Now I will be seen by myopic car drivers.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:24 pm

quote:
something we wont need after November?

I assume that is bikes not us.

itma · Post by **itma** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:17 pm

Now what we need is an idiots guide to converting, it where to get these bits, how to wire etc.

25K for a car? I've bought houses for less, £250 max is my limit.

thirdwheel · Post by **thirdwheel** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:45 pm

Will sit down this evening and write up what I did - no doubt every HID "kit" is a little different - this I can attest to as I've just had delivery of another single fitment HID direct from Hong Kong (£13 but works by the HID moving up and down rather than in and out and is not shielded in any way so glare will be a problem as you will be able to see the bulb direclt unlike the one I fitted where the bulb is shielded and shines onto the reflector from behind a stainless steel shield) and there are subtal differances. It's not hard to do or work out but I belive voltages up to 23,000v are fired to start it up so wiring needs to be 100% and chafe needs to be eliminated on the wires. I used a two bulb kit for a car and removed the wiring for the second bulb. Two bulb kit cost £38 including postage from Hawk Car Alarms - found them on the net but there are many others. So I now have a spare bulb but they are said to have 5 times the life of halogens give out 300% more light at only 35w each bulb. I can't wait for it to get dark tonight to go out and do more testing - going round all the country pubs and drinking fruit juice - life is hard!!!

Thirdwheel

thirdwheel · Post by **thirdwheel** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:15 pm

Fitting Bi HID to 18ms
Convert bike to negative earth and twelve volts, use a battery of 5amp or more, obtain a H4 headlight with pilot hole, obtain some proper crimped terminals and the insulation that goes with them – I used bullet connectors but not the British type the jap. type with clear insulation and some spade connectors both male and female and insulation, proper crimpers, insulation sleeving and some copper core auto wire in several colours. All electrical consumables from vehicle wiring products. A LED light unit or LED stop tail bulb via internet and LED’s for the speedo and sidelight (super bright). Make sure the pilot bulb holder that fits well in sidelight hole in headlight if not. The LED’s are brighter are robust and use very little power so give the hard working dynamo that has been fooled into working harder an easier time.
Obtain a Bi HID kit – I bought a car one with two bulbs but there are bike specific ones available that either move the HID bulb to obtain main and dip or have a halogen to give dip or high beam or to fill in the cut out in the beam. I avoided these as I did not want to pull too much power. The kit I ordered was 6000K 35w. The Bi stands for two meaning dip and high doing this by moving the HID in and out using a solenoid on the back of the bulb.
In the kit you will have a ballast (two in my case), HID bulb (two again), a wiring relay and maybe a loom with plugs and a ballast mounting kit – brackets or large double sided sticky pads.
Lets look at the bulb: looks like a bulb apart from the connector end where there is a solenoid and has a loom exiting it with four wires, all wires have plugs attached. Like a halogen do not touch the glass bulb. Fit this in the headlight reflector. I then removed the plugs by cutting them off (you are going to use them later) but leaving enough wire on all wires to put on my bullet connectors on both the bulb end and the plug end that I had cut off. I ran four wires from the new bullets on the bulb to under the tank (drilled a 15mm hole in the shell and used a grommet). I encased these four wires in sleeving. On the correct wires I put the connectors I had just removed using bullets. I changed the old bulb connector in the headlight shell for the proper H4 one.
Lets look at the relay: looks like a large relay with lots of wires coming from it.
1. Wires to connect to H4 bulb connector to pick up it main or dip has been selected.
2. Power wire with fuse to go to battery pos.
3. Wire to go to battery neg.
4. Wires with plugs to go to the two ballasts.
5. Wires and plug to go to bulb to work solenoid and go from main to dip
I fitted relay under top frame tube under tank and using bullets wires and sleeving and extended the H4 connector to reach the H4 plug in headlight shell. I removed the feed to one of the ballasts. I did not connect the pos. to the battery just yet that was the last thing I did.
Lets look at the ballast:
1. smallish electronic box with a lead and another small box attached with socket for the connection to the relay
2. output wires to plug into bulb

