| Author | Message | ||
     Captnemo |
Is there an improved H3 bulb or HID system available for the Firebolt ? I have some really dark roads that I ride, and more light is definitely better. | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
I am thinking of doing this. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/214816.html?1153528559 | ||
| Pwnzor |
Any auto parts store should carry Sylvania Silverstar H3's for about $20 each. Best $40 I ever spent, difference is night and day. | ||
| Xbalex |
go hid kinda pricey but worth it | ||
| Captnemo |
I was in Pep Boyz this morning, as they had the bulbs for my Kawi and my Dodge truck. But, they didn't stock or even list an H3 bulb in the Silverstar application guide that they had displayed. None of the parts guys seemed to eager to help so I beat feet out of there. I did find a couple of sets of Silverstars on E-bay and some PIAA's as well. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Pep Boys isn't really an auto parts store, they are a store that has auto parts. Kragen has them for sure. They're the same as the foglights on the wife's cage. | ||
| Ejiii |
Aerostich has a complete, plug and play HID system that will go right on to our Buells. It's going to be one of the next mods I do. About $180 - $200. I have loads of Aerostich stuff. Top notch! Go to aerostich.com. | ||
| Sparky |
Let's face it. A different bulb won't cut it in the stock headlight housings for long. Granted, a brighter bulb might work fine until the extra heat starts melting the plastic housing or degrading the reflective coating. The best answer has to be different headlight units that fit well, won't melt the wiring harness and are reasonably priced. I'm thinking that out of all the cars or MC's with projector beam or HID lights, isn't there anything that'll readily adapt into a Firebolt fairing? A late model Corvette has fantastic HID low beams; one of those would make my day (out of the night)! | ||
| Poondogger |
I ride 60 miles at night to and from work. I replaced the low beam housing with a stock high beam and run 2 high beams. I don't have any problems cruising at 75 with this setup and it's cheap to replace. I did all the bulbs but this for the hassle seemed to work out best. GL | ||
| Xl1200r |
^^ I thought you could just remove the reflector from the low-beam and have two high-beams as well. Is this true? Do the Silverstars draw more current, and risk frying wires and/or housings? | ||
| Ejiii |
The Aerostich HID conversion kit is Plug-and-Play. It has all the wiring and components necessary. You won't melt anything because it draws only 35 watts compared to the stock Buell lights that draw 55w-60w. The HID setup runs way cooler. It might be worth it to check it out before you spend a lot of time, effort and money on something that may or may not work correctly. | ||
| Cringblast |
Installed the Silverstar H3 about 6 weeks ago. Made big difference for lighting for low beam. Adjusted low beam up a little. The H3 is actually for fog lamps on a car. It is 12V 55W. Seems to be ok so far. Sounds like a good idea to put high beam housing in the low beam like Poondogger said. Think I will look into that next. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Just mounted a motorcycle designed HID kit on my 9sx, and it's amazing. It's like portable daylight. I will have more pictures soon, I have to work out a couple more details. The install took a long time because I was engineering things, if you just do what I did or what somebody else did, it would be a lot faster install. The HID will be the real solution, a single HID bulb puts out 3x the amount of light of a filament bulb, while putting out maybe 60% of the heat. I hit the stock headlights (Lightning) with an infra red thermometer... they get freaking hot with both lights on. I would not be running them that way for long. The design of the enclosure makes me think that ambient lower temperature differences would help much either. I will have some more details up soon, but the short answer is that the HID is definitely the way to go. Dual HID's would peel paint, and the enclosures *might* be able to handle them. | ||
| Samiam |
I would be cautious about the silverstars. If I remember correctly, they are a higher wattage than the stock bulbs. Higher wattage = more heat. The problem there is Firebolts are notorious for melting their reflective material in the lamps even with their stock bulbs. I'd say use Silverstars, or any higher wattage bulb for that matter, at your own risk. Personally I think buying HIDs for my bike was the best investment I have made yet. Worth the money. Here's the kit I used and here's the install I used. Well worth it (although the price was a little lower when I bought them). .02 Sam | ||
| Samiam |
