HID and you

[abacall]

There are so many people "upgrading" to HID kits that I thought I should share some very valuable information. Most people think going to HID will give them better, more usable light. More often it hinders their ability to see over distances (increasing reaction time) and causes glare to oncoming drivers often "pulling" them into your lane. Not good.
So, rather than rewrite all the information, I'm just going to post some links. Please read them thoroughly, it can save your life (at the very least some $$ in wasted mods).

Advantages and disadvantages

Converting to HID (check out the tests on the bottom)

There's also a ton of other useful info on that site, worth checking out..

I hope this helps some people, I know it saved me from wasting my $$ on a crappy kit.

 

[reiobard]

i disagree, I have the HID and find it to work much better than the stock bulb did, Studies are easily skewed to favor either side of an argument.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Actually Rob, there is a point to this. The optics Yamaha provided are for non-HID bulbs, where an HID optimized system has a different reflective dish and concentrates the beam to best suit the HID bulb. Yamaha offers the reflective surface for the stock beams thus concentrating the light provided accordingly. To switch to HID, one should consider the design of the headlamp assembly accordingly. An HID in our stock lens configuration isn't optimal when you consider the reflective dish background.

 

[aceman1741]

I don't know Reiobard, but after checking out the website and reading the explanation about HID's, he's got me convinced that it's not a great idea so I'm definitely going to spend all that cash on HID's and lose my vision at night...

 

[rsw81]

I'm with Reioboard on this one. I did the HID conversion on both sides of my FZ6 and love it. The night vision is so much better, I can see easily twice the distance in front of me with these. No one has ever flashed their brights at me to say that my beam pattern was in their eyes either.

Now, apart from my opinion. All of you are right that the reflective housing of the FZ6 was not intended for HID bulbs and will not do as good of a job using that light as a headlight designed for HIDs. Even so, the light output is still better than the halogen bulbs that come with the FZ6 stock. One step beyond this would be to do a projector retrofit to even better it one step further. I did this on mine and would never go back.

If the HIDs in the stock reflective housing was twice as good as stock, the projectors with HIDs is twice better again!:rockon:

 

[reiobard]

i also agree that the HID's in a HID housing would probably blow my lights away, but when i do a HID on the high beam side i would like to do a side by side comparison with my bike and Eric's bike (I have to do the high beam side to be fair since Eric has the dual lows (unless he wants to disconnect his high beam side just for the test.).

 

[GodSpeedLuc]

so how is the installation for HID's? i know that the price is generally more of a concern. but does the installation for HID's require heating the housing like with the angel eyes or no?

 

[FZ1inNH]

I don't disagree that the light is a brighter light for those that switch, but I do have the opinion that the HID bulbs are better served in a housing designed to best focus that extra light. For me, it seems to just sort of be a wide spread flood light with our stock reflection pods.

 

[abacall]

^^Exactly. While the arc lighting will certainly produce more light, it is not used effectively. The increased light output you think you're seeing is an illusion. Works similar to using fog lights, which is a horrible idea on open roads that you want to see longer distances on. While there is more light coming out of the front of the vehicle, the way it is being used actually hinders night time visibility as it changes how your eye sees. You focus on what is directly in front of you rather than in the distance.
I'm all for a good debate, but the articles use real tests, and they have absolutely no reason to skew the results. They sell HID bulbs, and all sorts of other bulbs. Why would they try to sell you a cheaper lighting alternative?

Part of the article:

But what about all the rave reviews you read in magazines and on Usenet about how marvelous HID headlamps are? Well, here's the double whammy of high levels of foreground light: When you can see every last pebble in the road, all the way across, it's very comforting. You don't have to strain to see what's immediately in front of the vehicle. And the most recent research seems to be suggesting that this, to an extent, improves driver performance at night, possibly because with the foreground adequately illuminated, we tend to trust our peripheral vision to handle the foreground, and keep focussed out in the distance where we should be looking. (See above comments regarding too-low levels of foreground light in many US headlamps...). BUT, foreground illumination is *only one* performance aspect of a headlamp, and it's very, very easy to judge a headlamp \\"good\\" because of very strong foreground light, when in fact the distance vision isn't so grand. In short (finally!) an HID headlamp has a strong tendency to create a false sense of security.

 

[mellofelow]

Advantages and disadvantages

If you illuminate the foreground very strongly, your eyes will adapt to that big area of strong illumination, your pupils will become smaller, and your distance vision will be reduced.

NO WAY! When the pupils are smaller, your depth of field increases. This is a simple rule of photography. But even if it's true, how close is the illumination he's referring to? To be blinded by the object you're lighting on, you will hit it.

I have already converted 2 of my family vehicles to HID and never looking back (pun intended). Since we live on a neighborhood without street lights, we now can see joggers and dog walkers much sooner with HIDs. The visual improvement is HUGE!

I just received my HID for the FZ6. I'll post some before and after pictures.

