Well let's keep the story rolling along Part 1 of this story is HERE if you missed it. As you know I have good reasons to want better lights on the Breva. Don't get me wrong, I agree that the standard Breva lights are pretty good, but they are only "bike" good if you know what I mean. They just don't have enough penetration power to light up and penetrate the roadside mulga for you to spot a lurking roo and IMHO they just don't give enough margin for error if travelling at high speed at night, especially in a rural area, where the likelyhood of an unexpected obstacle is high and street lighting is non existent.
I'm no expert, but I've been researching HID for some time and this might save you some time if your thinking of going that way. So lets get started with High Intensity Discharge Lighting (HID) 101.
1) In the beginning it consisted of a Bulb, Ballast and Igniter and was big and bulky, but along the way some electrickery and magic happened and some bright spark incorporated the igniter and ballast into a single digital unit. So now an HID system consists of a nice box of electronics generally refered to as the ballst with some wires and a bulb with which replace your OEM one and will (?) fit the same holes. A well designed system is plug and play with absolutely no wire cutting required - I emphasis the "well designed" from what I can make out most of the kits on the market are just car kits with "Suitable for Motorcycle" stamped on the box. Now when power is applied to the ballast it ignites the gasses inside the bulb with a shot of about 20,000 volts , much like a flourescent tube, except some neat science means that the tube is heaps shorter and puts out zillions more light than your average household flouro - Neat eh?
2) Why is it good, well these little buggers make more light, LOTS more light than the common garden variety halogen bulb, but draw LESS power (amazing!) - typically about 35 watts as opposed to 55/60 watts for a standard bulb. Secondly they produce LESS heat than a halogen bulb and lastly they generally last for ages. The science is really cool and It would take a bloody thesis to explain so I won't - just install it, use it and marvel at how good it is.
3) Why is it bad, well the biggest problem is that converting an OEM standard system is a bit of an after thought. The reflector is designed for halogen bulbs and wacking a twinkler putting out the power of a small sun in it can result in light going everywhere - especially into the on coming drivers' eyes. This is especially true when replacing standard H4 bulbs that have 2 filaments - one high and one low, an HID bulb cannot have the two filaments inside to do this, so these types of bulbs are replaced with some ingenious systems to replicate High/Low beam that sometimes leave a lot to be desired. It seems from my reseach that this is a case of you gets what you pays for, and I have a set for the Minsters' Nevada - here's hoping I got a good one. But in the end this is not a problem on the Breva because we have two separate bulbs - you beauty!
Now the controversial bit. I don't subscribe to the the theory that they blind the other driver - more to the point - I don't care! It is more important to me that I can see and be seen than annoy some bloke because he has his rear vision mirror adjusted wrongly or his driving instructor didn't tell him, or more likely he didn't listen when told that he shouldn't stare at the lights of an on coming vehicle - as I said I'm not interested in anyone else's safety just mine, as my risk on the road is FAR greater then his/hers - all they will get is a little annoyed, while I have the possibility of a liitle hospital stay - nuff said!
Next problem is that they take a while to get going after being switched on, much like me in the morning after a hard night. On the Breva which has the low beam on permanently and only switches the high, then this is not a problem, but the flash button becomes a fairly useless. Also not a problem in my book as flashing a triffid (a gormless, brainless, mobile vegetable who's only purpose in life is to kill you and is otherwise know as a licenced car driver) generally only makes them decide that you're really further away than they thought and therefore have plenty of time to pull out in front of you and present their drivers side door to your front wheel for re-shaping.....
Next issue is colour of the light - there has been a lot of recent discussion about that in this thread on the old board. Simply put, the blue HID lights you often see are a fad, mostly installed by Subaru WRX driving teenagers who want to impress. OEM HID installs are almost always 4300 kelvin - don't worry about the numbers, it's just a fancy way of saying that it approximates the colour of sunlight which has a colour temperature of about 5000 kelvin, which after all is what we are trying to do - turn night into day. Now not being related to the man upstairs, I can't bring on a miracle, but it seems to me that HID is the nearest thing available when it comes to "let there be light".
