Monster 696 HID retrofit......... My experiences and thoughts.

[Mozella]

SHOULD YOU TRY HID?
I live in Italy where drivers are known to be fast and aggressive, but at least they’re paying attention………. for the most part anyway.  HID lights seem to always get my attention, so in an effort to improve my road presence, I decided to replace the low beam of my 2009 Monster 696 headlamp with an HID burner in hopes that it might prevent someone (a tourist perhaps) from ruining my day.

The arguments for and against retrofitting HID bulbs inside reflector housing have been well argued on the Internet and you can come to your own conclusion.  Based on the split headlamp design of the 696 and availability of “R” type HID bulbs designed to be retrofitted into reflector housings, I decided to give HID a try.

SHOPPING
Prices are all over the place; however, it looks to my eye that many of the HID kits are identical to one another except for the packaging and/or identifying stickers.  I decided to ignore those serious warnings from some companies recommending that I buy their product while claiming that anything else is pure junk.  I selected a random company on the Italian version of EBay, mostly based on posting good photos of their product.  I could see that the digital ballast was the “slim” design and the connectors appeared to be the same high-quality waterproof parts found in many other kits, some costing three times as much. 

I suspect plenty of HID kits are made in the same Chinese factory and go out the door labeled with whatever brand and whatever price the wholesale distributor requests.  I also noticed that anything labeled “motorcycle” seemed to have a higher price tag, possibly because some of the kits designed for bikes have longer leads and/or lead extensions.  Longer leads might be an important factor for some motorcycles, but not the Monster 696.  More about this later.  Some would argue paying extra will result in a higher quality product, but in this case I don’t think so.

After some Internet searching, I could see that a kit intended for a car would fit my Monster 696.  Car kits cost roughly the same as most “motorcycle” kits, but the car versions contain exactly double the hardware.  I now have either a complete spare parts inventory, or an additional HID kit I can sell to another bike rider.

When my HID conversion kit arrived, I was pleased to see that the waterproof connectors were indeed well designed and featured high quality seals.  The wire insulation and grommets are made from that nice soft, high-temperature silicone rubber found on up-scale products.  There was nothing cheap looking about any of the components.  The instructions, of course, were the typical Chinese comedy routine. All-in-all, I couldn’t ask for a nicer looking box of parts.

INSTALLATION
This job isn’t rocket surgery, and what I have to say is NOT a complete tutorial, but I do have a few tips for those thinking about HID lighting for their Monster 696. 

Before doing anything I put my bike on two paddock stands, turned on the low beam lamp, and made some reference marks on the shop wall.  I recommend you do the same. Next, remove the headlamp assembly and detach all the wires as outlined in the Ducati shop manual.  But before you grab for your 10mm socket, stick your fingers in behind the headlamp housing between the headlamp access plate and the steering head.  Note the lack of clearance there.

When you put the headlight housing face down on a bench be sure to protect the plastic lens with a soft cloth or other padding.  Remove the Halogen bulb.  You’ll notice that the H7R HID bulb is a little bit longer than the factory Halogen bulb.  The upper half of the Monster 696 headlamp (where the low beam lives) has a little odd-shaped shield just in front of the bulb tip of the bulb.  You’ll have to poke your finger in and GENTLY AND CAREFULLY push the bulb shield forward a few centimeters.  This piece is NOT very robust and if you ruin it I can only guess how much you and your wallet will regret it, so be careful.  After I adjusted the shield, I made a careful measurement to be sure the HID bulb tip did not touch that shield.

Install the HID bulb and start looking for a place to drill the 23mm exit hole for the new wiring.  The headlamp access cover plate is the obvious choice but if you followed my previous advice you know there is simply not enough space to allow the new HID wires to exit the middle of the headlamp housing without rubbing pretty hard on the steering head each time you turn.  The only other available place where the exit grommet will fit is on the back of the Monster 696 headlamp housing itself.  See the flat spot a little to the left of the cover plate right where the identifying data is molded in?  As far as I can see, that’s your only viable choice.  Before you drill, stuff the inside of the housing with paper towels to prevent any small plastic pieces from getting inside the reflector.  I also stuffed some double-sided tape in there to trap as much trash as I could. 

After the headlight is re-mounted, start planning exactly where to put the ballast.  The Monster 696 is blessed with plenty of room just inside the big black plastic faring behind the steering head which houses the horn, among other things.  Figure out how best to mount everything and figure out how you’re going to run the wires in such a way so they won’t chafe with vibration or get pinched (or stretched) at full steering lock, left and right. 

