Halogen vs HID

Friday, January 29. 2010, I decided to try HID head lamp on my scooter. I search the best 35W HID product with the best value of course. I contact the vendor, and we setup the meeting point. After me met, he demonstrate the HID and test the HID that I want to buy. Done with that, I brought the HID back to home. He said don't worry about this HID, it's universal HID, it has a few adapter for a few type of bulb. Which I need is H4, it has it. And he mention that the cable is long enough, so I wouldn't worry about the installation.

Saturday, January 30, 2010, I dissemble my scooter parts; the front top cover, front lower cover, right floor side cover, and of course the handle cover.

Second, I dissemble the H4 35W/35 bulb from the headlight socket. And then continue plugin the HID bulb into the headlight socket and seal it with the rubber seal socket.

After it done, I change the hi/lo trigger cable from only terminal type into socket type. Done with that, I plug all the wiring cable as it shown on the manual. and place all the device (ballast, etc) to the safest place. And I set the cable to a more orderly position.

One problem found when I set the cable, that is the cable is not long enough to reach the battery!!! Whoa, I have to add some cable so it can connect to the battery, about 40cm long.

After it set properly, I turn on the engine and then turn on the light. HID need some time about 4-5 second until it reach maximum light output.

And here it is the result of 35W HID:

Compare to the halogen H4 35W/35:

As you can see, HID shine brighter than halogen bulb.

Another difference is not only the light output, but the battery consume too. On the idle RPM about 1800 RPM, the battery produce about 13.8V; and when the light turn on:
- HID: battery voltage drop until 12.2V
- Halogen: battery voltage drop until 13V

So, I should be carefully using this bulb!

Note: Both of the bulb type is 4300K.