2009 Monster 696 Xenon headlight bulbs

[alibaba]

I don't do much night riding but for day time visibility I am considering switching to Xenon headlight bulbs.  I think those are the ones that give the bright 'blue' light?  Will this increase daytime visibility? 
I assume there will be a greater demand on my electrical system and with my history of dead batteries and battery failure - will the charging system handle this additional load? 

The parts manual indicates that the stock bulbs (H1 & H7) are both 12V-55W which seems strange to have identical wattage.  Perhaps I could purchase a Xenon Hi beam H1 only and just 'flash' it in dangerous situations so I would be running on the stock low beam most of the time?  Any thoughts? 

[He Man]

Theres a boat load of information contain HID lights all across the internet. I suggest you do some research about it and decide for yourself.

But to high light some main points youll want to read up on...

1- without a projecter the light can blind oncoming drivers and cause a serious road hazard
2- both hi and low are usually very close in wattage, a high beam is only a high beam because it aims much higher so it can see further
2- HID systems if properly built consume less wattage due to the high voltage that the ballast maintains to power the system.

If your charging system is not able to handle a stock load, theres something wrong with your bike. Get that fixed before you dump money on a HID system.

Taft is building a monobucket HID system...and the other guy in law school ( i forgot your name dude) installed an aftermarket lamp. Both look pretty sweet.

[Raux]

the 696 isn't just a normal bucket type light. it has dual reflectors and a complicated design. most HIDs i've seen online have longer lamps that may have clearance issues and definitely will throw a different light pattern. you would have to find an HID that not only fits the socket but also is the same dimension lamp as the stock. if i remember right there is pleny of power available on the 696 as well so no issue there.

I was running Sylvania Silverstars. worked great and saw well enough for triple digits at night.

[He Man]

I was running Sylvania Silverstars. worked great and saw well enough for triple digits at night.

im going to get a nightvision mod for my helmet now that you mention triple digit night runs.

[DucatiTorrey]

so after hearing a lot of stuff about how silverstar headlights take light away and aren't as bright as stock, or un-tinted lights, i decided to email them, and see what they say about the issue. this is what they said
-----------------------------------
Hi Jim,
The tint we use on the glass for the Ultra products does not compromise the light output it increases the color temperature which determines how bright and white the light being emitted is; the higher the color temperature the brighter the light will be.  It is the gas mixture, color temperature and filament design that will make a difference in the product's performance. Color temperature plays a role in how the human eye perceives brightness (luminance) and will vary by product line.  Luminance is the amount of usable light coming from the lamp and is directly affected by the color temperature and filament size of the lamp.  Listed below are the different color temperatures of all of our upgrades available.



Standard halogen - 3100K

XtraVision - 3200K

CoolBlue - 3500K

SilverStar - 4000K

SilverStar ULTRA - 4100K


Jesse Alexander
Customer Service
OSRAM Sylvania
Automotive Lighting
(800) 347-3420

------------------------------
kind of interesting, i;m not smart enough to decipher if this is true or if it's marketing BS, but at least I got their input.

[He Man]

that stuff is all true as far as i know.


Your eyes are more sensitve to white/amberish light than it is to other colors. I assume its because our star gives of that type of light and we just evolved to see it best.

[alibaba]

Per my original post I was seeking to gain more visibility for safety.  I eventually purchased on eBay a pair of Xenon bulbs.  As I recall they were searched under Ducati Monster parts and the packaging was specific to Ducati.  I am very pleased with them and friends tell me my bike is now much more noticeable during daylight hours.

FWIW

[Bizzarrini]

If two bulbs emit the same spectrum of light, and one is subsequently filtered to only let say 3500K pass, how can that bulb be brighter than the other one? You're only removing wavelengths from the spectrum, not adding to the wavelengths the eye is more sensitive to. Possibly it has to do with contrast instead of shear sensitivity?

[Slide Panda]

The stuff from Osram is true - it's the ebay tinted ones that a the problems. Bulbs like that just use a colored coating to make the light look whiter, more blue, purple etc - at the expense of filtering out a good bit of the spectrum that's visible to humans. Incandescent bulbs are always going to be a warmer like value, as opposed to true HID which don't use a metal element to produce light. Read HID expose an inert gas (xenon) to a high voltage arc. The arc excites the molecules and causes them to give off light - the blue look when you look at a HID lamp is actually due to that high voltage arc, not the light emitted.

There's some good info here
http://danielsternlighting.com/
- as well as various bulbs to give more light

[DucatiTorrey]

The stuff from Osram is true - it's the ebay tinted ones that a the problems. Bulbs like that just use a colored coating to make the light look whiter, more blue, purple etc - at the expense of filtering out a good bit of the spectrum that's visible to humans. Incandescent bulbs are always going to be a warmer like value, as opposed to true HID which don't use a metal element to produce light. Read HID expose an inert gas (xenon) to a high voltage arc. The arc excites the molecules and causes them to give off light - the blue look when you look at a HID lamp is actually due to that high voltage arc, not the light emitted.

There's some good info here
http://danielsternlighting.com/
- as well as various bulbs to give more light

yeah I emailed that guy a few weeks ago, he is intense, won't be buying anything from him

[Slide Panda]

How do they correlate? What's buying a light bulb have to do with his intensity?

[DucatiTorrey]

he just came across as a jerk. I honestly wanted to hear his side of the headlight debate, and he assumed i was some squid looking for "cool" headlights. very brash, if thats the right word.

[Slide Panda]

Oh well... too bad he lost himself a customer.

[DucatiTorrey]

yeah guess so. So, just to be sure, the 696 takes an H1 and an H7 correct? anyone know where you can get the silverstar ultras in singles?

[Raux]

yeah guess so. So, just to be sure, the 696 takes an H1 and an H7 correct? anyone know where you can get the silverstar ultras in singles?

cheapskake
by a pair and ask if anyone wants the other