Recently I rectified a low beam headlamp deficiency and replaced my 5yr old HID's. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674324 Could I leave well enough alone? Heck no! I had a set of 6" PIAA driving lights collecting dust so I decided to convert them to 5000k HID and use them on the bike for long distance road trips and such. I got the HID kit on ebay for $35. Xentec HID I drilled a 3/4" hole in the back of each PIAA case through which the bases of the H3 HID bulbs and wires could protrude. Then I modified pvc pipe caps to run the wires and cover the holes. The reflectors are so close to the outer shells I couldn't risk using sheet metal screws, hence the 6-32 stainless bolts with threaded nylon spacers. I'll paint them black someday. They look mighty funny I know but I don't care. I don't have to leave 'em mounted full time. How do they work? OMG, they're unbelievable! The fog lights are next. I bought a set of Hella Optilux 1100 and ordered another HID kit. I'll post more when it's done. Stay tuned!
When it absolutely, positvely has to be incinerated instantly... Nice work! I ran 35 watt HID's in a set of Hella FF50's and generated over 1/2 a mile of useable light. Currently running 110 watt bulbs in a set of IPF 968's slaved to a 35 watt HID main beam. I got tired of the warm-up effect of HID's. I do like the look of the 6" dishes. Expect fuel economy to suffer somewhat.
Yeah I can obliterate bugs before they get near my shield! : Wow, 110 watt halogen is great if you've got the juice to run 'em. I just replaced my 5yr old HID high and low beams. Ballasts would fail to start and even wink off occasionaly. The new ones seem to start quicker.
Interesting! Can you tell us more about that? How hard was the conversion - did the back end of the capsule fit inside the FF50 housing? How did you run the HID wiring out of the FF50 housing? How did the HID light source work with the FF50 beam pattern? Got any pictures? I have thought about converting a pair of PIAA 910's to HID, but have heard that it's not a happy marriage. The 910 has a nice, tight, rectangular beam pattern, but evidently the reflector and lens don't work that well with an H3 HID capsule.
Holly crap dude. Can you say 'close encounters of the third kind' Someone's going to crap their pants when you pull up behind them...
They're all done. . . . . I painted the caps and sealed them with black silicone. . . . . . . looks kinda like the real thing, huh.
Brackets: Never ever ever throw away a piece of metal with holes in it. It'll come in handy someday. I replaced my garage door opener a while back and I kept all the hardware from the old one. I used this great piece of 1" x 1/4" flatbar. I chucked it up in the vise and twisted it to the proper angle. That's it. The vibration is minimal and the brackets spaced my mirrors out just enough to make a noticeable difference. I still have to dress the edges a little and paint them. The lights will only be on the bike for road trips but the brackets can stay there permanently.
Well, the HID conversion was easy enough. IIRC, I had to dremel the hole in the back just a bit bigger for the wires but other than that it was pretty easy. Sad to say, no real beamshots at all. The lights were blindingly awesome...so much so that reflected light from road signs was instantly blinding and hitting the switch on them effectively let me riding blind at night. The worst (best?) part was getting flashed by trucks at over 5 miles distance. That, and the warm up time (15-20 seconds to achieve max brightness) made for difficult use. It was such brutal over kill I had to go back to halogens. If you click the "2007" in my sig line you can see the one and only pic I have of them lit. It's pretty self explanatory...
Here's what a buddy on another forum did with his FF50's. http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16464
Brutal overkill. Agreed. My PIAA's were already pretty brutal with their proprietary 85w super white bulbs but I was afraid my little bike didn't have enough juice. I didn't want to have choose between light and the warmth of my heated gloves, etc. No plans to gunning down truckers either. :eek1 I'll probably only load these lazer cannons 3 or 4 times a year. Easter weekend I'm planning an iron butt ride to Denver which will involve several hours through wooded areas at night. I want to see and scare the shit out of BAMBI!
