(Part 1 ... https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=31030)

Ok, I'm not going to spend $350 - $400+ to get good lighting on a bike that cost $4100. (though that's still cheaper than an ambulance ride or trip to emergency room)

So let's see if the DDM system and KLX's headlight housing/reflector could be mated successfully. Worst case I spent $75 and end up with a funny looking bulb, some boxes and wires I could use to temporarily (more like permanently - see caution below!) blind unsuspecting riding buddies when they came over.

CAUTION: Joking aside guys & gals. The arc in an HID bulb is essentially the same as that from a MIG/TIG welder = use extreme caution or permanent eye damage can result

Before I went through the time and trouble of trying to find room for various components, fabricating widgets and shedding blood (no project is a success unless blood is shed) first order of business was to remove the headlight housing and ...

Compare halogen vs HID bulbs: beam pattern, light fall-off and intensity to see how compatible/effective the DDM bulb and KLX headlight housing might be ... or might NOT be?

I inserted each bulb into the housing, then photographed high/low beams against a white wall about 10 ft away. Camera exposure was set manually then not changed.

First Impression? ... 4500 Lumens of "sunlight white" light is intense!

Drooled over the HID beam on the wall for a few seconds then turned the light off ... world suddenly went dimmer, much dimmer ... no freakin' sh*t.

Just the reflection off the wall that close overwhelmed unprotected eyes. Lesson learned ... see Caution above!

I then took images into Photoshop CS3, did some image manipulation. Here's what images showed:

Low Beams:


High Beams:



HID beams ...
A) Wider, even at 10ft distance

B) Whiter throughout the pattern, dropping off to "shades of whites (i.e. gray)" vs halogen's "shades of yellow (i.e. brown)"

C) BRIGHTER (major understatement)

D) Pattern changes (though it looked for the better, not worse ... hopefully)

Added bonuses appeared to be ... "center hump" in the low beam pattern, that little extra "droop" at bottom of high beam pattern.

Despite it being 9pm and temp's in the 30's (F) I bolted the HID/Housing combo back on the bike, hastily zip tied and duct-taped various components where they lay and took off for a long, straight, very dark road that had occasional traffic a couple blocks from my house

WOW-WOW-WOW

Low beam was now 4 lanes wide (seriously) and reached out as far as stock halogen high beam .. only brighter! Adjusted low beam down to avoid oncoming drivers hitting me head on due to blinding light. When oncoming drivers quit flashing their brights and swerving all over the road I called it good, then did a few passes with the high beam on.

Did I already say WOW-WOW-WOW?

I hoped to have some "side-by-side, "on-the-road" comparison photo's between my HID and my buddy's 09 KLX250 stock halogen for this post ... but he's a weenie and I can't drive two bikes at once.

So unless I:

1. Had to cut the bike frame in half ... this was looking really good.

2. Couldn't find suitable locations for 3 relatively compact boxes (control, ballast, ignitor) ... this was looking really good.

3. Forgot to disconnect battery prior to install, zapped and keeled over dead from a live ignitor (around 30,000 volts. "but the amperage is low" ... sure, you try it first smarty pants) ... this was looking really good.

Part 3 ... Let The Installation Begin

 

Good luck, man. Looks like the upper cut-off isn't very good, which is why you were dazzling the on-coming cars. Ideally you should have a very pronounched cut-off line at the top of the beam. It probably still isn't very easy on the oncoming traffic even after you adjusted downward. I think your fixture is better suited to HID than the 2006/7, but there's still no substitute for HID projectors. Too bad nobody is offering them aftermarket for motorcycles.

 

Looks good and sounds like good thing, but from my experence with HID in diveing lights they are more sensitive to shock and jarring than halogens. I think all the bulbs were made by welch allan.

I definatly agree stock light can be improved on. I was thinking HID but then remembered often haveing my HID light go outafter I shot a fish and let the light drop to hang by the wrist lanyard while I dealt with said fish. Also bought many expensive replacment bulbs from light or light head being dropped while on. On that note I decided the HID may not be best thing for offroad use. The last thing I want to do is ruin a bulb and have to sort my way out of the bush on ambient light.

However technoligy developements may have solved these issues in the time since I fired all my HID lights. I would like to hear how yours holds up the jarring vibrations and shocks.

Do they use these in baja night racers?

