HID Light Scatter - Explination and Solution

After 2 months struggling with my HID kit, I've decided to rip it out. The light scatter is too much to deal with and the output is too poor. High beams can't be adjusted high enough in the VFR lens to do any good without the low beams blinding oncoming traffic.

This website was interesting and I wish that I had found it sooner, but better late than never.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com

Most headlights use a parabolic reflector for a standard bulb, they are focused on the standard filament for a regular bulb, so the point of light is known and the parabolic shape is tuned to that known point of light. Most HID kits set to go into the standard bulb plug are not of the same length or the light source is in a different position than a standard h4 bulb filiment is so the parabolic reflector is not tuned to focus the light correctly. Bulbs with 2 filaments like the h4 have a second set of parabolic reflectors that might be better suited for an HID kit then say a single filament slot like an h7 slot on the high beams of the VTEC, though the VTEC does not use both filaments of the h4 bulb like a 5th gen.

If your interested in an hid kit you should probably go with one that has the focusing ring built in like a bmw lens type - that dont even use the headlights reflectors, they require a major modification of your headlight. I have seen some vfrs with this done and they look awful to me but at least they are done correctly. If aftermarket hid kits would be built like a standard bulb with the arc in the same spot of a standard filament then they would be useful. Even then some of the extra bulk of the housing gets in the way of the beam, so that also defeats the hid.

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You could build a spacer for the hid kit so that the arc is in the right place, take a standard bulb and measure the distance from the base to filament and then then make a spacer to replicate that spacing in the hid lamp, maybe a machinist with a block of Delrin could make you a spacer that puts the arc in the correct spot.

I'm not satisfied with my Sylvania Silverstat Ultras, nice light output, poor lifespan, and too expensive.

HID's I would not do, for precisely the reasons outlined above.

I could do 100/55w normal halogen H-4s, but I already melted one headlight plug with the silverstars in. They are 60/55w whereas the stockers are 45/45w, so the wiring and plug are not beefy enough. Even if I put the headlights on a dedicated circuit, fired off a relay, with heavy duty wiring and ceramic headlight plugs, then there's the possibility of melting the headlight housing from the heat of the bulbs, and that's not a risk I want to take, given the price of the headlight housing, even used is expensive!

Sucks.

Was there not a long thread about kits with pics of the light output and whatnot on here a year ago?

Wasn't it Tightwad and another member developing a kit that had the correct focus?

There is a company in Europe that makes HID projector bulb kits but I can't seem to find the link to them. I recall it being on one of the forum threads, I just don't recall the name of the company or who started the original thread. From what I have read and seen on the web, the projector lamps are the best bet for HID lighting. I'll see if I can dig up the thread and/or link and post it if I can find it.

Cheers

Was there not a long thread about kits with pics of the light output and whatnot on here a year ago?

Wasn't it Tightwad and another member developing a kit that had the correct focus?

Yup:

http://www.vfrdiscus...conversion-kit/

There is a company in Europe that makes HID projector bulb kits but I can't seem to find the link to them. I recall it being on one of the forum threads,

http://www.vfrdiscus...post__p__802972

Nearly the same kit available in the US: http://www.theretrof...products_id=237

Thanks Rosso, I thought I saved the link but could not find it in my browser shortcuts. Althought it looks like more work to go with the Morimoto, I think the end results have more accurate light output and better overall results. As I don't do much night driving at the moment, HID lighting is low on my list of upgrades, but if I did opt for HID, this would be the way I would go. It's good to know thee's a US source as well, thanks Down and Out.

I'm just going to chime in here on something to think about.. I'm a big advocate of HID retrofits done properly. As you can see with that link, I did it the right way for my car using projectors and what not.

Now, I would love to do the same with the VFR800 but I got to thinking.. I'm against glare as much as the next guy, but on bikes.. I feel it's a different story.

Glare is evil in two ways. 1.) It's obviously blinding to on coming traffic and 2.) It can cause fatigue if you're using any colour temperature above 5000k. Blue colour is the hardest colour for our eyes to process, it's very straining and that's what can lead to tired eyes and even headaches.

However, if you were to use a projector, they are known for their very very sharp cutoff and that's great! Especially in a car! But, on a bike? I feel that might not to be great because your eyes will only focus on what's being lit in front of you; they'll have adjusted to the light output of your HIDs so anything above the cutoff is significantly darker and almost unseen to the eye. Even though our eyes have great dynamic range during the day, our night vision's dynamic range isn't anywhere near comparable.

Glare will blind oncoming traffic, but you're on a bike so anything to get opposing traffics attention can either be a good thing or bad thing. It can be good because they'll be cautious as you pass, or it can be bad because they can target fixate and drive right in to you. This is something the rider has to determine as riding a motorcycle it self is a dangerous hobby.

So, having sad that, I think the extra light scatter that goes up above the cutoff can be beneficial to you as a rider to increase your dynamic range vision at night because the cut off won't be such a sharp cut off, but a more gradient one.

Edit: I'm going to mention one last thing about projectors, but I think these projectors are hard to find. On my car, the projector was a FRESNEL lens projector, meaning it wasn't completely transparent lens. It was actually slightly translucent with ripples in the lens as you can see:

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These projectors don't have a very sharp cut off, it's gradual, so if you really do want to do the projector retrofit, try to look for a fresnel lens but I don't believe they exist anymore as everyone is opting for the fully transparent ones.