City Slicker
Guest
This has been my pet project for a couple of months now. The intention was to develop something that you guys would want to buy as a kit.
Let me start by saying that HID lights are VERY expensive for what they are. But there is no doubt that the light output is amazing.
I chose the Hella DE Xenon lights, mainly because they were the only aftermarket units distributed directly from the manufacturer in the UK.
The ballasts are a different size and shape from the Xenarc (slightly larger) and the length of the HT lead is 10cm shorter, and the bulbs colour temp is 4100K compared to the Sylvania Xenarcs at 5400K. (see Syvania's Site and Hella's Site ).
The good news though is that these lights kick out 3,200 ANSI Lumens, compared to Xenarc's 2,600 and the standard halogen bulb which is less than 1,000.
The desigh of the reflector wasn't a big factor, although I would mention that these are driving lights as oposed to auxilliary low beam lights and as such the beam pattern goes everywhere and is disturbingly bright. Just what the doctor ordered to wake up the cagers, but I'm not sure too happy they will be.
The main issue as I saw it was where to put the ballasts for 2 HID lights. Pretty early on I decided that it would have to be under the beak because the cables on the units are only 40cm long.
My solution was a bracket for the lights and ballasts together under the beak. Several cardboad cutouts later I finally submitted my design in Autocad to a friendly metal fabricator and the resulting bracket was laser cut from 3mm stainless.
Having already determined hole positions it was great watching a finished unit being lasered in one step. The bend was added at the final stage.
I would have liked to have it made using 5mm aluminium (or Titanium!) but this requires water cutting and I never found a company to work with at short notice.
Having already completed a wiring loom, basically adapted and shortened from the loom supplied with the HID lamp kit, it took me about 1/2 hour to assemble the components on the bracket and about an hour to install and wire up the unit. An extra finishing touch was the addtion of thumbknobs to adjust the beam setting up or down to accomodate varying bike loads.
The one major addition to the wiring loom was the inclusion of a 3-way switch which controls which 'sensor' wire triggers the light relay. I now have the choice whether the lights activate on main beam, dipped beam or side lights depending upon which position its set to.
That's it. The photos tell the rest of the story.
A byproduct of all this was the design of a very effective and stable lighting bar. With the section that the ballasts are attached to in the photos removed or possibly modified for other equipment it makes an ideal alternative to the light bars like the Zan-Z-Bar.
Get in contact if you have an interest in this.
. Cheers, Geoff
