| Author | Message | ||
     Bigmanonully |
I need to replace my low beam bulb, any suggestions. I was looking at the HID bulbs on ebay that say no mods needed just plug em in. Is anybody using these? Do they really work? And should I replace my hi beam with one while im at it? | ||
| Rwven |
I have HID's from http://www.vvme.com/ these work well in the Uly headlights. I would recommend going with 4300-5000K color temperature, any higher tends to lower the actual visible light available.I used 6000K and they are too "blue" IMO. (Message edited by rwven on January 28, 2010) | ||
| Bigmanonully |
Thanks. Do the bulbs just plug in? | ||
| Rwven |
Not exactly. You have to find a place for two ballasts. They are all prewired and and the harness plugs right into the stock headlight connectors, but you have to make a hole in the rubber boot behind the headlights to run the harness through. If you use the 35 watt units you can plug directly into the existing harness, if you go with 55 watts I'd recommend running though a relay and pulling power right off the battery because of the high start-up currents. Pay the few extra bucks for the slimline ballasts, I wish I had.... | ||
| Mikef5000 |
HID's have ballasts. The plug and play kits install like this: OEM headlight plug connects to wires that go to the ballast, then the ballast has wires that go to the new HID bulb. You need to hide the ballasts somewhere within 12" of the bulb... generally behind the fly screen. Simply plug 'n' play will work... BUT During start-up (when the bulb first kicks on) HID's pull way more amps than the OEM bulb, and whenever you run more power through original wiring than it was made for, you can run into problems. A hand-full of people on this board have reported melted connectors after installing plug 'n' play HID kits. A bunch of people have reported no problems at all. The fix for this is to run the HID power through a relay, instead of straight plug 'n' play. There is room for the relay and ballast behind the flyscreen, but you'll want to run a new (fused) 12 gauge power wire to it from the positive terminal on the battery. It's not difficult, just takes 15 minutes longer than the straight plug 'n' play install time. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
HID are wikked good. Buuuut the OEM can be bought from walmart for $11 | ||
| Hangetsu |
I'm waiting till my warranty has expired before I go to HIDs, so when my low beam went out I replaced it with the PIAA "Untra White" H7 bulb. it does give off a bit more usable light than OEM. Nothing will beat HID or a good set of auxiliary lights, but until I to that route, they're not bad. | ||
| Towpro |
Mike, I took one of my HID's down to the work bench before installing it. I used my 35amp, regulated 13.8v power supply. I hooked up my amp meter in line and turned on the peak memory. I put power to the light and recorded peak current was 5amp, run current 3.8 amps and dropped some once bulb warmed up. This is a VME 35w bulb that was room temp. The only problem with HID's is if the bulb has been off for more then around 30 seconds, they take a second when you turn them on to come up to brightness when you switch from low to high, or back. It can be pretty dark, making that second feel like eternity. My solution was to install a 10Amp diode between the High and Low beam positive wires. When High beam is on, the diode conducts voltage to low beam, thus you have both bulbs lit during high beam operation. Since there is an overlap in the High/Low switch, the low beam never looses power when you switch beams. You can do the same thing by switching the running/low beam wires in the harness, but with my method the head lights turn off during engine cranking. Once you adjust them correct, people don't flash high beams at you. They are a very nice modification. | ||
| Ulyssesmatt |
You should check out the PIAA H7's. | ||
| Fordrox |
This may be a dumb question, but are both bulbs the same on the Uly? Because in a car the high/low are different lamps or combined into 1 lamp. I want to upgrade my lights on my Uly but don't plan on going HID so I am looking at what else is available. | ||
| Florida_lime |
Both are the same BULB, just the reflectors are different. Osram 65W bulbs are a decent alternative. Better than stock, but not HID. I have HID low beam, Osram 65W high beam. | ||
| Ronmold |
HIDs are "fairly" easy and well worth it. I have pictures: http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv141/ronmold/U ly%20HID%20install/?albumview=slideshow These have worked great for me H7 bulb, 5000k most usable light output http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CAR-HID-XENON-kit-1 2V-35W-Ultra-Slim-BALLAST_W0QQitemZ370156904503QQc mdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories ?hash=item562f122037#ht_6660wt_1167 You can pay more money, but I haven't found a reason to. | ||
| Towpro |
Look at the fleebay link Ron put up. On the back of the bulbs is a rubber grommet. I removed the factory rubber behind the headlight, pulled out the wire, cut the correct size hole so the grommet on the new lights seals into the hole (hole is smaller then grommet, so factory rubber fits into outer flange of new grommet). This leaves everything as waterproof as it was from the factory. The factory light harness plugs into the adapter harness (shown in upper right of ebay picture). then that adapter harness plugs into one of the two pigtails coming out of the ballast. the other ballast pigtail plugs into the new lights. I went with 4300K. Blue lights say "NOT STOCK" and attract cops around here. (Message edited by towpro on January 30, 2010) | ||
| Tootal |
Here's a link to the Osram 65 watt H7 bulb. It's a 65 watt H9 bulb soldered to a H7 base. I have these on high and low. Big difference over stock and on sale for $19.99 each!! http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html | ||
| Oldnotbold |
I went with the 55W H7 Osram Silverstar (not the same as Sylvania Silverstar) and found them much better that stock. I couldn't find anyplace local to buy them (2006) but several places online. Nice that they put out a lot more light without taxing the existing wiring. Dennis | ||
| Etennuly |
Oddly, when you do happen to ride your Uly around in the daytime with the low beam burned out, no one will tell you " you have a light out!". | ||
| Fordrox |
Tootal: Here's a link to the Osram 65 watt H7 bulb. It's a 65 watt H9 bulb soldered to a H7 base. I have these on high and low. Does the 65W give any issues with over draw on the wiring, I don't want to do any damage.} | ||
| Tootal |
No problems, the added draw is not enough to worry about. I have had no issues with heat or wiring. I only wish I could adjust the high and low separately. | ||
| Barkbuster |
Just ordered 2 bulbs to upgrade the xt  |
