I do a lot of night riding and have been looking at this xenon kit, can any guru's forsee any problems ?? has anybody already done this ??

http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-hid-xenon-conversions.html

The alternative obviously is the beaver power kit with a 100watt bulb but by the time Ive done that Im half way to paying for the xenon job

any comments really appreciated

thanks

I simply use a 100/130 H4 globe and this not only gives me heaps of extra night time vision but in fact does not heat up too much 'as advertised', and costs less than AU$15.00 at my neighbourhood parts supply shop. I keep a spare at that price.

You would, of course, have to buy the other 'kit' because our bikes use a single low/high H4 globe. But otherwise Xenon is excellent on bikes that come with it or have had it fitted. Also, note their 'mechanical' disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. They're speaking of possibly having to file the reflector to accept whatever method they use to fit their globe into our housing, which uses a wire bale. Hiding the rest of the kit in the fairing should be relatively easy for a person of moderate mechanical initiative and skill. Let us know how you go.

I looked into this a while ago and decided that the relays and a good quality conventional Xenon bulb was a better choice.
Because the K uses an H4 type bulb it seems to be a bit of a compromise regarding switching from dip to high beam and have heard of the moving parts sticking. Decided it was not worth the bother. You can source the componants for the relay conversion in the UK yourself.
On your own ideas, I'm sure you know that 100w bulbs are illegal in the UK. HID Xenon conversions are also a gray legal area in the UK. Cars that use HID must have a headlight wash/wipe facility and a leveling mechanism. It is also believed that the design of the headlight lens may cause glare because it is not designed for HID. Something to do with the position of the light source. All very boring isn't it. I liked the idea myself.
What about a good Xenon headlight and a couple of additional spotlights?

Hi Redcastle,
First up if you fit a Xenon HID light to your K you will make it very vulnerable to a failed MOT because the bike headlight was not made for HID and consequently the light pattern is not correct. Now I know you will find a host of people who say they have done it and it is perfect and it may well be but to the bureaucratic mind of an MOT tester if they spot non standard retrofit HID you are likely to be failed on the spot.

Also the Government Tax Collectors (as most Police forces have morphed into) will be able to tell at a glance at night because of the colour and intensity of your headlight will stand out and almost certainly the Exchequer till will be ringing with you donation and they could if they are feeling particularly liverish classify the lighting as causing a hazard to others and force you to stop by the road and get the bike picked up by a recovery vehicle, (not likely but definitely a possibility).

The sage advice of TWB above is really on the money, I have done this and the light output is excellent and if you put in one of the Eastern Beaver excellent relay kits in as well before the powerful bulb it will help preserve the handlebar switches and will ensure maximum output from the headlamp. A lot of the areas TWB rides are literally hundreds of miles from the nearest street light.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Thanks for the replies everyone,
Ive ordered the eastern beaver relay kit and will upgrade the bulb. I'm going to see how that improves things and hopefully it will all be good.
If it's still a bit dim I may well look at a couple of running lamps but wont be bothering with the xenon for the main headlamp.

thanks again particularly for the info on the legislation in the UK, I must say I wasn't aware it was so complicated

red

It is all due to specific lights being type approved for specific countries with specific lighting technology and if you fall foul of a tax collector with a bee in their bonnet about HID light kits its bad luck (a pal of mine did) and he got done over.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Hi to all!

I was thinking install a Bi-xenon Kit in my K100RS because i don´t feel safe running at night with their light.

But after reading your opinions i´m thinking twice!

Can you explain what are that relays kit to upgrade the bulb kit? Can we do it easily?

Whats the meaning of MOT ("First up if you fit a Xenon
HID light to your K you will make it very vulnerable to a failed MOT
because the bike headlight was not made for HID and consequently the
light pattern is not correct.")?

Thank you,

Good curves

I picked up a relay kit and a Osram 65/70 H4 bulb and will try and post results in the resto forum when I get the ol girl back on the road.
TWB is that wattage you're running legal down under and any issues with heat buildup?