So there you have it, the basics as I seem em. In the end I recon it's a good idea, although I understand that it is completely illegal anywhere in the US - Bugger. In Aus I suspect it's probably not kosher either, but the copper would have to be a bit intelligent to put two and two together, and so is unlikely to be a problem except if some over zealous twit form the Transport Dept. wants to get officious.
There are LOTS of people around selling kits. Cheap ones are on Fleabay and seem to be about $80 - $150 USD, dearer ones from "more substantial/traditional" companies seem to range from $200 - $300 USD. The gear that I have ordered is coming from these blokes Here. Although I did consider these blokes, and have since decided that I should have gone with them - Futurevision HID that is - The Xtralights kit seems to have good electronics, but their service is woeful and instructions non existant and into the bargain the kit has some problems - read on.....
So lets get to work and cut some wires.
1st problem is where to put the ballast - after a lot of head scratching and sitting in the shed staring at the bike, I had a brainwave and found a good spot. I modified the mounts that came with the kit like this.
And mounted the ballasts like this. And yes they clear the tank - JUST - by a poofteenth!
But now the fun started - The two OEM bulbs on the Breva are H7 for the low beam and H9 for the high beam. A normal halogen H9 bulb has the wires exiting the rear of the bulb at 90 degrees so is very space efficient, something that Mr Guzzi has taken full advantage of when designing the headlight casing - it is seriously close to the back of the HB bulb and then is seriously close to the steering head of the frame. Unfortunately the HID bulb does not have this 90 degree feature - PROBLEM.
After a lot more head scratching (bloody psoriasis) I decided that there was nothing for it as all the measuring in the world didn't seem to be giving answers and I decided to cut some holes and hope for the best. So I cut two 25mm holes in the rear of the headlight casing to allow the bulbs and their wires to stick through - like this:
The four wires exiting the casing are what is required to connect the 2 bulbs to the ballasts - to get to this point required a lot of surgery in the light casing, as it also has a parking light bulb which I wanted to retain, and which is connected internally to the big thick wire exiting the casing in the foreground. The OEM harness for the lights was cut and removed completely back to the large white multi pin connector behind the steering head and just under the newly installed ballasts.
So now where were we - Oh yes, next is connecting the bloody things to make them work. Conceptually they are fairly simple - connect the red and black wires marked "power in" to the old plug that conected to the bulb which gives switched power to the ballast, then connect the new HID bulb to the supplied wires from the ballast. Now if you talk to the HID sales people they will say their kit is "Plug'N'Play" - don't bloody believe em.... It might be the case on a car (although not likely in my expereince), but on a bike there are all sorts of complications - connecting plugs that won't go through holes becuase Mr Guzzi never intended them to be removed, plugs supplied that don't fit becuase bikes are different and so on and so on and so on........
The other big complication was that I also have MotoLights which because of the requirement of the Guzzi electrical design must draw actuating power from the same circuit as the headlights in order that they can't be on when starting the bike, so from here on in it became a case of - where does that wire go, and what colour is that (I'm colour blind) and I wonder where I connected the other end of that one and struth I hope this works!
1st had to make preparations, so cut every wire I could find, cleaned out Repcos' entire stock of electrical connectors and suggested to the Minister that she get out on Gus and visit her Mum and Dad, so as not to be blamed if I fried the Breva's computer.....
The mess looked like this:
The immediate job was to make up a harness that connected from the multi pin plug in the OEM harness which connected to both high and low HID, both high and low MotoLights and also the parking light for good measure just to make it interesting. Many hours later, several trips to Super Cheap Auto for parts, and into the bargain burnt fingers from the soldering iron, I ended up with a harness that I thought might work that looked like this. The yellow circle indicates the last bit of original Guzzi wiring after this connector is where the new harness form Mike's Expert Wiring Services starts....
The other problem now facing me was where to put all these wires. The Breva has no Tupperware like the Norge (thanks Mr Guzzi for seeing sense - plastic belongs in the kitchen, not on a motorcycle) so space is at a premium. Eventually after many changes and re-routing I got it sorted out, and it seems to be OK, although I am concerned about wires rubbing on things that they shouldn't be. It looked like this:
The headlight assembly went back in after some re-routing of the wires behind it so they allowed the new wires sticking out the back some more room, but they still rub on the steering head when the bars are turned. I contacted the Futrevision blokes and they sent me some pics of their H9 bulb and it is MUCH better than the Extralights, one so if it goes cactus I'll get a replacement one from them and hopefully it will be a better fit.
