Why retrofits are safer than HID "kits"

[JINKSTER]

Let me put my 2cents worth in. I'm the guy that ordered the two 55 watt projectors. I ride some of the scariest stuff at night you can imagine on a bike. Friggin critters everywhere up in the mountains There isn't a single night when I am ridding home that I don't see a handful of deer, rabbits, skunk, possum, coyotes, fox, raccoon, and household pets...I orginally had no plans to do what Ogre came up with. I was going to buy 2 lamps like Warchild in Washington did to his bike..I believe they are Xenon/ Halogen something. I shopped Ebay for several weeks and rarely saw the price below 600 dollars..and it gives the bike a different look...not bad..just different...so I got distracted with other things and backed off for awhile...But Warchild told me that you absolutely have to turn them off for oncoming or you'd cause a wreck. I installed an HID in the high beam and life got a little better. But I still didn't have enough "throw" down the road for even 60mph to feel comfortable to know what waz commin at me..so to speak. And my low beam was left as oem. When oncoming would get close enough i would dim the HID. I kid you not when I say this...I might as well be driving with a Bic lighter...that is how blind I felt with the low beam on. Also, as Ogre acurately demonstrates both with a picture and a diagram, the light from the HID inside a reflector set up is hideously-murdering the laws of optic physics. So..along comes a guy like Matthew and says...hey..this is what I can do for you and this is how it works. I am the first guy on the planet (me thinks) that has two 55 watt halogens...I can vouch for Ogre that he is a straight up guy. He has educated me about how everything works...what I can expect...I couldn't get it into my mind the differences until Ogre started posting up pics. He has about a dozen posts and phone conversations with me about every little detail...These two 55 watts won't use anymore juice than what my current set up is. Matthew didn't need to destroy the inside of the oem headlight assembly. He found a sheetmetal guy up there that fabricated up the holder and it is all clean as a whistle... Anyhow bike won't be back together for weeks...but I promise I'll post up pics as soon as possible. I don't think my association with Matthew could have been any more pleasant. Just don't get him talking about turbo's unless you have the time2hip

2hip...great response man..i sense truth, honesty and a willingness to help as much as i sense that Ogre has some serious riding experience behind him and let me add this part..

If this is a set-up that will accomodate both the Gen1 & Gen2 Busa?..i'm a programmer/machinist who tool designs, programs, set-up and run (2) CNC 3D Milling Centers with chip conveyors and auto-tool change turrets...i use unigrahics NX for modeling and mastercam for programing the machines and here's the two (2) real cool parts...

1. I have 10 years experience in the sheet metal dept. of Pratt & Whitneys large military jet engine R&D and Nasa including the space shuttle, atlas rocket, RL-10 and even did a 6 month stint in the J-58 O&R dept rebuilding engines for the SR-71 blackbird...didn't like that dept. ...2nd shift and to much engine soot!...sometimes i'd end the shift look'in like Al Jolson! MAMMY!

2. I have access to a ISO Calibrated aerospace grade CMM (computerized measuring machine)...i.e.?...i can toss a busa healight housing on the big granite rock that's flat withing 50millionths of an inch and collect the contour data of that housing to make a wire frame model and reproduce that housing to a t in a computerized rendering...which i can then produce a punch/die set that will press out that shape in sheet metal...for "precision" high volume production.

but?..pending how much response ya'll get ya might wanna consider going the plastic mold injection route.

jmho and my offer to help the cause...with these long straight flat roads through the middle of no-mans-land we have down here in the swamplands of south florida?...some kickazz headlight technology would be a welcome sight for Oren and I!..so lmk if i can help.

PS: I hate black hogs at night...never hit one but damn sure dodged a few.

for awhile there when i was working 2nd shift out in the swamps i always figured i might hit a hog or a gator one night...and the sucky part is i had nightmares thinking "There's i'd be...all fudged up layin on the side of the road...wrapped up in barbed wire and the hogs/gator feed'in on me...before i died...uuuggggaaallllleeeeee SPOOKY shid.

L8R, Bill.

 

[kromdom]

dang JINKSTER, pretty impressive credentials if I may say so, man!

 

[ogre]

wow dude, lol. i've got a fab shop in town here that builds the brackets for me. these guys are fantastic. very solid, lets me put it all together with no epoxy, no plastic, all metal. but if you get bored at work someday, i'll send you dimensions for the projectors i use. i was actually considering putting a diy kit together, and just selling that bracket and the parts.

 

[JINKSTER]

wow dude, lol. i've got a fab shop in town here that builds the brackets for me. these guys are fantastic. very solid, lets me put it all together with no epoxy, no plastic, all metal. but if you get bored at work someday, i'll send you dimensions for the projectors i use. i was actually considering putting a diy kit together, and just selling that bracket and the parts.

cool..where's mine?...how much?..whaddui send what where?...and...

is this mod gen specific or can it be done to either/or both the gen1 or gen2?

if i recall the gen2 comes with hid as stock..correct or am i mistaken?

Thanks & L8R, Bill.

 

[ogre]

can be done with either bike. you send your headlight and money, i send it back really bright, lol.

