Removing HID, going back to bulbs. Have you done it?

[muppix]

I'm seriously considering going back to regular incandescent lamps after using HID for about 15k miles. Why? It's just not working out for me. One of the HID illuminatiors is clearly at the end of its life, it's turned milky inside and although the initial light temperature is brilliant white it warms to that of a normal bulb after a few minutes. The milkyness also seems to be affecting the dipped beam pattern to the point where it failed the MOT recently for throwing out light in the same way as high beam, though the tester thoughtfully fitted a regular bulb to get me through.

That's the first reason, the second being that one of the ballasts (this time the high beam) has developed an intermittent fault and won't stay on for more than a few milliseconds before miraculously recovering hours later. Not the kind of reliability you expect when something's supposed to last the life of the vehicle. Finally, and this is the deal-breaker, the dipped beam reflector is being burnt just above the illuminator, presumably from the heat, so I'm cutting my losses before it gets any worse.

My question is, what do I use from now onwards? The normal bulbs are OK but I'd like to squeeze as much light out of the setup as possible, so I'm thinking about PIAA or something similar. Problem is that these don't seem too reliable either if forum posts are anything to go by, with reports of MTBF between 3 and 5k miles outnumbering those from customers who are happy with their £35 lamps.

Have you downgraded from HID? What did you settle on and how long ago was it?

 

[Beemerman59]

easy enough to pop a couple H7's in - did you keep the original rear caps? If not they're about a fiver each from your dealer. Philips Xtrme or Osram Night breakers are good.

 

[Fanum]

That reflector will need replacing, or it will fail the MOT next time as well.....it's the bulb that makes the light, but the reflector that makes the beam.

Where did your HIDs come from?

I'd suspect maybe not one of the bigger, quality suppliers or someone who only does top kit like Les W?

Personally, I'd get a new reflector then a dip HID from Les, leaving the main beam as Halogen (or Xenon filament, to give a whiter light) .

 

[JoeC]

Bulb looks as though is is not sticking out far enough - mine from Les W sticks out more. No burning effect.

 

[muppix]

easy enough to pop a couple H7's in - did you keep the original rear caps? If not they're about a fiver each from your dealer. Philips Xtrme or Osram Night breakers are good.

Absolutely, the caps are on a shelf in the garage, waiting to be used.

How long (ie miles used) have you had your present Philips / Osram?

 

[muppix]

That reflector will need replacing, or it will fail the MOT next time as well.....it's the bulb that makes the light, but the reflector that makes the beam.

It passed the MOT like this a couple of days ago, no problems. When you fit a regular filament bulb the beam pattern is OK, presumably because the filament is a small, well-defined source of light but the small glass bulb in the HID is a much larger source of light on account of the milky internal coating that it's accumulated of late.

Where did your HIDs come from? I'd suspect maybe not one of the bigger, quality suppliers or someone who only does top kit like Les W?

The kit was from Les, and I fitted it myself about 2 years ago. I'm not a dedicated vehicle electrician but as an electrical engineer I've done a bit wiring in my time. Not blowing my own trumpet here, just letting you know it wasn't all gaffer tape and twisted wires. I bought the 50W dip and main beam, did them at the same time then started wondering why I bothered with the main.

Personally, I'd get a new reflector then a dip HID from Les, leaving the main beam as Halogen (or Xenon filament, to give a whiter light).

Cheers, but if I do go for a new reflector there's no way I'm reverting back to HID. Les reckons that only a few bikes have had this problem and most usually never get any worse, but its bad enough when you have to replace the HID bulbs and ballast after 15k miles without shelling out for OEM parts as well.

 

[muppix]

Bulb looks as though is is not sticking out far enough - mine from Les W sticks out more. No burning effect.

This one's from Les also, and what you're seeing is probably an effect of me using a macro lens. If it were a wrong bulb (or incorrectly fitted) the beam pattern'd be shot to hell from day one, but everything was just peachy at first.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

+1 for Phillips Xtreme.

 

[Beemerman59]

Absolutely, the caps are on a shelf in the garage, waiting to be used.

How long (ie miles used) have you had your present Philips / Osram?

I've HID's on the GS but have Philips Xtreme on the K bike. Probably about 8K on those.

 

[muppix]

+1 for Phillips Xtreme.

Cheers for that. Is that the same version as they tout for cars, or a bike-specific part?

I've HID's on the GS but have Philips Xtreme on the K bike. Probably about 8K on those.

Thanks, good to know someone's got HID and performance bulbs too, and that they last for 8k.

I did a bit of spannering in the garage this arvo and removed the high-beam HID so I could swap it out for the low beam lamp, which has that milky coating I was talking about earlier. High beam - formerly with the dodgy ballast - is now running a Halfords bulb, which claims a 120% increase. To be fair it does look brighter, but still a pishy yellow compared to the HID. Here's a pic of the dodgy lamp, you can see a high-res version over on my blog.

 

[GADGET]

Took both my dip/main beam HIDS out this afternoon, fed up with the lampf warning & erratic behaviour. Not going to spend £10 on new plastic caps though. Just ordered some 25mm rubber grommets to fill the hole. Will have some spares if anyone go down the same route.