After much searching and deliberating I ordered and installed a DDM tuning 6000k 35W HID kit for my KLX Motorbike.


I went overboard with my purchase and ordered the vehicle kit with Hi/Low option. I ordered the cager's kit for the extra bulb and ballast. This way if I had an issue I would be my own warranty division. After getting the kit I realized the auto kit has 2 relays mounted to each other. not a huge deal to me since I did end up using the extra ballast quickly.

I ordered the High beam/Low beam kit because I believe high beams are important. The flashing of lights has been important throughout human history. The higher light pattern can serve functionally to stun animals and increase visibility. This option was $20 US extra. Another added bonus to using a High/Low beam kit is you use battery power instead of headlight wiring for power. The headlight wires now merely serve as signal to the relay. I also ordered the Hi/Low kit because DDM's electromagnetic system for the High beam is interesting.

Went with the DDM because they appear to be the only company selling HID's with a reputation. They may have a bad reputation with some, but at least there is a form of accountability. If it went badly I could slander them on bimmer forums and youtube and shut a few sales down.

They took exactly 2 weeks to come from China from date of order. I tracked the package using ems-tracking. I installed the kit the night I found them in the mail box.


I went overboard on install, using a special silicon tape, dielectric paste, and 3M super 33 electrical tape to protect connections.

I burned a ballast in 2 days- probably due to starting the bike while the headlight was on. This really irked me to ride light-less at 5 am to work.

DDM has a 7 day from arrival warranty. They should be covering all shipping costs and sending me a new ballast once they receive my burned one.

To prevent the burning of future ballasts I installed a switch I had laying around for a couple years in an unused turn signal bracket. The look is clean and the switch is heavy duty so I could use it for voltage. Having the switch close to the controls is good as I did ponder other mounting locations.


The light output is awesome. People across the street at intersections, in the day, stare at me more than usual. This is great news for anyone riding on the street- people can see you! My green leather vintage Kawi helped but this headlight does more work than a white helmet and bright shirt- which I'm sure lots of us have tried in vain.

During the day I can see a little blue on the street signs from me, If i flip on the high beam I can confirm its me, not just a blue coincidence.

I pointed me headlight down by adjusting the lower bolt and not the fine tuning screw before I even installed the kit because I knew it would be three times brighter than stock.


Do over? Yes

If I were to do the install all over again I would source my HID kit locally with someone who has an in house warranty. I have 3 options near me- The Kawi Dealer, Cycle Gear and an HID salesman who has a shop. However, I am very satisfied with the quality of my kit and light quality.

If sourced locally I would get a motorcycle HID kit, unless the auto kit had seperate relays- then I would get the auto again. This way I can reuse the kit in a car and/or have a better chance of reselling the kit if I no longer had the bike or got excessively pulled over.

If I did not burn out a ballast on the second day I would feel confident in ordering the motorcycle HID kit from DDM.

I also would order a 4000k or 5000k kit instead of the 6000k as it is too blue in my opinion for off road. The color and quality do stunt, many are wowed by the results over stock and over all appearance.

I also would run only 2 wires to the relay. The ground wire is unnecessary when using a relay for power.

I would still over build my install using lots of 3M special tapes, zip ties and dielectric grease.

I may purchase a 55 watt ballast to wash out some of the blue color and increase light output. I may purchase a 4000k bulb to get whiter light as well, but honestly I do not go offroad at night presently and chicks dig the blue- come on!

edit: I have seen people use a module to delay the headlight power a few seconds from key turn. This module's function is to save HID's during bike start. To save 60 dollars plus shipping I can push a switch. Plus I have more buttons, buttons=options. Options=ability to surprise your friends on rides.
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About the pictures:

Light in the garage at night

Color at day time- I love having a crisp colored lamp instead of dinge yellow.


3 Garage pics showing light output, pictures taken without flash:

1. Bike+wall+residual light.

2. My roommates harley being illuminated by residual light- notice the garage door behind the harley being illuminated. This door is 180 degrees behind the klx.

3. Actual picture of the garage with the HID Off. As you can see there was no background lighting.

 

I have the 35 watt kit on my 2012...love it....55 may be too much

 

I ordered a kit from Amazon since I wanted to make sure if I had an issue that I could easily return it. The company in general has a good rep as well.

It did not work out as the ballast on them was too large to make a practical fit. I did not want to start cutting wires to make things work so I sent it back.

I decided not to get HID now. The only reason is that like you I ordered a set of two. I felt that if I were away from home and the light went out I wanted to have a bulb and ballast on the bike to swap it out. Well that is impractical too.

I decided to upgrade my Halogen with the best bulb I could get and now I am going to get a modulator as I think changing light is a good thing as well.

I am also going to get driving lights. I want to have a set of lights as a back up in case a bulb burns out. Changing a Halogen is not bad but doing it on the road at night and perhaps in bad weather is not optimal. A set of back up driving lights makes sense to me.

