Hey all - decided the amount of light fromt he stock setup could be improved, so I ordered a 55w Hi/Lo HID kit from DDM Tuning. Get em anywhere you want - but make sure you are getting a slim ballast setup or you're gonna have trouble finding somewhere to mount everything.

Quick specs - our bike require a H4 bulb, Hi/Lo retains stock hi-beam/lo-beam function, the 55w is bright - I've heard the 35w kits work just fine as well. (Actually only the ballast changes in the 55w setup - the bulb isn't different)



I ordered a 5000k color temp bulb - stock automobile HID systems shoot for about a 4300k color temp to approximate true sunlight - the higher the K value, the blue-er the light output, the lower the K value - the greener/yellower. Some of you have seen cars running around with realllly blue HID setups - those are more like 14000K or more. The secret here is that a) cops can use a really blue headlight color as a reason to pull you over, and b) in those really high K values, you actually start losing lumen output. 55w kits result in a little whiter light output from the same bulb than a 35w kit. I was hoping for a white light with just a tinge of blue to it.

So - here's the install: (simple and straightforward)

I have my fairings off already doing plastic repair, so my headlight is held on by zipties at the moment - made removal a breeze :-) I would recommend removing the upper fairing just to ease mounting the components.


Headlamp

The stock plug pulls out, and then remove the rubber boot and remove your stock H4 bulb. *Don't touch the glass on the bulb - you might need the bulb later (I did), oil from your hand can cause the bulb to burn out.




Next - you need to pull the HID bulb and Hi/Lo motor assembly out of its H4 housing, and install the housing into the the headlight housing.



Next re-install the sealing boot around the bulb housing, then install the bulb/motor assembly into the H4 housing. Headlamp is now ready for reinstalling - but I'd hold off until you get the whole setup wired up so you can make sure everything works first.



Wiring

Here's how everything assembles on the test bench:


Ballast is at the bottom 2 wires go from it to the bulb- the plug at the top is where the stock headlamp plug goes (No factory wiring is cut for this install) The black box at the upper right is the relays for turning the system on, and high/lo function of the bulb. There is a small connector going to the bulb from the relays for the hi/lo. the wad of wiring on the right is a second string of wiring required for cars, or motorcycles that have a second bulb. Since our bikes only have one bulb, you don't need this wiring in the way - pull the rubber boot off the bottom of the relay plug, and find the wires that come from this bundle.


Use a small screwdriver or something to release the tabs in the connector and pull the whole wire out of the plug (This way you could always reinstall and reuse this system on a different car or bike)


I mounted all components to the fairing stays - relays tuck in nice next to the stock flasher relay:


Ballast mounts there too (Yeah - I'm a little nervous about the zipties too - but several people have told me that these ballasts don't generate much heat) - The small transformer pictured here had to be relocated to the headlamp stay for clearance issues.



The headlight plug mounted nicely above the stock flasher


I grounded the system to the fairing stay on the left side of the bike:


I had to extend the main power wire a couple of feet, and I ran it inside wiring loom down the right side of the bike with the factory wiring bundle. Crossed over to the left side of the bike in front of the battery box and connected to the battery's pos. terminal. When you extend your power wire - make sure the fuse is close to the battery (w/in 10") - fuses need to be close to the power source, to protect the wiring run from overheating and melting (fire hazard) in case of a dead short. Mine is easily accessible right near the main fuse for the bike by pulling the right side rear fairing.

So - now before you ziptie everything nice and neat, and reinstall the headlamp and fairings you need to doublecheck your wiring. Put the fuse in the HID power wire, and fire it up - test everything operates properly. My kit had a bad ballast which I had to return - cool thing here is that all you have to uninstall is the ballast - I left everything else in place, pulled the main fuse from the HID power wire, unplugged the factory headlamp plug from the relays, and put my stock halogen back in in the meantime. (this is good to know in case of a failure while out on the road too.)

DDM sent me a new ballast and I got everything operational, so I thought I'd share.

