| Author | Message | ||
     Dualsportdad |
My friend bought my old lightning and the low nbeam reflector material has become burnt. Mine was still in good shape so oi put in a hid kit cause I thought hids are cooler (temp wise) than halogens. Well its been a couple months and my reflector is all hazy, not burnt like my friends. If I buy the new world updated headlight assembly will it last longer? Are hid lights easier on the housing than halogens? I ride this bike daily in the dark every morning and want to fix this asap. | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I'm running HIDs in my 08, no issues after four years. I do not run the bluish bulbs though. 4500k/35w for me. | ||
| Dualsportdad |
6000 35w here. I'll try and take a picture of the housing later and post it. | ||
| Dualsportdad |
I tried to take a picture bit it doesn't show up good. Anyways if anyone knows how durable the new headlight assembly is I'd like to know | ||
| Froggy |
All bulbs will eventually ruin the reflector, I've seen it happen with stock, aftermarket halogen, and HIDs. Maybe LED bulbs are the answer. I doubt the newer housings are any more durable, but they do put out light onto the pavement better. They are a nice upgrade over even a perfect older unit. They came stock on all 2009+ Lightning/Ulys | ||
| Dualsportdad |
I might pick up a new housing and start trying to fit some led bulbs into it. | ||
| Court |
Frog steer .... P/N for upgraded housing? | ||
| Xbimmer |
Whatever you do don't try to clean them out. My reflectors were dusty and hazy, why couldn't a little soapy water swished around in there clean them up a bit? This is why:  Flakes of shiny stuff poured out with the water...  Good thing my Hellas work great. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I did a decent reflector repair on the low beam side of mine. I had a roll of adhesive backed aluminum HVAC tape (NOT duct tape). I cut strips of that to fit into the headlight housing through the bulb opening. I took each cut strip and polished it as shiny as I could get it with metal polish. Then I carefully peeled off the backing and inserted them into the housing, using my finger to press them down into position. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the damaged reflector and it seems to work almost as good as new. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Very clever Hugh. Have they stayed "stuck" for a full season of hot and cold? | ||
| Court |
I actually took a soft swab and cleaned mine. It's a bit of a shame that the stock lights on the Ulysses are not even adequate for riding in the day . . . . let alone at night. I added the PIAA lights but . . even with those . . . it's no fun to ride at night. I am up here on these vacant 2 lane country roads and would like all the light I can get . . I'm thinking there has to be some sort, with the advancements in the last couple years, great LED solution. I'd toss the PIAA (likely put them on the truck) and add the LED outboard lights if I had confidence in a set. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Very clever Hugh. Have they stayed "stuck" for a full season of hot and cold? Yea, it seems to be holding up well. I just had to replace the low beam bulb prior to leaving for Glitch Badness last weekend so I got a pretty good look at it. I did the repair last summer. I'm with Court though; I'd love a significant upgrade. | ||
| Froggy |
Y0721.6AC is the updated headlights, MSRP is $136.31 at your favorite Buell dealer. | ||
| Xbimmer |
Met an oncoming Harley Sunday, with the shark-nose fairing and LED headlights. Even in bright sunlight a half mile away those things were BRIGHT. Wonder what it's like riding behind them. Harley seems to have the LED thing working. | ||
| Hughlysses |
EBR's got nice LED headlights too. I wonder what the price on the HD units is and if they could be adapted to the front end of a Uly without looking like an Owl's face. | ||
| Sagehawk |
Coworker has a 09 hd dresser and he said somewhere round 475.00 was what he had invested in led lighting this past year. | ||
| Phelan |
The Harley Lights are made by JW Speaker. NOT cheap. Very nice though. | ||
| Reepicheep |
The LED part is getting simple and practical. Lots of fairly powerful bits readily and cheaply available (including a $20 cree 100 watt equiv house bulb that I expect would be easy to take apart and turn into the guts of a motorcycle headlight). It's the enclosure that is tricky. I haven't messed with mine because my reflectors are decent, and the $35 low beam HID I did before the LED bits got cheap still works well. When my high beam bulb dies, or my low beam HID dies, I'll build something with some LED bits. I'm looking forward to it, I think it would be a fun project. | ||
| Nobuell |
Marc performed an LED upgrade. It is documented at: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/750202.html They appear as bright as my 35w HIDs on low beam but he has the added high beam as well. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
I'm intrigued. Is it possible to remove the reflectors from the assembly? If it is I can Put Real chrome plating on the reflectors...Way more reflective than they come from factory...anyone have one sitting around that is already junk? If someone wants to send me a bad reflector I would love to see if i can't improve on the original????? | ||
| Buellhusker |
RAYYCC1 i have just replaced my reflector last week with a used one I got off Ebay. It is easy to disassemble the headlight unit to get the reflector portion out of the assembly. What means do you use to chrome plate the plastic? I would love to get my browned up reflector replated. Buellhusker | ||
| Court |
Wouldn't it be cool to have the reflector CNC machined, the optics optimized and an LED source. I'd rather pay for that than some of the solutions I've been trying. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Buellhusker.... I use a heavy solids silver paint and paint the plastic. The silver in the paint allows the part to conduct electricity...therefore allowing me to plate a real layer of copper...then nickel and finally chrome. I'll PM you with my info ...send me your burnt reflector and I'll see what i can do. | ||
| Reepicheep |
With an auto-dim feature for oncoming traffic. | ||
| Buellhusker |
Rayycc1 The reflector will be on its way to you tomorrow, here's hoping that you will be successful. | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Right on! | ||
| Rayycc1 |
Buelhusker was kind enough to donate his bad reflector to the cause..and it turns out i can put a more reflective...permanent layer of chrome on our reflectors. I started by removing what " chrome" was left on the reflector ,,then by spraying a heavy solids copper conductive coating on the part ...i got it to conduct electricity so that i could electroplate a layer of copper followed by a layer of nickel and then chrome...it turned out great although i do think i can do even better on the next one,.... Theres a 1125 CR headlight assembly on its way to me right now and i'm going to try that one next.    | ||
| Rayycc1 |
more...   | ||
| Tootal |
Very cool! Since you're in the business, just curious if it's possible to nickel plate bronze? | ||
| Rayycc1 |
It is. |
