cracked headlight

[John W]

okay the other thing that occured at the weekend was to pick up a big crack in the headlight glass of the 4S.

Is the glass available seperately or will I need an entire light unit ?
where is the best/cheapest place to get one of these (glass/unit) ?

Cheers,
John.

[Rushjob]

You're not having much luck are you John? :o
The light comes as a complete unit.
I know Nelly has some brand new ones in at a good discount off Ducati prices if you give him a bell.
Failing that, ebay is your friend.

[John W]

Nah I'm not mate. Did I mention the - nah feck it - I'll only depress myself...:barfy:

I'll send nelly a mail, see if he can give me a price and possibly save me one.
Cheers.

[bolds]

Got one as good as new for £50 plus post if you are interested:burn:

[John W]

Well it looks like that nice man Bolds has saved the day (email sent earlier mate) :burn:

Has anyone ever tried using the HID lights for bikes ?
I don't mean the vision plus bulbs, but proper xenon jobs.

I understand a few bikes are fitted with these from new now, and given how scary the lights on the ST are anyway, I thought I might try one out.
If someone else has already done this though it might save me a bit of time searching about.

Oh, and are both bulbs the same (H1/3/7 ?), or is the projector a different bulb to the other ?

Cheers,
John.
p.s. found a place doing single light hid kits for 230 USD plus shipping so far...

[Edited on 12-7-2005 by John W]

[Derek]

I haven't tried HID, not that I could afford to just now anyway, but the problem will be with the dip beam which is an H3 fitting. H1 like the main beam is readily available but not H3. Even more annoying H3 is available in 30% brighter but not in 50% brighter and it is the dip that needs that extra output.

[John W]

Hi Derek,

this place claim to do H3 bulbs ==> http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/mothidsinkit.html

I guess when/if I try to order one I'll soon find out if they really do, eh :rolleye:

Cheers,
John.

[moozaad]

HID are lovely, expensive and illegal - The chances of a car colliding head on in the dark is greatly increased because no matter what, you've just shoved a floodlight in his face!!! I'd be surprised if they could see the verge, let alone the cats eyes or oncoming vehicle!

Sorry to be the counterpoint but I would never fit one to my vehicles - I have enough trouble with people dazzling me as it is.

halfords stock philips bulbs which are fine - I replaced mine with:
H3 Weathervision
H1 VisionPlus

But to be honest coz I'm not the 12st testing guy, tweaking my headlight angle worked better, just keep it in the regulations and you'll do fine.

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by moozaad]

[YMFB]

I find my lights Ok on my ST4 except when loaded with wife and luggage then we are blinding oncoming vehicles. Does anyone know if it is easy to adjust and reset your head lights or is it a case of fiddling and testing. It takes so long to take the fairing off and put it back on that I may fit Dzus fasteners at the same time.:yawn:

[John W]

coming from a couple of Hondas (blade & VFR) the ducati lights in general, and more specifically the ST lights are shite by comparison.

Moozaad, I accept what your saying but do not agree. I have fitted HID lights to a porsche 993 which also has projector style low beams. As long as the lights are set correctly there should be no dazzling problem. This is the key, being set correctly. If however someone stares straight into the headlight, well, more fool them.

I always make a point of setting my lights a little low on the bike as we generally use the ST to travel with luggage, two up, and this allows for bumps in the road. I rarely ride in the dark at other times. Mine are set correctly but just give out so little light.
By the way, a projector style light unit is less efficient than a standard reflector sized light, so to get the same amount of illuminated area you need to provide a greater light input to compensate for its losses (Have a look here for info ==> http://www.autolamps-online.com/howwhy/headlampcentre.htm ).

Personally I'd much rather have an effective headlight so I can see on-coming hazards.
Just having a scan of the autolamps site (company I've brought my previous car kits from). I noticed on their sister site that they infact sell a kit, and there are pictures of a set on a cutomers 996 :D
==> http://www.hid-online.com/hidonline/customer_gallery/motorcycle.htm

I am about to place my order, so will let you guys know how I get on with it :roll: :cool:

YMFB, your later 04 style headlights are far better than the earlier design.
I'm sure the manual tells you how to adjust the lights.

[Edited on 14-7-2005 by John W]

[John W]

Hmmm,
question for Derek.
Are you sure the low beam is H3 ??

Reason I ask is that they supplied an H1 kit for the guy with the 996, and other wweb sources are showing replacements bulbs for the ST as being H1 for low beam, H3 for high beam.
Is it possible you have your numbers round the wrong way ?

I'm holding off on my order until I've checked my light tonight.

[Derek]

Originally posted by John W
Hmmm,
question for Derek.
Are you sure the low beam is H3 ??

Reason I ask is that they supplied an H1 kit for the guy with the 996, and other wweb sources are showing replacements bulbs for the ST as being H1 for low beam, H3 for high beam.
Is it possible you have your numbers round the wrong way ?

I'm holding off on my order until I've checked my light tonight.

You might be right. I haven't taken them out to have a look. If the Low beam is H1 that at least will allow the fitment of a +50% job which might make up for the crap beam pattern.