Reepicheep, The stock enclosures will definitely be able to handle a dual HID setup. As you even mentioned, HID bulbs put out significantly less heat (35W) than stock (55W) or aftermarket (~100W) bulbs. The extra light coming out of them will in no way harm the enclosures. Sam | ||
| Buelltroll |
Silverstars are 55W and if I remember right they only draw 35W. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I see the Aerostitch kit is $187 - would you need to buy two of them to make both bulbs on a Firebolt HID? | ||
| Samiam |
Buelltroll, I stand corrected. I don't know about the 35W draw though. XL1200R, If you buy a single bulb/single ballast kit then yes you would have to buy a second to make both bulbs HID. Sam | ||
| Ejiii |
Check the Aerostich kits closely. There are 5 of them. Some are applicable to dual H/L's and others for single H/L's. The kit depends on the bulb style H1, H3, H4 (2 kits) and H7. | ||
| Midknyte |
Any auto parts store should carry Sylvania Silverstar H3's for about $20 each. You can get them at Walmart for only $14 each | ||
| Baydog |
I've gone the Silverstar route on a Honda car and on my BMW RT. I was very disappointed with them. The light, while whiter, wasn't much improved over stock and the life was horrible. Not worth the expense or effort in my opinion. Better to add aux lights, or go HID. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Walmart is 10 miles away and looks like a disaster area, nothing is on the shelves, it's all on the ground. Kragen is right around the corner, and nice neat lineup of products on the shelf where they belong. Yes you can removed the metal baffle from your low beam and turn it into a high beam. No, the Silverstars do not draw any more wattage than stock bulbs. My stock bulbs were 55 Watt, but I notice that some people say stock is 35 Watts. Having closely examined all that stuff first hand, I have to disagree unless Buell made their lights even dimmer since 2004. The Silverstar lights burn brighter with the same wattage because of the gas inside the bulb and the gauge of the filament. They also do not last as long as the stock units, it's true BUT the light is dramatically brighter. | ||
| Mesafirebolt |
I ran a 100 watt H-3 in my Low beam for a while till it burnt out but it never melted anything (Even in the Arizona HEAT)and was a lot brighter. I just put silver stars on my Dodge truck and I'm pretty sure I'll be buying them for the Buell now. (Nice improvement) They arnt that much more than the H-3 and its worth my life! | ||
| Captnemo |
With all of the headlight issues and linked posts one of the links to the 90mm Hella replacement Headlights in This Post http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/41556.html Was a dead end. Here's the new link:http://www.rallylights.com/hella/90mm_modules.asp For under about $150.00 it may be the best way to go. It 86's the OEM headlight assembly, and you can still upgrade to HIDs at a later date. | ||
| Buelltroll |
The Bi-Xenon provides both high and Low beams in an HID Xenon lamp. This is accomplished by a shield which creates a Low Beam cutoff and retracts for High beam. Each lamp includes the D1S Capsule, Gen IV Ballast, adjuster screws and connector cable. The wiring harness is not included. Specifications Lens Diameter 3.54" Lens Face to Mounting Plate 3.69" Width At Mounting Plate 4.88" HID Capsule D1S Height at Mounting Plate 4.68" Ballast Cable Length 44" Overall Length 7.75" Voltage 12V Ballast Gen IV  | ||
| Cruisin |
I know I've posted it before, but I'll post it again. For those that want a better improvement without going HID, you can get a set of Hella 90mm lamps (I got them at http://www.rallylights.com/hella/90mm_modules.asp). Magnesium housing and reflectors. Some simple modifications to the stock bracket (fill in with JB Weld and drill new holes) and open the fairing holes about an extra 1/2 inch in diameter, and these things are AWESOME! Low beam is brighter than the stock high beam, and when I kick the highbeam on it's damn bright! Here's pics of it on the bike (no, I'm not the one that came up with the idea, xb9 did).     | ||
| Xl1200r |
If one wanted to use HID kits for both high and low beams, would the ballast/ignitor be over taxed to run the highbeam as an HID? The high beam doesn't stay on constantly, so I'm wondering if the more on again/off again nature of the high beam would fatigue the system? | ||
| Gearhead998 |
Cruisin, I noticed that the lights that you installed are 65W. With the stock lights being 55W, have you noticed any wiring harness issues with the increased heat? | ||
| Samiam |
XL1200r, If you were to install a HID kit for the high beam as well as the low beam you would need two ballasts and two ignitors, one for each HID bulb. Sam | ||
| Xb9 |
Gearhead998: After I installed mine, I had an issue with the white connector by the stearing head. I eliminated the white connector (soldered the wires) and no other problems, been running them for a few years now. |
