Hid Conversion Kit Kawasaki Vulcan Voyager Concours

[radrog]

I've decided to 'brighten' things up a bit at night after spending several hours on the road at night with the Voyager. I'm going to install a Hid Conversion Kit Kawasaki Vulcan Voyager Concours. I went for the hi/lo beam kit. It's a plug-in install with lifetime warranty. The ballast has to be mounted...shouldn't be a biggie... I understand these units draw less power(35watts versus 55/60) than the conventional H4, should make things interesting.

I'm also adding some led's in the rear and pulling the standard 1157's.

I'll post the results when finished. I hope to have it in by next weekend...

Later...

Roger

[Rusty - SC Iowa]

I do a lot of riding at night through deer country, and this is me most of the time while riding. Decided I needed to brighten things up also, and almost went with the HID conversion. But for me I didn't just want to brighten things up, I also wanted to illuminate the ditches and the surrounding countryside where those critters like to lie in wait. I decided to install fog and running lights, and now I have cars that come up behind me at night, but decide to stay behind me because I do illuminate everything quite nicely. In fact my wife said I should dim everything down farther away from oncoming traffic than the required 400'. It seems I met her one night on the road,.... I am still contemplating doing the HID conversion, so let us know how it comes out.

[radrog]

Did you install the upgraded alternator or are you still running the stock output???

[Rusty - SC Iowa]

I changed all of my marker & turn signal lights over to LED, and with the stock alternator I have no problems. During daylight hours I run with just the high beam headlight, with the fog light selected on with the low beams. This allows me to get peoples attention during daylight by modulating between high and low/fog lights. Also gives the alternator/battery a break during daylight. At night I usually run low/fog lights, or high/running lights. Just during twisties, or known bad areas on the road will I run high/driving/and fog at the same time. I only do this for very short stretches though. So far no problems, and the alternator has never gotten hot to the touch. The deer population is so bad here that I have been tempted to rig up a trailer with a ground driven generator powering a bunch of really big BAJA's to try and simulate daylight out to 4,000'. I mentioned this to my wife, and she just shook her head then handed me a list of other things I needed to do first.

[radrog]

That's funny!! It's kinda scary but, I can picture that in my head....

I'm hoping the 1157 LED's I have will lighten the load enough to stuff a couple 35w PIAA lights I have onto the heap..... If not, I'll get one of the upgraded alternators(probably will anyway).

[bresna]

Several sellers of these conversion kits on eBay. Some sellers say the resulting setup is 100% legal in all 50 states and others say it is not. Who is right?

[radrog]

I don't know but, the one I ordered arrived today! It's off of ebay but comes from eurodezigns.com. Looks fairly simple, pretty much plug and play with a 12v source and ground.

Roger

[radrog]

Interesting subject....since no one really defines what is and what is not DOT approved. The manufacturers self approve but....it appears the bluer in color the light is, the more possibility of a problem. I ordered the 8000k diamond white kit, which is very slightly blue. I have requested the pure white 6000k just to be safe. The bulb I have here is stamped DOT Approved. From what I read they pretty much self declare they meet the necessary DOT criteria. I can say this with complete confidence, this conversion kit will not even come CLOSE to the stock HID system on the Audi's... Those lights are insane and come from Audi that way. My friend's S4 factory lighting is almost powder blue-all stock. He's never been pulled over or even asked about his lighting here in California or in Arizona where he now resides.

If for some reason I believe there's a safety issue with them, I wouldn't hesitate to pull them but it looks like everybody and their brother is doing these now and they're all marking them DOT approved. Who knows.....I just need to see better at night!

Take care,

Roger

[David (N. Alabama)]

The previous owner of my '08 KLR installed HID lights. I have approaching cars flash their high beams at me all the time when I am running my low beam. This happens even when I am in the right lane of a divided hiway with two lane wide median. I never put the high beam on. Part of the problem is that the headlight is fairly high off the ground. Probably at least a foot higher than any sport bike. I try not to ride at night on that bike, and once I get the service manual, I am going to see if I can shim the lights to have them point downward more.

For those of you that live in states where deer strikes are all to common, y'all need to lobby for longer hunting seasons and more kills per person. I have a recipe for jalapeno venison roll that is to die for. :-)

[flip18436572]

Is there a non-deer state? I just drove through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinios, Missouri and Iowa and saw deer in all of those states. I almost hit a deer on my bicycle going about 40, and I am sure that was going to hurt a lot if that actually happened.