P.S. The HID I ordered was a 4300 kit. That puts out the most light and for me is easier on the brain.

 

What temperature bulb did you go with? 35W at the right temperature should be fine for me. I shall have to compare the cost difference of 1 hi/low bulb vs 1 ballast. I know I can order a ballast, unsure of 1 bulb though.
$35 for a high/low bulb pair
$22.50 for a 55W Ballast
+ 13 Shipping

 

I couldn't find a company I liked on amazon. Which company was it?
I could not justify the shipping cost either in event of return.

See the attached picture to see where I mounted my ballast. I paid $4 extra for the mounting kit and was able to mount it on 1 bolt. The wires harnesses are on the opposite side of the bolt and somewhat flow with stock.



I paid $10 extra for slim ballasts. It is a motorcycle after all.

On the bulb burn out subject: I have talked to a few guys with HID on their bike and bulbs tend to last at least a year or longer, bulbs out last ballasts usually. I found that strange until my ballast burned.

Since my harness is not cut If i need to revert back to my stock H4 bulb it will not be any more difficult than swapping H4 for H4.

For bulb safety I have the harness taped up at the plugs. I cut lines in the stock boot to fit over the bulky high beam mechanism and used the self adhering electrical tape at the end of the bulb where there is a seam in the bulb plastics and screws to protect from moisture and dust.

In regards to driving lights,
I found some great deals on advrider. LED lights putting out around 1300 lumens, a pair for less than 300.

I may do these using the stock turn signal port up front. My state is very mellow on motorcycle street legality. If you have a plate you're pretty much good over here.

Someone on craigs is selling LED lights around 1000 lumens for $80 near me too.

If you plan on spending more than 150 per light I recommend visionX. Nasa has used them. Good enough for space, good enough for me.

edit: In regards to halogen. One of the reasons I got HID is also the power savings. About 3.1ish (says DDM) Amperage draw while running the 35W ballast is less than stock low beam 55w/12v (ohms law) = 4.58A. Stock High beam @ 60W = 5A. Stock high beam isnt much more power over low beam but the stock Phillips Japan bulb uses a rear filament with no shield so you get maximum reflectivity.

The HID high beam retracts the bulb rearward for more reflectivity, not really maximum as it it still shielded some what.

These Halogen upgrades are pretty harsh at 80W or 100W 80W/12V= 6.666 Amps, 100W/12V= 8.333 Amps

 

I have several kits from DDMTuning and all have been excellent quality. I'm going to order a 35W kit single-element one for my KLX in the next week or so ($25). I plan to install a set of Twisted Throttle's Denali LED aux lights and will wire them to the high beam switch.

Rob

 

@Rob

I checked out the video on twisted throttles site at: Denali D1 LED Lighting 2-Light Kit with Full Wiring Harness and M10 Mount - TT-D1.KIT : TwistedThrottle.com

He has a good set up. Normal Lows, HID high and led aux euro beams. I was thinking about getting a D-tracker headlight since they have 2 bulbs but I could not find one anywhere. For saving 40 on my kit and selling my old headlight for anything would have buffered plenty of cost I think this is another good hindsight idea.

Alot of people are concerned about scattered light- I also thought of retrofitting a brand name german fog light in the housing as is very popular for tuners. This didn't seem very feasible for our glass headlight though.

I haven't had been flashed by anyone on the road so far, not even with the high beam on.

In about the same price range heres some highly similar visionX I would consider:

2 Light Solstice Solo LED Motorcycle Lighting System Complete with Harness and Switch- 45°/15º Elliptical Beam

Moto kit for $268. .75A draw. 820 lumens. I wouldn't assume they are dimmer than TT's 900lm claims, but rather ANSI rated being visionX is a government used company.
Also dimmable with a little module.

Led lights are amazing. I will bite that bullet eventually but I've got a few thousand lumens to keep me occupied for the mean time.

Let me know how your install goes. Curious to see the mounting.

I have these extra reflectors which came removed from the bike- maybe these could serve as mounts? just a thought.

One thing to note about my light system is that I run all lower than stock amperages all the way around. This frees up juice for more lights or farkle like heated options for next winter. Plus my battery is going to be good to me for a long time.

The headlight switch is really handy I should've done it a long time ago.

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Pictures:
1. Ambient parking lot
2. HID. Notice roof and disabled sign.
3. Low beam. Notice the electrical box in the background vs ambience.

 

i went with 6k...I would suggest the 5k, 35 watt kit...brightest, and whiter light than mine....best 30 bucks i ever spent if you dont care about a highbeam, get the 35 watt single filament kit for $25

 

I have 4300k on my car. anything above 5k starts to actually lose useable light output and gets a bluish hue to it. 4300k 55w or 5000k 35w have the "whitest and brightest" output IMO

 

i would stick with 35 watt. 55 may be too much.