Sooooooooo what is the outcome - Drum ROll - IT WORKED Tadaaaaa!!!!!!. I was amazed, it really was very complicated and took about three days of work all up (Plug'N'Play? yeah right) and here is the end result. I carefully took the photos with the camera set to manual and all the settings the same for all the shots so that they would be a valid comparison - cut me some slack I'm no Pexi with a camera. BUT be aware that what I see as the rider bears no resemblence to these photos, they just give you a comparison - the HID system lighting is just AMAZING, in fact it is FANTASTIC and SO bright it is just like turning the road ahead into daylight, it really has to be seen to be believed. There is a downside though that was never mentioned in my research. During daylight the headlight does not show up like the Halogen one to the on-coming traffic. In fact it is almost invisible - I put this down to the colour of the light - just like daylight - all the oncoming traffic see is a bright disk on the front of the bike - so I am glad I have the MotoLights as without them it really would be no better than riding with the lights off.
Anyway, I'm getting tired fingers so here are the comparison pics:
With the original OEM halogen lights
Original Halogen - Low Beam - No Motolights
Original Halogen - Low Beam - With Motolights
Original Halogen - High Beam - No Motolights
Original Halogen - High Beam - With Motolights
With HID - keen observers will notice that in the time it took me to install the HID, the local council had repaired the street light - the bike was parked in the same place for all the shots :dry:
HID - Low Beam - No Motolights
HID - Low Beam - With Motolights
HID - High Beam - No Motolights
HID - High Beam - With Motolights
And here is what it looks like from the front. Remember the camera is lying - The HID system doesn't look anything like the photo, it is just a bright disk on the front of the bike - but you get the idea.
Halogen
HID
I do think that I need to make some adjustments to the hreadlight aiming, to get the best results - they are a little low at the moment, but it will take some experimenting to get it just right.
So there you have it - In the end I am really happy with it, and I think I now have the best system possible - brilliant at night, with light penetration better than most cars, and motolight safety during the day, albeit with reduced visibility of the main headlight, but I think the triangle light pattern of the MotoLights more than compensates.
Now to the next project - Oh I forgot I have several on the go, better get out to the shed, thanks for listening and it's good night form me and good light from them....:woohoo:
I'm no expert, but I've been researching HID for some time and this might save you some time if your thinking of going that way. So lets get started with High Intensity Discharge Lighting (HID) 101.
1) In the beginning it consisted of a Bulb, Ballast and Igniter and was big and bulky, but along the way some electrickery and magic happened and some bright spark incorporated the igniter and ballast into a single digital unit. So now an HID system consists of a nice box of electronics generally refered to as the ballst with some wires and a bulb with which replace your OEM one and will (?) fit the same holes. A well designed system is plug and play with absolutely no wire cutting required - I emphasis the "well designed" from what I can make out most of the kits on the market are just car kits with "Suitable for Motorcycle" stamped on the box. Now when power is applied to the ballast it ignites the gasses inside the bulb with a shot of about 20,000 volts , much like a flourescent tube, except some neat science means that the tube is heaps shorter and puts out zillions more light than your average household flouro - Neat eh?
2) Why is it good, well these little buggers make more light, LOTS more light than the common garden variety halogen bulb, but draw LESS power (amazing!) - typically about 35 watts as opposed to 55/60 watts for a standard bulb. Secondly they produce LESS heat than a halogen bulb and lastly they generally last for ages. The science is really cool and It would take a bloody thesis to explain so I won't - just install it, use it and marvel at how good it is.
3) Why is it bad, well the biggest problem is that converting an OEM standard system is a bit of an after thought. The reflector is designed for halogen bulbs and wacking a twinkler putting out the power of a small sun in it can result in light going everywhere - especially into the on coming drivers' eyes. This is especially true when replacing standard H4 bulbs that have 2 filaments - one high and one low, an HID bulb cannot have the two filaments inside to do this, so these types of bulbs are replaced with some ingenious systems to replicate High/Low beam that sometimes leave a lot to be desired. It seems from my reseach that this is a case of you gets what you pays for, and I have a set for the Minsters' Nevada - here's hoping I got a good one. But in the end this is not a problem on the Breva because we have two separate bulbs - you beauty!