[HW]

Originally posted by YMFB
I find my lights Ok on my ST4 except when loaded with wife and luggage then we are blinding oncoming vehicles. Does anyone know if it is easy to adjust and reset your head lights or is it a case of fiddling and testing. It takes so long to take the fairing off and put it back on that I may fit Dzus fasteners at the same time.:yawn:

I seem to recall that the ST has a screw adjuster stuck out the back of each headlight. If you leave off the instrument surround panels you should be able to get ot them. Making sure they are free and well lubricated would be a good plan too of course because they were only thumbscrews! :)

[Derek]

I had assumed that the Low beam was the H3 from page 63 of the manual (Fig.66) which shows the bulb in the left hand lamp with a wire attached to it but the illustration is probably for a European model. Do they have the low beam projector unit on the other side? :puzzled:

[John W]

Its weird eh Derek.

I've searched a bit more and got even more conflicting information now :puzzled:
I've asked autolamps whether the H1 HID bulb will fit in the H3 base and ensure the correct bulb depth/focus, especially given this was the kit they supplied to the 996 owner.

Oh, and when I rang P&H to ask they told me botrh were H7 fittings... :lol:

I'll check tonight anyway to be sure.

[Derek]

The H1 and H3 bases are quite different. The H1 is round with a flat on one side whereas the H3 is round with a notch out of it. It may be possible to fit an H1 into an H3 fitment but I think the filament position and orientation are also different so it wouldn't focus properly.

[John W]

Derek,
you were correct, the low beam is indeed H3, the full being H1.

I've not checked if I've got a reply about the H3 based HID bulbs yet.

Will keep you all posted if I do buy the HID kit.

[UPDATE]
Right, got a reply and brought the kit :sing:
They have sold a few kits to Ducati owners, both old and new style STs as well as other bikes in the range.

I have brought a dual kit that does both the low and high beam. They also sell just the H1 or the H3 kits on their own, or with appropriate colour temperature bulbs for the non HID light.
I have requested details of pricing for a discount (I previously set up a group buy for the porsche guys). Once this is mailed through to me I'll pass it on.

I should get the kit in a day or so, so will attempt to fit it this weekend and post pictures :burn:

Cheers,
john.

[Edited on 18-7-2005 by John W]

[Rushjob]

John.
How did you get on with this mod?
Andy

[lemans]

Hi

And what was the cost for both kits?

The lighting is probably the only weak area I've noticed on my ST4s

Daryl

[John W]

Hi all,

sorry for not getting back to you before.
I've been away on a trip, and then away on work.

The lights. Well, what can I say.
Get your ST out in the evening and flip on the low beam in an unlit area. Make a note of how far you can see, and how wide the beam is (i.e. how much of the road sides you can see). Now flip on the high beam and note it again.

I have my lights set to suit for two up touring, as this is how it is almost exclusively used. I state this so you know my lights are correctly adjusted and not pointing skyward. With the two of us on the bike I would liken the distance I can see (amount of road lit) to that of the standard high beam, but with far better definition.
On high beam, you can see as much as you need to.

As an example, I was on a piece of unlit autobahn south of Munich, and on low beam I could happily cruise at 95mph seeing all I needed to. On high beam 120 was no problem (couldn't go faster - the pillion speed controller kicked in ;) )
On the A25 & A29 I could ride to the conditions without being restricted by the previosly poor vision.

To compare them to other bikes, we went with a VFR750, a VFR800, and a FJ1300, and my lights lit the road the best, with the possible exception of the FJ.

When you flip on the high beam it comes on at one colour and changes colour over about 5 seconds as it warms up. You don't really notice just how much more you can see on high beam until you turn it off again. :cool:

Now for the prices.

I have details of the various kits, with special prices for DSC members.
These are to be submitted to Paul James for inclusion in the next newsletter.
They will do low, high or both beam kits, and do kits for pretty much anything.

I took photos of my install and will do a fitting instruction sheet to make life easier for others. The job involves removing the side panels,top fairing and taking the headlight out helps too. Apart from that, its all pretty simple.

As a rough guide, expect to pay in the order of 275GBP for the low & high beam kit (H1/H3), including vat & delivery.

If anyone wants to see the lights or the install for themselves and is local, send me a mail and I'll try to sort out a free evening.
I will post some pics but have not suckedthem out of the camera yet.

Apologies if it sounds like I'm raving about them, but I honestly feel the lights now do the bike justice. No more having to sit behind a car as I can't see enough to overtake it !

[Derek]

Glad to hear that it has been worth spending the cash on.
I've just had a quote of £239 for an H1/H3 HID kit from www.hids4u.co.uk (http://www.hids4u.co.uk/default.asp)

[John W]

Thats a good price Derek.

You need to be sure of the quality of the bulbs, and that they have the correct focal length. This is especially critical in projector style lights.

All I can say is, the ones I have work a treat, use genuine Hella ballasts (note that hids4u charge a lot more for these), come with relays to ensure the bike wiring is not providing the startup current, and that the MD of the company used to work for Philips, so should know what he is on about.

Money is money though Derek, so if your happy to go with those and save a bit of dosh, give them a try and let us know how you get on.

[Derek]

Originally posted by John W
Money is money though Derek, so if your happy to go with those and save a bit of dosh, give them a try and let us know how you get on.

And a lot of money at that - for a couple of bulbs. But I do like to see where I'm going. Purchase isn't likely to be for a while yet ( over the wintwer probably) but if/when I go ahead I will report back.