H.I.D. headlight bulb replacement kit

Hi all, to day I recieved an H.I.D. headlamp bulb kit for my Velocette, yes not a Suzuki but not the point.
The kit was bought off e-bay from Hawk electronics for £20-00 & is a simple plug n play kit.
It has a 6000k bulb which has a solenoid to flip the bulb from dipped to main beam as it is a single filament bulb.
It has a slim line ballast & all you need to do to connect it is to remove your old bulb, replace it with the H.I.D. unit & then plug the wiring loom into the bulb connector that used to plug onto the old bulb, secure all the associated wiring & replace the headlamp assembly & switch on job done.
The e-bay number for this is 361051212598.
I have yet to fit this to my Velocette but it should be a simple job & I think it will according to the blurb increase the light output 3 fold. I feel this will also be a useful addition to the 800 range & I will try to fit it temporarily to my VL800 before too long & let you know if it works or not?

I have just gone to e-bay to leave feedback & noticed the new number for this is 331349263821 as it has been relisted.

I believe the 800 has a reasonably good headlight compared to some bikes I have ridden but at that price I will be very interested in your review.

Sounds good, I will also look forward to your findings.

Peter have been looking into the HID conversion as I had already done it on he Intruder,what a lot of people are saying is it might be better to put a time delay in the lighting circuit to let you start the bike up first before the lights come on,as the HID does not like switching on/off if the bike does not start first time,this obviously is for bikes that have there headlights hard wired to come on when starting.Apparently the police have an override switch to do this for them,and an led  proving light to show them when the lights are on.Just a thought for people thinking of fitting them,good find on the link by the way,luckily for me I can get two H7 for my bike 
Details about  Xenon HID Conversion Kit H7-Slim Ballast 6000k- 2 Years Warranty

 well pleased.£22:98

I already have a switch to kill my headlight alfie so it won't worry me & the Velo has no lighting till you switch them on manually by the headlight switch but I am taking what you say as good advice so thanks for that!

Are these not the type of headlight that almost blind us when they are coming the other way?

Only when not adjusted properly.They are bright,and fitted to a lot of new cars now.

Then the brightness should not be so overpowering, as it seems a huge number of cars come out of the showroom or pass MOTs incorrectly.

Ain't that a fact.  
I had a one man war on with the idiots last year, every time one of them came towards me at night they would get full beam from all the lights on my truck. I wouldn't turn every light the tractor unit had and blind the feckers, It was a war that I won everytime it happened. I had many many times more power to light up the road than they could dream of.

I put the new light onto the VL yesterday to do a check to see if it worked as my Velo is still on the bench being rebuilt.
I removed the old bulb & put the new one in & made sure the headlight was switched off before I turned the bike's ignition on. I then turned the headlight on & noted a very bright white light as against the original(?) one which in contrast was slightly yellowish. That was on dipped & when put onto high it really showed up the difference as the beam was very white & seemed to be well defined on the pattern it showed on my darkened garage wall as against a slightly less well defined one from the original bulb.
In conclusion,
I think it would be an excellent replacement for the original bulb but for one small problem, SPACE! Yes it puts out a brilliant light, very much better than the original but the associated ballast, slim as it may be, comes with even more wiring which has to be put somewhere but where is the question as there is very little room left inside the headlamp shell for all the wires that are normally in there never mind finding space for the ballast & all the associated wiring.
So at this time I will not be fitting it full time as I have sorned the bike anyway & the light is quite adequate for my requirements from the bulb I have fitted at the moment.
I hope this small test was helpful to some, but if it is not to your taste then don't worry as I found out at my expense of time & effort so saving you that expense.

good honest write-up Peter soooo it seems that although the light would be much brighter it would be a right royal pain in the arse to try and make it all fit in the head light do you think it would fit at a push or not at all?

I did this on my 2011 M800 and put all the gubbins in the headlight cowl and extended the cables to go underneath the right hand side panel, I bought a car kit so I have a spare bulb, it looks the puppies pebbles and is as bright as hell on the unlit country roads I often use. if you extended the cables you could put the ballast under the sidepanel as well. 

Hi Morgan! 
Well yes you could get it all in but you would have to really pack some of the wiring, connectors( the unit simply plugs into the existing bulb connector) & the ballast into some of the spaces you have around the back of the reflector 
BUT I'm unsure as to the heat that will come from the bulb will not cook something inside the shell & will it melt the headlight 'glass' as well? That I do not know? Now that's something we do not want eh???
When I get chance I'll ask Sim to kindly put some photo's up for me so you can see how much you have to cram into the shell along with all the other wiring ok?

Have just read Mick's comments & agree with them that you could extend the wiring to put the main units under one of the side panels, good idea Mick thanks!

Mine has been on for around a thousand miles and I can report no issues with heat or starting with the lights on at all, Its had a shed load of positive comments as well, I think it looks great on the M800 as its a very modern looking bike, not sure about the C models as they are more old school classic looking but that's only my opinion.

Thanks for the input Mick.

My pleasure. 

mick9264 wrote:

, Its had a shed load of positive comments as well, I think it looks great on the M800 .

 It looks good! 

Why thank you Simbo, now I'm waiting for the piss take!

Good report on the item peter, I am not a fan of this type of light on cars & vans but anything extra on bikes is needed. Firstly we only have one headlight, secondly we need all the help we can get to be seen.

thanks for the answers Peter/Mick looks like it can be fitted quite easily if wires are extended and some of it put in the side panel cool

Ken1964 wrote:

Then the brightness should not be so overpowering, as it seems a huge number of cars come out of the showroom or pass MOTs incorrectly.

Hi Ken, the reason that HID ( high intensity discharge ) lamps look so glary is that the lumen output is much higher than a standard halogen lamp for the same wattage. This, plus the high colour temperature ( generally between 5000 & 8000 degrees Kelvin ) means your eyes see the light source as much more glary than a warmer appearance. An old trick we used to teach when I was an RAC / ACU instructor back in the day was, if you get blinded by oncoming lights, shift your line of sight to the kerb then you're not looking directly in to the oncoming lights. You will still have your peripheral vision to see forward with, but you won't be blinded by the glate - try it mate,mit does work !

Thanks for all the information.

Hi these are my personal thoughts. 6000 degrees (white) if you go higher ie: 8000 it turns blue.keep the ballast in a ventilated area for it can get hot.Keep your headlight clean for rain,snow or dirt seems to distract the beam more,as already stated lengthen the cables to place ballast were you require it,if you go for the car version you get two of everything,all you need is the 35w version.Work on the idea as two could share for half the price.The link Peter put up is a good place to look at.

I try this kit years ago, It lights a lot!!

The problem is having High Voltage on the bike (don't forget this kit is Chinesse quality) and that the focus is not designed to support the high temperatures of the Xenon bulb, so the wires get hot into the focus and the glass of the focus can broke because the heat. Also the glass of the focus has to be always clean (Xenon Lights use to have a wiper for the glass) because the dirt on the glass get hot and can burn it

After some time enjoing the novelty (it is a big brightness difference) I decide to remove and back to the original incandescent bulb for safety

Actually I'm interested in LED bulbs, they brights a lot and don't hot anything. Also they not work in High Voltage, in fact the consume of electricity is less than incandescent and provide more lighting power. They are also cheaper... you must try a LED H4 Cree bulb to compare for only 7GBP