HID Conversion on a 12GS (pictorial)

Thanks Fellas, It appears that I was wiring it up correctly. It was only after hooking it up to the low then high (and switching the high's only good bulb to the low) and then back did I finally get first, a few flikers, then finally Viola! I'm beginning to think that perhaps the ballast needs to store energy as a capacitor would before it will finally ignite the bulb.
As for the product: another link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SLIM-XENON-HID-CONVERSION-KIT-H1-H3-H4-H7-H11-9005-9006_W0QQitemZ120508897729QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item1c0ee3d9c1

VLTECHNOLOGIES is the seller's name and here's a brief overview of why I purchased from them:
1) Made in the USA by a small company in California. Support the AMERICAN Dollar and fastershipping as a bonus.
2) Ignitor and ballast are a single component opposed to some of the "Slim Ballast" kits that only remove the Ignitor from the Ballast in order to make it smaller. Leaving you with two components to mount.
3) I consulted with VLTECHNOLOGIES via E-Mail prior to purchasing and customer service was EXCELLENT and prompt. He in fact warned me to the fact that the Can-Bus may not like a 35W system and offered to add a capacitor that would make the Can-Bus "see" 50W. He also looked around the shop for the 2 HID Kits with the longest leads to ease installation. All of this PRIOR to shipping.
4) Price. Local auto supply was asking $45 for a pair of premium H7's. This HID upgrade for both lamps costed about a dollar more after shipping.
I opted to have the item shipped dispite the potential for incompatability. I figured that I could use them for another vehicle of mine in the worst-case scenario.
Results: WOW! Eye popping:eek1 difference between stock and HID. However, I did purchase 2 conversion kits for each of the High and Low beams but, after installing the Low; I really like the Bluish-white and yellowish gold contrast between the two. I also tend to agree with the multiple other postings about the High washing out Scotchlite-laden signs to a point that they can be distracting. The High beam flash warm up period is, in my opinion, a moot point. I only use the flash in order to get attention, not to send out and x-ray beam ahead of me. I think the Combo is the way to go.
Now if I can figure out an inexpensive way to turn one of my GSA "Fog" lamps into an HID "Driving" light... Ahhh that would be nice. The Touratech HID driving light has some type of serpintine reflector behind the lens: It works.
Take a look at these kits, save some mula (no affiliation)
Thanks again for the replies.

"Made in USA?"

I'd be very surprised if this is the case.

hi all
I am going to place order from xenonrider.com and just wonder if anyone try canbus ballast upgrade?

http://www.xenonrider.com/products/h7_xenon_hid_kits.shtml

Upgrades the ballast to the CANbus ballast with circuitry built-in for BMW motorcycles, Mercedes/BMW/Audi cars.
*Please note that the CANbus ballast is only availabe in the regular size (3" x 4" x 1.25")

OMHO, and my experience, the large balast HIDs have always been canbus friendly, and I didn't pay extra for them.

Jim

PS I didn't look to see what else came with the kit, but I didn't need anything.

For the extra $5 have they told you what is added/upgraded?

D

this is what they reply me


Thanks for your inquiry. For your bike, you will want to go with the CANbus ballasts. The CANbus ballasts have different circuitry as well as extra resistors and capacitor built in to work with the CANbus systems on the bikes. It will show the proper load so the bike will provide power to the lights and not trigger the 'light-out' light.

i just got my vvme 35 watt single beam hid kit in the mail today. i ordered it on sunday night and 10am today it was at my door!!! i'm not going to install until i get my bike back from the dealer for the clutch re-routing that they are going to do.
i'll let everyone know how it goes and if i get any faults on the 09 with this kit.
i opened up the box and it seems as simple as simple can be. just plug and mount.

I bought an hp2 a few months ago and am wondering if the light differs from the 1200 gs. i UNDERSTAND THE LIGHT SUCKS and will need to upgrade to something and seems like this might be the best soloution

I ordered a set of lights from these guys on the 20th, They were paid by PAYPAL and I have heard nothing from them. I tried calling today and there is no answer on any of their phones and 1 line listed is disconnected. No response via email or status update. Has anyone else had a poor experience with these guys?

Any response from these guys? A buddy I work with has used them two times and says they have great service and was pointing me in there direction till I hit your post, let us know.

Cheers

I never received a response per se....I sent them an aggressive email detailing my displeasure with their unresponsiveness via their site and they shipped later that day. I don't think that was a coincidence. I threatened them with a paypal dispute and a poor review here. I went through with the review because I felt that this service level was unacceptable and that they should be aware that they were not meeting expectations. I have still never received communication from them in regards to this purchase other than a UPS shipping notification.

