HID Headlights

[b1k3rdude]

I mean, who would have thought that companies like Phillips and Osram wouldn't know how to make a H4 bulb properly?

They don't make H4 kits, genuine Phillips/Osram HID kits are for projection headlights only. Any HID H4 kit that says its a phillips is only referring to the glass bulb, and that assuming its even a genuine philllips/osram in the first place.

Its OK, I was able to find the correct position for my self. Google H4 specifications and look at some of the figures that come up. The key figure is 28.5 mm from the base and it seems that my bulb is OK. Phew, what a relief.

Your being a tad simplistic, if it was that simple then we would all be running them.

So lets take at the HID bulb in the picture, which is just like all telescopic H4 HID kits available -

• did you measure to the center of the arc, from the base of the H4 plate? as most will be out a few mm, but can the same be said for Hi beam?
  
• is there lateral free-play in yours (as in vertical movement where gravity will be pulling the bulb mech downward, mean it out of alignment). And because the bulb is flapping about while the bike is moving you get additional dazzling of other road users.
  
• all telescopic hid kits that I have seen have two shrouds/baffles, an inner and outer. The position of the inner is almost always inaccurate and either allows some spillage on dip and/or obscured on Hi.
  
• The hole in the outer baffle (again on all kits I have seen) dosent allow enough light out so you don't get all the light being exposed to the reflector.
  
• And the solenoid mech used in all kits I have seen is very cheap and chearfull to the point that when Hi beam has been on for a while the whole back of the bulb overheats, because its essentially just shy of being a short circuit.
  
• A lot of the telescopic kits are so poorly manufactured that the bulbs dosent stayed screwed into the baseplate assy and/or arent sealed so water/condensation can ingress into the headlight unit.
  
• And keeping on the subject of cheap and cheerful, most of these kits don't last anywhere near as long as stated, either the bloody bulbs or the ballasts go.
  

There are direct LED replacement H4 bulbs out there, but this example is tad too pricey - http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/cree-led-he...dlight-kit