Up grading Silverwing head light bulbs

Has anyone ever up graded the head light bulbs on the Silverwing High and low beems . With PIAA X treme White PLUS bulb or PIAA intense white bulb or something similar and was the mod a good improvment.

I replaced them both with Xenon H.I.D. bulbs and that was a great improvement.

How do you at the headlight bulbs to change them? Anyone?

I simply took my bike to the dealership and told them to put in the high intensity bulbs. I know this is cheating, but I only had a limited window to get all the service done, so I did it.

dspevack wrote:

I replaced them both with Xenon H.I.D. bulbs and that was a great improvement.

What make did you buy and where from?
I'm thinking about being brighter for the coming season.
And that's not my IQ I'm talking about :lol!:

Be carefull if you buy one!
H7 is not even H7! Buy a Xenon with H7R, H7 specially for Headlights with reflector. Otherwise you will glare the other traffic and the illumination will not equal

I purchased mine from Xenon Depot/KB carstuff.
There are other places that are cheaper, but you can get some good information from this site, to better understand what you are looking for.

And no, I didn't install it myself. I had the dealer do it.
Search this forum for "xenon" for more info.

nomad wrote:

How do you get at the headlight bulbs to change them? Anyone?

Without wishing to be funny about it - at the rear of the fitting, look upwards between the forklegs.

I have a friend who has fitted a 'HID' unit to a GL650. When asked what he thought, I made a mental note of his comments.

Basically he said there are two types of light unit. Or rather there are two ways in which the unit switches from high to low beam. One is done electronically, the other mechanically. He recommends the more costly, but far more reliable and robust electronic version. He also said that its a proven point not to bother with any unit that puts out light higher than 6000K, as the human eye isn't up to processing information in that part of the spectrum - and it really, really annoys on coming traffic! The biggest problem he had was finding enough space to put the wiring and ballast unit (less of problem on a SWing 600), but I don't really see why as the GL650 & 500 is fitted with a GL1100 fairing....................

I've been very tempted myself, to fit a HID unit, but as I have a twin headlight fairing on the Quike with two 60 watt bulbs that come on at full beam I don't think I need them and to behonest I'm more inclined to fit extra 'riding/driving' lights to the Scoot first before I lay out any more dosh.

x

Bigbird,
No experience with that company, however since they are advertising for the Silverwing, make sure they are talking about the Scooter and not the older Silverwing motorcycle before you buy. Also given their kit choices I recommend the 4300k kit.
If I recall correctly you are also a member on .org, and there is extensive discussion on that board to refer to.
Just do a search on the word "Xenon".
(I guess I must have mellowed a bit to even mention it here) ::sigh::

x

bigbird I went to the links you posted and read all the info and that made my mind up so I ordered the 65w rally bulbs one for low beam and one for high beam I think that is the way to go. The test will be this spring if nobody flashes the high beams at me I will keep them in the silverwing. If I get alot of flashes from on coming traffic I will first try to ajust the aim of the head light if I still get flashed I will go back to stock . I think it will be OK .

x

I have never spoken to Daniel Stern, but reading the article you
linked to does nothing to disuade me from HID.
His info tells you of potential problems with some HID colors and
applications. Many of his complaints refer to how the additional
light is distributed, which is actually a function of the reflector.
He rambles on against daylight, but the xenon bulbs actually are
only 4300k while daylight can be anything from 5000k to 6500k
depending on the time of day (relative sun position in the atmosphere).



If I had it to do over again I would do the same thing.
I don't know of one person who has gone to HID, and then gone back.

In the USA 55 watts are the legal limit for bulbs.
The bulbs you refer to are 65 watts.
Maybe that is acceptable in Canada.
Most Xenon/HID bulbs are only 35 watts and put out the same light
as their 55 watt filiment bulb counterparts.


Dan

In my naivety I thought the problem of fitting HID lights retrospectively was the mismatch between bulb and reflectors/lenses.
Conventional lights are not optically designed to cope with HIDs, hence the problems of dazzling on-coming riders and drivers.

I found and unashamedly copy and paste these three paragraphs from the Internet:

Glare
Vehicles equipped with HID headlamps are required by ECE regulation 48 also to be equipped with headlamp lens cleaning systems and automatic beam levelling control. Both of these measures are intended to reduce the tendency for high-output headlamps to cause high levels of glare to other road users. In North America, ECE R48 does not apply and while lens cleaners and beam levellers are permitted, they are not required; HID headlamps are markedly less prevalent in the US, where they have produced significant glare complaints. Scientific study of headlamp glare has shown that for any given intensity level, the light from HID headlamps is 40% more glaring than the light from tungsten-halogen headlamps.


Mercury content
HID headlamp bulb types D1R, D1S, D2R, D2S and 9500 contain the toxic heavy metal mercury. The disposal of mercury-containing vehicle parts is increasingly regulated throughout the world, for example under US EPA regulations. Newer HID bulb designs D3R, D3S, D4R, and D4S which are in production since 2004 contain no mercury,but are not electrically or physically compatible with headlamps designed for previous bulb types.


Lack of backward-compatibility
The arc light source in an HID headlamp is fundamentally different in size, shape, orientation, and luminosity distribution compared to the filament light source used in tungsten-halogen headlamps. For that reason, HID-specific optics are used to collect and distribute the light. HID burners cannot effectively or safely be installed in optics designed to take filament bulbs; doing so results in improperly-focused beam patterns and excessive glare, and is therefore illegal in almost all countries. Moreover, most developed countries enforce the ECE Regulation requirement that HID headlamps be equipped with lens cleaning and automatic headlamp self-levelling systems, which usually are absent on vehicles not originally equipped with HID lamps.

