[StAcK]

Picked up a couple "Speedmetal" HID kits from Cyclegear for my ST3. The ballast wont fire but when hooked up to straight 12v they work fine. I know other people have used other brands of HID ballast with success so why do these refuse to fire on this bike? Can-bus?

 

[Tmnstr]

Haven't installed a HID...yet But, another poster said they must be directly connected to the battery with a fuse in between. Not sure if your kit has a long lead with a fuse, but worth looking into.

Tmnstr


Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app

 

[ptourin]

They apparently have trouble firing when the voltage is low. Some of the threads on this forum mentioned trouble when you start your bike with the headlight not lighting - the starter pulls the voltage down and the ballast doesn't fire - so you have to turn off the bike, start it again and hope for better luck. The 2 solutions: a switch to turn off headlights when starting, or a relay to do the same automatically.

 

[StAcK]

They don't wire to the battery, the ballasts plugs into the existing H7 and H9 plugs. Won't work with bike running or otherwise. It's never easy.

 

[ptourin]

Do a test. Break the lead going to the headlight. Start the bike. Close the lead 9 or 10 times and see if the headlight lights every time. If it does, then the ballast isn't firing because of the voltage drop when the starter is engaged.

 

[KarlFitt]

They don't wire to the battery, the ballasts plugs into the existing H7 and H9 plugs. Won't work with bike running or otherwise. It's never easy.

While HID's use less power when running, the have a VERY large start up surge.
The stock wiring is not enough to get them to fire successfully evey time.
You need to run new wires (bigger) from the battery and have the stock harnes trigger a relay on those bigger wire to the HID Balasts.

The stock wire is too little for the stock Halogens, much too small for HID's

 

[DT996]

As mentioned my DukeDesmo and others, I just purchased this relay: Low Beam: H1/H3 - Relay Harnesses from The Retrofit Source Inc

and went the extra step and got this Euro switch for controlling when the lights come on:

RARE GENUINE DUCATI 996 BIPOSTO BIP LEFT SWITCHGEAR SWITCH GEAR *FREE UK POST* | eBay

Now just waiting for them to arrive, and to get some time to put them on for a much needed ride...

 

[Guest]

My Opinion

My opinion is that anything electrical from these store's suck.There are way better and up to date seller's that carry your Ducati's specific need's just saying,not knocking the store cause i do visit them on ocassion.Good luck.

 

[chitownson]

+1 on Cyclegear being a junk dealer. Return their crap and get your money back. I have DDM's HIDs plugged directly into the Duc's stock headlight wiring and they work great.

 

[Gearbox]

+1 on Cyclegear being a junk dealer. Return their crap and get your money back. I have DDM's HIDs plugged directly into the Duc's stock headlight wiring and they work great.

I have HID's on both also , direct into OEM harness and with 'Lights-On' and do not have any problem although it is best to wait a moment while the HID Ballasts draw their current and then , once they are lit , start the bike.

 

[Stick]

Inrush/Startup current is big on HID's. I measured somewhere around 18 or so Amps during the initial firing of one HID. It was large enough to fry one of my test leads to my cheapo DVM ! The test lead went open after a few cold-starts of the HID. And this was the typical 35W HID. MAke sure your wiring is good. I ran a separate line up to my own relays... Ducati harness lost 1V using the 55W halogens. My new harness was about 0.1V drop at 55W.