halogen lights

[SDSUsnowboards]

So I'm considering replacing my lights with halogens. I am wondering if anyone on these forums has experimented with that. Do halogens use more power? Is that something I have to worry about? Will I have to extensively rewire stuff?

Last but most important of all, anyone know where I can get these? I admit I haven't looked into it too deeply yet. I think a glance into the experience of these forums will be a good place to start and then I can start calling local dealers and see what they say. A quick online search didn't yield much... Thanks guys!

[Clint]

Just be careful that the application is suitable for your light housings. The increased light those things put out has been known to melt holes in them.

[LayinLo]

They definitely burn hotter so be careful. You should not have a problem finding new bulbs.

[jaydog19833]

Those colored bulbs usually carry TWICE the wattage of your stock bulbs. Chances are they will blow out in about 2 weeks unless you rewire the plugs on your bike. And if they don't blow out, after a while your plugs on the bike will melt......thats a fact. It happened to my car.....

[Hunter]

Thanks, good to know....

[Ride-or-die]

do u really feel the need for em? the halogen give increased brightness i believe but my lights blind people as it is

[axel_2078]

When I had my 750 Katana, I replaced the stock bulbs with Xenon bulbs. They were cool because it looked like they were throwing out shades of blue, red, purple, and white depending on the angle you were viewing it.

[SDSUsnowboards]

tell us more about those xenons Arn't those the same thing?

[axel_2078]

Honestly, I don't know if halogens and xenons are the same thing. I thought xenon lights used a gas in the bulb to create the colored effect, kind of like neon? I think I paid $60 for the pair and they worked great. I never had a problem with them. They weren't much higher in wattage than the stock bulbs were. They definitely grabbed attention, not because they were bright, but because of the colored effects they produced.

[c50tiger]

Everything you wanted to know about halogen and xenon and were unfortunate enough to ask when I'm trying to avoid doing laundry....

ok you got two easily confused technologies here. There are halogen bulbs with a shot of xenon that acts like a blanket on the halogen and makes it butn hotter, and there are HID xenon lamps, which in my opinion at least are far superior.

As to the HID xenon - this link is for automotive HID headlights, but I reckon the results still apply to bike applications. For the linkage impaired, bottom line is standard halogen lamps (and those with a xenon mix) use a filament, xenon (High Intensity Discharge) uses an arc created in the gas between two electrodes. HID uses less power, lasts 10 times longer, has 3 times the light output, and a higher color temperature.

Now... color temperature is not the same as "heat". It's just a linear way to measure light output. Low end is the warmer red/yellow spectrum, high end is the 'cold' end... blue. To get technical, the color temperature is the temperature to which one would have to heat a theoretical 'black body' (no jokes, Nexus) to produce light of the same visual color. A candle is around 1500 Kelvin. A regular headlight is around 3400K, xenon around 4500K and noon day sun (assuming anybody up north is seeing that) is around 5500K. Oddly enough, and overcast sky is around 6500K. A clear blue sky can ranges from 9000K all the way up to 12,000K. Chart meant for photography purposes can be seen here.

Back to the halogen/xenon mix lamps: the more xenon is added, the whiter the light gets. There are 3 standard levels, +30 (raises color temperature to about 2600K), +50 (raises to about 3000K) and +100 (raises to about 4000K). Actually, enginerds (sorry Meat ) have found the adding more than 27% xenon returns no further benefit. Adding the xenon makes little or no more light, it just makes the light whiter. The +30 and +50 bulbs turn out about 7% more lumens, and the blue coating on the 100+ negates that. The blue quartz bulb (or blue coating on the inside of the bulb) is supposed to block out some of the visual spectrum that causes eye strain. The blue tint oncoming drivers see (and frequently hate) is invisible to the driver, who sees only white light in front of him.

Energy supplied... increase with halogens may be slight, but probably not significant. xenon HIDs may pull an initial 15amps for less than a second to fire up, but then quickly settling down to 2 - 3 amps.

As to heat... yes, a halogen or halogen/xenon mix lamp will burn quite hot. Frequently hotter than the manufacturer planned for in designed light housings. A true HID xenon arc lamp will actually burn cooler - it converts the energy it's fed into light more than heat. Physics, man.

ok - I'm done.

[SDSUsnowboards]

OK, the very first line in that last post had me rolling. Very funny. now I'll actually read what you typed after that. Laundry is a %%%%% (laundry not landry for the record .


OK, that post was WOW. +1 (whatever that means but I've been seeing it alot...)

[inspiron]

Good explanation, c50, but you forgot to mention one thing ...

To put real HID (Xenon) bulbs on a bike (or in a car), you need to rewire a few things. The bulbs need a starter balast (like a florescent bulb) to create the initial charge. This capacitor takes up some space, and should be near the bulb, since it sends a high-voltage spark over the wire to create the initial arc.

This is often a problem, since most bikes and cars don't have much space behind the lights. In my Golf, for example, there is less than 2 inches of space between the light and the battery ... it's a real PITA to change the bulb ... and removing the battery is even more of a PITA, since the entire engine management has to be re-initialised as soon as the battery is disconnected.

[jaydog19833]

Also, Blue Lights are the LEAST effective at night. Red has the longest wavelength spectrum and blue close the the shortest. Red just isn't a good color for a headlight (or legal) and blue ONLY looks cool. True HID's like BMW's and Audi's carry a lot of wattage. You CAN do it, but unless you rewire your headlights you will probably end up wasting money.

But if you decide to rewire it would be nice I don't think its too incredibly difficult.

[LayinLo]

Jaydog, I had some that melted my Maxima wires!!!!!!

[Nexus242]

You can find upgraded sockets and harness to hard wire into your system. I know that have them for cars if your switching from a 9003 to an H4 or H7 bulb. I just drive with my high beam on during the day and low beam most of the times at night, but not all the time.

[Clint]

SD, +1 means you're adding your nod of approval to those of previous posters.

[LayinLo]

+1

[Nexus242]

+3.14159265

[jaydog19833]

You know I probably should have said this above. You can buy wiring harnesses (bought at any traditional car-ricer shop) that are designed to carry MUCH more wattage for any car carrying a traditional H4 headlight. Newer Gixxers have an H4 main bulb and an (H7? I think) secondary. So it's probably possible to use these conversion kits also on motorcycles but the 2 gixxer headlights is gonne be less fun to install than being castrated.

Oh yeah EACH kit can run you from $35.00 to $49.00! RIP OFF!

[c50tiger]

Originally Posted by inspiron

Good explanation, c50, but you forgot to mention one thing ...

To put real HID (Xenon) bulbs on a bike (or in a car), you need to rewire a few things. The bulbs need a starter balast (like a florescent bulb) to create the initial charge. This capacitor takes up some space, and should be near the bulb, since it sends a high-voltage spark over the wire to create the initial arc.

Yep - forgot that bit. Thanks for setting that straight, Inspiron.