I hope I don't have to take advantage of their "lifetime" warranty. I am definitely not impressed with the level of customer service and responsiveness from these folks. I hope I am an anomaly.

I might just have to finally do this. My 05 GS has 47K and I just replaced the low beam for the 7th time. :huh

I ordered the 55w slim ballast kit from DDM last friday from their website and it was delivered yesterday. I went with the 6000K bulb in an attempt to match the color of my Micro DE xenon auxiliary light.

Installation is just as easy as Jim says! Just did the low beam last night.. Before drilling out the caps I hooked up the wires to see if I would get a LAMPF, happily there was none.

Drilling out the cap proved to be a bit of a challenge with a 7/8'' spade bit, a dremel definitely would have been easier. I also had the problem where, even with the clip removed, the plug that goes direct to the ballast wouldn't fit through that size hole and made notches to fit it through. I did use a little silicone sealant, probably not necessary but rather safe than sorry for it! One ghetto zip-tie bracket mount later and I was up and running.

My first impression: :eek1
My second impression:

I am still running a halogen flood fog lamp on the right side of the beak and i think I like the combination of the yellow and white light. High beam conversion happens today after work. By far the best return per $ of any upgrade I've done.

for those of you who drilled a 23mm hole in the caps, how did you get everything through the hole? i drilled my caps out and i started out making a 7/8" hole but the bulb or the other connecting end (end that goes to ballast) would not go though. i went up to a 1" hole and still could not get it through. finally i drilled a 1 1/8" hole and the end that connects to the ballast just made it through.
i just don't know how you guys did it with only making a 23-25mm (29/32"-1") hole??
now i just have to wait for my bike to come back to install everything

I started with a 1" hole, but then I had to dremel out little cutouts so that the connector could fit through. So my hole turned out to be 1" in diameter, with 2 opposing bulges.

The little bit too big DDM connector comes apart and you reassemble it on the other side.

For the VVME kit, I needed a 1" hole and just the slightest relief notch (1 - 2 mm deep) on one side to slip the connector through. There's a strain relief part on the connector that I removed first.

After getting dogged out on my cheesy install of the VVME HID 35w, I really did up a sweet mount. ( 1 ballast velcroed about the headlight and the other zip tied to the crash bar) As stated before I am anal about a clean factory look. Since I cant upload pics try to envision this. I started with some scrap black powder coated ( or wrinkle paint ) metal that I got from our radio shop. This is used to make mounts for radios in our patrol cars. The radio shop has all kinds of this stuff in the scrap bin.

I started with a about a 10 inch by 8 inch flat piece. I used u bolts at each edge to go around the small crash bar where the fog lights are mounted. I drilled a center hold at the front edge to mount to the center screw on the large crash bar the sits behind the small one.

I mounted the ballasts side by side facing down. in their brackets. The front edge of the piece of metal is flush with the larger crash bar and just under the oil cooler.

I then took a second piece of flat metal that was slightly smaller and drilled 3 holes to match up with the other piece. This now sandwichs the ballasts between the two pieces of metal. The second one just happend to be slotted so this allows some cooling airflow.

The HID wires come out the front of the sandwich and go to each side to their respective headlight housing.

After it was all fabbed up and mounted it has to be the most secure, neatest HID Ballast mounting I have seen and not one Zip tie was used to secure the ballasts, only the wiring to the HID bulbs.

Here is Mississippi, on the pot-holed, dirt, gravel and mud-strewn back roads I just felt like I needed a really secure mount. And no jack-leg looking zip-tied crap. Also, if i want to upgrade to the 55w, or slim ballasts or whatever, this mount will be right there and easily modified. VERY VERY STOUT.One other thing. On top of the sandwich there is a small piece of flat alumin. that runs between the ubolts and under the small bar. This makes the sandwich tilt slightly down toward the front to clear the underside of the beak. A good quarter inch clearance this there. Also this HID sandwich completely protects the ballasts.

I will take a pic and make it available to anyone wants to PM me.

And of course, just like everyone else says, the change to HID was quite impressive. I tossed the TT mesh grill because the grid pattern projected was just to distracting.

Do you know how to remove the other two connectors? I'm refitting some Hella Micro DE and I'm having problems with the small rubber boot.

Sorry, but I don't understand. How do you run your hella lights? Do you have to have your high beam on?