Burning Headlights

[04 250 Harley]

Hello,

I have an 04 250 and upgraded to HIDs a few months ago. The heat from the bulbs have burned the inside of my headlight enclosures and really can't hold in place anymore. Anybody have this problem? Is it common? I am going to change out the headlights to the 2005's and have an 05 harley grill also. Will this fit properly onto my truck? Any help will be greatly appreciated. I serached for the HID problem and couldn't find anything helpful.

Thanks,
Sumit D.

[caryt]

Before you do read:

The H13-9008 used in the '05 up trucks is quite possibly the stupidest design for a bulb ever foisted on the public. The terminals are so small that they overheat, even at stock wattages, and melt the plastic housing of the connectors. Higher than stock wattage bulbs are offered, but not recommended. There are Chinese connectors that are being used to make these kits and no harness will fix the problem of to small of terminals. As of now no USA made plugs are made that I have seen and wouldn't solve the problem anyway.

You have the best headlight housings made now and the addition of Hellas harness and a set of their 80/100w 4k kelvin bulbs will give you fantastic lighting.

You can also do a fog bulb upgrade..75% as bright as Hids and mod the switch to use them with your high beams.

H4, 9004 and 9007 bulbs are dual element lamp – both low and high beam. An HID capsule is a single element so you loose one of the beams – more often you loose the low. Notice also that the low beam has a shield next to it – an HID Capsule does not.



The light sources in any lamp must be precisely placed at the design focal point. The lens/reflector assembly is computer designed for the shape of the light source. You cannot retrofit a standard HID capsule with the H1, H3, H4, H7 or 9000 series mounting hardware and precisely position the light source because the design of the bulb base is not precise enough. A lamp designed for a D2S capsule has a precision machined capsule holder, not a stamped steel or molded plastic one.



The light source of an HID is a totally different shape than the light source of a filament bulb. The source for a halogen bulb is an axial filament with a length and a width. The source of a D2S, or D2R HID Capsule is a globular point. Want to see how precise a filament has to be placed? Take a look at the two filaments in an H4 bulb and see how close they are – that’s all the difference between a high beam and a low beam pattern. Now take a look at a 9004 or 9007 – the two filaments are right next to each other. The difference between a high and a low beam is fractions of a millimeter.



There are a number of fly-by-nights out there modifying the standard D2S HID Capsule to fit in some of the other bulb mounts, but those are dangerous to use in a DOT lamp. They put out 2½ times the light of a halogen bulb – but because of the DOT pattern, oncoming traffic is going to be dazzled by the extra light. That’s all fine and good if you don’t mind blinding oncoming traffic. Best case, everyone flashes at you – worst case, they swerve into your lane because they can’t see. Somewhere in between, a state trooper runs you down and makes you get your lights fixed – there goes your investment down-the-drain.



You may have seen Hella HID conversions kits on the internet. I spoke to Hella and asked them why I couldn’t handle them. They said they don’t make those kits. Some one is buying our ballasts and capsules, modifying the capsules and passing them off as a Hella products



Another problem you are going to have is the wavelength of the light output is a short wavelength – which means it dazzles and diffracts much more than the warmer, longer wavelength of a halogen source. One of the reasons gas discharge technology is only on high-end cars is that most are now going to a “self-leveling” system for the headlamps to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic in acceleration situations and when cresting a hill. You won’t have this and the risk that you will dazzle oncoming traffic is enhanced because you don’t. Hold your breath the first time you dazzle an oncoming state trooper and you can’t dip you running light.

[losfinch]

I'm not sure about Hellas harness but my GOS upgraded harness had melted sockets from the Hella 80/100s after about 1.5 years. I had to replace the bulb sockets on their upgrade kit with ones from Napa...we'll see how long they take the extra wattage.

[04 250 Harley]

WOW ... sliiightly overloaded lol. I'm sorry but im a bit of a newb with some of this. In short, is there any headlamps that can handle the heat of the HIDs? My harnesses are just fine .... What are my options?! lol

[caryt]

Harness I talked about won't melt..USA made all12ga.

[losfinch]

Originally Posted by caryt

Harness I talked about won't melt..USA made all12ga.

Yeah, the GOS harness is 12ga as well but both sockets starting to melt where the wires plugged into the back of them and started to make bad connections...my lights were just turning on and off at will for a while until I found the problem. I imagine the Hella sockets are heavier duty?

[short_stuff]

WOW, CaryT ! That is the best writeup I've ever seen regarding headlight upgrades/replacements, etc. It really explains a lot when I see these idiots around here blinding you with a bluish-white light beaming from where their headlights should be. That writeup should be required reading for every headlamp upgrade kit out there, so that people understand what they are getting with regards to the upgrade. Thanks.

short_stuff

[caryt]

Originally Posted by losfinch

Yeah, the GOS harness is 12ga as well but both sockets starting to melt where the wires plugged into the back of them and started to make bad connections...my lights were just turning on and off at will for a while until I found the problem. I imagine the Hella sockets are heavier duty?

Hand Made in USA! One thing when using the 80/100w bulbs is do not use a diode to run high and low beams together..will fail!

[losfinch]

Originally Posted by caryt

Hand Made in USA! One thing when using the 80/100w bulbs is do not use a diode to run high and low beams together..will fail!

Yep, never used the diode on them. Thanks.