no mention of back orders from them either)
I generally recieve orders from the USA in around 5 days. This includes my HID lighting kit which has been sitting there since 28th April.
I may have to give Chicago a miss & buy from M&M they are very fast & very friendly as well. Their prices on HD parts are very close to Chicago also.
Cheers
Aussie
Try Zanotti. Have found them to be often cheaper than Chicago HD and (anymore) always quicker. Also very good about posting backorder or other pertinent information.
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Don't feel alone Bro. I placed an order w/them on April 14, and it just shipped yesterday. Took several emails to finally get my stuff shipped to me. They'll send you an email and say that if the stuff has to be ordered it should be ready to ship to you in 7 - 10 days, but that's not holding true. I was told a week ago that all my parts were in and was in line to be shipped. After waiting 6 more days I sent them another email asking how could everything be there and it take almost a week to ship, the next day I got an email stating my order had been shipped. I have some more stuff I want to order and told them that in the email and also told them that this experience hasn't been a promising encounter. I'll wait for my parts to get here and then decide if I'll order from them again. :nixweiss:
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
Dood,
Thanks for that, I was thinking it was just international customers that were mucked around. Well I got the email yesterday stating all my parts are in stock & should ship in the next coulpe of days but they do put that word in there "SHOULD"
Cheers
Aussie
PS: these parts guys just dont understand :confused5: OCD!
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The interference I'm experiencing is from the ignitors, not the ballasts. It is also very sensitive to location. Seems that where I had it ty-rap'd was one of the bad spots.
Note: The interference is most notable in the headset and is not related to output volume. The noise is there with zero volume.
My plan is to test each location by assembling the light, putting on the helmet and moving the ignitor around while the bulb is running. When I find a quiet spot, I'll ty-rap it there. I'll also try to not blind myself testing this.
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Try Zanotti. Have found them to be often cheaper than Chicago HD and (anymore) always quicker. Also very good about posting backorder or other pertinent information.
Twolane,
I have looked at Zanotti but they do not really cater for the international customer. They will ship international but I must order by unsecure emails. I just prefer secure online automated orders.
Cheers
Aussie
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Well, the noise is gone, except for 3 or 4 seconds at initial start-up, and when turning on the hi-beam. I actually would up adding about 12 inches of wire to both the high and low beams, between the ignitors and the bulbs. In hind sight, I should have added the wire to the bulbs instead of the ballast / ignitor assemblies. There is just more wire available in the bulb harnesses than there is in the main harnesses. The ignitors are mounted to the outer fairing brackets, one per side. The extra wire will make getting to the bulbs much easier.
-
67864-04
(http://a1276.g.akamai.net/7/1276/734/2ff6c396e05f10/resource.harley-davidson.com/media/images/productphotos/PNA/67864_04_M_1db5f.jpg)
Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp Kit
The Dual Bulb Halogen Headlamp features advanced reflector optics and separate bulbs for high and low beam functions.
........................................................
Well that was waaaaay more than I wanted to spend on my headlight but it is all ordered now!
New HD twin bulb halogen set up & then the xtralights HID H9 conversion. From all your comments I know it will be worth it! :nervous: I never ride much in the dark I suppose mainly because I couldn't see as well as I wanted to. I have tried many different halogen bulbs but all as you know they make very little difference over stock lighting.
Thanks especially to twolane for starting off this unexpected hole in my wallet! :soapbox: (best part of 800 ozz $)
Cheers
Aussie
Well 2lane I must say thanks again! I finally got my dual lamp housing early this week & fitted it on thursday night & went for a test ride on friday night. I must say i am very impressed, I finally got to enjoy a ride at night. I passed a new SUV on a country road who had its lights on high beam & as I was passing him I flicked mine on to high beam. Well I can only imagine the guy in the flash new SUV must have been pissed when he saw how good my light was compared with his. I am now able to ride at night in pretty much the same manor as I ride during the day, it's great & worth every penny spent. At night i wear yellow glasses & with the blue light it seemed to look fairly white to me, either way no matter what the colour is the vision is exellent. I will have to add this to my favourite mods list. The installation was also too easy & everything fitted nicely inside my nacelle, i used the small mounting brackets that came in the HID kit to mount the ballasts. There was alot more room in there than i expected.
