HID Conversion?

[Dabomb]

Hey fellow minriders.

for those of you who find the Motovert RX headlight too dull at night, im gunna look into fitting a H4 HID into the headlight with hi and low beam.
for use who do not no what HID is, ever seen a new mercedes with really bright headlights? well thats them.

i Fittted and ran a H4 halogen on the weekend and it was nice, thinking of running 8000k or 10,000k for the colour.

the motoverts run a crappy ba20d which looks like a brake light globe from a car.
im thinking of gluing in the new h4 globe with a hot glue gun and bending the prongs back so they push out against the headlight to assist with mounting!

any of you guys got any tips on how to convert the mount to a H4?

 

[tormentandglory]

I'll be very surprised if you can get the required current out of the pissy charge circuit/battery on these bikes. I've played around with headlights on mini's quite a bit. Luxeon LED's are the go.

 

[Poulsen8r]

I'll be very surprised if you can get the required current out of the pissy charge circuit/battery on these bikes. I've played around with headlights on mini's quite a bit. Luxeon LED's are the go.

Lol... if it has the current to turn over a starter motor i'm pretty sure it has the current to run a HID. Have you looked at just a H3 HID? i know lightforce sells a conversion kit for $220. The H3 bulb will most likely be easier to fit and wire aswell.

 

[spoonta68]

only bike kits will fit and finding a kit thats priced nicely will be a hassle
ive ran 12000k hid on my zx6r and it is the bomb but as i said good luck finding a single globe unit under 200

 

[Dabomb]

yeah i didnt think current would be a problem, the HID is 35watt, but that is in output power and they claim to be fairly efficient so should be right.

i bought a h4 kit lastnite with hi/lo beam on 8000k for $160, gonna use 1 globe of the dual setup.

i should be able to rig the other side of the dual setup so i can use both sides, 1 for another bike.

could of used H3 but my cars H4 and uses the same color globes so ye.

the higher the colour temp, the lower the light output, 8000k gives that cool blue look, white with a hint of blue.

 

[tormentandglory]

The alternator won't keep up with a 35watt drain. Running off the battery, it'll work beautifully until it goes flat, but the alternator wont be able to keep up and very soon you will have no electrics and a popped regulator/rectifier. I've been down this road before...

 

[tormentandglory]

I got a single globe HID kit off egay for $80 including post about a year ago. Its really good, it has hi/lo beam (electromagnet moves globe around behind reflector for different beam) and is super bright. I've been using it on my TRX850 with no trouble. The mini didn't like it one bit.

 

[Dabomb]

will hold you to it! how long did it last with you and what bike and battery?

 

[tormentandglory]

I was using a stock chinga charge circuit with a 2.9Ah lead acid battery. Now I've changed to the lifan outer rotor system. I had to rewire it to get 2 output wires instead of 1.

Jaycar electronis sells 1watt, 3watt and 5watt luxeon leds. They're pricey but they are also bulls**t bright and very small. With a bit of tinkering they'll fit in a minibike headlight without any trouble. I have 2 LEDs in my z50 headlight, 1 on for low beam and both on for high beam. I only used the 1watt modules because I'm cheap, but they're still 50 times better than a stock z50 headlight and they use far less power.

 

[Dabomb]

i see, will look into the leds, do leds have the same if not better range of a halogen?

 

[tormentandglory]

Hard to say... On a big bike halogens might be better, but you don't have 60watts continuous current on a mini. My bike has 2watts of LED light on it and its good. If you used 2x 5watt LEDs I think you'd be shocked at how much light you'll get and it would still be drawing less power than the original headlight globe.

 

[Dabomb]

hmm what the 5 watt globes worth?

 

[Dabomb]

F&$^ LEDS & INCANDESCENT!!! HID ALL THE WAY!



Ok got the hid in, wired both the high beam and low beam on the bikes loom to the active from the ballast to lower resistance and half the current on a single wire.

it would run without the engine for about 10 seconds then die, this is due to the 6A start up current.

with the engine running, a lil bit of rpm will get it passed the ballast's start up sequence and will continue to run normally on idle with no fluctuations!

Things are looking up, even with the standard chinga battery!

And to mention the light output, its KEN BRIGHT 8000K!

 

[ash.onmtb]

plenty of info in MTB circles on making LED gear, but its all battery related as there isn't any form of charging on a mtb of course. Still, we're talking 4 hours runtime on a setup (sometimes twin lights) of 1000lumen which is a crapload of light.

I run a nightlightning setup which is great, and also have a vicious HID (no longer available) but its all bolt on battery stuff...

LEd style - a cree 6w lamp seems to be pretty generic and good, but nothing beats HID (yet). I'm sure the creative ones here could work something out?! I wonder how I could get enough charge to keep a set of HID running...!? hmmm, coz some cutouts in the front plate would be pretty cool to mount some lights...

 

[Dabomb]

ive takin it around town at night, no dramas!

 

[exquisit]

I got a single globe HID kit off egay for $80 including post about a year ago. Its really good, it has hi/lo beam (electromagnet moves globe around behind reflector for different beam) and is super bright. I've been using it on my TRX850 with no trouble. The mini didn't like it one bit.

got a link or more info on this?
thanks

 

[exquisit]

dabomb: let us know how it goes after a long ride at night mate!wana c if it running on battery of if there is enough juice to run it properly

 

[Dabomb]

hey bruv,

went for 20min ride held up good, no fluctuations, Awsome!

 

[exquisit]

nice work!
keep us updated!
=)
would you happen to know the wattage of the original bulbs?
i was thinking of retro fiting foglights as headlights and then doing a hid conversion on them

 

[Dabomb]

the standard BA20D's are 35w and the ballast claim they are 35w but are higher around 40-50 running and 60-70w on start up.

wont be able to run 2x HID foglights, but 1 u can, what bike do you have?