My overall color is what looks to be a true white light - it has a lot more throw and intensity than the stock halogen. The bulb color fires up very blue, but as it warms up over the first 30 seconds it loses almost all traces of blue and gets very neutral. I would have liked a touch more blue - but that is all personal preference. Swapping to a 6000 or 8000K bulb would probably get me what I want - but it's not a necessity for me. It's bright and looks good.

coming up next - walkthrough on how I'm repairing my factory fairings after a laydown.

 

Can we see a picture of the light in action? I heard the f2 and f3 weren't very HID friendly, but have always wanted to try this.

 

how is it at nighttime like going into a cruve will it light up the road good ??????
i have the 5000k in mine but i can't see in a curve and have to slow down and i hate it

 

It was raining Fri when I installed it, so no testing other than pointing it down the driveway - looked like a good pattern there. (I have a long dark driveway in a rural area.)

Last night I stayed off the bike cause I was going to watch the UFC fights and knew there'd be a few adult beverages involved.

I'll take it out tonight, but the beam pattern looked really good sitting still.

hparker - is it a brightness issue? What setup do you have, what wattage, or is it an issue where the light isn't where you want it when driving?

 

rode for an hour or so tonight, the low beam looked great, high beam was good as well, although I was was keeping to some twisty roads and didn't want to use it there.

My light needs to be aimed down a hair, but, currently it is zip-tied in, so I'm not going to bother too much til I get the fairings back on.

 

I actually just installed the 55w DDM 6000K kit myself tonight and took it for a spin. I have a 6000 kit in my Civic so I already knew what the color would be and it's very bright with just a light tint of blue. Overall, 100x improvement over the stock Halogen. I couldn't see anything with that thing. Hi AND low beam are HID with this kit, which is nice. Most kits are HID low and halogen high.

For everyone worried about the rediculous HID "flareout" that usually happens in a standard housing, this kit came with a special metal housing that wrapped around the bulb. It actually has a very nice cutoff. It's not super sharp, but it's very even.

The biggest thing I like about this kit is how WIDE you can see left to right. I live in a very rural area with a crapton of deer and being able to see far down range and to my left and right all around me is a big plus. Once I got it aimed to where I want it I was just flying along. Felt great, had plenty of confidence with what I could see and everything was very clear. Truly made riding at night fun, instead of putting along scared to go around a corner because I couldn't see. I personally am an ******* and keep the highbeams on all the time unless I'm behind a car. I'm on a bike, I need to see.

Only real issue I have is really nothing to do with the design of the kit. When you lean into a turn, so does the cutoff. Which actually illuminates everything to the wrong side of your turn quite well, but your turn not so much. You can see well enough to go around at a comfortable pace, but I'd save really hard highspeed twisties to daylight.

adrenalnjunky. Twisty roads = high beams! No way I'd ride around in hard twisties with my low beams.

 

no it's not a brightness issue at all...... its just when i go around a curve ............ going down the road its fine bright as hell just in a curve when i lean into it the top part of the light is gone and can't see over it ... what i need is for the light to open up more . i have the 5000k star something light its not stock

 

sounds like you've got an issue with the "flare" or beam pattern that your light is throwing.

almost sounds like your beam is throwing light in more of a vertical pattern than wide? When you start cornering you lean and are looking around the corner, but there's no light over there?

Like Sov mentioned, these DDM kits have a really nice upper edge cutoff - has to be due to the shap of the metal housing that wraps around the light.

Is your setup 35w or 55w, and does your HID bulb have the metal housing that wraps around about half the bulb like in the pics above?

 

i don't have the HID kit going down the road at night the light is like this ( ---------- ) and bright but when i lean it's like a ramp in right hand curve thats when there's no light over there? at the top .......... let me see if i can get a picture tonight of what i am talking about or a video

 

Ok - so you just have an aftermarket H4 bulb like a Silverstar or a Piaa or something? If there's nothing surrounding the bulb, then it should function similar to the stock bulb. Pic might help - sounds like you have what Sov mentioned where the upper has a cutoff that is leaning with the bike's lean.

Might just need to adjust your beam up a bit to see if that helps.