HIDding in plain sight

before and after pics of the light it casts?

[squirrel_hunter]

Originally Posted by northwind

This really is a bodge y'see, just a good one- HID capsules and halogens really need totally different reflectors to work properly, HID uses something more like a point source than halogens so they use reflectors that are almost parabolic- much like projector beam halogens in fact, so if you had a projector- Ducati 999, KTM Duke 2, euro SV650 carbed model- it'd be much more effective, assuming the capsule fits. But this works, for now.

And would you be interested in one of these for experimentation?

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Mavfan

before and after pics of the light it casts?

On the job, should have some later tonight. Though I'm not sure how effective they'll be, I suspect my camera adjusted its sensitivity for the light conditions :P

[northwind]

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

And would you be interested in one of these for experimentation?

Hmm, I did think about it but I'd need a different capsule I think, and I'm not really planning to keep these lights so I'll give it a miss I think, but cheers!

[northwind]

OK, some pics... These were both taken in the exact same spot, I positioned the bike by some marks on the road. I used this underpass to avoid any differences caused by the moon etc... Not ideal as the road curves up in the distance but you can see some results at least. I'm not sure there's really a perfect way to do this without better gear than I have.

Low beam with the halogens:



Low beam with the HIDs:



High beam with the halogens:



High beam with the HIDs

Yes I can see why other drivers would get pee'd off with the HID lights. They give quite a bit of side lighting and quite high too. I'd imagine that would blind drives as they were passing.

[northwind]

Hmm, I should have explained that- essentially I have the dip as my main driving light, it's more effective now on normal riding than high beam was as standard, since it doesn't wash out at range. The result of that is that I hardly use main, except on motorways etc. The main would not be clever to use on typical a-roads but then there's no reason to use it, whereas before I would have been using high beam every day. On motorways or other fast duals, there's not the same risk of glaring an oncoming car.

I've tested it from the front, and while it's bright to look it it's not any more glaring than most modern car headlights.

[Stu]

Nice underpass

Seriously though, on dipped does the large pool of white light just in front of your bike adversely affect your night vision?

[squirrel_hunter]

Originally Posted by northwind

Hmm, I did think about it but I'd need a different capsule I think, and I'm not really planning to keep these lights so I'll give it a miss I think, but cheers!

Thats cool. They are a spare set for me but if you want them for experimentation they're yours on indefinite loan. If you change your mind the offer stands.

[yorkie_chris]

Cool, I've been toying with an idea for a while of some "spider eye" lights, 4 projector beam lamps



4 of those, (or similar, cheaper ones)

Arranged like:

o...o
.o.o.

Or something like anyway, only thing is where will 4 HID ballasts fit on a nekkid?