OG

MOT is a Pommie (UK) vehicle roadworthy inspection and you might not be subjected to that, Abbo. I have never had heat issues with any high output headlight globe (used on all of my motorbikes), but I understand people's concern for the load on the switch. It's been in there for 16 months with nothing but illumination for feedback. I can only say my praise for it is glowing.

hi guys ,

there is lots of interesting options for headlights these days ....from the "standard" halogen ,over wattage types (old school tech) the the newer "k" temperature rated globes ,,,notably the "warm whites", right through to the "ultra blue" types and of corse the praised xenon -hid types .
often these "newer" globes have a great affect to optical clarity (or apparently so ) over standard type globes on the market..

basically these newer types of globes are mixed with different rare gasses and coated fillaments to allow a higher frequency light which is further filtered in the glass envelope to emit a different concentration of the spectum of light that it projects out of the source and to the road ..

but beware ..look for uv-stabilized types in our application of the k series of bikes ....we have a basically, artificially chromed plastic mirror to reflect the light source in the concentration that works reasonably well (aparently the hight fequencys of the ultar blue spectrum penetrate the reflector material causing accelerated aging and heating of the base materials ending in pitting and corrosion of the plastics .)...of corse after driving a car with more than double the concentration of light in the important directions we find that the lighting from our toys is somewhat lacking ...maybe .
it could be that were all getting older and our eyesight isnt as keen as when we were 20 something .
but maybe time has marched on and we refuse to put up with poor lighting ....ever ridden a 60s ducati .or a lambretta ..honestly you could concider those head lamps as candle power .

i remember my first "relay solution" . back in those days (70s) there was quite an effective difference to be acheived , meaning that there was quite some voltage drop between the ignition switch and the headlamps (around 2 volts in many cases , especially if you wired directly from the altenator to the relay). it really is quite remarkable the difference between a globe that has "halogised" (hit the knee curve of excitation ) and one that is just under that effect , both in colour and output .


these days manufacturers since the late 80s at least, have woken up to this fact and have installed in most cases a relay positioned close to the actual lights , with a good sized feed of wire to reduce these losses ,

there is all sorts of physics involved in these new design globes,including the properties of the mix of rare gasses that the coating of the element of the filament that excites into light producing energy (and heat ) and the new light filters . unfortunatly many cheepie manufacturers cant get their rare gasses purity right and early discoration of the internals of globes results.

simply, hid techknology excites more of the gasses within the envelope as to appear that the whole globe is illuminated rather than a fillament alone (as in arc type welding ). which in turn changes the reference point from which the reflector design has been created for , they often appear to be a whole reflector full of "full on" light emission and obvoiusly more light escapes to the road and everywhere else ...lol .

i have used many of these techs , many claiming to offer 50 % percent and more light output .the xennon being 300% claimed .

after playing with a few different types i have settled on the warm white -blue white ones which are claimed to output a k rating in the range of 4000- 5300 deg kelvin ...a nice white for me .which seems to work well in our aussie enviroment ....dark roads , highlighted white road markings ,edges and not much rain ...erm all the time .

i guess for many other folks driving in snow or rain these types would not be "kind" to the driver as the reflection of light back at the driver from rain and or snow would be amazingly increased.

and obviously the higher that "k" rating the effect of reflection would be more pronounced ,i guess thats why lower k temp lamps were concidered for fog applications , and why sodium vapour street lighting is a verry important road safety requirement , as yellow and colours more aproching the red scale penetrate through small reflective particles more readily .

for me, a bonus reason for selecting this type is that you can often find them "on special" woohoo .....so for me $29.00 is more than acceptable ...grin.... for 2x h4 globes that really do make a difference .
well to my eyes anyhow to me they appear to have the same power as a halogen 80-100 watt but a more perceptable bluish tinge, white light flood.... and still legal .

cant wait for single 40-50 watt led lighting to be developed and made affordable for the masses ....sweet idea ....light without so much heating affect ...amazing

but still interested to see if members have installed the hid solution and what feedback there is .

Hi abbocath,
The original questioner is in the UK and subject to the MOT tests for his bike, here in NZ we have to have a six monthly test and using an HID setup would invite a problem with the tester.

I have found as TWB says fitting a more powerful bulb 100/130 with a ceramic holder as supplied by Jim at Eastern Beaver the lights are excellent and no problems with the Tax Collectors because the headlight on the bike produces a well controlled light pattern with little offensive glare to cause angst in their tiny cash collecting brains.

There is no doubt that with the correct purpose designed (not a converted from conventional one) headlight HID works well when warmed up but don't expect to be able to flash the headlight at anyone unless it is on already, since HID takes time to warm up which is why on quite a few cars the main beam is conventional and only the dipped is HID.

The other side benefit of the Eastern Beaver headlight kit is that the load on the switches is reduced to relay control signal level only and the problems with burnt out switches goes away. http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

Regards,
K-BIKE