Lights... Answer to a dumb question needed

[Nate]

Hi all,

Now I realise this question is probably up there with "what kinda oil should I use in my 1200" but

I can't make any sense of this light thing.....

All i want is 2 lights on the front of my bike see, one that is an additional "dip" running light and one that is an additional "Main beam" light...

So, what the hell is the difference between

DE standard
HiD
35 watt Hid 50 watt DE's
FF50 standard
HiD 35 watt
50 watt FF50



What should I go for? I don't know if I can be bothered with Ballast (thought that was for boats ) but maybe I need it....

Ta very much

 

[brassmonkey001]

Right. The first constant is that 50 watt is brighter than 35 watt.
The second constant is that watt for watt, HID is brighter than halogen.

HID is about 3 times brighter than halogen but uses 1/3 of the power IIRC.

A 35 watt HID light will be a lot brighter than a 50 watt halogen light.

Hella Micro DE are 55 watt as standard and jolly bright.
I had them on mine but converted them to 35 watt HID versions (see Les Wassall for details) so now they are much brighter but use less power.

If you want HID you will have to fit ballasts. Unless you try the Trailtech self-contained HID unit which has an internal ballast.

I've no experience of FF50's but they are a driving light and popular amongst tossers, whereas the DE is a fog lamp.

So if you wanted an auxilliary dip beam you would use a DE as it has a flat-topped beam pattern and for an additional main beam you would use a FF50 which has a more rounded beam pattern.
Trouble is, using one of each may make your bike look cock-eyed.


This is my understanding of it anyway. Les, BTBR and Colebatch will all be able to give you better information.

 

[Les Wassall]

Good answer

 

[PIGGLET]

What do you want them for? To make you more visible to others or to give better illumination of the road? Have your bikes main and dip beams been converted to HiD or are they standard?
For illumination purposes I don't think DE's are that great. I have some that have been HiD'd and as a safety addition they're brilliant (what i wanted them for), bright as feck and make the bike look like a spaceship but when used in conjunction with a properly set up 50W HiD main and dip they're illuminantion benefit is negligible IMO

 

[andyclift]

My solution was to use a pair of Touratech aux lights. First a halogen "fog" which comes on with the dip, second an HID driving light which comes on with the main.

The logic is that when on dip the lights illuminate an area quite close to the bike anyway and the dip plus halogen gives perfectly good illumination as well as acting as a second driving light during daylight. When on main there is nobody in front of me to blind so the main plus HID comes into it's own - and of course the dip and halogen stay on as well.

Cost comes into this as well. I could not see the point of spending a fortune on an HID to work with the dip when it's aimed close in front of me anyway. The Halogen is about 20% of the price of the HID.

Although the units are very slightly different, they are both made by Hella, match up pretty well and when the Touratech aluminium covers are fitted look exactly the same. It's not the cheapest solution but as the kit comes with well engineering mounting brackets for the GS ready made wiring loom, relays, switches and all required screws it's an easy way to upgrade the lights.