Hella micro DE to HID conversion

[sterzam]

I have the micro DEs fitted to my africa twin and was wonderng if I can convert them to HIDs, by getting one of those kits sold on ebay.
Has anybody done the conversion?
Or, since they are fog lights it wouldn't make much difference?

 

[dlevett]

This is a mod I'm going to try - I have a pair of H3 50W HID's (thank Colebatch). If it works sucessfully, you'll see me from wherever you are.
With 35W HID's In, I'm sure that you would notice a big difference.
The only worry I have is that mine are Touratech ones (with the Aluminium cover) so I'm not sure that I can get the bulb/wiring in.
I personally favour this mod over the H7 HID's in the headlights (if it's a 1200) - they can be removed and the bike is standard.

 

[sterzam]

I dotn think the cover will be a problem...
Mine are the touratech ones also.
I was thinking mainly the pattern of the beam will be to strong for other drivers and probably I will get a wide spread but the beam wont go very far...
I will probably just get a pair and try them and if it doesnt work Ill sell them on ebay.

 

[Yoda]

I think it will work. I've got an H3 HID kit and I had a quick explore last weekend.

The fitment issue will be holding the bulb in place.

The HID burner fits into the bulb slot OK, but is much bigger at the back, so the existing bulb-clip that fits over the back end of the standard H3 bulb won't work. I'd guess we're looking at making up some bulb retention tags that fit using the little internal mounting screws.

 

[brassmonkey001]

This sounds like a very interesting thread.
Can anyone trying out this mod please post plenty of pics?

 

[sterzam]

Apparently, it has been done over at advrider....
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192638&highlight=hella+micro+pattern
I will by trying it and post updates.

 

[brassmonkey001]

From that link, it looks like he has fitted Hella HID DEs rather than converted ordinary DEs to HID.
They look quite different. The HID ones have extra mounting screw holes on the side, as well as the totally different end cap.

 

[sterzam]

I think you are right...
I gave it a second reading and what he did was convert the standard BMW fogs to hids...
I ll do the convertsion anyway and let everybody know how it went....

 

[nedflanders]

Any joy with this?

 

[sterzam]

Not really...
The hid bulbs I got fit ok in the hellas, all I had to do was remove the keeper of the H3 halogen bulb. The hid bulbs fitted nicely and by placing the cup back on, it made a very secure fit, no movement or anything.
I opened up the cup a bit to pass the connectors and cable to the ballast.
The problem is that the beam pattern is very nice...
There is a lot of glare and not much flood as it used to be with regular halogen bulbs.
I ll try and take some pics over the weekend

 

[rc mad]

just temp fitted my hid setup int the micro de's.

Totally opposite to sterzam's results, Beam pattern is identical to the halogen bulbs, no glare or anything. the cut off is also the same.


I'm guessing differnt manufacturers hid bulbs have the 'filament' in slightly different posistions

The kit i have is from hids4u, not the cheapest available

 

[Cole]

just temp fitted my hid setup int the micro de's.

Totally opposite to sterzam's results, Beam pattern is identical to the halogen bulbs, no glare or anything. the cut off is also the same.


I'm guessing differnt manufacturers hid bulbs have the 'filament' in slightly different posistions

The kit i have is from hids4u, not the cheapest available

The beam pattern should be identical (or so close to identical that any difference isnt noticable) with a H3 HID conversion. It would be a very very poor manufacturer that didn't have the light source in the right position. All the ones I know have getting the light source in the correct position as a fundamental part of the conversion.

If Sterzam has a dodgy beam pattern and glare, then the burner is either not installed correctly or the kit is an appallingly cheap kit. The Micro DEs are projector lights, so the cutoff should be sharp even with the HID kit in there.