Check out this picture... check out the size of the vehicle for comparison.

 

[Damnitsjeff]

I will go with the yay for Hid over stock (crappy) halogen. Hid may be to bright for on coming traffic but it has a better reflective capability than halogen (lighting up the reflectors in the middle of the road and road signs ect.) I get comments all the time of "wow those are bright" so that tells me that people can see me at night and day. Once you have them I guarantee you will not go back. In the past 3 years I have put them on all the vehicles that I have had. After buying my last truck (2007 Toyota Tundra) within 3 days I ordered a kit because after having them on my previous truck (2005 F-250 Super Duty) I had to have them. The benefits out way the negatives I think. You get more light at a lower power rating (55 watts halogen vs. 35 watts hid) and last up to 10 times longer. My personal beliefs on this subject are HID ALL THE WAY!!!!!!! :cheer: boooooooooooooooooo halogen :spank:

 

[reiobard]

maybe the cure for this is doing the HID in the low beamand then doing an HID look bulb (still with the fillament) on the high beam side with the double low beam mod. best of both worlds, and it won't look that strange to have them both on at the same time.

 

[wolfc70]

I installed an HID kit on my Altima and liked it. Until I got a ticket for using non DOT approved set up. According to the WI DOT, if your vehicle did not come from the factory, you can not use HID bulbs in the OEM housing. You CAN use after market reflectors, but they have to be DOT approved for HID bulbs. The lens has to say DOT on it, and the cop had a book that showed what cars had HID as options form OEM, as well as a list of aftermarket approved lights. I really like the way the HID kit worked, much better low beam pattern, although the high beam was more spotty.

----------------
Now playing: Starflyer 59 - Something Evil
via FoxyTunes

 

[GConn]

This thread contains pics after I installed the bi-xenon in the H4 side (I live in the EU, it's the opposite than most people in here). In these pics only the xenon headlight is lit, the std one is disconnected.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/5101-help-hid-install-2.html

On the other side, the H7 I tried was unbearable for oncoming traffic. I uninstalled it immediately. And the light was useless, dispersed EVERYWHERE...So, combining my experience with what I read in the forums, the right reflector is crap for HIDs while the left one has fair performance with HIDs.

To sum up, for people that are interested in the mod:
- If you have the US bike, then do the H7 mod, don't spend money on the H4 bulb
- If you have the UK-spec bike, do the H4 bulb, don't spend the money on the H7.

 

[formula154]

Light behaves differently depending on what kind of bulb it comes from?

Actually Rob, there is a point to this. The optics Yamaha provided are for non-HID bulbs, where an HID optimized system has a different reflective dish and concentrates the beam to best suit the HID bulb. Yamaha offers the reflective surface for the stock beams thus concentrating the light provided accordingly. To switch to HID, one should consider the design of the headlamp assembly accordingly. An HID in our stock lens configuration isn't optimal when you consider the reflective dish background.

 

[necrotimus]

I have two problems with people making the move to the HIDs in cars and bikes.

1) No one seems able to point them correctly. Why do people think the light should shine horizontally from your headlights and with the widest possible dispersion?

2) A high percentage of drivers have bad vision and wear corrective lenses. Bright lights can cause halos for these drivers, the brighter the light the bigger the halo. In rain the effect is magnified on every rain drop in the air and on the windshield.

If you are doing lighting modification please do your due dillegance and aim the lights properly. Whenever I am blinded either from an oncoming car (or from a car behind me) I don't flash the driver I just think what an fing ahole.

 

[GConn]

The set up you see in my pictures doesn't blind oncoming traffic. The other headlight did, so I removed it. The light is dispersed on the left and that helps in night without bothering anyone. Where I live, we drive on the left, so that's no problem.

My point is that at least one of the FZ6 headlights CAN be aimed properly.

 

[reiobard]

I admit that i did have to re-aim the HID when i put it in, but that is part of the install, it now aims the same exact places that the stock bulb did, just b
righter

 

[rsw81]

I admit that i did have to re-aim the HID when i put it in, but that is part of the install, it now aims the same exact places that the stock bulb did, just b
righter

Ditto. When I had my reflective housings with HID, they did need to be re-aimed. After that, they didn't blind traffic any more so than the stock halogens. Any poorly aimed headlight (halogen or HID) will blind oncoming traffic.

 

[skizot]

Ditto. When I had my reflective housings with HID, they did need to be re-aimed. After that, they didn't blind traffic any more so than the stock halogens. Any poorly aimed headlight (halogen or HID) will blind oncoming traffic.

You guys really need to do your research. I suggest going to the forums at HIDPlanet and reading up: HiDPlanet.com

You cannot properly aim a halogen headlight that has an HID kit installed into it. You may think you've resolved the glare by "aiming" it, but what you've done is just made the already weak output from the HID kit even worse.

Now, I didn't post this response just to start a fire, but I feel like I've got to step in and say something when people are spreading inaccurate information on forums.