Fitted ballast under seat, box on wire fixed under tank mounting.
All bits fitted using cable ties.
Now to connect.
1. Connect extended bulb solenoid to relay using plug
2. Connect extended bulb power leads to correct connector from ballast
3. Connect extended H4 plug from relay to head light H4 plug
4. Connect lead from relay to ballast
5. Connect fused pos. to battery
6. Connect earth to earth point
Double check all wires are not strained or can get chafed, try out and if ok close it all up. There are some big voltages here so do not do this unless you are up to it. Really take your time and make sure you re aim the headlight to keep the dip on the road and not lifted.
I have read on the net some have managed to fit all of the electronics into the headlight shell at a push which would be great – the new kit I have just got is smaller and this may be possible. The kit I have installed is supposed to be “plug and play” for cars and it is not far off this (if fitting to a car) only needing it’s own pos. and neg. feed. The above is very wordy but it is quite simple in practice to do.

Hope this is of some help
Thirdwheel

en7jos · Post by **en7jos** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:03 am

Very interesting....

Seems this bit from the doc that CT posted could be the killer though:

"vehicles fitted with after-market HID systems would also need to be fitted with headlamp cleaning and self-levelling systems otherwise this will be a reason for rejection."

I can't see a bike would need a self-levelling system would it as no load carrying ability (apart from pillion that is)? But a cleaning system? Can't see that a bit of rag tucked behind the speedo would go down too well. Hmm...

Do you have some pictures for us George please?

Regards, James

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:58 am

George. See you Monday mate at the Chequers, I want to see this lighting. I know I can get an LED headlight bulb but they only do them with neg earth at the moment and they are rather expensive at £67 each.

John

itma · Post by **itma** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:18 am

this looks promising if probably well illegal.
still, better to be illegal than dead

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HID-BI-XENON- ... 19d2e732ae

DWS · Post by **DWS** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:20 am

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that the BMW motorcycle fraternity have been fitting HID headlamp and riding lamp conversions to the likes of the R1200GS etc. for a few years now with no problems, and I'm also pretty sure that no headlamp cleaning or self leveling systems are used. These seem to pass MoTs OK.

thirdwheel · Post by **thirdwheel** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:13 am

I did not want to go down the projector lens path as I wanted to keep it looking a bit normal and the bulb kits were cheaper. And yes BMW have had them for ages and my mates with older BM's have been putting in HID conversions for ages and going through MOT's the BMW lens is computer designed and really puts the light where it should be. I converted the dip beams on my very old and very cheap BMW car some time ago and that has gone through the MOT with no comment. I used to have a CX and that headlight is the best I have ever had the focus was just ace. note that the reflector had a metal shield over the tip of the bulb to stop direct sight of the bulb and control dazzel. I do not know what dia. it was because if it would fit I would have one. John yup LED headlights are on the way but not mainstream yet and expensive. It only takes an hour to convert your bike electrics to a different polarity if you have a dynamo and feel so inclined ie want to have LED side lights, speedo, stop tail bulb, (my LED sidelight hurts your eyes to look at it and pulls no wattage). Although some of the expensive rear LED set ups can go either way. yup see you at the chequers and I'll give you a demo.

Thirdwheel

CR · Post by CR » Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:53 pm

An exceedingly good 7 inch reflector is the Wipac Quadoptic, still widely available from many outlets including Wiring Products on the web. It's been around since the 70s and has a very precise dip beam and a searing main beam with halogen bulbs (H4 fitting I believe). Whilst it looks a little bit more advanced than an original Lucas lens, it's very acceptable on an old machine and should take an HID lamp with no problems. It's also available with pilot light holder and I used to fit a 12w halogen sidelight which many would consider bright enough to use as a running light. The advantage of using a permanent running light in daylight is that during long distance running a constant draw on a dynamo setup avoids commutator glazing (carbon glazing).