After reading countless positive feedback reports and consumer reviews,
I purchased the $99 buck (including shipping) HID kit on ebay. It comes with a 1 year warranty on the ballasts and bulbs. Many components are manufactured in Japan and the kit looks to be of good quality. You can choose any color temp you want. I chose the 6,000k bulbs. Hey, if it sucks, I only spent $99 bucks, but with a warranty, I'm not too worried. I'll let ya'll know how they are once I get them installed.

 

Good luck with the install. It's not that difficult if you take your time and check your connections carefully. I posted my installation experience here: https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ad.php?t=12878

You might want to take a look so you don't run into any of the gotchas that I hit.


BTW, Nice choice in 2-wheeled fun. I have a '98 S1W that's signed by Erik Buell.

 

Thanks Bob, I read your experience. All good things to keep in mind. I love the Buell, it's the most fun bike I've had yet, and I've had a few.

 

HIDs are installed. It was a piece of cake once I figured out that I had to cut away a rubber seal that wouldn't work on our housings. The lights look great and very factory! The light output on the road isn't as bright as I expected, but still very good. The units are of good quality and seem to be well put together. The kit didn't come with relays though and the instruction manual stated that relays are optional. They work fine without them. One thing though, when the lights are on, my radio reception sucks! Interference with the high voltage?

Overall, I would say it was a good buy for $100 bucks. Came with a 1 year warranty also.

HIDs001.jpg

 

Yeah radio reception sucks on mine too. I had the same problem with the cheap ones in my Neon. I was hoping the more expensive ones would be better(that's why I paid up for them), but they're not. Nature of the beast I suppose. I may try and put in an FM booster when I put my headunit in this week. Hopefully that will help.

 

Interesting. My McCulloch 6,000k kit causes no interference whatsoever. How did you mount your ballasts? Do you have a good ground path for the cases?

 

The ballasts are mounted using double-sided tape. There are no mounting brackets on the ballasts. The wires are tied and out of the way.

 

I bolted them in place using existing bolts/brackets that I could get to. I don't know. It doesn't bother me that much, as I seldom listen to FM. I usually have the iPod jamming. I listen to the radio in the morning, but the headlights aren't on, so it doesn't matter.

 

I obviously don't know what your kit looks like, so I'm kind of guessing here...

If the cases on your ballasts are made of metal (the McCulloch kit is), you can try connecting a suitable size wire between the case and a good grounding point to see if it make any difference. You could also look at getting a pair of noise suppressors from an auto supply haus and installing them on the power leads to your ballasts.

One thing is for sure. The Crossfire has something like 5 computers on it and computers like nice clean power or they can become very unhappy. It would be in everyone's best interest to find and eliminate the source of the noise.

 

Quite right...all it takes is a milliamp or less to fry computer parts!

Good point!

 

Well, I'm sure the noise is being generated by the high frequency and high voltage interfering with the radio waves. I was a certified welder and anytime we used the TIG method (now GTAW), which uses high frequency, high voltage, the radio reception in the shop was crap. Everything was properly grounded. We'll see what happens when I install the relay kit. If nothing happens, I'll try grounding the ballast cases. Yes, they are metal.

 

I've heard opinions both ways, but is the lead with the double wires on the headlight plug the negative or positive lead?

 

I can't remember off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure I have it listed in the write-up I linked to earlier in this thread. I know that the lamps will only fire if the polarity going to the ballasts is right, so if they both light up you got the wires right.

Interesting point about the welding since HID lamps and arc welders generally operate on the same principle: Jump a spark across a gap between two electrodes. That tends to generate strong RF/magnetic fields, which in turn would induce noise in any other conductors in the general vicinity. If I remember correctly, that is exactly what Marconi's (or is that Tesla's) first radio set did!

I wonder if the lamps were sourced from a different manufacturer? Could it be something about their construction?

 

HIDs act very much like the tungsten in TIG welding which uses high frequency to allow the arc to jump from the electrode. I'm almost certain the RF noise interference is being caused by this high frequency.

 

I also have the Ebay kit and have noticed the radio noise. Please keep us posted on a resolution. I will also try a few things.

 

You got it.

 

What vendor on eBay did you all use to get your good price on your kits? I see them for $250 and up.

 

Ebay seller Name NissanGTRPower sells good quality kits with a 20 month warranty for $145 shipped.