HID Lights...............................

[52blackshadow]

At Xmas I was given a set of cheap HID lights (Amazon £ 20.00 jobs) and fitted one to my 1200 GS. As you might guess, within a month the bulb has blown.

Now, I still have the second bulb to fit to keep me lit up at night, but wondered:

Is the problem with cheap HIDs that the bulbs are crap?
Are the Ballasts likely to be reliable, or do they cause the failures with too high a voltage etc?
Is it worth investing in a good quality bulb to use with the existing ballast?
Where is the best place to get a good quality bulb, and how much should I expect to pay?

Would appreciate any help and advice?

Cheers,
Keith.

 

[davegs]

Les of this parish is the man to contact.

 

[Delboy777]

Buy cheap buy dear, thats what me old mum used too say bless her soul

 

[ghiribizzo]

...As you might guess, within a month the bulb has blown.

Just a thought... It may seem odd but when you say the 'bulb' has blown - how do you know?
Reason is - I'm just wondering if as you started the bike, you don't get a headlight on and a LAMPF code on the dash?
If there's a possibility that is the case you might find that a change of battery to something decent such as a Motobatt or Odyssey may cure the lack of light...
But we await your reply!

 

[TLSgazza]

I have had a headlight hid fail and a spot hid fail, the missus has had the same, each time the bulbs were fine and it was the ballasts that needed replacing.

 

[Nick V]

Seconded. HID bulbs rarely fail - they have no tungsten filament that can weaken and break.

Some simple diagnostics might do the trick here:
1. Plug the bulb you know to be functional into the suspected 'dead' inverter and see if that works.
2. If not, apply 12V DC directly to the inverter's input terminals.

If both of those steps fail, your inverter is dead.

One other tip I can give: do you hear quite a loud 'Snap' when current is applied to the inverter? If so, you may have a break in the high-voltage circuit, and that sound is more than likely a spark jumping to earth.
Be careful - you don't want to go near that kind of arc. HIDs are 'started' with a quick burst of anything up to 2 000V, then wind down to a steady 90V or so as the metal salts vaporize and resistance between the bulb electrodes drops.

 

[52blackshadow]

You are of course right.................................

I found time to look at this at the weekend, the bulb was fine, and the Ballast / Inverter was tattered. Swapped the second one from the set in, and it's now working.

Will send the set back and learn my lesson that there's no point buying cheap!

Ride safe, and thanks for the input.

Keith.