Now the controversial bit. I don't subscribe to the the theory that they blind the other driver - more to the point - I don't care! It is more important to me that I can see and be seen than annoy some bloke because he has his rear vision mirror adjusted wrongly or his driving instructor didn't tell him, or more likely he didn't listen when told that he shouldn't stare at the lights of an on coming vehicle - as I said I'm not interested in anyone else's safety just mine, as my risk on the road is FAR greater then his/hers - all they will get is a little annoyed, while I have the possibility of a liitle hospital stay - nuff said!
Next problem is that they take a while to get going after being switched on, much like me in the morning after a hard night. On the Breva which has the low beam on permanently and only switches the high, then this is not a problem, but the flash button becomes a fairly useless. Also not a problem in my book as flashing a triffid (a gormless, brainless, mobile vegetable who's only purpose in life is to kill you and is otherwise know as a licenced car driver) generally only makes them decide that you're really further away than they thought and therefore have plenty of time to pull out in front of you and present their drivers side door to your front wheel for re-shaping.....
Next issue is colour of the light - there has been a lot of recent discussion about that in this thread on the old board. Simply put, the blue HID lights you often see are a fad, mostly installed by Subaru WRX driving teenagers who want to impress. OEM HID installs are almost always 4300 kelvin - don't worry about the numbers, it's just a fancy way of saying that it approximates the colour of sunlight which has a colour temperature of about 5000 kelvin, which after all is what we are trying to do - turn night into day. Now not being related to the man upstairs, I can't bring on a miracle, but it seems to me that HID is the nearest thing available when it comes to "let there be light".
So there you have it, the basics as I seem em. In the end I recon it's a good idea, although I understand that it is completely illegal anywhere in the US - Bugger. In Aus I suspect it's probably not kosher either, but the copper would have to be a bit intelligent to put two and two together, and so is unlikely to be a problem except if some over zealous twit form the Transport Dept. wants to get officious.
There are LOTS of people around selling kits. Cheap ones are on Fleabay and seem to be about $80 - $150 USD, dearer ones from "more substantial/traditional" companies seem to range from $200 - $300 USD. The gear that I have ordered is coming from these blokes Here. Although I did consider these blokes, and have since decided that I should have gone with them - Futurevision HID that is - The Xtralights kit seems to have good electronics, but their service is woeful and instructions non existant and into the bargain the kit has some problems - read on.....
So lets get to work and cut some wires.
1st problem is where to put the ballast - after a lot of head scratching and sitting in the shed staring at the bike, I had a brainwave and found a good spot. I modified the mounts that came with the kit like this.
And mounted the ballasts like this. And yes they clear the tank - JUST - by a poofteenth!
But now the fun started - The two OEM bulbs on the Breva are H7 for the low beam and H9 for the high beam. A normal halogen H9 bulb has the wires exiting the rear of the bulb at 90 degrees so is very space efficient, something that Mr Guzzi has taken full advantage of when designing the headlight casing - it is seriously close to the back of the HB bulb and then is seriously close to the steering head of the frame. Unfortunately the HID bulb does not have this 90 degree feature - PROBLEM.
After a lot more head scratching (bloody psoriasis) I decided that there was nothing for it as all the measuring in the world didn't seem to be giving answers and I decided to cut some holes and hope for the best. So I cut two 25mm holes in the rear of the headlight casing to allow the bulbs and their wires to stick through - like this:
The four wires exiting the casing are what is required to connect the 2 bulbs to the ballasts - to get to this point required a lot of surgery in the light casing, as it also has a parking light bulb which I wanted to retain, and which is connected internally to the big thick wire exiting the casing in the foreground. The OEM harness for the lights was cut and removed completely back to the large white multi pin connector behind the steering head and just under the newly installed ballasts.
So now where were we - Oh yes, next is connecting the bloody things to make them work. Conceptually they are fairly simple - connect the red and black wires marked "power in" to the old plug that conected to the bulb which gives switched power to the ballast, then connect the new HID bulb to the supplied wires from the ballast. Now if you talk to the HID sales people they will say their kit is "Plug'N'Play" - don't bloody believe em.... It might be the case on a car (although not likely in my expereince), but on a bike there are all sorts of complications - connecting plugs that won't go through holes becuase Mr Guzzi never intended them to be removed, plugs supplied that don't fit becuase bikes are different and so on and so on and so on........
