HID anyone??

There's the expert! What took you so long? :smile:

Mine came with relay. Didn't know why until you just told us so thanks!

 

The current draw on startup isn't that much higher than during operation, and far lower than the fuse rating for the headlight. Of the last two kits I ordered from DDM Tuning, each had one bad ballast in them right out of the box. Fortunately, no one ever offered to buy either of the kits I was going to sell (reason I started this thread in the first place), so I had spares on the shelf. DDM offers lifetime warranty on all their stuff, but they make it a total PIA to actually make a claim, so I'm glad I had spare parts on the shelf. I'm now accumulating a pretty big pile of stuff that needs to go back to DDM for warranty including 2 ballasts, one HID bulb, and one LED bulb. So defective components are definitely not out of the question. Having spares around is a big plus.

On my recent 2000 mile trip, my HID low beam stopped working on the last day of first leg of my trip, so I was forced to ride with high beam on for a day. Fortunately we didn't really do any riding in the dark so it wasn't much of an issue. When we arrived at my in-laws house in Florida, I took the opportunity to use their garage to investigate. Here's what I found...



For some crazy reason one of the wires had wiggled its way out of the connector, even though there was heat shrink tubing around it. Although as you can see, the heat shrink wasn't tight around the wires. I pulled the wire slightly through the heat shrink to get a little slack, re-shrunk the tubing, and put a little hot melt glue in the backside of the connector so it couldn't happen again. Problem solved, thank goodness. But once again as time goes on I become more and more disappointed with the stuff I get from DDM. Anything you order from them online now comes shipped directly from China. That being the case, I've just started buying from Ebay for half the price. It still comes from China.

I also still contend that anyone who assumes that putting an HID bulb into a reflector housing is going to blind oncoming drivers is making too much of an assumption. Especially coming from those who don't even own a 7th gen but claim to have tried it themselves with bad results. Apples and Oranges. I have no doubts it's a real possibility in some applications, but so far of the five conversions I've done on my personal vehicles, the results have been excellent, and I have yet to be flashed by ANY oncoming drivers unless I have my high beams on. Two of those conversions were factory projectors, and three are reflectors. I have yet to be disappointed with the results.

Edit: Actually, I've been disappointed both times that I put an HID into a *high beam* reflector housing. That doesn't include Bi-Xenons, where one bulb does both jobs via a solenoid in the bulb. Only when putting an HID into a dedicated "high beam" reflector housing.

 

Dave. That may be true for VFRs other than the 6th gen which has a four light system. I can speak from experience, maybe a dozen times, that from a cold start, like the first of the day, if you have your high beams turned on during start up, you are going to blow any fuse that is stock amperage. The current draw may be only slightly higher that running current, but with the four lights on, it is enough to blow the recommended amp fuse.

If you wait until the low beams warm up, then turn on the highs, or you have been running your highs and have just stopped for fuel and they are still warm, then you should be OK.

Such is the case with my Nova system anyways. Which for that matter, I am not impressed with. I have turned in on warranty, I think four ballasts for exchange.

 

There are more than one reason not to run power off of the OEM headlight wiring. The HID ballast is electrically a very noisy device. It is best to run the power directly to the battery away from OEM wiring looms where it might back feed RF and interfere with sensitive electronics. I have had installations where turning on the HID headlight while the car is ON would reset the dash computer display from the HID ballast noise. Do some research online and you'll see this is a common complaint. The headlight wiring usually runs into the main relay panel, right next to other relays and tapping into the same 12V supply as the rest of the bike's electricals (ECU, dash, etc.)

For this reason, I always run a separate ground wire directly back to the battery, or a major grounding point very near the battery.

Another reason is that bike and car mfrs often use the smallest gauge wire that will just carry the headlight current. They do this obviously to save weight (for good reason). The wiring can also be rather convoluted, since there are many other wires sharing the same loom and the aim is the least amount of wiring overall, not necessarily for a single device. This means, that quite often the voltage seen at the headlight bulb can be less than what the battery or alternator is putting out. Halogen bulb don't much care. Worst it would do is burn a bit less bright. The HID ballast OTOH is more sensitive to undervoltage.

Whichever HID kits you buy (mine are all ebay items), I highly recommend you bench test the system before installing into your bike/car. Do this with a 12V battery or a power supply that you know is good for many more amps than the HID needs. This way, you'll find out if the kit works and whether the problem is vehicle installation related or not.

Good luck.

 

I asked for experts and got more than I bargained for. :tongue:

All good info. Maybe not buying from EBay (the set I still have on the shelf is from EBay) is not such a bad idea?
I did a search and there are a number of Pilot dealers nearby. I'm not saying it's not Made In China but I rather spend a little (okay a lot) more money for some piece of mind. Returning any bad components wouldn't be a problem.

Gee I don't know, because it's Made In China perhaps? :smile:

Nah you can't really draw a distinct line. I have awesome stuff that proudly says Made In The USA but I have a Corbin too. You'd think it being so overweight and over-built it would last forever. It won't.
Welcome back, Dave!

 

Befbever, I find the Ebay HID kits vary in quality, loosely based on price, but not always. I would be willing to bet that all HID kits probably originated from China. You just buy from different resellers. All I can do is to study their ad pictures very closely (which are generally pretty representative of what you'll get) and buy ones with a relay harness I like and/or a ballast case similar to what I've had good luck with in the past. It's somewhat of a crapshoot, but it's better than paying premium at big name "brick and mortar" stores for essentially the same thing. Those guys might start with genuinely good products, but in time they'll sucumb to the profit margin temptation and sell you the same stuff you can get off ebay anyway.

 

Yeah I suppose you're right, Dave. A bit like the LED strips I've been searching for to put on my - Made In Taiwan/bought in Holland - bike lift. You either pay through the nose for an established brand from Germany or pay very very little for some other brand that is clearly made in China. So I'm just gonna wait. There's no guarantee the German brand doesn't have its components come from China anyway.

Important is that I can't write off LED strips. I can write off anything bike-related - not the lift, that'd be pushing it - so I don't mind paying a little extra if it saves me research. And in the case of this particular HID kit, I'm glad I did.

The cheap era is coming to an end anyway. As standards there rise, so will (and do) prices.