Hid bulbs
 

hi, I bought my bike, XT660Z, with Hid bulbs and ballasts already fitted. Totally unhappy with them. The dip is very bright but dazzles all other road users. Main beam takes too long to reach full power and you ride for 3 seconds in total darkness. I have contacted the company who fitted the units and they say all is normal, don't worry about the 3 seconds delay, just use dip! Am taking the units off and replacing originals with good quality halogen bulbs. Anyone else experienced the same problems.

Don't get me started on HIDs. :rant2:

I'm not a fan of them either. To me the disadvantages massively outway the advantages, especially with retro-fit ones.

Despite retro fit HIDs on cars being an MOT fail, it still astounds me how many boy-racers there are spraying light randomly in all directions on the roads dazzling and annoying other drivers! The focal point of standard lamp lens/reflector is all wrong for HIDs; you need purpose designed optics for an HID lamp as the arc is brighter at each end as opposed to a filament bulb which is brightest in the centre. Few people realise that the vast majority of the extra light you get from an HID is wasted as scatter when fitted in a standard headlight shell? Yeah, they "look" brighter, but that's just an optical illusion because the light isn't focused and they are generally higher colour temperatures.

Even with OE HIDs there are problems with scatter and they are practically useless in fog and rain as half the light just bounces back into your face and you end up dazzling yourself!

Add to that the fact that if a ballast or lamp unit fails on your travels - you're fooked. You can pick up an H7 bulb for a few quid just about anywhere you are in the world. Not so easy trying to find HID spares on the road/trail!

:rant:

If you did to keep them, then you can alleviate the temporary darkness when selecting main beam by bridging the wiring between dip and main in the headlamp loom so that dip stays on when main is activated.

I actually fin thed low beam pretty good on the tenere, buth high is awfull.

I would also warn against fitting anything but standard H7 halogen in the low beam because of the scatter.

If the high beam is ok (except the delay) consider wiring it as suggested so that the low beam stays on.

I have standard bulbs in mine but the high beam needs some work... I've ordered a pair of 2" square 10W 8 degree LED ( I've chosen cheap copies of visionx 2" solstice ) - I'll probably also try replacing the H7 halogen with a 20W H7 LED which is supposed to put out 2500 lumen. Don't expect that to be better than the 55W halogen, but the combined draw with the pods is then only 40W - This time of year i'm riding with heated grips and are very much aware of how much power the acesserories draw ...