Brighter light?

[GoGo Gadget]

Save your money and go with HID lights.

http://www.cqlight.ca/

 

This seems really cheap for an HID light and Ballast. Have you done business with this company before. How's the quality of their product. $99 for an H-7 Motorcycle set-up--Now that's cheap.

 

I hav not looked a HID kits in yearsas I recall, they were $500 or more back then. $99 is cheap.

[Heck]

Save your money and go with HID lights.

http://www.cqlight.ca/

 

This seems really cheap for an HID light and Ballast. Have you done business with this company before. How's the quality of their product. $99 for an H-7 Motorcycle set-up--Now that's cheap.

 

Just got mine installed last week- from Fashtek...$99 for the low beam kit for my RT....It takes about 3 seconds to light up completely from cold- an initial flash then from dim to bright. Haven't taken it out at night yet- started a Summer session class and dont have any spare time for the next 3 1/2 weeks..but the initial impression is very positive. I did the 4700k or 5000k kit and it does have a bit of a bluish tint to it....looks a little wierd with the yellow Cee Baileys headlight lense cover, but is ok. Kit you get is bare bones- as one other poster said "they don't spend much extra on packaging" but it is adequate and a good kit. Took a little bit of time to get it, but you can probably call and speed up the process if you want..

 

Fashtek--

[doc47]

Just a word here on more powerful lighting. The BMW bulb socket is barely adequate to handle the current of the standard lights. The ground tang is particularly bad in this respect although in truth, that may be because of the 6mm spade connector as much as the tang itself. I would avoid going to higher wattage bulbs.

____________________________________________________________

 

Ed, you are the first person I've seen mention this. The entire wiring harness on Marlene burned out after I installed a Phillips higher-wattage bulb. I've always wondered if that might have been the cause.

[Fugu]

Ed, you are the first person I've seen mention this. The entire wiring harness on Marlene burned out after I installed a Phillips higher-wattage bulb. I've always wondered if that might have been the cause.

 

PO of one of my BMW bikes cautioned me about the same thing - a dealer put in some 100watt low beam and melted the wiring. The headlight had a smoke haze inside it as a result (that I cleaned up w/ thinner on a rag on the end of a piece of coathanger wire through the hole). From the repair it looked like the wiring all melted at the headlamp plug- they had to solder and shrinkwrap on a new plug and the last couple inches of wiring.

[HandyAndy]

I finally got around to installing the HID bulb on the high beam of my RT. I took the power right from the stock bulb socket.

Now I finally have a high beam that works well! Only takes about two seconds to get to full brightness, and even quicker if the bulb is already warm.

The stock wiring seems to handel the startup current just fine and no bulb failure warning problems.

The light output is amazing! I have a 5000k bulb so it has a slight blue tint to the light.

I would love to have HID low beams as well, but the brightness of the HID compared to the H7's when you look at the bike from the front is crazy, the H7's look dim!

I would think that the HID low beams would blind oncoming cars.

 

Andy.

[OoPEZoO]

I would think that the HID low beams would blind oncoming cars.

 

Andy.

 

They won't blind oncomming traffic if you spend a few minutes to adjust them properly after the install. I've been riding with my HID setup for over 2 years and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.

[velomoto]

They won't blind oncomming traffic if you spend a few minutes to adjust them properly after the install. I've been riding with my HID setup for over 2 years and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.

The one problem not mentioned is that the angle of the light changes with the loading on the bike. So if one adjusts the HID's properly for one-up riding they'll blind oncoming traffic if riding two-up and/or fully loaded bags. Hence the reason most (all?) vehicles with factory HID's also have some sort of adjustment (manual or auto).

 

If OTOH one adjusts the beams properly with the bike fully loaded, then they will have VERY limited range when riding one-up. The sharp cut-off (highly focused beam) of HID's make adjustment much more critical than with halogen's.

[OoPEZoO]

They won't blind oncomming traffic if you spend a few minutes to adjust them properly after the install. I've been riding with my HID setup for over 2 years and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.

The one problem not mentioned is that the angle of the light changes with the loading on the bike. So if one adjusts the HID's properly for one-up riding they'll blind oncoming traffic if riding two-up and/or fully loaded bags. Hence the reason most (all?) vehicles with factory HID's also have some sort of adjustment (manual or auto).

 

If OTOH one adjusts the beams properly with the bike fully loaded, then they will have VERY limited range when riding one-up. The sharp cut-off (highly focused beam) of HID's make adjustment much more critical than with halogen's.

 

Thats why you properly adjust your headlight for your load. Kind of like setting up your suspension properly, and checking your tire pressures. Its all in the same bag.

 

Regardless.......its not that hard to find a happy medium that works fine for all situations. I haven't had to mess with mine at all......doesn't matter if I'm full 2-up touring, or just commuting by myself.

[Chris Macbeth]

Question regarding HID installation on R1150RT:

I just bought some Fashtek HID lights for both high, low and fog beams. Have any of you installed these, and is it necessary to use a relay (main power wired to battery and switched using the OEM lighting wires as signal to relay)? I'd rather avoid doing that, if possible. My preference is to simply plug them in to the existing wiring, but I don't want to frag any wires. I can do all the relay wiring and stuff, just trying to keep it simple...

 

I cannot seem to find any fuse(s) for the headlights. The manual says there is a 15A fuse for the fog lights but nothing's listed for the headlights. Am I missing anything here? (just taking another approach to trying to determine the ampacity of the OEM wiring/circuitry).

 

BTW, I have a 2002 R1150RT.

 

Thanks much in advance!

[Chris Macbeth]

I answered my own question this weekend: yes, it seems to. The maximum load with all 4 HIDs wired in was 250W, which is only ~14% above OEM (220W) and this was only during startup of the lamps. After they warmed up (~2 sec) the wattage dropped to ~200, or -10% from OEM. So... it should all work.

 

The high beam was a total PITA to install with that goofy holder they put on these things (1150RT). It took way too long to do and it took a LOT of custom work to make my own holder. But, the amount of light I now have is huge. And I did not get flashed at all on my first ride last night.

 

Time will tell on all this, though. If it remains like last night (all working fine and no flashing), then the inordinate amount of work to install a supposedly "Plug and Play" will be worth it. In truth, it was "Plug and then Play: prototype custom machinist..."

 

Thanks for the previous posts, it helped get me going.

[Rottweiler]

For those that installed the Fashtek H7 low beam I have a few questions. As you know the install manual was translated from some other language into almost english and it just plain sucks. I've been in the electronics industry for over 30 years and I'm not sure what to do. Is the blue wire the positive and the black wire negative? Also, the bulb comes in a protective clear plastic bottle, do I need to cut off the top of this bottle? And finally, why do the power wires go throught the rubber gasket toward the bulb, will this make sense when I do the install? I thought this was going to be easy NOT!