Cheers
Aussie :biggthumpup:
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Well 2lane I must say thanks again! I finally got my dual lamp housing early this week & fitted it on thursday night & went for a test ride on friday night. I must say i am very impressed, I finally got to enjoy a ride at night. I passed a new SUV on a country road who had its lights on high beam & as I was passing him I flicked mine on to high beam. Well I can only imagine the guy in the flash new SUV must have been pissed when he saw how good my light was compared with his. I am now able to ride at night in pretty much the same manor as I ride during the day, it's great & worth every penny spent. At night i wear yellow glasses & with the blue light it seemed to look fairly white to me, either way no matter what the colour is the vision is exellent. I will have to add this to my favourite mods list. The installation was also too easy & everything fitted nicely inside my nacelle, i used the small mounting brackets that came in the HID kit to mount the ballasts. There was alot more room in there than i expected.
Cheers
Aussie :biggthumpup:
That's good news. Having Oz all lit up before you has to make the night rides more pleasant. If there's a better or easier option I didn't find it. But these do a very nice job. Congrats on getting her done and feeling better riding after dark.
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I'm doing an install this afternoon on an SEUC, I'll snap some photo's of where stuff ends up.
Jim,
Did you get this install done? Have you done any 06 SEUC?
I am want to get this mod. and just wondering about the noise and
position where you mounted the ballasts and exciters.
Thanks,
Barry
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Jim,
Did you get this install done? Have you done any 06 SEUC?
I am want to get this mod. and just wondering about the noise and
position where you mounted the ballasts and exciters.
Thanks,
Barry
Sorry for not following throught on the report but yes I got it al done and there was not a noise issue. Done a few more since then as well. I'll post pics of the mounting locations later.
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While riding in the pack on the way to DC, I heard a comment on the CB, "Wow, that red bike sure has a bright headlight." I smiled. ::)
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While riding in the pack on the way to DC, I heard a comment on the CB, "Wow, that red bike sure has a bright headlight." I smiled. ::)
Glad those are doing a good job Chuck. It's nice to have good light.
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Just a note of caution to anyone inclined to upgrade your spots with the HID lights. The current 881 bulbs available from xtralights.com will not fit in the spots. The glass bulb element is too long and hits the inside of the glass lens before getting the socket to seat.
There isn't anything you can do to the bulb to make it fit. HD-DUDE has informed me that the company is working to come up with a shorter 881 bulb. Hopefully a new bulb will be available in a few months. Until that time, the halogen spots will have to do. They're so dim, compared to the HID headlamp, its like they are marker lights, instead of providing actually useful lighting of the road.
:indian_chief:
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The HID headlight throws a lot of light down the road, and the halogen spots light up closer to the bike. Makes for a nice combination
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The HID headlight throws a lot of light down the road, and the halogen spots light up closer to the bike. Makes for a nice combination
Yea, maybe if I aim my spots right down at the ground ten feet in front of the bike I may get some illumination from them. Seriously, the HID is so freakin' bright, the halogen spots are pretty much worthless. And they look funky too being all yellow and such.
I did have to aim my headlight down a bit to prevent blinding oncoming drivers. I had originally set it with almost zero drop in 50 feet. When we rode to Beaufort last month, every fourth or fifth car flashed brights at me. When we got home, I took 2 full turns out of the light to lower the beam. When riding at 5:30AM this past Saturday, I noticed the low beam is now lower than I would like, but the high beam works really well, and I didn't get flipped off once, not much traffic out that early. I'm thinking I'll raise it up 1/2 of a turn to improve the distance of the low beam, hopefully without too much additional glare for the oncoming traffic. Regardless, even at the present lowered setting, the reach of the low beam is much, much better than the factory set up. And the high beam will knock your socks off. ;D
:indian_chief:
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I did change out my spot bulbs to halogen 881/894's which are whiter (but still yellow compared to the headlight) and definitely brighter than stock...
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I did change out my spot bulbs to halogen 881/894's which are whiter (but still yellow compared to the headlight) and definitely brighter than stock...
That probably made a big difference. I'm thinking how I can hook mine into the turn signals. ;D
:indian_chief:
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Very interesting thread for the season :2vrolijk_21:
And the prices are down http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349 (http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349)
Are you always satisfied with this product or do you found another ?
Jacques
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Very interesting thread for the season :2vrolijk_21:
And the prices are down http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349 (http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349)
Are you always satisfied with this product or do you found another ?
Jacques
The kit you showed was a single-bulb H4 unit. For our bikes, you'll need a two-bulb setup. I installed the H9 units and love them.
http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1344
:indian_chief:
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Very interesting thread for the season :2vrolijk_21:
And the prices are down http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349 (http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1349)
Are you always satisfied with this product or do you found another ?
