converting micro de fogs to hid, is it worth the money.

[rc mad]

I already have a hid low + high beam and they are great, the fogs look feeble and very yellow in comparison. I'd like to convert them over to hid but i'm not sure it's worth £250. The problem is that the dakar has no extra room up front to mount the ballasts, if i had the room up front i'd have gone on ebay and picked up a kit for £80.

Only place i can put the ballasts is near the back end of the bike which means a ballast with a built in starter (pretty much every kit on ebay) won't work as the distance between ballast and bulb is too great. This means i need a kit with a seperate starter / ballast, as the cable between the two can be anything upto a metre long. Trouble is i can't find any of those kits on ebay, I've only managed to find one company who can do the kit, with all the cables for £250, which ain't exactly cheap.

Has anyone converted the micro de's to fogs, Is the upgrade to hids on the fogs worth £250 of my hard earned money

 

[brassmonkey001]

How much light do you need? Maybe you'd be better spending the money on carrots instead.

Joking aside, where have you got your existing ballast(s) mounted? Under the beak?
I seem to recall someone sticking ballasts to the inside of the faux tank panels (perhaps on F650.com), might be worth considering.

 

[rc mad]

mmm carrots


i have one ballast above the relay box infront of the battery and one on the left of the frame between the oil tank and water tank, there's no room anywhre else.

 

[brassmonkey001]

If you can get hold of those smaller ballasts maybe they might fit under the headlight? I don't know how much smaller they are though, maybe not small enough.
I take it that you have the 'true' Bi-Xenon kit with separate ballasts for dip and main? Mine is the one that has a motor on the back of the bulb so only one ballast which is mounted above the clocks behind my GPS mount.
Have you looked at the TrailTech self contained HID lights? Spotlight or floodlight only, no fog available but a nice bit of kit.

 

[rc mad]

i have the dual headlight from touratech, two seperate bulbs and two seperate ballasts. I did try to fit the ballast for the low beam under the headlight, to close to the forks for comfort, if it were to move whilst riding it would stop the steering from turning.


I'm going to order the kit, damn the cost

 

[brassmonkey001]

Having had a look today, no I don't think they'd fit under there anyway unless they were really small.
I've just finished fitting my Micro DEs and you're right, they do look rather weedy and yellow compared to the HID headlight.

Have you seen this thread? Might be worth asking those involved if they've got anywhere. I've just emailed the American guy in the link I posted asking about prices and ballast size etc. so I'll see what he says.
Where are you ordering the kit from? Miight be worth hanging on a bit in case this American fella can come up with a kit for a better price.

 

[rc mad]

i'll let you know how i get on with the kit, probablly be the end of the week when i get it fitted.

 

[brassmonkey001]

You posted just as I was editing!

 

[rc mad]

I'm getting the kit from hids4u

 

[Psycho]

major health warning

Only place i can put the ballasts is near the back end of the bike which means a ballast with a built in starter (pretty much every kit on ebay) won't work as the distance between ballast and bulb is too great. This means i need a kit with a seperate starter / ballast, as the cable between the two can be anything upto a metre long.

warning warning warning

the rf energy given off by the cables is massive compared to your mobile phone the cables are kept short to stop them acting like an aerial ,which intensifies the energy transmission that is why the wire before the ballest is long but the one after is short it usally interferes with modern electronics on cars causing the air bags to go off,over reving , dials doing strange things even shutting some cars down when the lights are switched on

do not use bigger cables on a bike as it could result in a radiation hazard

ie you wouldnt put your bollocxx in a microwave ------- its your call

it could make you infertile or give you cancer !!!!!!!!!

warning warning warning

 

[rc mad]

I have been doing my research, helps to be an electrician as well

Don't quite know where you got the rf radiation from, A power cable does not emmit rf radiation, it generates a electromagnetic field (EMF)around it, which is generally harmless at domestic supply voltages. A mobile phone emmits rf radiation as it is essentially a radio transmitter. I blame the media, getting their wires crossed



Incidentally if running low voltage systems near high voltage systems you should always cross cables at 90 degrees, so the high voltage emf does not interfere with the low voltage system This is why the hids are interfering with systems in cars, partially the high voltage spike and partially the emf inducing voltages where there should be none, crappy sheilding on the car manufactures part imo, they should be able to accept external signals without affecting the cars electrics.



Anyway, i assume your thinking of the ballasts with the starter built in, ie most of the kits on ebay, in which case i'd agree with you, the leads are short for a reason, its more a electrical reason than a rf one tho.

The starter in all ballasts ramps up the voltage to a few kv then discharges it into the bulb, which once lit only needs around 100v to keep buring. The cable between the two (bulb and starter) has to be short because although the voltage is high there isn't much power to go along with it. Voltage cannot travel over long distances without a lot of power and you are not going to get a great deal of power from a 12vdc source.

The kit i am getting has a seperate ballast, a seperate starter and a bulb. The cable between the ballast and the starter is only carrying around 100 volts at all times, its going to be around 1 metre long. The cable between the starter and the bulb is a lot shorter as the starter kicks out a few kv for a short ammount of time at startup.

100 volts is not going to cause me any harm, I know there is some concern regarding overhead power lines but they are running at 400,000 volts, roughly 1600 times higher than domestic supply voltages. Imagine the emf that generates


The starter is going to be at the front of the bike, well away from the family jewels