Close up
The ballasts said 'Hella Technology' and 'Designed in Germany'. Not sure if they are true...
Behind the headlight
It's pretty hard to access the bulbs...
Behind the dash
So I removed the 2 side covers under the dash, removed the windshield, removed the 3 bolts that hold the dash to the frame and the whole dash can be lifted up to make the back of the headlight fully accessible.
Bulb socket
This was taken after the HID bulb was inserted and clipped by the original spring clips.
Ballast
This is where I put the ballast. There is not much room there so I zip tied it to the left of the dash.
Switches
While installing the HID, I also patch in a manual ON/OFF switch so that I can turn the HID on and off manually. The Honda CBR-1100XX (and most motorcycles) turned on the headlight as soon as the ignition key is on. When the starter button was pressed, the headlight was cut off to save power. As soon as the engine starts running, the light was turned back on automatically. HID doesn't like to be turned on and off quickly before they are warmed up. This can shorten the life of HID bulbs so I used the manual switch to turn it off before I turn on the ignition key. Then after the engine starts, I manually turn it on myself.
The left switch is my homemade emergency flashing lights. The center is for the 2 Hella FF50 auxiliary lights and the right switch is HID on/off.
Since motorcycles don't have emergency flashing lights like cars, I bought 2 hazard flashers #552 from autopart store, then tapped 1 flasher into the left front signal light, another flasher to the right signal light, then run power from the battery to the switch that feeds both flashers. I could use a single flasher to drive both sides but I couldn't find a DPST (dual pole single throw) switch so I had to use a SPST (single pole single throw) and I need to isolate both sides from each other (otherwise, as soon as the turn signal is on, all signals will be flashing).
31-OCT-2008
All lights on!
Low beam + 2 aux Hella FF50 light. The right side Hella light was converted to 35w HID. The left side Hella was stock halogen 55w. We can see the BIG difference between the 2.
Hazard flasher #552
This is the **hazard** flasher from Autozone, for $3 a piece. This is not the signal flasher as signal flashers are designed for fixed (constant) loads while hazard flashers are for variable loads.