Jacques
Jacques,
This lighting is one of the most useful things I have added to my bike. You will need both of these items to make this work:
DUAL LAMP HOUSING (http://chicagoharley.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=67864-04A&osCsid=6ed34654d2ac207796af7f9546fd64bd&x=37&y=9)
Dual H9 HID Kit (http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1344)
Cheers
Aussie
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The kit you showed was a single-bulb H4 unit. For our bikes, you'll need a two-bulb setup. I installed the H9 units and love them.
http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1344
:indian_chief:
Are you sure ? H9 units ?
I've a single bulb for high and low beams. See pic.
The HDI models have high/low beams in single bulb.
Jacques
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Jacques,
This lighting is one of the most useful things I have added to my bike. You will need both of these items to make this work:
DUAL LAMP HOUSING (http://chicagoharley.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=67864-04A&osCsid=6ed34654d2ac207796af7f9546fd64bd&x=37&y=9)
Dual H9 HID Kit (http://www.xtralights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1344)
Cheers
Aussie
Good morning Aussie,
Do you have change the head lamp for the model with two bulbs or is it stock in Australia ?
Jacques
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No it not standard down here in Australia but I took the advice of the guys here on the site & purchased the dual lamp housing from Harley davidson
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT (http://chicagoharley.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=67864-04A&osCsid=6ed34654d2ac207796af7f9546fd64bd&x=37&y=9)
As HID lights are only single filiment & can not be used for high & low. However there is a new type H4 out that has a sheild that moves across the beam when you change from high to low giving the effect of a twin filiment bulb but I am not too sure how reliable they would be having a moving part. I really dont think you need to go there when you can have a far superior set up with the dual bulb housing & twin H9's
Cheers
Aussie
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.
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Thanks , Aussie, for the informations :2vrolijk_21:
I :) a little because I read that our friends from States like our single bulb headlamp and we prefer duals bulbs :nixweiss:
Best regards
Jacques
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No it not standard down here in Australia but I took the advice of the guys here on the site & purchased the dual lamp housing from Harley davidson
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT (http://chicagoharley.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=67864-04A&osCsid=6ed34654d2ac207796af7f9546fd64bd&x=37&y=9)
As HID lights are only single filiment & can not be used for high & low. However there is a new type H4 out that has a sheild that moves across the beam when you change from high to low giving the effect of a twin filiment bulb but I am not too sure how reliable they would be having a moving part. I really dont think you need to go there when you can have a far superior set up with the dual bulb housing & twin H9's
Cheers
Aussie
Last point, in your case, is it not cheaper to buy the HD HID headlamp ?
You bought the dual headlamp and the kit HID H9 :-\
Jacques
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Last point, in your case, is it not cheaper to buy the HD HID headlamp ?
You bought the dual headlamp and the kit HID H9 :-\
Jacques
Jacques,
The HD HID kit has HID low beam only & the high beam is still only a crappy halogen bulb. The total cost the way I did it was not that much more for a true dual HID headlight setup.
Cheers
Aussie
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Are you sure ? H9 units ?
I've a single bulb for high and low beams. See pic.
The HDI models have high/low beams in single bulb.
Jacques
Jacques,
My mistake. I did not realize the HDI bikes did not already have the dual bulb set-up.
Sorry for the confusion.
:indian_chief:
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Jacques,
My mistake. I did not realize the HDI bikes did not already have the dual bulb set-up.
Sorry for the confusion.
:indian_chief:
Will both ignitors for the H-9 Xtralights HID fit inside the SERK Nacelle? Is anything special, or is anything else required for installing them on the SERK? Thanks guys! :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
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Will both ignitors for the H-9 Xtralights HID fit inside the SERK Nacelle? Is anything special, or is anything else required for installing them on the SERK? Thanks guys! :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
"Obie Won" did one in his SERK see the thread here - Dual HID SERK (http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=11962.0).
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
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sure did, i'd do it slightly differently if i did it again. but it can be done
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"Obie Won" did one in his SERK see the thread here - Dual HID SERK (http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=11962.0).
