HID's for my Scooter.

[phildough]

As some of you may know I have a Peugeot Speedfight 100 cc 2 stroke scooter.

My only major complaint against it it its head lights.
I have been reading about everyone else fitting HID's and am thinking about fitting a pair to my scooter.

It has one light for low and one for high.
It is fitted with 12V 35W/35W H4 bulbs, but the way they are wired is rather odd.
The way its done means only the high beam filament is used on both sides, one as low beam the other high.
I also can push the switch and both sides will come on for as long as im holding the button in.
I can't put brighter 65W H4 Xenons in as the poor little battery wiring and generator are not built for it.
The lenses are also plastic and probably wont handle the heat.


Low beam appears to be a projector type setup with a rather distinct pattern.
Its an unusual pattern that kinda looks like a skull and has a straight line in front of the bike but needs to be MUCH brighter.
High beam is a reflector and has quite a good beam and I have aimed it down so I can see better but I have been told there is a lot of scatter because my GF told me its really annoying when im following her with high beams on.

What I want to know is should I just fit the low beam H4 motorbike HID kit off ebay and rewire it so its the high beam being used and continue using the existing high beam bulb.
Or get a pair of H4 car HID's and rewire the bulbs so that the high beam is being used on both, or get H3 ballasts and wire them to the H4 bulbs on high beam as I dont need the low beam side of the ballast.
I dont think I could get away with a single H4 ballast as then I want to be able to push the both at once button.

Ideas from others here with more HID experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Phil

Some pics of my little toy

[chicaboo]

35W lowbeam HIDs will be enough. If H4 is the separate highbeam [I can never remember this], don't get HIDs for the high beam alone, as they take too long to warm up, and you will be greated by a weak fluttering dim greenish light when you flash your highbeams. If H4 is the combined low/highbeam, then HIDs it is for both, as the highbeam is the result of the bulb tilting or being drawn back. Changing to HIDs will take a substantial load off your electrics in any case.

Is there any chance you can get the wiring fixed so that both headlights run simultaneously? Sounds like the button you mentioned just needs to be hardwired for that, or changed to a toggle switch. And with the HIDs, power shouldn't be a problem.

[phildough]

I dont think the electrics are enough to run both lights for a long period of time otherwise I would.

The way the lights are currently wired the low beam filament is not used in each bulb.

[chicaboo]

An Auto-electrician would know if the HIDs running in dual mode would be too much. If it is too much at idle, it might still be OK at cruise?

[marcs_sp20]

It sounds like the lights are wired just like a normal H4 headlight, you basically have to hold the stalk in for both High & Low beams to come on..

So why not just run a single H3 HID in the projector and just upgrade the highbeam bulb to say 55w?

[phildough]

I dont think a H3 bulb will fit in a H4 socket,
they surely would be of a different diameter and have different lengths so it would screw with the focal point of the lens
I have thought about upgrading bulbs.
Thing is this is a bike not a car and runs a weak generator instead of an alternator.
I have spoken to a few people and they have all agreed that the bikes generator isn't enough to run the extra load of bigger bulbs.
So I think I will just go for a motorbike H4 HID kit to start with and hope it likes only being run in high beam mode.

Something like this kit
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HID-Bi-Xenon-...#ht_3537wt_939

[DaBomb]

i set up a hid 35w hid single on my 150cc registered minibike, it would run, but after a while the current demand of the ballasts would become to great and they hid system would fail.

[mikey_something]

that would be the ballast protecting the bulbs i believe.
but thats an interesting consideration for you phil

[phildough]

I think your right there about the ballast.
I believe they have a low voltage protection circuit.
But as my scooter already uses 35W bulbs I should be OK using a 35W HID

[chicaboo]

The Pug will have a MUCH better stator and commutator on it to generate enough power for the HID[s].

Gav.

[DaBomb]

Originally Posted by phildough

I think your right there about the ballast.
I believe they have a low voltage protection circuit.
But as my scooter already uses 35W bulbs I should be OK using a 35W HID

ahh my mini bike had a 35w globe too.

it will still fail after time, these ballasts are like a electric motor on start up.
they draw 3-4 the rated current on start up and the start up time can last up to 30 seconds for the current to stabilize.

Ive measured the voltage and current while running and it was actually using 50-60watts, the 35watt rating given from factory is wrong.

It all depends on the size of your battery, regulator current rating and how your stator is wound.

[DaBomb]

Originally Posted by chicaboo

The Pug will have a MUCH better stator and commutator on it to generate enough power for the HID[s].

Gav.

the pug wont have a commutator or brushes in its alternator circuit, it will use a fixed magnet attached to the crankshaft/flywheel that cuts a stationary stator winding or vice versa to generate electricity.

[chicaboo]

That's much fancier than my Honda CN250 was.

[Clean_Cookie]

i believe the 35W rating is the BULB draw. if the ballasts were 100% eficcient (I WISH!) then 35W would be percievable. but like "daBomb" stated, current draw is infact quite a bit higher. i was going to guess 50W but take it from someonw whos measured it!