 

[JINKSTER]

can be done with either bike. you send your headlight and money, i send it back really bright, lol.

cool...what's the turn-around/eta?

i just recently priced a new headlight housing for Oren cause her clear plastic lens got a bad scratch in it from my middle daughter accidently knocking over one of my drummers cymbols in the garage..and evidently?...ya can't just buy the lens from the dealer...ya gotta buy the whole headlight housing assy...price?..$300...so oren lives with the real bad scratch...not big...just a zig-zag one-liner but deep..tell me how much and maybe i can find a headlight housing on-the-cheap from someone parting out a gen1 busa and send that to you...what kind of cost are we talking here?...i have no clue...PM it to me if that makes ya feel more comfy but i would love to line this up for myself and Oren...i'm go'in on 52...i "need" all the visual night-time advantages i can get.

Thanks again Ogre & jlmk...L8R, Bill.

 

[head east busa]

here is a link for ogre's conversions you should pm him for cost of assy. It has some pics of before and after and believe me when I say it's a bit of work he puts into every one of these retros.

HID Advantadge

 

[NickSully]

This is such a good mod I hope to get it done one day!

 

[JINKSTER]

here is a link for ogre's conversions you should pm him for cost of assy. It has some pics of before and after and believe me when I say it's a bit of work he puts into every one of these retros.

HID Advantadge

cool HEB...but the part i don't get is...

is my stock highbeam on my gen1 an HID projector already or is it as i believe it to be a halogen projector highbeam?...as if this is going from stock halogen hi/low to HDI hi/low this could get pretty pricey real quick hugh?

btw...i'm a self admitted headlight idiot...always wanted HID's on my bike but always flinched at the cost and idea of hacking up my oem housing to install but Ogre's looks clean..real clean...and trick.

God please lemme be able to afford this...soon. lease:

My "Mod Goals" for this year for Oren is....

1. HID's

2. Brembo's & Fresh Rotors

3. Is a toss-up between: Marichini or BST CF Wheels or...Fresh Rear Shock & Fork Springs/Valves

and prolly be happy even if i just get #1 & #2 done.



L8R, Bill.

 

[m_ridgeway]

When you hit the high beams does the beam move up or just intensify?

My understanding from the bi xenon I have in my car the bulb just moves further into the housin making a more intensified beam. Got on comparo of high and low beam?
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[head east busa]

talk to ogre he made up bi xenons which means both can run high and low beams at the same time. yes you have a projector for your high beam but it doesn't have the little moving shade on the inside. Ogre is the man when it comes to this sort of thing the link I posted is his work installed.

 

[m_ridgeway]

Do I not ask my questions right or something I keep getting the wrong answers every time I ask a question.

Are there any pics of the highs on then a pic of the lows on.
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[head east busa]

whoops sorry no I just didn't read it right I'll see if I can look upo his most recent thread he has some pics up of what your lookin for sorry I'm a little slow sometimes

 

[m_ridgeway]

Thanks lol.
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[head east busa]

here it is abou 2/3rd the way down the page he has pics of the bixenon lows then highs

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/electrical-mods/118651-double-bixenon-retro-2.html

 

[ogre]

never have gotten a good pic. basically, the light just goes a little further up the road and up in front of you. no change in intensity or color.


low beam : _____________
_____
high beam: ___/ \____


that's really the only difference. i'm sure alan will have some beam shots up really soon. i did a hi/lo comparison, but my camera sucks (cell phone). i'm sure alan will throw some beam shots up come monday when he gets his light.

 

[m_ridgeway]

Thanks guys. That what I was talking about.
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[BIG GUY]

This has got me thinking. Are the retrofits any brighter then hid's?

 

[FanaticalKilla]

This has got me thinking. Are the retrofits any brighter then hid's?

Yeah because that awesome glare byproduct you get is lost light. Projectors direct light to where it should be.

 

[Rauzer]

:edit: this is not intended to be a "buy stuff from me" pitch. this is intended to be a basic guide as to why retrofitting is safer and more effective than a simple HID kit, and to answer common questions about retrofits.



ok, all of us agree that more light is put on the road with an HID kit. the problem is, conventional halogen housings were not meant to deal with the placement or intensity of an HID bulb. what this means is that even though placement is close, light housings are a precision piece of engineering, and even a little bit off is too much. so the following pics are what happens when an HID light is put in a halogen housing. notice the light outside of where the beam pattern should be, this is what irritates oncoming traffic, it appears as though the offending vehicle has its high beams on, even though they don't

so you can see the glare from the oncoming vehicles view. here's what it looks like from the other side. next time you pull up to your house, look closely above and around the main part of your HID beam. you'll notice stray light everywhere

and this next one is an extreme example, but still valid. notice the HID light has stray light everywhere, but the halogen doesn't

here's an illustration of why this stray light occurs

now, as we move onto HID projectors, you're putting an enclosure designed for an HID bulb inside your factory headlight. so unlike the above pic, you're putting the entire light reflection/refraction assembly inside your headlight, so your factory reflector isn't involved at all, and thus no stray light.

here is how a projector works:

here's a pic of a double 55w retrofit i just completed for 2hip

and outside

notice the total lack of light being thrown above where it should be? this is how i (or you, if you like) can put together 110 watts of light, and keep it safe for both oncoming motorists and the person riding behind it.

In the 5th picture, there is a "step up" in the top line of the light. (probably not the correct wording) I had the lenses replaced on the lights of my STI and now I have that same "step" in mine. What causes that?