DDM Tuning H1 HID Dual Upgrade Kit

[Jpainter187]

Ive seen some old posts about this kit, but I never found out if anyone ever got one and installed it on the Rockster, (or any R bike for that matter)? If so, was there any needed modification, and was there a significant difference in light output?

I was thinking about ordering a few BMW car parts from them because no one else seems to have what I need in stock and for the right price. I figured I might try one of the 55w kits on my Rockster. $45 seems too good to be true though...

So any input would be appreciated!

[Jpainter187]

I thought this might be a pretty dead topic. From reading other threads I've come to realize this is not truly a "motorcycle" kit, because they don't even make some of the leads long enough to reach where they need to go. And then the ones running to the bulbs are too long and would have to be coiled up hidden somewhere in the light housing, which there really isn't any on the Rockster. I may have to look into the A&R HID kits...

[sweatmark]

Jon-

Guessing that lack of responses here is due to combination of the Rockster's rarity + few folks that have retrofit HID.

My Rockster's original owner - who put total of 576 miles on the bike - had HID installed in the low beam projector, with regular D2S capsule that was re-based for H1 mount. The light output is good (I cannot compare with the original halogen), and the cutoff line is very sharp, but the HID capsule does not appear to be repositioned enough to prevent glare at outside edges of illumination. In contrast with the HID, my H1-bulbed high beam is not worth turning on... so I don't.

Here's an old topic on the Pelican R1100S board concerning re-based HID for H1 applications:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/bmw-r110 ... -bulb.html

There's lots of information available on the ADV board in GSpot section, which is relevant to us Rockster guys since we inherited the R1150GS headlight system for our "parts bin" Rocksters. Suggest you dig up some background info there for HID options.

For my winter Rockster rebuild project, I'm going to move the HID from low/dip beam projector over to the high beam side for use as driving light. For low beam, will try to install a Hella Bi-Halogen projector that uses H7 incandescent bulb. The H7 is supposed to have better light output than H1/H3, so I'm hoping not to lose too much performance versus HID, while gaining ability to use headlight modulator and carry a spare bulb during road trips.

[daveysew]

I've done the kit on mine, very happy with the results. The guys at my local dealer thought it was a great upgrade, far better lighting, and a great price. All I needed to do was dremmel a space in the black plastic light housing on the rear of the lights to pass some wires through. Very easy to do and well worth it. Pretty easy to stash the ballasts behind the little "eyebrow" fairing with 3M tape. Hope this helps,
dave

[daveysew]

Also FWIW I did the same upgrade on my '03 Triumph Sprint and was equally satisfied with the results. Total cost including shipping to Canada for the 2 kits (4 bulb/ballast combos) was ~$100 CDN. Well worth it IMHO.

dave

[Jpainter187]

That gives me hope knowing that someone has successfully installed this kit. What color/temp bulbs did you go with?

[daveysew]

I did the order a few months ago but I believe it was 6k bulbs I went with. They throw a great amount of light at night, traffic signs seem to pop out at you along with making you very visible.

[Jpainter187]

Yeah, 6000K is said to be the most popular. I ordered the 5000K which should put out a whiter light. Hopefully it doesn't take the kit too long to get here...

[Jpainter187]

Ok, well DDM was kind of slow to deliver. I think it was a little over a week before I received the HID kit. I got it installed last week. A very snug fit since the HID bulbs protrude further out the back than regular H1's. And this would be almost impossible to do without some sort of Dremel rotary tool, because a hole had to be drilled out of the rear lamp covers (#02 seen here: http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/ ... d=03192010) to allow the bulb and additional wiring to the digital ballasts to run through.

The digital ballasts are fairly easy to hide as long as you have some sort of adhesive to stick them to a flat surface. I tucked both away underneath two separate flat surfaces on the instrument cluster using heavy duty weatherproof tape that I found at Wal-Mart for around $3.50. So total this cost me around $60, which includes the HID kit, DDM's overpriced shipping charges, and the adhesive. But I must say, the end result was well worth it. I can finally see when riding at night with just the low beam on, and when both low and high are on it's incredible! Well worth the time/money spent, IMPO.

I will post some pictures this weekend if anyone is interested.

[jas]

Jpainter187 - could you send me some pictures of the hole you drilled in the back of the lense cover? I have a HID kit but have found that I am unable to drill a hole in the back of the cover. Unlike the cover on my friends 1150GS which is flat, mine has the original connector in the way, making it impossible to change it without a lot of cutting, drilling and fabrication.

[jas]

Disregard my previous post regarding sending pictures. I cut the original electrical connection off the back of the cover and relocated it to the side of the unit which allowed me to drill a hole in the back of it and install the HID. I ended up installing the HID to the high beam side so that the bike can be started with the light off. This is bass ackwards I'm sure, but seemed like a decent plan in my head at the time.

[jas]

So I ran the HID on both the high and low dip (not at the same time) and decided that they are horrible for my application. They created a halo affect that drove me nuts, did not have a decent reach, and just didn't cut the mustard so to speak.

I replaced both sides with the PIAA 55W H1 and am much happier now. I'll use the HID's in a driving light type application.

[Jpainter187]

Sorry I haven't been on this site in awhile. I drilled my holes above (if plug is facing up) he original 90 degree plug. This allowed me to leave the original in place but gave me enough room to run the DMM HID bulbs through.

What bulbs were you doing this with? Thats sad if the PIAA H1 bulbs are brighter than what you originally tried. My 55W DDM HID kit cannot even be compared to the PIAA 55W H1 bulbs I tried before, and have about triple the throw distance on high. Most of the spread comes from the low beam, as it should. While driving home at night on flat straight roads I would estimate to have well illuminated road at least 2-300 yards in front of me on high. And that's not an exaggeration, but probably more of an understatement.

I would post pictures but haven't bothered yet since no one has asked.

[jas]

Please post pictures if it is not out of your way, I'm very interested in seeing how you went about it.

[Jpainter187]

I probably won't get around to taking pics until this weekend, but check back then!

[Jpainter187]

Well I couldn't really find a dark road to safely take these pictures on last night... So the high beam pics don't really do this light kit any justice. I just took two shinning out in a field, and two pointed out of the gate towards the road. If the high beam pics look blurry it's because it was starting to get a little foggy. I didn't do any editing to the pics whatsoever, but I think my camera did make the light a little 'whiter' than actual... This is the 55W 5000K DDM kit, so the lights have more of a slight blueish tint to them. And again, total cost for everything it took me to do this was about $68 I believe. I wish I still had the old pics I took of the lights with my PIAA Xtreme White Plus H1 bulbs in to compare with these, but I deleted them a few weeks ago. Sorry!