HID Xenon setup for bikes

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Contents

What is HID

HID stands for high-intensity discharge, the technical term for the electric arc that produces the light. Automotive HID lamps are commonly called 'xenon headlamps', because of the xenon gas used in the lamps. The xenon gas allows the lamps to produce minimally adequate amounts of light immediately upon startup and speed the warm-up time.

The warm-up may take 5-10 seconds depends on voltage and colour. Sample video (connected to car battery in example): http://video.tinypic.com/player.php?v=3za8vsw

HID/Xenon Info:

Socket types available: H1, H3, H4 (High/Low Beam), H7, H8, H10, H11, H13, 9004, 9005, 9006, 9007, D2C, D2S & D2R

Color temperatures: 3200K, 4300K, 6000K, 8000K, 10000K & 12000K Color temperature is not an indicator of brightness. Usual output of 4300K bulb is 3200 lumens. This is the maximum output. Higher temperatures will have lower light output. As a comparison a 130W halogen bulb will generate 1600-1700 lumens of light.

Anything above 4300K is for show. Human eyes see well with color temperature <5000K. Light >5000K have a blue tinge, higher you go with the temperature range will tend towards purple. Also studies have proven that light closer to sunlight is best, bluish light causes rider fatigue with longer usage. Not to mention the glare to oncoming vehicles due to higher color temperature (more scatter as temperature increases).

You also get colored Xenon. I've seen blue, purple even gold colored ones. Stay away from them unless you intend to be cop magnet and cause inconvenience on road.

Types of bulbs:

1. Single Xenon: Most common package with 1 HID tube per bulb focused to low beam.

2. Bi-Xenon : May not be available for all socket types. Has two HID tubes, one for each high and low beam.

3. Xenon/Halogen: Usually found in H4 socket configuration. HID tube is focused to low beam and additional 55W halogen for high beam.

4. Single Xenon hi/lo: Usually for H4 socket configuration. It has a single HID tube, but with an additional magnetic arrangement to switch between high and low beam. Useful for cases where you don't want to loose the extra warm-up time required when switching between low and high beam. The electromagnetic arrangement with bulb moves the tube to adjust focus distance.

Bike Setup for HID

FAQ

1. What is contained in a conversion kit?

A HID lamp is more akin to fitting a tubelight than a bulb. As with any tubelight, a ballast or "choke" is needed. As with any discharge tube, it is way more efficient in converting electrical energy to light, so a 35W HID lamp in the 2700 -5500K range throws out light almost equal to a 130W halogen bulb - and generates a lot less heat.

More about this later.

You will also get the associated wiring for the same, and I think, relays to power up the same, as the ballast should ideally be supplied current directly from the battery.

Typical HID package contents:

-- 2 x Xenon Bulbs (Extra 2 Halogen Bulbs for H4 H/L) or 4 x Xenon Bulbs for Bi-Xenon model

-- 2 x Ballasts with Buit-in Starter/Igniter

-- All Necessary Wires & Installing Accessories (fuse/ cable ties)

Couple of pictures of 4300K H4 hi/lo (Halogen/Xenon) kit:

[1] [2]

2. What type of battery we need or do we need to change our batteries?

No change. At all.

3. Do we need to change winding / other electricals?

No change to the generation system. However it helps to have power taken directly off the battery to the ballast. Rest of the wiring comes with instructions.

4. How it is fixed on a bike?

With most HID tubes, you get only ONE tube in your H4/H7 bulb - the high beam usually uses a 65W halogen filament. Twin tubes are also available but not common, considering the fact that that the low beam can be left on continuously, whereas the high beam has to be switched on and off regularly (uuh, theoretically, the thing wasn't developed here!), which is not very efficient as regards discharge tubes are concerned (a cold tube can take several seconds to develop full intensity, as opposed to the instant 100% light of a halogen bulb).

5. Can it be fixed as a seperate light (like a fog lamp) without affecting H/L?


Yes. H3 tubes are also available abroad, difficult to get here. They are a substitute for the 60W and 100W H3 halogens that most spots use. A good soln, because even the most electrically challenged of Indian bikes will be able to scrounge up the 35W necessary to power up such a system without altering the original harness(though you may have to keep the headlight off! dont think you'll miss the AC 35W, though) Also a variety of other lamps such as H1 substitutes, etc.

