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Light's need upgrading

133K views 215 replies 62 participants last post by  RRacer 
#1 ·
Has anyone looked in to converting or changing out the headlights? Riding in the carpool lane and pushing a little, need much more depth without turning on the high beams.

I'm going to check the 899 forum and I'm doing my first service Saturday, thus planning on asking the dealer for suggestions.
 
#2 ·
I bought a couple of "Philips - Diamond Vision H11 Halogen HID Super White 5000K" bulbs off Amazon. It was $47.31 for 2. However, I'm debating whether to put them on or send them back. People seem to have mixed responses whether something like this would actually give you better visibility or not. So, I'm really curious what you find out from other people also.
 
#25 ·
pictures of my Diamond Vision H11 Halogen HID Super White 5000K

FWIW, I attached a few pictures. The low beams are replaced with:

Diamond Vision H11 Halogen HID Super White 5000K (Pair)

The high beams are still stock. Of course, low beams would be the ones on the outsides in the pictures and high beams on the insides. This was the best I could do for the pictures. Sorry if it doesn't really show the difference. The Super White ones are definitely whiter than stock. BTW, I paid around $45 on amazon for each pair. I bought 2 pairs so I'd have a replacement set and/or enough to switch out the brights also...
 

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#37 ·
FWIW, I attached a few pictures. The low beams are replaced with:

Diamond Vision H11 Halogen HID Super White 5000K (Pair)

The high beams are still stock. Of course, low beams would be the ones on the outsides in the pictures and high beams on the insides. This was the best I could do for the pictures. Sorry if it doesn't really show the difference. The Super White ones are definitely whiter than stock. BTW, I paid around $45 on amazon for each pair. I bought 2 pairs so I'd have a replacement set and/or enough to switch out the brights also...
Just bought a pair tonight to try out. To install, did you just pop open that cover behind the headlights on each side?
 
#26 ·
They look good, I like the color temp; I just figured, $30 hid kit for more lumens or $45+ halogens. It can be a pain hiding the ballasts on a bike but enough people have done it on predecessor models that tutorials are abundant and indepth.
 
#27 ·
Finally gave in and ordered some PIAA extra white plus bulbs. Spoke to a guy at PIAA and he told me they put out twice the output of a 55w bulb without drawing any extra power. $78 shipped and I'll have them next week. Hoping they do the trick because riding at night is awful with the stock halogens.
 
#30 ·
Ordered my PIAA H11
Will advise on installation concerns , which I don't foresee, for low beams.
The HID option of splicing factory wiring harnesses and hiding modules doesn't appeal to me with this bike. I want as little disruption of the factory settings as possible. The PIAA appear to have same voltage draw on system as OEM and significantly greater lumens and a 4000k color temp. What the ****....can't be worse than OE?
 
#39 ·
Side fairings removed.

Mirrors removed.

Nose fairing removal in progress...


This is not particularly fun so I wouldn't advise it for most. There's A LOT of **** attached to that nose fairing lol
 
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#40 ·
Nose fairing off.

Headlight 90% free. The wiring harness is zip tied to it in multiple places sofor my purposes, full removal is not necessary.

I am going to walmart now to purchase two sets of SilverStar Ultra bulbs. I've got all this **** off so you better believe I'm doing high beams now too.

Yes, the headlight has to be pulled at least this much to access your high beams.

There is NO clean way to mount 4 sets of ballasts. NO chance lol.

There MAY be a decent way of mounting just the low beam set but there will be a lot of bulging trim pieces.

Do yourself a favor and save this forum's bandwidth; don't get HIDs lol

Picture requests need to be soon or it will be reassembled by tonight.

It has taken about two hours to get to this level of disassembly.
 
#41 ·
If you have to pick, wouldn't you do the low beams instead of the high beams? Then for the high beams just get some brighter bulbs? 99% of the time you're going to have your low beams on, correct?
 
#43 ·
Just finished my HID install last night on my low beams. Going to keep the high beams stock for a few reasons (difficulty to install, not blinding people on the road, our headlight housing lacks projectors which give the HID's more of a lantern effect than a spotlight, and i never use my high beams)

On to the install, I used a Kensun kit with 8000k temp for the color.



which unfortunately uses these double massive ballasts



On the left side fairing there is a plastic plate underneath it (directly behind where the 959 Panigale decal is) that you can use some 3M double sided tape to attach the ballasts that will still give plenty of room without it touching the fairing. On the right side the radiator fluid reservoir sits in this exact location so it will not work. I ran the wiring down the backside of the radiator hosing with zip ties so that it wouldn't block any airflow and mounted the large flat ballast low on the bike but this spot is fair from Ideal and I'm sure people will find a better spot.

Here is the completed photos, the light is much brighter but not as directed (lack of projectors)



 
#45 ·
Here is a comparison photo from the stock halogen to the HID that shows the difference between the two a little bit better without totally blinding the camera with light. I think the last two photos look much brighter as they were taken in the evening.

 
#47 ·
On the left side fairing there is a plastic plate underneath it (directly behind where the 959 Panigale decal is) that you can use some 3M double sided tape to attach the ballasts that will still give plenty of room without it touching the fairing. On the right side the radiator fluid reservoir sits in this exact location so it will not work. I ran the wiring down the backside of the radiator hosing with zip ties so that it wouldn't block any airflow and mounted the large flat ballast low on the bike but this spot is fair from Ideal and I'm sure people will find a better spot.
And now I present the worlds shittiest diagrams because I didn't take pictures



 
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