In the diveing world we have some pretty serious LED lights that rivel HID and are virtualy bulletproof. Since LEDs have good power consumption to light ratios I would prefer LED. However the drawback to the LEDS we use in SCUBA is that they work better undderwater than on land becuase the cooling effect of the water allows more heat and light producing current. Since I would expect the headlight to be out of the water pretty much 99% of the time the LED light heads we use underwater will never reach full potential.

I definatly want better light on my bike so I will follow yoru thread with interest. Light upgrade is a ways down the road for me after some other more important to me upgrades like kickstart and proper springs.
Cheers, Jim

 

After I adjusted the light down a few times NO oncoming cars were flashing me, so I feel pretty OK with that. The "hump" in the low beam is mostly confined to the road in front of me, not 100%, but mostly. Light spillage outside the "core patterns" is there, but not as intense as the processed images posted might lead one to believe.

Manufacturers of ALL street-capable bikes should be using HID technology, reflector designs right off the show room floor! Price has dropped dramatically, reliability is up, size is down etc. They probably save $5 a bike using the same old halogen crap ... then again we (the customers) aren't making much noise about it either. So why would they change?

 

The newer generation bulbs have much improved durability, even the cheapo ones. That said, time will tell.

HID lighting has been "Baja Racing" must have equipment for quite a while. For them size of reflector is no big deal and you can get some whopping big ones ... hmm ... a KLX250 with 3 8" HID lights mounted to the handlebars would be quite macho looking eh?

There are some very bright new-gen LED light-bars out there intended for off-road vehicles ... they are physically huge and price tags to match. Hopefully LED technology will continue to progress as well, and size/price will go down.

Even if I get halogen bulb life out the HID bulb, I'll be a happy camper considering the miserly cost compared to PIAA, Trailtech, Baja Designs etc.

Re. HID bulb/system failure and driving in the dark ... From "Part 1" of this series ... ""Plan B" = put stock halogen bulb back in ... "Plan C" = use small round aux. driving light (auto store cheapo unit, mounted on bike, wires run but not connected) and lastly ... "Plan D" = LED hiking "headlamp" stored in tool kit.

The stock halogen bulb is safely stowed on bike, can revert back to in 10-15 minutes on the trail.

 

I did a DIY HID upgrade on my KTM last fall and it's been over a year and is still working fine. It's been through some of the harshest treatment any bike can go through too, in terms of vibration and environmental extremes - from cold and wet, to boiling hot, dry and dusty, and high vibration and hard shocks. Most of these from several hare scrambles on beat up courses that feel like it is going to shake your fillings loose. Here's my install, I think I posted these here before somewhere:







Point is, I wouldn't worry too much about the bulb failing. My install has been solid and reliable. It does add considerable weight, though, and it's up high which is worse than if carried down low. Not sure I really notice it though, but knowing it's there and heavier than stock bugs me a little. But the light it puts out is like daylight compared to the weak stock bulb (in the ktm). The downside of going this route is that the reflector is not designed for a HID bulb, and thus the beam will not be as good as it could be with a purpose built reflector. I've heard the TrailTech X2 is nothing short of beautiful in terms of beam output. Too rich for my blood, though. Going that route required substantial monetary outlay to upgrade my stator to higher output, that's even before the $375 for the light. So like you, I went el-cheapo with el-cheapo (but acceptable) results.

 

Excellent Nice you had room to cram all that stuff right into the headlight housing. If you don't need high/low beams, that eliminates the largest "box" in the DDM system. The one that interfaces with the bike's headlight switching electricals.

True ... PIAA's, Hella's, Trailtech's have very nice beam patterns, but ya' have to choose "Spot" or "Flood" or "Mount One Of Each", anyway you cut it they're pricey - overpriced IMO.

For off-roading no high & low beam is not as big a deal as when you may/will be riding some long stretches of asphalt on the way to the fun stuff.

Unfortunately, the "pure off-road enduro" bikes (like my Yam WR400 and Kawi KLX300) with 35W lighting systems had even less optimal (ok, crappy) reflectors, then throw in low output alternators.

I suppose, for once, we can thank DOT reg's for requiring a little better lighting and higher output alternators on these showroom floor street-legal KLX250's

 

That's the same situation with my KTM, '07 EXC which is street legal off the floor and thus DOT headlight. The HID kit I installed is hi/lo beam (bi-xenon).

Good luck with your install. I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I know mine throws out a whole lot more light over stock, at about the same power consumption. I'm pretty happy with it, and only a few minor caveats.