DOUBLE HID INSTALL

[Mr K]

Love the black GS......

Would it be easier to eat more carrots?

 

[ippokratis]

Ari, when you say under the tank, where exactly do you mean. towards the front, back side?
There is always the space under the seat under the tool kit...this box is removable

 

[Searanger]

Ari -Great pics and I like your screen - is it a cut-down/tint job or purchased?

 

[ari]

Ari -Great pics and I like your screen - is it a cut-down/tint job or purchased?

Did it myself

 

[ari]

Ari, when you say under the tank, where exactly do you mean. towards the front, back side?
There is always the space under the seat under the tool kit...this box is removable

one is on the right side of the tank, attached to the frame the other is close to the horn, can't put them all the way back by the tools, the cables are not long enough, remenber i'm using OEM for the aux lights the cables fromes those Hella ballast are all the same size, even the H7 kit for the headlights dosen't have long cables.

 

[DCB]

Very interesting, but... what would be even more interesting is if you could ride your bike out onto a pitch-black road, then take a pictures seen from the riders perspective; starting with original lights (main/low but this would probably require you to change bulbs, so forget about that)
and then gradually switch on more lights and show all the light combinations.

This would give me an impression of the differences with the different lights on.

You rang? That's what I did after my install. (I posted this on another board several months ago, right after I finished the install.)

The above is an illustration of lighting, particularly designed to contrast what you can see in the real world from the rider's perspective. This was shot on a very dark night this weekend. There are three objects that are 60 yards away: wooden slat fence, small sign, and a traffic cone. The camera was on a tripod and the white balance and exposure were all controlled manually and were identical for each shot. They were then merged in Photoshop to create the GIF.

The first of the four steps is low beam only on my 12GS. I have a 55w Philips VisionPlus H7 bulb in there.

The second adds Motolights mounted on the calipers. They don't help a huge amount, but if you picture the fence as a deer, you can see how they'd light it up. Same is true for the most close in stuff. At any rate, I use Motolights primarily to be more conspicuous and they work well for that.

The third switches on the high beam (same H7 bulb). The beam pattern is very tightly focused as it only adds light near the three objects.

The fourth adds HID lights. Note that I haven't aimed them carefully yet. I think I might spread them out a bit to light up the sides of the road more.

I have full resolution shots of nearly every combination if you want to see something else. For instance, here's an illustration of the difference between high beam and high beam + HID (without Motolights in the equation).

You could run these during the day and they'd help other people see you without annoying them. If that's all you want, though, go for Motolights. Mounted low they are more effective, cheaper, and easier to install.

I've only had the HID lights out twice at night. On neither occasion did I get flashed, but that surprised me, because they put out a freakin' amount of light. They are very similar to the effect of a set of 910 lights unless you aim them far down. I'm going to experiment more and see if I can run them at night without endangering other drivers or myself (if they run into me). I don't even want to annoy them. I think too much light is a lot more irresponsible than loud pipes.

The 12GS lighting is better than my RT was, stock. But it's still not enough. I was giving a few rides on the Blue Ride Parkway late at night during last El Paseo, I discovered that I was outrunning my lights in the twisties at anything above 50 mph. Not good. So this'll be a great enhancement.

Specs

These are Hella Micro DE Xenon HID lights that come in a complete kit.

I believe this is what's called a 3rd generation HID system in that the ballasts are really small (3.0 x 3.5") and the allowed wire length is significantly greater. The components are first rate--very well made with excellent connectors and instructions.

I believe the lighting has a color temperature of 4,300K. They use magnesium FF reflectors with a focusing lens, which allows a long throw from a small reflector. Each light is about 2.5 x 3.0". If you want to compare the power efficiency to an H7 bulb, consider that each light puts out about three times the light at one-half the power. Each of these draws only 35 watts of power--pretty remarkable when you look at the first picture, especially for any of you who are alternator challenged.

They come on nearly instantly. Supposedly it takes one 1 second to come to full power, but I'd be hard pressed to time it that long.

The kit was purchased from http://www.motogear4you.com for US$695. It's run by Raffy K., a rider active on the LT board. Customer service was great. I probably could have shopped around and got it cheaper, but I didn't since he was helpful in answering some questions.

I bought a bike-specific ilghtbar from Best Rest Products, also with flawless customer service. There are several others available and I imagine most any of them would work.

Installation

Here's a shot looking up, toward the oil cooler. The highlighted circle is the attachment point for the light bracket:

The main bracket support is fastened to part of the sub-frame with two screws and then two u-bolts, as illustrated here:

Here's the right-side light on the bracket, with the power cord locked onto the back of the bulb. The 90-degree rubber boot is a drain. The light easily adjusts up/down and right/left without tools. In fact I can aim them as I'm riding by reaching down while underway. The bolt that attaches the light bracket to the lightbar was a bit too long. As you'll see in a later photo, I put a red cap on until I can find shorter ones (they didn't have a black cap in the size I needed at Ace):

Here's the same light from the front:

I put a relay near the battery and tapped the yellow headlight wire (emerging from the leftmost boot) as I've highlighted in this shot. Using this source ensures that the engine must be running for the HID lights to burn--having the key on is not enough. I like this added protection against battery drain. I've done the Motolights the same way.

I'm basically competent when it comes to mechanical things, but electrons puzzle me. So it was with some trepidation that I dove in. Knapp gave me some pointers, and Ken H.'s explanations of relays made it clearer. When I buttoned everything back up, no one was more surprised that this worked than I was.

Anyway, hopefully this picture will save you some effort:

After I knew how much wire I'd need to route it properly (by removing all the panels and fuel tank), I shortened the harness to get rid of all the extra wire (there's lots). What remains is coiled in the tool tray:

For a switch, I used what came with an earlier Motolight kit. It was in new condition and works great. I used Velcro to affix it to the inside of the left handguard. It does not interfere with the operation of the clutch; is protected from the weather; and is easy to reach with my left hand. Any ol' switch will do, though, since I'm switching the power to the relay, not the power to the lights themselves:

Here's a picture of the finished installation:

 

[TheJoker]

DCB! WOW! I'm very very impressed! I've just read through and there's a lot of information to digest. I run mostly on smaller twisty roads, bur roads that have quite a bit of traffic. This means I can't run on main(high)-beam a lot. Due to this I'd like to have better low-beams...

Anyway, that first picture show exactly what wanted - A clear difference between the different lights.

Thank you very much!

 

[Mouse]

Excellent thread, I shall add it to the FAQ