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HID Head Light

904 views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Anomaly 
#1 ·
OK, so i would like to put in an hid head light in my 1985 Honda shadow vt1100c, has anyone done this??? and if so, where the hell did you put the ballast??? the headlight bucket is full of a lot of wires and there is no room for it.

thanks

Dan Malone
 
#6 ·
dano4003,

If you are deadset on running an HID headlamp instead of LED, try sending a PM to Furball Zen.
He prefers the HID.

If the bucket is already cram-fulla wires, I would avoid HID, personally.

I have read / heard that HID's get hotter than LED or stock bulbs.

I have read / heard that they require more power to operate than LED.

And have read / heard that the HID ballast ALSO puts off some heat, which is probably not desirable if you already have a large bunch of wires, confined in the same small space.

But I have no practical experience with HID lights, so I have no proof.

Several dozen of us run Cyclops or OPT7 LED's, which use minimal current AND they come with a small cooling fan, built in. And they fit most headlight buckets.

Personally, I wouldn't trade my two Cyclops LED headlamps for a 5 gal. bucket of new HID's.

But that's just my opinion!
 
#7 ·
Couple things to know about both HID and LED vs Halogen. Both LED and HID can be better than halogen, yet you can also get worse results. The main thing to look for is that you are getting a quality setup. There are a lot of misconceptions about both, and many unethical sellers take advantage of this.

There are LEDs and High Power LEDs (the only ones useful for headlights). Regular LEDs have a huge power saving over nearly every other method of illumination. High power LEDs will have a respectable saving over halogen, about 75% energy consumption per lumen. In order to function most effectively LED and HID both require proper beam patterns. (HID requires a projector to project the beam appropriately, LED requires either a appropriate projector or a specifically designed reflector)
LEDs put out about 2800 lumens for 35W, HID puts out about 3200 lumens. A 35W halogen puts out about 500 lumens (this is why halogen bulbs use a much higher wattage than HID or LED.
While HIDs get hot they do not get hotter than their halogen counterparts (hence why HID kits seldom use a heatsink) LEDs do become quite hot at the emitter which is why any legitimate led headlight bulb will have a heatsink and/or a fan (the beam itself contains little heat)
Thr HID retrofit will be a much more complicated fit into a headlight bucket than that of a LED retrofit. Using a LED retrofit without a specifically designed reflector will not produce the same lumen output from the headlight, as from the emmiter (or even close). This is why the 30W purposely designed Harley Daymaker will output more light at 30W than the OPT7 kits at 40W.

A HID kit in the headlight bucket would be the most output per wattage of power, and the beam would be optimized for absolute minimal loss. Unfortunately this requires a semi-custom setup. A daymaker fit would be the second most desirable (though I don't know that I have seen one on a VT bike only a VTX.
A high power LED retrofit like the OPT7 would be the next best option.

Also you don't have to put your HID ballast (if you choose to do HID) near the headlight. My ballasts are under the right side cover where the toolkit is.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 
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