If you are not a hunter, but know of friends who hunt deer, you can always buy a tag and have them fill it for you. I quit hunting a few years ago, but I still continue to buy a tag. Donate the venison to a shelter, or make your own jerkey, or whatever, but help eliminate the SuPeR over Population of the deer in our states.

Just my opinion.

[Rusty - SC Iowa]

Phil I think I found a state that doesn't have any deer, Oklahoma. After putting about 1,000 miles on the bike down there, I didn't see one deer or one carcass on the side of the road. Maybe they have them in the far eastern edge of OK. As a side note, a few friends of mine got bored one weekend and decided to count deer. They counted almost 100 deer in just one square mile by my house. Wonder when the DNR will start caring more about us than the deer.

[David (N. Alabama)]

Is there a non-deer state?

I don't think so, but I do know that in FL they were no bigger than a large dog. All the mammals were small and the bugs huge!

[flip18436572]

Phil I think I found a state that doesn't have any deer, Oklahoma. After putting about 1,000 miles on the bike down there, I didn't see one deer or one carcass on the side of the road. Maybe they have them in the far eastern edge of OK. As a side note, a few friends of mine got bored one weekend and decided to count deer. They counted almost 100 deer in just one square mile by my house. Wonder when the DNR will start caring more about us than the deer.

I know of some people that deer and turkey hunt in Oklahoma, or at least bragged about hunting them there, and said they had some huge bucks there. I have never been to Oklahoma as an adult, but I hope to at some point. I hope they are deer free when I ride there.

[flip18436572]

Is there a non-deer state?

I don't think so, but I do know that in FL they were no bigger than a large dog. All the mammals were small and the bugs huge!

The only deer I saw in Florida were does and they did not look very big, but there were many of them. The flies were the size of small birds though.

[David (N. Alabama)]

RADROG,
The capsule is DOT. As soon as you put it into the reflector/lens on your bike, it is no longer approved. Because the filiments aim 180 degrees rotated from the halogen incandesent capsule, the focus is wrong and you spread glare to oncoming drivers. The lens and reflectors are different shapes for each style of lamp.

From my experience with the KLR I will have to agree with 'Just Me'. Is there anything that can be done to improve the focus without having to trash the HID and buy other lights?

[radrog]

I'll check it out and see. Like I said, if it works and appears to adjustable enough on the high and low beam all will be ok, that is if it really is bright enough. I find most claims by sellers of add-on equipment like this typically work about half as good as advertised....if that...

So, I'll report back on the findings.

Take care,

Roger

[radrog]

Just to add another thought to this....what's being described as focus issue's with the HID lighting sounds like a reflector issue. The HID systems on the Audi and other brands has a diamond reflector which enhances the HID light source and projects it in a 'clean beam'. The halogen light reflector is fairly inefficient thus when the HID source is added, it has no place to go but, still is very very bright. That's a plus as long as it does not blind oncoming traffic. The visibility factor goes way up on the bike. The test I want to do is to see how that translates into raw lighting power in front of the bike. My requirement is both but....I need lighting power. If this doesn't work out I'll either do one of the bright bulbs(which are fairly weak) and add PIAA or Moto driving lights... I run a Silverstar in my Concours and I can attest, it is somewhat better but not great....

More to come as I get results.........

[David (N. Alabama)]

I can tell you that the HID lights on my KLR are both very bright to oncoming traffic, and very bright lighting up the road and roadsides. The extra advantage of Diode is that reflectice signs light up at a distance that I can not even read them yet, but those yellow caution curve signs are nice to see lit up way down the road.

[TaiwanJohn]

I have a 55/100 headlight, and a pair of Hella FF50 55w fog lights on the crash bars, aimed into the ditches. This combination gives plenty of light, and I have had no problems when riding on the road. A lot of around town riding will drain the battery, but if you are going at least 45 or so, all is well.

Buy the Hellas from Susquehanna-Rallylights, see link above. Nice guys, decent prices.

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

... ... if you are going at least 45 or so, all is well.
...

Hey TaiwanJohn, is that 45 MPH or 45 miles driving?