18-MAY-2006
Stock 55w H7 halogen bulb - low beam
18-MAY-2006
Philips VisionPlus 55w H7 bulb - low beam
18-MAY-2006
Stock H7 halogen bulb - 55w low beam
18-MAY-2006
Philips VisionPlus H7 bulb - 55w low beam
SOLAS reflective tapes
There was no light sources from the motorcycle. The bright light you see here was the SOLAS reflective tape.
SOLAS applied to the back of leather jacket
SOLAS reflective tape applied to the front of leather jacket
The bright light on the bottom right was from my riding pant legs.
21-SEP-2008
Hella auxiliary running lights
To increase night time visibility, I installed a pair of Hella FF50 running lights. They are awesome!
HID (High Intensity Discharge) Lights - October 2008
After 2 years, the Phillips Vision Plus bulbs are getting dimmer and dimmer. So I was looking for another set of Vision Plus for replacement. They were about US$40 a pair after shipping. I also happened to read a lot of good reviews on the HID (High Intensity Discharge) conversion kit sold by vvme.com. I checked it out and it was only $67 after shipping from Beijing China. A few years ago, HID used to be a few hundred dollars.
HID lights are much much brighter than halogen and consume less current (35w each) than the halogen (55w each). However, the start-up voltage is 23000 V. The battery's 12V input to the HID ballast ramps up the voltage to 23000 V to ignite the HID bulbs and once it's ignited, the voltage dropped back. HID bulbs also need some time to warm up to full brightness and they don't like to be switch on and off quickly (like flash-to-pass).
They also come in different bulb temperature from yellow (smaller Kevin degree) to blue (higher Kevin degree). vvme carries HID from 4300 deg (also pure white) to 15000 deg (blue). I ordered a pair of 4300 deg and they arrived California from China in 5 days.
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.
