| Author | Message | ||
     Jk651 |
So on my 2006, when I have it on low beam the headlight on the throttle side is on, when I switch to high beam the headlight on the clutch side comes on. Is that correct, or should it be the other way around? I ask because when I had halogen bulbs the low and high beams seemed to put out virtually the same light. I never used the high beam because it didn't really work any better than the low beam. Over the weekend I put in a 4300k HID on the low beam. Now the high beam definitely puts more light on the ground close to the bike than the low beam does, and the low beam really reaches out far without putting much light close to the bike. The high beam now seems like a low beam and the low like a high beam, so I'm wondering if one of the two previous owners somehow got the leads switched around... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Well the original bulbs were exactly the same bulbs. The only difference between high and low beam is the aim of the light patterns. And yes, it's a pretty pathetic amount of light from the factory. I added a couple of 55W driving lights and slaved them to high beam via a relay. | ||
| Saltcityjeff |
Jeff - with the switch on the low beam the left can should be lit up if you are facing the bike. If the right is on - then it is possible the wiring is switched. Has the headlight mod to get both lights on at the same time been done to your bike? -Jeff (Message edited by saltcityjeff on July 17, 2012) | ||
| Jk651 |
Ok. That's how it currently is. But now the high beam makes a better low beam than the low beam does. I'm not very happy with the lighting. I'm thinking about getting some bi-xenon projectors and making my own headlights. | ||
| Froggy |
First, the headlamps that came on the 06's suck, period. Second, it is possible your headlamps were replaced at some point, and it was replaced with the assembly for left side drive countries like England and Japan. Either way, the lighting will suck even with HIDs, the 2009+ headlamps are a nice improvement but still lack light output of my 1125R. | ||
| Saltcityjeff |
Jeff if you do go that route - keep us informed. | ||
| Jk651 |
Will do! I made some extra fun money with a garage sale this last weekend. I'm debating right now if I want the 3d equipment for my 60" tv or better headlights on the Uly. | ||
| Saltcityjeff |
Uly for sure - everything on the Uly is 3D!!!! | ||
| Nobuell |
And true HD | ||
| Jk651 |
And then my wife reminded me that I've been wanting a new grill and she NEEDS bbq ribs this weekend. And you don't argue with a pregnant woman about food. Lol. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I bought a bi-xenon HID setup to retrofit in my first XB. The setup was terrible. I learned that they can't make the high beam any brighter than simply an HID bulb, so what they do instead is make the low beam dimmer, by way of awkward shields. In the end, neither High or Low beam were as bright (or had near as good spread) as a standard HID bulb. I recommend a DDM tuning 55w HID kit run through a relay. The lower the color temperature the better (4500 being optimal). | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Just to clarify.. the lower the better - until you reach about the 4500 mark Mike mentioned. I have 3000k low / 6000k high - both 55w from DDM. Also rewired the connector to keep the low beam on with the high. 3000k is very yellow - I wanted the low to double as a fog light because I'm too cheap and lazy to add another light. The 6000k high is mostly white w/ just a touch of blue, doesn't bother me but if I had it to do over again I'd go one step down color-wise for that light. BTW, two 55w HIDs on the front if a Uly is retarded bright and I love it. With the high beam, I can see a reflection on road signs in the middle of the day. Some say they won't handle being turned off and on in a high beam application but I've never had problems with mine. | ||
| Jk651 |
Mikef, I'm not surprised you weren't happy with the bi-xenon setup. Bi-xenon is designed for headlamps that are designed to serve both as a high beam AND low beam, like the H4 bulb. If you look at an H4 halogen bulb you will see two filaments, one for low and one for high. Each filament reflects off of a different region of the headlight reflector, and one region is optimized for low and one for high. H7 bulbs like our Ulysses have only one filament, and one side has a reflector optimized for low beam, and the other side is optimized for high beam. You will NEVER find an H7 with two filaments. If you had bi-xenon H7 then it was some sort of bastardized setup that was doomed to disappoint from the start as you were asking both lamps to perform low and high beams, and that's not what they are designed for. It's not as simple as as putting a light emitter inside the housing. If the filament (halogen bulbs) or capsule (HID) in the wrong spot, then the reflectors will direct the light into the wrong pattern. My TDM 850 has H4 bulbs, which, as I stated before, is a dual filament low/high setup. I have 5000k bi-xenon in that, and it is amazing. It works fantastic, but those headlights are designed for dual beam. Asking a single beam lamp like the Uly to perform as a dual beam just doesn't work. Also, 4300k is what most car manufacturers use. In addition to being the whitest, it is also the brightest. A 35w 4300k HID will put out about 3100 lumens. 5000k is around 2900 lumens, 6000k drops down to about 2500 lumens. I have 5000k in the TDM, 4300k in the Uly, and 6000k in my Suburban. I dislike the 6000k because glare in fog, rain, and snow is absolutely blinding and painful to the eyes. In good weather glare from the signs is a slight issue, but tolerable. I have yet to ride the Uly or TDM in the rain, but I'm looking for an opportunity to check it out. I live in the desert though, so night time rain showers are few and far between. I stick with the 35w HID's for a few reasons. Technically it's illegal to put HID into a halogen lamp. By law all HID's are required to be self leveling. 55w HID is so bright that it can attract attention from the law, 55w HID isn't legal for the street under any circumstance, and they are so bright that it's rude. It's the equivalent of not dimming your high beams for oncoming traffic. I hate it when cars refuse to kill their high beams for oncoming traffic. It would be hypocritical of me to install a 55w HID, at least in my low beam. | ||
| Zac4mac |
I have 35W HID 6k in my 1125R, lo-beams. I use the hi-beams as a flasher for oncoming, useless as hi-beams tho with the HIDs. 09 Uly has Sylvania Ultra-white and a pair of PIAA 35W road lites. Also the "both lites on high" mod. All 4 lights is near daylight. Neither bike has a problem at night if there's no oncoming. Lo-beams are OK but barely on the Uly. Gotta stay below 60. |
