H.I.D. vs R.L.U. ??

[Christian Raith]

HID Kit on ebay

[Eveready1100]

Just got back in from the garage. RLU unit is now residing on a shelf  beside the bike. I sourced a matching plug off the previously butchered original harness and trimmed off the extra wires. A couple of layers of heat shrink to insulate the soldered joint then test run. Beauty! Got low and high beams respectively without any sign of the RLU warning light on the dash - plus the added attraction of not modifying the harness itself at all so I can always go back to original with no scars if need be.
      I was put on to the miracle of HID by my son who runs HID lights in his ZX10. I was checking out his setup when one of his mates told me of his lights in his car and how much they cost him. A quick suss out and subsequently ordered the same kit off Ebay as I was sure I could get all the stuff tucked out of the way on my bike.
        When eventually the kit arrived (took them 15 days before they posted it) it only took 1 afternoon to get it fitted. The ballast fits neatly behind the Tipover switch between the frame rails and the extra wiring tucked in behind the coils very tidily. All the wiring was nearly exactly the required length though I was a bit dubious about boring a 25mm hole in the back of the headlight shell but in the end it is a seamless installation. The added bonus besides the cheap upfront cost is that I have a spare bulb and ballast on hand if (when) they eventually fail.
Here's the kit that I bought - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330429759421
Can someone tell me how to do that [click] thing to bring a link straight up?
                                 Errol
P.S. in the 18 months I''ve been doing this trip to work, the tally so far is 7 bunnies, 1 pigeon, 1 echidna and the roo, and NO, I am not aiming for them.

[B.Walker]

Yep, aware of that. Some have a solenoid that raises a shroud around the lamp to deflect some of the light away from the reflector and others lower the lamp into a tube to do the same job. The issue is that the current draw remains constant throughout and lower than the trigger threshold of the RLU so it thinks that one beam has gone out and trys to switch to the other beam. It's gotta go for the HID to work properly.

[Christian Raith]

There is only 1 globe(element so to speak) in HID. What happens is a relay in the base of the globe toggles it from high position to low position so you can't have high and low on at the same time.

[B.Walker]

The RLU is a current operated relay, and its looking for 4.6 amps on low beam and 5 amps on high. When the current drops below the preset threshold, in the event of a filament failure, it switches over to the other filament, which in your case it the solenoid for the beam sheild. Remember that your total current draw at 50w is now 4.16 amps which is below what the RLU is looking for so removing it is the only way of solving the problem. As you've said, its not needed now anyway as you only have one filament.

What HID kit did you use? I'm pretty keen to do this on mine as well but cant find a decent kit over here.

[Christian Raith]

Steptoe make sure you get the 6000k..............maybe ring me first I will call you back

[Eveready1100]

Thanks for the tips on the links for the RLU removal. You've all saved me a fair bit of searching.
Regarding the levelling system, is that to adjust the aim of the headlight to compensate for extra vehicular load etc?? In my case that would be a bit of a push down on the headlight shell to get it pointed where needed. Didn't realise they were illegal, though. I'll keep that in mind.
Very good advice about the relay for any headlight update from Christian. In this case though, the kit came complete with harness with a relay incorporated in it so all power is fed direct from the battery, not through the too thin wiring in the standard harness.
     Here's my scenario and my reason behind getting the HID in the first place.
Currently my bike's used 95% of the time commuting to work. Winter is here. Day light time is short. I work 12 hr shifts 7 - 7. Dayshift means dark trip there, dark trip home. Nightshift is dark trip there. Work is 60 klms away. About 54 k's of that are back country highway with plenty of wildlife. I took out a medium sized roo 3 weeks ago after it blindsided me. Luckily that day, I was in my wifes car.(She not happy about me being on my bike now)
      Anyway to cut an epic length story a bit shorter, I decided to try to put her mind at rest a bit by putting in this light kit which seemed to calm her down somewhat. So in my view it's worth the change.


     

[Christian Raith]

They are illegal without the leveling system.

BUT as per the German's advice before I went there I have fitted the Philips Vision Plus globe and the difference is amazing, nice white light.

Also you should all be fitting a relay as close as possible to the headlight rather than run it through the bar switch.
I bought a relay called the Matchbox Relay and it sits inside the shell, very small.

http://www.culayer.com/Matchbox.htm

RLU......just wire it out with a couple of links

[melbxs]

HID

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Motorcycle-Bike-Bi-Xenon-HID-Slim-Kit-H4-Hi-Lo-6000K-/220614806644?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item335daacc74

RLU

Reserve Lighting Unit that is built into the XS.

The RLU seems to play havoc with the HID lights and has to be removed according to the people on XS11.com.

HID gives you much better lighting for the same or less power. Only problem is that it is sometimes so good that it can be a hazard to oncoming and as far as I know they are illegal unless they have a sophisticated road sensing system where it automatically controls dip.

[AussiXS11G]

WTF...............is HID and RLU?

[melbxs]

I thought these things were illegal unless they had auto dipping mechanisms etc?


This post might help....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22002

[Eveready1100]

Took the bike on its first run to work since fitting the HID conversion today. First couple of k's were fantastic. Low beam just swathed the road in a brilliant wash of light for about 40-50 metres in diameter around the front of the bike and high beam lit up the road like I had the driving lights on + the old high beam  .... from a light that consumes only 50 watts from the system. Awesome!
      Then I came over the crest of a hill towards a car, dipped the light, then the bike decided to select high beam again and the RLU light on the dash came on. Continued on for some way then pulled up, turned the lights off, switched on again on low beam and took off only to have it happen again a bit further up the road. One more switch off got it back to low again but immediately it selected high beam again but as I couldn't mess around for too long on my way to work, I just pushed the headlight down and rode the rest of the way in with the headlight just switching itself between low and high beam. The RLU light only comes on when it's on high beam though, Which has me a bit stymied as to why it would be switching back down after a while. My new plan is to disconnect the RLU and try that in case the lower wattage drain (new system runs off a relay) is upsetting the electrical balance somehow. Couldn't see that it's needed now anyway as the HID has only a single bulb thingie in it.

    Any one else had any experience with a HID light or just had the RFU play up??