The other big complication was that I also have MotoLights which because of the requirement of the Guzzi electrical design must draw actuating power from the same circuit as the headlights in order that they can't be on when starting the bike, so from here on in it became a case of - where does that wire go, and what colour is that (I'm colour blind) and I wonder where I connected the other end of that one and struth I hope this works!
1st had to make preparations, so cut every wire I could find, cleaned out Repcos' entire stock of electrical connectors and suggested to the Minister that she get out on Gus and visit her Mum and Dad, so as not to be blamed if I fried the Breva's computer.....
The mess looked like this:
The immediate job was to make up a harness that connected from the multi pin plug in the OEM harness which connected to both high and low HID, both high and low MotoLights and also the parking light for good measure just to make it interesting. Many hours later, several trips to Super Cheap Auto for parts, and into the bargain burnt fingers from the soldering iron, I ended up with a harness that I thought might work that looked like this. The yellow circle indicates the last bit of original Guzzi wiring after this connector is where the new harness form Mike's Expert Wiring Services starts....
The other problem now facing me was where to put all these wires. The Breva has no Tupperware like the Norge (thanks Mr Guzzi for seeing sense - plastic belongs in the kitchen, not on a motorcycle) so space is at a premium. Eventually after many changes and re-routing I got it sorted out, and it seems to be OK, although I am concerned about wires rubbing on things that they shouldn't be. It looked like this:
The headlight assembly went back in after some re-routing of the wires behind it so they allowed the new wires sticking out the back some more room, but they still rub on the steering head when the bars are turned. I contacted the Futrevision blokes and they sent me some pics of their H9 bulb and it is MUCH better than the Extralights, one so if it goes cactus I'll get a replacement one from them and hopefully it will be a better fit.
Sooooooooo what is the outcome - Drum ROll - IT WORKED Tadaaaaa!!!!!!. I was amazed, it really was very complicated and took about three days of work all up (Plug'N'Play? yeah right) and here is the end result. I carefully took the photos with the camera set to manual and all the settings the same for all the shots so that they would be a valid comparison - cut me some slack I'm no Pexi with a camera. BUT be aware that what I see as the rider bears no resemblence to these photos, they just give you a comparison - the HID system lighting is just AMAZING, in fact it is FANTASTIC and SO bright it is just like turning the road ahead into daylight, it really has to be seen to be believed. There is a downside though that was never mentioned in my research. During daylight the headlight does not show up like the Halogen one to the on-coming traffic. In fact it is almost invisible - I put this down to the colour of the light - just like daylight - all the oncoming traffic see is a bright disk on the front of the bike - so I am glad I have the MotoLights as without them it really would be no better than riding with the lights off.
Anyway, I'm getting tired fingers so here are the comparison pics:
With the original OEM halogen lights
Original Halogen - Low Beam - No Motolights
Original Halogen - Low Beam - With Motolights
Original Halogen - High Beam - No Motolights
Original Halogen - High Beam - With Motolights
With HID - keen observers will notice that in the time it took me to install the HID, the local council had repaired the street light - the bike was parked in the same place for all the shots :dry:
HID - Low Beam - No Motolights
HID - Low Beam - With Motolights
HID - High Beam - No Motolights
HID - High Beam - With Motolights
And here is what it looks like from the front. Remember the camera is lying - The HID system doesn't look anything like the photo, it is just a bright disk on the front of the bike - but you get the idea.
Halogen
HID
I do think that I need to make some adjustments to the hreadlight aiming, to get the best results - they are a little low at the moment, but it will take some experimenting to get it just right.
So there you have it - In the end I am really happy with it, and I think I now have the best system possible - brilliant at night, with light penetration better than most cars, and motolight safety during the day, albeit with reduced visibility of the main headlight, but I think the triangle light pattern of the MotoLights more than compensates.
Now to the next project - Oh I forgot I have several on the go, better get out to the shed, thanks for listening and it's good night form me and good light from them....:woohoo: