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Best HID bulb for 09 ZX6R

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Sabotage 
#1 ·
Hey ninjas I was just wondering if you guys could point me in the direction of the brightest HID bulb!? Im looking to blind people with these bad boys lol gotta make sure people see me as a new sport bike owner, Ive had a few harleys but never something this fast.. i love it! Thanks everyone glad to finally be a part of the ZX6R community ;)
 
#4 ·
Welcome, Josh.

If you research HID in this site, you will get more info than you need.

Near and short, any bulb that is not Halogen will throw a bad pattern from the OEM projector. If you just want to annoy drivers, plug and play is the way to go.

LED would be less of a problem, compared to HID. Less chance to damage the charging system.
 
#5 ·
Thank you! Im glad you guys have alot of knowledge because im still learning. and thank you for the insight i appreciate it! I didnt know that an HID would do that, definitely going to go with an LED bulb to avoid causing electrical issues. Ill let you guys know when I install and post a pic :)
 
#6 ·
HID work by arcing through a gas, same as a fluorescent light just a whole lot smaller. Usually the gas is Xenon. They were first developed to provide light for arthroscopic surgery, as you can blast the light down a fiber optic line and have all the light dumped out the end of the fiber. When it became practical to install them on cars, it was natural that they would eventually find their way to bikes.

Because they need to produce that arc, the voltage at the bulb is extremely high. During the time it takes the ballast to create that high voltage, the amount of power consumed by the HID system is many times what it consumes once it's up and running at 'normal' temp. 3-5 times more.

That means a 55W HID can draw as much as 275W for the time it takes to charge the ballast. Starting two at the same time means 550W. Total headlight budget for two 55W halogens is 110W....... that means the alternator has to work harder longer, and that makes heat. Usually kills the stator first, after some period of time. Burns up at the top, where the oil cooling is least effective.

Not to mention the heat load at start up, HID also take some period of time to reach full brightness.

LED do not use as high of a voltage, and consume the same amount of power the entire time they are on. More expensive than HID at this point, as they are just entering the market and HIDs are beginning to lose favor so the prices are falling drastically.
 
#8 ·
Stick to one 35W HID, avoid the problem. Or, start only one 35W HID at a time with 10+ seconds between.

Great to throw an unfounded number with no way to check the basis. Heat, is a fact. Power consumption is a well documented fact. Cumulative damage is more difficult to ascertain. Hard to see, but there, nonetheless.

The rate at which an overtaxed charging system breaks down has many factors. 5 minute rides twice a day will eventually discharge the battery..... The bike isn't running long enough to top up the battery. Two 55W HID consuming 550W for something near 20 times as long as the starter motor consumes power --- there should be an obvious conclusion from that relatively simple math. Add in extra lighting, other parasitic power draws, and the process accelerates.

Millions of HID in use does not equate to millions of sport bikes equipped with aftermarket parts installed by home mechanics. Let's be honest about that. I would have a hard time believing there are more than 2-3 million sport bikes in operation worldwide at any given time, and likely somewhere nearer 10% equipped with aftermarket HID.

I hear of multiple stator failures every year. What causes a part the OEM designed to last the life of the bike, to fail? Excess heat. Caused by overloading.

I'm sure more than I hear about, fail. No one (very few) is willing to publicly state when they do something obviously stupid. So simple to avoid......
 
#9 ·
My current setup is a 35 watt ballast and a 55 watt ballast, can't remember which is on the lowbeam, I've had these installed for years, like 5+. Haven't had any issues yet. Guess I am one of the lucky few.

I went LED's on my girls bike, only thing I like about those more than the HID's is the instant full brightness once they're turned on. I still feel like my HID's are brighter though.

When my HID ballasts finally die I'll probably look into LED's at that point.
 
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