HID versus LED headlights

[BoilerAnimal]

Blueknight 911 raised the question of radio reception after installing LED headlights. I have had the same experience with my Spyder as well. I like the brighter light from the LED's but not the loss of radio reception.

So, my question is, what has been your experience with HID headlights? Do you like them? Was the installation easy or hard? What brand did you use or recommend? Why?

Thanks, Bob.

 

[ARtraveler]

HID very expensive in 2008. $1,500 PLUS install. Very, very bright. A couple people tried to run me off the road. That's how much THEY did not like them. And...they were focused properly.

 

[pegasus1300]

After your road experience did you keep the HID's? Who has these and has the price come down any?

 

[ARtraveler]

After your road experience did you keep the HID's? Who has these and has the price come down any?

I left them in but pretty much always drove on low beams--I usually run high beams in the day time with my current LED's.

Those $1,500 lights were a BRP accessory. The accessories were few and far between for 08 and 09 and they were very pricey for the "new" :spyder2:'s. I bought most of my stuff from BRP because that was all they had. I did have some "Corbin" stuff on those. Fairing, Seat, Travel trunk, and Fender/license plate light on the 08. Handlebar risers made by the dealer--those were a test and never kicked in. Bought the "GIVI" (BRP) saddle bags--even I balked at the $1500 for the Corbins--although they looked much better. Ended up with about $6K in farkles on both the 08 and 09.

Our "farkelized" 08 and 09. I don't farkle any where near that level these days. They look pretty--but you lose your shirt on resale or trade.

 

[stevencovert]

From an engineering perspective

The HID controllers put out a LOT of high freq noise. This can interfere with just about anything - CanBus communications, radio, CB, etc. Many people across the forums have taken them out. LED's on the other hand just have big resistors in series. The LED's don't emit any electrical radiation to cause noise.

General LED strip lighting FYI: Some people reported problems with the computer, where disconnecting extra LED strips fixed it. Said it interferes with the CanBus. What (IMHO) happens is the computer monitors the current used by say the brake lights. If an LED strip has an LED going out that causes enough current to be drawn, the computer will flag it and the bike goes into limp mode or throws codes. THis is very rare to happen though. Modern LED strips from our sponsors have never been a problem in my 6 years across three Spyders - all of them had ALL the LED's

Now the above should apply to the headlights - I think they are monitored to throw a code is one burns out (no current) or draws too much. I haven't seen enough info yet, just assume everything gets monitored! This means get your LED kit from one of our sponsors! Their kits have been in the field for a long time and have data to show they don't fail - or is extremely rare.

Steve

 

[ThreeWheels]

I've had both HIDs and LEDs.
I prefer LEDs.
Simpler install and less electronic interference.

 

[PMK]

I know of two later model 1330 powered RT series with the high end Can Am / BRP accesory HID headlights, ours is one, and another guy on here.

Yes they are expensive.

When purchased, high power LED headlights were not available.

The Can Am HID setup is all based on high end automotive oem HID headlights. I had purchased the popular brand HIDs before buying the Can Am HIDs. Pretty much opposite ends of the quality spectrum, and price spectrum.

The install I did was accomplished by hand building stainless parts since these were not designed for the later years. That said though, the difference is mounting of the ballast, the rest is plug and play.

Cost was steep, as the kit is not simply light bulbs and electronics, for the expense, the kit includes two complete headlight assemblies, built and ready to slide in.

Yes they are incredible lights, but have been discontinued for a few years now.

I also have high power LEDs and have ridden with those also. Our LEDs were high quality, and not from any of the vendors here. Actually, ours were run before Lamonster even offered LED setups and at the time Tricled was at about 60% of the output I installed.

The units installed are fan cooled, and the same LEDs were installed into tne fog lights.

As time permits, and I have never noticed a radio reception problem from any of our lights, I will, or may test the setup to ensure we have no reception loss from either HIDs, or LEDs.

Planning to swap the antenna very soon from hidden to dual as all the parts are now in hand. Should provide an oppertunity to research what our machine does or does not do.

 

[larryd]

My experiense

I have also had both...And I like my HID's better...They shine down the road way further than the LED's...But for the closer light they are about the same...

