The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Justin B. on November 17, 2007, 08:20:55 AM
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I'm getting a mental image of a pair of these on the front of my RT...
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95058
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harborfreight.com%2Fcpi%2Fphotos%2F95000-95099%2F95058.gif&hash=755af0c38fd30ff87e0badbafeb2b4da7926bc26)
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I say go for it. You can field test em for the rest of us.
I would like to know all the specs. The OD, length frt-bk, Ampre draw, replacement bulb part#, etc.
It gets dark here @ 5pm now. I go to work in the dark & come home in the dark.
Sometimes I think I am in the dark @ work as well.
Good thing I ain't a'scared the dark.
Some extra light would be nice.
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...and let us know of the cops give you any trouble!
The specifications are in the product manual. Go to the link Justin posted, and click the Download Product Manual button. 3 amps = 36 watts at 12 volts, I believe, which is way less than the 110 watts that my pair of (much cheaper!) H3 running lights draws.
I wish all these lying light makers would give us some objective measurements of light output, like lumen.
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OK,...this has my attention.........would love to see how they look on you cycle and learn how they work........what problems......if any that you have...update please.
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Ed, it would be nice as power consumption of an HID lamp can't really be used to compare against an incandescent bulb. From casting around on the net I have found:
- A 35-Watt XENON HID lamp produces up to 3x the lumens at the light source when compared to a 55-Watt halogen bulb.
- A 24 watt HID bulb provides 1300 lumens of light.
- A 35 watt HID bulb provides 2800 lumens of light.
- An HID bulb provides about 3x the light of a high performance halogen bulb of the same wattage...
- NO XENON HID conversion kit available from any source is DOT approved if installed outside of the factory. This means HID conversion kits are not street legal for use on public in the U.S. This applies to kits that convert your existing headlight.
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I'd have a hard time paying $180 for something from Harbor Freight, that didn't weigh at least 500 pounds. ;D
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Here's a kit for Bob. ;)
http://www.ultimateautoaccessories.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=6180
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Do people actually pay $900 for a set of after market lights ? :o
When I got the PIAA 510's for the oilhead, I thought $180 was a high price !!!
My personal favorite is the PIAA 40 round series, too large for most bikes, 6.25 inch ( 160 mm ) reflector.
They look out of place on the crash bars on the R65, but with PIAA superwhite lamps installed, you will never go wanting for extra light.
Though you may be needing a high output alternator after stressing the 27 year old charging system too much!
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If I were making a custom bike I would go with a pair of these in lieu of headlights:
http://trailtech.net/frame_mounted_hid_scmr16.html
But I'm sure they too are not street legal.
Here's a daydream: a way to aim my mirrors so as to direct the reflections of the too-bright headlights of somebody behind me, right into their own eyes. Some local idiot in a Jeep has been behind me twice with his (I presume) low beam headlights so bright that I couldn't see where I was going, so I had to pull over and let him go by. In a car with the rear view mirror on the night setting it's not so bad, buy my bikes don't have that.
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I am also curious how well these work out for you, Justin. I've considered adding some HID lamps myself, as they could definitely be gentler to the charging system than Halogens of anywhere close to the same light intensity. Please let us know !
:)
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I guess I'll start putting my e-Bay proceeds into a "pot" to buy lights with...
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For all of you that would like to "update" their current headlight from H4 to HID there are numerous kits on the market. Originally, these conversions forced you to "loose" your high beam but there are now "dual" kits so you don't have to sacrifice anything. I have corresponded with the folks at Omega Xenon and they verified one automotive kit has enough "important" bits to convert two motorcycles.
If some of you would like to do that then you could split the cost of a kit and save some bux over what some sellers gouge for a motorcycle kit. Funny, some of the sellers offer a motorcycle kit (which is half of a car kit) at considerably more than 1/2 the cost of a car kit...
The Omega Bi-Xenon kits contains both a high and low beam so at $390 would make it $195 per motorcycle:
http://www.omegaxenon.com/catalog/item/2271500/1709614.htm
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I've been curious about these:
http://tinyurl.com/37rodr
They won't fit my R65, as the Windjammer uses a 7" sealed halogen, but I'm wondering if I could make it work on my positive ground Triumph, especially as it only has a 120 watt alternator. I'm assuming the mechanical portion is the wink point of that bulb.
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I have seen replacement 7" headlamp units which take an H4 bulb...
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Ed, something like this may be what you need:
http://www.commandocaralarms.com/itemdetails.asp?ProductID=1033
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I love it. My R65, which came stock with H4 headlights, was converted to the Windjammer light which uses a 7" sealed beam halogen bulb. But I can convert that back to an H4, so that I can convert that to an HID.
Will these poor bikes ever forgive us? The nice thing is I can do a much better job of wiring than the person who installed the Windjammer on my R65. That mess of wiring and stupid blue splice connectors is embarrassing, except nobody can see it.
For what it's worth, my Triumph came stock with a pitiful incandescent light bulb, which I converted to H4 rather quickly. You can't have enough light! Or is it just my aging eyes?
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Ed, I think we're forgiven as long as we don't hang a sissy-bar off the bac, horns to the forks, and glue fur to the tank - may that cretin rot in motorcycle hell!!!
I have seen several folks post that their Windjammer used a standard sealed beam headlight. I'm about 99.99% sure that the Windjammer SS that came dealer installed on the 1978 R100/7 I bought new had the stock headlight installed into the fairing. Maybe some dealers put in the cheap bulb, kept, and then re-sold the original BMW light to further "enhance" their profit margin?
I am on the verge of ordering one of the HID conversion kits but after doing much research and reading there is one camp that strongly argues that the light output from an unmodified reflector system is crap, glares like hell, and is actually worse than an H4. The other camp says that is correct unless you shim/space the HID bulb to the "sweet-spot". This makes a lot of sense to me as I remember buying a replacement Mag Light Krypton bulb for my 4-cell Mag Light years ago and it came with a pack of "shims" so the bulb position could be "tweaked".
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Mmmmm:) Now they look intresting as the headlamp in the RT fairing on Bimbo2 is not up to much...
Wonder if there is a euro suppiler?
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I have seen several folks post that their Windjammer used a standard sealed beam headlight. I'm about 99.99% sure that the Windjammer SS that came dealer installed on the 1978 R100/7 I bought new had the stock headlight installed into the fairing. Maybe some dealers put in the cheap bulb, kept, and then re-sold the original BMW light to further "enhance" their profit margin?
I am on the verge of ordering one of the HID conversion kits but after doing much research and reading there is one camp that strongly argues that the light output from an unmodified reflector system is crap, glares like hell, and is actually worse than an H4. The other camp says that is correct unless you shim/space the HID bulb to the "sweet-spot". This makes a lot of sense to me as I remember buying a replacement Mag Light Krypton bulb for my 4-cell Mag Light years ago and it came with a pack of "shims" so the bulb position could be "tweaked".
Here are the SS mounting instructions, they used the sealed beam:
http://tinyurl.com/2jhvwx
I think previous versions did use the stock headlight.
I've read Sturn's pages about HIDs, and Joe 'Cuda was big on poo-pooing HID conversions, but I think the ones I put in for the low beams in my car worked well. I don't think we need expensive test equipment to see if we like the HIDs better.
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Strange, I had a '78 'Jammer SS. I would bet one might find that the bmw headlight assembly might fit in place of a sealed-beam. That was actually one of BMW's selling points back then, I remember 'most everybody being in agreement that Beemers had about the best headlight (for a sickle) in the business.
I think I'm leaning toward telling Sandy-Claws to bring me an HID Bi-Xenon kit...