My car kit had long enough wires, but not long enough to be too casual about component placement.  Expect to spend a few minutes finding the best position for everything.  Test the lamp before you button everything up.  When you’re done, the job should look completely OEM.

PERFORMANCE
My initial tests (without moving the bike off the paddock stands) show that my HID low beam has a cut-off which is at least as sharp as the factory Halogen bulb and maybe a tad sharper.  That is to say, not razor sharp like a true projector bulb, but to my eye the upper edge cut-off looked very good.  The aim point had not changed.  I could not detect any additional light scatter and certainly nothing as bad as the doom-sayers predict; i.e.  Fitting any kind of HID bulb into reflector-style housing turns your bike into what is essentially a death ray for oncoming drivers. 

The 5000K color temperature of the bulb I selected is plenty distinctive and very much whiter in color than the standard Halogen bulb.  The Halogen high beam looks quite yellow in comparison and I wouldn’t go any bluer with the color temperature unless you use your bike as a pimp-mobile.

Perhaps 696 owners contemplating an HID conversion will find my experiences valuable, even if they decide to stick with the stock headlamp bulb.

[rosstermyer]

ive been running a 3000k low beam kit on my 1100 for about 6 months now with similar results.  the light output is great!  ill try to get some pics...

[rideserotta]

How does the HID kit compare to the Xenon bulbs on eBay? Can you just swap the bulb and get a brighter, whiter light cast?

[Mozella]

How does the HID kit compare to the Xenon bulbs on eBay? Can you just swap the bulb and get a brighter, whiter light cast?

A quick Google search reveals THIS: http://reviews.ebay.com/quot-Xenon-quot-and-quot-HID-quot-and-quot-Plasma-quot-bulbs-the-truth_W0QQugidZ10000000001832221

[TAftonomos]

I was excited, until I saw you just swapped bulbs and slapped on a ballast.  Boo to you, and thanks for poluting the night sky with terrible glare and the look of a souped up honda civic missing a headlight.

Retrofit means you've retrofitted a proper HID projector into the housing.

Glad you are overseas, and I don't have to be blinded everytime you are headed in the opposite direction.

[rideserotta]

I was excited, until I saw you just swapped bulbs and slapped on a ballast.  Boo to you, and thanks for poluting the night sky with terrible glare and the look of a souped up honda civic missing a headlight.

Retrofit means you've retrofitted a proper HID projector into the housing.

Glad you are overseas, and I don't have to be blinded everytime you are headed in the opposite direction.

Ouch...

[TAftonomos]

Sorry, I'm passionate about this subject.  Perhaps I shouldn't have posted at all.

It was a VERY nice write up, and taking the time to do that was cool as hell.

I just don't agree with what you've done.

I apologize if I was a bit harsh.

[rosstermyer]

i realize just as you that the glare can be hazardous, but maybe you should rely on real FHE with the 696/1100 housing before you make an asshat comment like that. 

the glare is minimal if not no different than with a conventional halogen light IN THIS HOUSING.  how do i know this?  i have an 1100 in the garage with a reflector based HID kit installed.

 i realize that this is totally the opposite in 99% of other applications.  as long as a reflector based HID bulb is used which has a little bit of ceramic shielding on half the bulb the glare is cut down to a very minimal amount.  since you are passionate about the subject i wont bother posting what a d2r looks like cause im sure you already know.

[TAftonomos]

yeah...ok....

[Mozella]

...... snip............

Glad you are overseas, and I don't have to be blinded everytime you are headed in the opposite direction.

I'm not overseas.................... YOU'RE OVERSEAS !   

Furthermore, I'll be more than happy to go in the opposite direction from you.............. as fast and as far as possible.  [moto];Re

[stopintime]

...........
I apologize if I was a bit harsh.

Do you miss your Hasselhof?

 

[loopsrider]

I'm not overseas.................... YOU'RE OVERSEAS !  

Furthermore, I'll be more than happy to go in the opposite direction from you.............. as fast and as far as possible.  [moto];Re

Great response...

Do you not know?...amerikans think they are still the center of the earth... They have no idea...




Great write-up on the retrofit. Much appreciated...

[TAftonomos]

We ARE the center of the earth, everyone knows that!  

[jim_0068]

How many americans does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Just 1 holding the bulb as the world will revolve around them.

My favorite overseas american joke haha

[Povidius]

This is inspiration for my summer project:

http://www.1000rr.net/forums/showthread.php?t=60297

I always thought that was a 'proper' HID conversion.