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HID Lighting Supplier 2011 R1200RT

Hid

I installed a DDM Tuning kit in early December '12. My bulbs were 35W, 6K temperature. I love them! So much more brightness in front of the bike. For the money, it is absolutely the best farkle for the bike. No canbus issue at all. Install was easy and straight-forward. I put my ballasts in a recessed area of the mirror housing, using velcro strips.
 
I installed a DDM Tuning kit in early December '12. My bulbs were 35W, 6K temperature. I love them! So much more brightness in front of the bike. For the money, it is absolutely the best farkle for the bike. No canbus issue at all. Install was easy and straight-forward. I put my ballasts in a recessed area of the mirror housing, using velcro strips.

So the DDM 35W kit works on the canbus without an issue. You didn't use the BOW3 Error Code eliminator?. I e-mailed them and didn't get any answer.
 
I did the DDM Tuning route; $35 for two low bulb kits plus $15 for shipping. Kits had everything I needed and it was an easy install. Hardest part was making the holes in the dust cover for the wiring to pass through.

Work great; much better illumination and cheap. I got the 35W bulbs at 6K color and am very satisfied with them.
 
Installed a Sportiva HID kit on my 09 RT

I thought I would add to this thread, I have not seen too many posts on HID conversions I went with a SPORTIVA 35W low beam HID kit from "fortemotors" on EBay, they included some small metal brackets that I mounted to the top speaker grill bolt, installation was pretty straightforward, I went with 4300k bulbs, I was pretty happy with the test drive after install, I did not get flashed and light output and the pattern looks good. I'm pretty happy with the install and results.
-JT
 
Note to all interested in HID conversions:

After install and before buttoning back up set bike up with a wall in front of it and light them up. I found I had to "fiddle" the bulb seating a bit to eliminate flare and get back a more focused beam pattern.
 
I've used both the OneOffMotorsports and DDM Tuning kits on bikes with decent results- on an RT, a K-GT and an R1100S, for example.

There are folks who advertize on other BMW sites saying they have bike kits but when you get down to details their ballasts are too large and their wiring harnesses by far too large and clunky to fit on most bikes though they claim to. Most of these folks do a bigger business inb cage parts and that's the best way to ID them. Good folks that support motorcyclists but not accurate in their claims.

A point to remember is that stock HIDs on the market are 4100-4300K which is where highest light output is, and all are 35W ballasts. The 55W ballasts increase perceived output only a little bit (remember the inverse square rules for lighting) at the expense of decreased bulb life because the bulb is unchanged- I don't choose to use the 55W stuff.

Re color temps, higher color temp does not mean increased brightness- in fact it means exactly the opposite. Those 8K bulbs are dimmer by a bunch than 4300K stuff. It is true that bluer wavelengths reflect better off signs but sign reflectivity is almost never an issue as signs are the most reflective thing in most road environments. In fact, reflected glare from signs hurts night vision past the sign in many situations no matter how much light is coming off your bike due to the way the human eye reacts.
Bluer wavelengths also produce more glare from fog or rain than yellower wavelengths. For those reasons I still prefer halogens for my long range driving lights (FF50s running 65W Osrams)- though if I lived in a dry desert climate with few road signs I might prefer the HIDs or LEDs.

FWIW, my latest lighting escapades include converting my 89 Honda Transalp to an LED headlight (TruckLite, $200 approx, similar item also sold by GE, $280 approx). This replaces an H-2/H-4 5"X7" housing. A similar LED headlight is now also available for 5" round types. Both are fully reflective designs- meaning the LEDs point into a reflector rather than straight down the road through a lens- and should therefore remove the major fault of all other aftermarket LEDs, the intense glare of the central LED hot spot. It is worth noting that my experimental item is the only DOT approved LED headlight in existence for retrofit, AFAIK. Will have enough hours in few weeks to have an opinion on its relative effectiveness. It does light both high and low beam LEDs simultaneously and draws only 3.8A on high beam. No published lumen numbers I've seen yet but based on typical LED efficiencies, it should be better than a std H-4 bulb. (Note than on these older bikes, the electrical capacity is low so LEDs are a decent choice. my Transalp is rated at only 350W). The rest of the lighting conversion on this TA is a pair of Solstices SP120s (10W, 20 degree beam) on the protection bar though I'm debating changing them over to Rigid Dually.

Am also looking at the Rigid D2 6LED (3300 lumen) lamp for the central mount on an R1100S, replacing the microflooter there now.
 
By the time you are done with harness and capacitor and mounting brackets they are more like $64.00 each

I went with Yana-shiki 6K no purple, no blue! Bright & white. Been in for 2 years, Flawless and a 2 year warranty.

http://www.yanashiki.com/product_p/hidh7-6k.htm


All balllasts and bulbs are not created equal. The Yanashiki is what our local BMW dealer decided to stock.[/QUOTE

The Yanashiki conversion kit is more like $80 USD! Am not sure if is that much better than the DDM kit. Yet, there is so much to chose from, am not sure which to get?:dunno And only 6 months warranty... Is it all plug and play?
 
Looking for an HID Conversion kit for my R1200RT. I know that a lot of members have used the 1offmotorsports products, but they are no longer in business. What other vendors do you all suggest?

Thanks,

Chris

After a lot of investigation and recommendations from several others that used them I put a pair of Lumen Exports HID lights on my 2012 Camhead RT. Easy install and zero issues.

https://www.lumenexports.com/motorc...tml#/hid_color_choices-6000k/hid_bulb_size-h7

Doug
 
While any HID conversion will undoubtedly be superior to the halogen in brightness (lumens). The big issue is what does the light pattern look like. Both conversions (H11) I've tried in my R1200R just threw a blob of light down the road. Although it was bright, in reality couldn't see as well as with a slightly hotter than standard halogen.

So do people wink their hi beam at you when driving at night?
Does the light pattern have a sharp defined cut off line on the upper edge?
Does the low beam look oval, lighting the edges of the road?
 
While any HID conversion will undoubtedly be superior to the halogen in brightness (lumens). The big issue is what does the light pattern look like. Both conversions (H11) I've tried in my R1200R just threw a blob of light down the road. Although it was bright, in reality couldn't see as well as with a slightly hotter than standard halogen.

So do people wink their hi beam at you when driving at night?
Does the light pattern have a sharp defined cut off line on the upper edge?
Does the low beam look oval, lighting the edges of the road?

I can only comment on my experience with the Triumph Sprint and DDM
conversion kit: I lowered the lights, lower than the factory recommended
height, and for a season and a half had no issues! Now the RT is a different
beast, so am here to ask for advice from others experience!
 
I have the DDM's HIDS on my 2013 RT. I am not a hard core night rider. The only reason I have added or changed lighting on any of my bikes has been to increase my visibility. With the HID' many people have told me when riding in a group they can see and pick me out very easily. You really have to think hard about what your objective is before changing lights. From my limited times of riding at night I do think the stock setup performance is better. You must also take your age into consideration. **** ain't the same. Only true way to find what works for you is to play and waste some money.
 
HID Conversion '10 RT

I used a 6000 kit from Amazon.com to do my low beams and like them a lot. I also have a HiLo kit on my K75S. I added 2 HID driving lights to the K75S and switched them to my Hi beam. Works great. The objection to using HID on the RT may not be valid as the Low beam bulbs stay on when switching to Hi beam so you don't really notice the very brief warm up of the Hi beam HID. There are lots of deer here in PA , so can't have too much light at night.
 
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