The 2700 - 5500K bulbs give yellow to white light, and are more efficient in terms of lumens than the 7000 - 12000K lamps (bluish to violet light).

There are a lot of additional factors pertaining to these lighting systems, and this info is READILY AVAILABLE if you google for it.


Srikeerthi KS setup

I had got a couple of sets of H4 Xenon kits for installing in bikes. The four individual bulbs and ballasts were meant to be used in:

1. Karizma (mine) 2. Comet GT250 (hisunil) 3. CBZ * (praveenkm) 4. Pulsar 180 (nfsnfs)

Of this 3 have already been installed (CBZ* is pending installation this week). The pictures of the kit are available here:

http://www.jeetenge.com/plogger/index.php?level=album&id=28

The cost of the set worked out to about Rs.7500 per pair of bulbs and ballast. The Low beam is HID bulb and the High beam is 55W halogen.

Installation is pretty straightforward.

1. Place the ballast close to the headlight assembly (lower electrical interference and loss). The ballasts are usually water and shock proof and pretty sturdy.

2. Replace existing bulb to replace with HID bulb and complete the ballast to HID wiring.

3. The HID runs on DC only hence its better to provide it with a steady DC power. Hence connect the Ballast to the battery with a fuse of 15A in series. and an additional relay for switching the ballast on/off.

Basically the wiring is as follows. Start from the positive terminal of the battery through a 15A fuse and then to the terminals of the relay. The existing wires from the headlight swtich would be used to switch the relay on/off to complete the Battery->Fuse->Relay->Ballast->HID circuit complete.

Since the High beam is just 55W the existing wiring can also be used for that purpose.

Once the ballast, HID are placed and the wiring is complete, the setup is done. You are now ready for a shining light experience.

Karizma with HID [3]

Some additional info and FAQ:

1. Never leave headlight in ON position and switch off engine (so that I don't accidentally switch it on like with HID on). It will put too much load on the electricals with the starter and the HID on. 2. Wait for 5-10 seconds after electric start to switch on the HID since the starter would have drained initial power. 3. Have a powerful enough battery. Bare minimum 7Ah, but a 9/12/14Ah would be better. 4. Avoid regular switch on/off cycles for HID. Its better not to switch on/off the HID rapidly. The Xenon charged gas particles need a proper warm up/cool down cycle for long life. That doesn't mean that the HID has low life. Its life is rated 10 times longer than Halogen at about 3200 hours. But I'd like to take precautions rather than suffer. 5. The HID is very powerful hence causes a lot of glare if installed incorrectly

Q&A

1. Can HID be put in place of High beam?

Ans: Technically no. High beam is called so because the beam is focussed higher than the low beam which is due to the relative positioning of the filament inside the bulb. You can focus the existing Low beam of HID to that of Hi beam distance, but I would not suggest doing that as it is too bright and you can be sure of getting swears each time a vehicle passes by you. Not to mention the police mama's it will attract.

2. As u said, it takes time to light up... Then, will it be effective as high beam? Ans: Even at its lowest brightness it will be brighter than any Halogen bulb. Much better than stock and the spread is good so it is close to hi beam.

3.What battery have you go on your ZMA? Stock or upgraded? Ans: I still have stock 7Ah battery. But would upgrade to 9Ah.

4. Will the 12/14 Ah batteries fit in the stock battery location? Ans: I have not tried the batteries myself so can't comment. for comarision of size you can refer to the following links:

http://www.exideindustries.com/eil/auto_bat/replacement_chart/2wheelers/ENFIELD.htm http://www.exideindustries.com/eil/auto_bat/replacement_chart/2wheelers/BAJAJ.htm http://www.exideindustries.com/eil/auto_bat/replacement_chart/2wheelers/LML.htm

Compare the size and judge for yourself. It might not be a straight fit, but you may be able to fit it in. You can also look for SMF batteries (also called UPS batteries by some dealers) which are compact.


External Links

Contributers to this article

  • Arnob
  • Jaygopan
  • Srikeerthi K S
  • Suriya Shankar
  • Kapil Bagadwal
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