I have a 2018 Honda Ridgeline with factory LED low beam headlights that work great...and 65 W. halogen high beams that were not much good...I tried 3 different manufactures and styles of LED's in the high beam lights...NOT ONE OF THE 3 WOULD SHINE OUT PAST MY STOCK LED low beams...I installed a set of HID's in the hi beam light sockets and they KICK A**...

Most of the Hi beam LED's would shine to the tops of the trees and light scattered everywhere except down the road...

larryd

 

[Devious56]

I have had HID's on my RT for a couple of years now and like them very much. I think they give a better light pattern than the LED's and the cost was very close if purchase on sale. Never had a problem with noise, or compute malfunction.

 

[Hypurone]

Blueknight 911 raised the question of radio reception after installing LED headlights. I have had the same experience with my Spyder as well. I like the brighter light from the LED's but not the loss of radio reception.

So, my question is, what has been your experience with HID headlights? Do you like them? Was the installation easy or hard? What brand did you use or recommend? Why?

Thanks, Bob.

Just get the noise filters that Lamont offers. That is what others with radio interference used to correct things. Tho I am not 100% sure they correct ALL brands of LED lights.....

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

OTHER INFO FROM ANOTHER POST

The HID controllers put out a LOT of high freq noise. This can interfere with just about anything - CanBus communications, radio, CB, etc. Many people across the forums have taken them out. LED's on the other hand just have big resistors in series. The LED's don't emit any electrical radiation to cause noise.

General LED strip lighting FYI: Some people reported problems with the computer, where disconnecting extra LED strips fixed it. Said it interferes with the CanBus. What (IMHO) happens is the computer monitors the current used by say the brake lights. If an LED strip has an LED going out that causes enough current to be drawn, the computer will flag it and the bike goes into limp mode or throws codes. THis is very rare to happen though. Modern LED strips from our sponsors have never been a problem in my 6 years across three Spyders - all of them had ALL the LED's

Now the above should apply to the headlights - I think they are monitored to throw a code is one burns out (no current) or draws too much. I haven't seen enough info yet, just assume everything gets monitored! This means get your LED kit from one of our sponsors! Their kits have been in the field for a long time and have data to show they don't fail - or is extremely rare.

Steve

Steve , my issues ( w/LED's ) began with my Pk-up .... I noticed radio reception cut by 85% AFTER I turned on my Headlights - the reception went back to great after I turned OFF the headlights.....So I tested my Spyder EXACT same scenario ..... The LED's I used were different from the Spyder and Pk-up ..... but both were FAN cooled .... my Spyder is lit up like a Christmas tree with lots of LED's ......NO INTERFERENCE from that source ...... LaMonster uses NON -Fan LED's people here have said they get no interference from them !!!! ....... You had previously said to me you thought it was the DRIVERS .... I don't know if I agree with you on that ....all things considered..... Until I brought up the possibility of LED headlight interference - I never read another Thread or post about this as a possibility .....I really would like a Poll done on this - to try and narrow down the circumstances ...... Mike :thumbup:

 

[stevencovert]

Steve , my issues ( w/LED's ) began with my Pk-up .... I noticed radio reception cut by 85% AFTER I turned on my Headlights - the reception went back to great after I turned OFF the headlights.....So I tested my Spyder EXACT same scenario ..... The LED's I used were different from the Spyder and Pk-up ..... but both were FAN cooled .... my Spyder is lit up like a Christmas tree with lots of LED's ......NO INTERFERENCE from that source ...... LaMonster uses NON -Fan LED's people here have said they get no interference from them !!!! ....... You had previously said to me you thought it was the DRIVERS .... I don't know if I agree with you on that ....all things considered..... Until I brought up the possibility of LED headlight interference - I never read another Thread or post about this as a possibility .....I really would like a Poll done on this - to try and narrow down the circumstances ...... Mike :thumbup:

Hmm.. Didn't think of the FAN. Now I curious about if that can output noise!

 

[SpyderCruiser]

The HID controllers put out a LOT of high freq noise. This can interfere with just about anything - CanBus communications, radio, CB, etc. Many people across the forums have taken them out. LED's on the other hand just have big resistors in series. The LED's don't emit any electrical radiation to cause noise.