Just thought I would throw this in and I know this has nothing to do with head light bulb replacement but was just thinking about the 4700K of these 2 bulbs I installed.

When I installed the Wal-Mart/Optronics driving lights on my scooter. I changed out the stock bulbs with a set of 10 deg. 50 watt, 4700K (that's the color) Solux spot light bulbs. Does a great job of brightning things up in front of the scoot.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/1314/MR16S-200.html

x

MikeO wrote:

In my naivety I thought the problem of fitting HID lights retrospectively was the mismatch between bulb and reflectors/lenses.
Conventional lights are not optically designed to cope with HIDs, hence the problems of dazzling on-coming riders and drivers.

I found and unashamedly copy and paste these three paragraphs from the Internet:

Glare
Vehicles equipped with HID headlamps are required by ECE regulation 48 also to be equipped with headlamp lens cleaning systems and automatic beam levelling control. Both of these measures are intended to reduce the tendency for high-output headlamps to cause high levels of glare to other road users. In North America, ECE R48 does not apply and while lens cleaners and beam levellers are permitted, they are not required; HID headlamps are markedly less prevalent in the US, where they have produced significant glare complaints. Scientific study of headlamp glare has shown that for any given intensity level, the light from HID headlamps is 40% more glaring than the light from tungsten-halogen headlamps.


Mercury content
HID headlamp bulb types D1R, D1S, D2R, D2S and 9500 contain the toxic heavy metal mercury. The disposal of mercury-containing vehicle parts is increasingly regulated throughout the world, for example under US EPA regulations. Newer HID bulb designs D3R, D3S, D4R, and D4S which are in production since 2004 contain no mercury,but are not electrically or physically compatible with headlamps designed for previous bulb types.


Lack of backward-compatibility
The arc light source in an HID headlamp is fundamentally different in size, shape, orientation, and luminosity distribution compared to the filament light source used in tungsten-halogen headlamps. For that reason, HID-specific optics are used to collect and distribute the light. HID burners cannot effectively or safely be installed in optics designed to take filament bulbs; doing so results in improperly-focused beam patterns and excessive glare, and is therefore illegal in almost all countries. Moreover, most developed countries enforce the ECE Regulation requirement that HID headlamps be equipped with lens cleaning and automatic headlamp self-levelling systems, which usually are absent on vehicles not originally equipped with HID lamps.

This with glare and inproperly focused is that what i meant. Therefore you need H7R burners that looks like this:

Of course it is very important that the Lights are correct adjusted! and you have to readjust if you have more weight on your scooter! But with this burners normale you have an equal illuminated area and not such an inproper focused and are with some white spots in front of you. If you take normal H7 burners and you are looking on a wall, you will see a white U on the wall, thats the inproper focus.

And is mercury such a big problem? It is inside the burner and if you don't destroy them, it will be inside. And there are also mercuryfree burners available but mostly only the good and expensive one and i think the don't have H7R because these are mostly the cheap china products...

But i think i will buy a kit on ebay and will test it by myself. It is not so expensive

Re Mercury; it was easier for me to C&P the whole block in one go than to do bits.

I'm really not arguing either way because I don't know but I took the article to mean that it is not possible to adjust the beams satisfactorily because the HID bulbs don't mate with the conventional reflectors and lenses - the HID bulbs need HID-compatible reflectors and lenses.

x

Big Bird.... you evidently have not received your copy of the latest issue of Scratch My Ass Arkansas Lawman Magazine. All off duty officers now are being assigned to evaluation of Tennessee restrooms. There has been a recruitment effort to bring officers out of retirement for this hazardous assignment. Special respect should be shown to our officers that are willing to be away from their families during this time. Many will not return.

x

I have DDM Tuning 35W 4500K HID lights. The Honda Silvering has the worst low beam of any vehicle I have ever driven (and that is a lot) ... I would not recognize any wildlife till I was just passing them. The HIDs helped immensely ... now I can spot them earlier even on low beams.

During the day, I ride with both the low and high beams on for visibility. When a vehicle is approaching road I riding, I will swerve the headlights onto the vehicle a couple times (if possible) to get their attention.

During the night with oncoming vehicle(s), I ride with the low beam. I have not had any problems with the HIDs for oncoming vehicles. I also will position myself in the right 1/3 of lane to provide more visible light off to side of road looking for wildlife.

During the night without any oncoming vehicles, with the low and high beams I can see a lot better both down the road and on the side of the road. When I rode with DennisB (Dennis) and Opalsboy (Gary), we were driving back to hotel from diner and I spotted a coyote running towards us from the field and pointed out to the other drivers ... which would not have been visible with the OEM lights.

Sorry to threadjack, but I believe this one has run its original course so I don't feel bad.

Bill,
Why is a coyote running toward a motorcycle?
Seems awfully ambitious for any coyote outside a cartoon.
Also, what do you have from Manic Salamander (noticed your sig)?

x

Bigbird you young pup,

I have one of those on my motolights. Cool gadget.

It will be a while before you out-mod me.
Check my Gallery linked in my sig.

dspevack wrote:

Why is a coyote running toward a motorcycle?

Why did the coyote try to cross the road??
... You would have to ask the coyote.

dspevack wrote:

Also, what do you have from Manic Salamander (noticed your sig)?

I do not know why but my left arm was feeling every vibration like a stinger. I did not want to stop riding, so I got the larger Manic Salamander bar end weights which greatly reduced the vibration. I was able to keep riding and allow my arm to heal ... I never had a the arm stinger again.