:pumpkin:
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
:fireman:
As usual, thanks again Gary. It looks like it's a little tight in the Nacelle, and Neal eventually relocated the ignitors outside the Nacelle. It was very tight after he used the brackets to mount the ignitors. I'm thinking of using double-sided tape to fasten them to the inside of the Nacelle sides instead. Hopefully everything will fit OK that way. I think I'll contact Jim on this. Might as well get them from him. Thanks again! :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
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sure did, i'd do it slightly differently if i did it again. but it can be done
Ok o' wise one, what would you have done differently? :nixweiss:
Hoist! 8)
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you already said it. double side tape them to the flat fron face of the nacell between the triple trees
mine are currently on the upper legs between the triple trees
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you already said it. double side tape them to the flat fron face of the nacell between the triple trees
mine are currently on the upper legs between the triple trees
Holy crap, I guessed right! ;D
Hoist! 8)
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let me know when you are ready to do this. maybe do a day trip into the city and give you a hand.
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let me know when you are ready to do this. maybe do a day trip into the city and give you a hand.
Ok cool, we'll have some real fun. I'll get Andy over too, and do the Amps, speakers, and Zumo/XM at the same time as the Headlights. You don't know what you just got yourself into! ;D
Sounds like another weekend of Steaks, Chinese Sausages and Beer! :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
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The XtraLight site shows the Deep Blue bulbs at 8000K and the Crystal White at 4300K. I wanted as much light as possible out of them, but wanted to have the White Lamps. Can't be done, huh? Are there Blue Spots available at all? I've seen all the setups with the Blue Headlights and White or Yellowish Spots. Looks a little funny that way. Any changes to what's available spotlight wise? Are the 4300K Crystal White one bright enough, or must I go with the Deep Blue? :nixweiss:
Hoist! 8)
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The XtraLight site shows the Deep Blue bulbs at 8000K and the Crystal White at 4300K. I wanted as much light as possible out of them, but wanted to have the White Lamps. Can't be done, huh? Are there Blue Spots available at all? I've seen all the setups with the Blue Headlights and White or Yellowish Spots. Looks a little funny that way. Any changes to what's available spotlight wise? Are the 4300K Crystal White one bright enough, or must I go with the Deep Blue? :nixweiss:
Hoist! 8)
The 4300k bulbs will blow your socks off. They are actually the brightest. They do make my spots look like yellow turn signals tho.
:indian_chief:
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The 4300k bulbs will blow your socks off. They are actually the brightest. They do make my spots look like yellow turn signals tho.
:indian_chief:
Thanks Chuck. I was hoping to use the White ones. :2vrolijk_21:
Hoist! 8)
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chechk with Brian ( 103T ) he got blue bulbs for his spots.
i have the "blue" HIDs and like them just got the H-D "h3" halogen spots to replace my stock yellow ones htere are many h3 bulb options to be had
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I just put the HID lights in the scoot and they are BRIGHT!! What a difference. I used the H9 Extralights 4200 degree color bulbs. My SEUC has the two bulb headlamp so the install was really easy. Still had room in the fairing, and don't have any interference from the radio or other electronic gizmo's. A really big thanks to Twolanerider and hd-dude for the help and product. If your like me (old) and want to ride at night these things are a must. And they are not chrome, so I don't have to report them at my next Chromeaholics meeting!
Ride Safe.
Walt
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I just put the HID lights in the scoot and they are BRIGHT!! What a difference. I used the H9 Extralights 4200 degree color bulbs. My SEUC has the two bulb headlamp so the install was really easy. Still had room in the fairing, and don't have any interference from the radio or other electronic gizmo's. A really big thanks to Twolanerider and hd-dude for the help and product. If your like me (old) and want to ride at night these things are a must. And they are not chrome, so I don't have to report them at my next Chromeaholics meeting!
Ride Safe.
Walt
Glad to see you got them done Walt. It is a nice improvement. Sure is nice to find out you can suddenly see at night again!
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I just put the HID lights in the scoot and they are BRIGHT!! What a difference. I used the H9 Extralights 4200 degree color bulbs. My SEUC has the two bulb headlamp so the install was really easy. Still had room in the fairing, and don't have any interference from the radio or other electronic gizmo's. A really big thanks to Twolanerider and hd-dude for the help and product. If your like me (old) and want to ride at night these things are a must. And they are not chrome, so I don't have to report them at my next Chromeaholics meeting!
Ride Safe.
Walt
Glad you like them Walt! As 2lane said you never really realize how much you missed without these until you've had them. I for one will never have a bike without them!
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I upgraded my Headlight a few years back with the Headwinds 5 3/4 lamp with Silver stars bulb.
Those who have gone with the single hi/low HID Zeon from xtralights how do you like them?
Much difference between the dual or worth switching to the dual?
Great thread!