General LED strip lighting FYI: Some people reported problems with the computer, where disconnecting extra LED strips fixed it. Said it interferes with the CanBus. What (IMHO) happens is the computer monitors the current used by say the brake lights. If an LED strip has an LED going out that causes enough current to be drawn, the computer will flag it and the bike goes into limp mode or throws codes. THis is very rare to happen though. Modern LED strips from our sponsors have never been a problem in my 6 years across three Spyders - all of them had ALL the LED's

Now the above should apply to the headlights - I think they are monitored to throw a code is one burns out (no current) or draws too much. I haven't seen enough info yet, just assume everything gets monitored! This means get your LED kit from one of our sponsors! Their kits have been in the field for a long time and have data to show they don't fail - or is extremely rare.

Steve

I do not know about other brands of HID bulbs. But purchased 2 sets (headlights and fog lights) of xtreme HID bulbs from Xenon depot 3 years ago. Before they were installed, took them in my shop and checked them with an oscilloscope on the DC power leads. There was no noise or ripple at all from them. Then tested them with a $30,000 HP spectrum analyzer to see if they generated any noise in the RF spectrum. No noise was found. They were a sponsor here on Spyderlovers, do not know if they still are. Many owners on this forum have installed those with no issues.

They have operated flawlessly over the past 3 years and not one hiccup from the Spyder. I believe the folks that have issues with HID bulbs are buying cheap units from eBay made in China. And they would have to be pretty noisy to affect the Spyder canbus. The Spyder uses a relay to power the headlight bulbs, so that noise would have to make it all the way to the battery and then double back to affect the canbus.

Good quality HID bulbs and drivers are still better then the best LED bulbs today. They generate light 360 degrees around the bulb, and are still brighter and create a cleaner pattern and shine further down the road. And they work correctly with the projector beam lenses our Spyders use.

Just take a look around this forum of how many folks have had LED bulbs fail, no thank you. When Meg and I travelled to Valcourt last year we left NJ at 2:00 in the morning to beat the commuter traffic. The last thing we needed was a headlight bulb failure.

 

[Uticat]

These have been on Craigslist for awhile if interested

https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mpo/d/can-am-spyder-stock-projector/6590153143.html

 

[Joel The Biker]

Read the ad! They are Stock Halogen- NOT HID.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mpo/d/can-am-spyder-stock-projector/6590153143.html

They just put the stock halogen setup in the HID package for safe keeping. I would have done the same.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

CHEAP HID'S

They just put the stock halogen setup in the HID package for safe keeping. I would have done the same.

:agree: ......Nice catch Joel :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: that price was a Steal - to good to be true ...........Mike :bbq:

 

[BoilerAnimal]

I do not know about other brands of HID bulbs. But purchased 2 sets (headlights and fog lights) of xtreme HID bulbs from Xenon depot 3 years ago. Before they were installed, took them in my shop and checked them with an oscilloscope on the DC power leads. There was no noise or ripple at all from them. Then tested them with a $30,000 HP spectrum analyzer to see if they generated any noise in the RF spectrum. No noise was found. They were a sponsor here on Spyderlovers, do not know if they still are. Many owners on this forum have installed those with no issues.

They have operated flawlessly over the past 3 years and not one hiccup from the Spyder. I believe the folks that have issues with HID bulbs are buying cheap units from eBay made in China. And they would have to be pretty noisy to affect the Spyder canbus. The Spyder uses a relay to power the headlight bulbs, so that noise would have to make it all the way to the battery and then double back to affect the canbus.

Good quality HID bulbs and drivers are still better then the best LED bulbs today. They generate light 360 degrees around the bulb, and are still brighter and create a cleaner pattern and shine further down the road. And they work correctly with the projector beam lenses our Spyders use.

Just take a look around this forum of how many folks have had LED bulbs fail, no thank you. When Meg and I travelled to Valcourt last year we left NJ at 2:00 in the morning to beat the commuter traffic. The last thing we needed was a headlight bulb failure.

Thanks, I think I'm going to start saving my pennies for a set of HID headlights from Xenon Depot. My LED headlights are a big improvement but just a little too blue for my likes.