Joined
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55 Posts
It's like an addiction you know...
fixing things that aren't broken.
As one of the great internet forum junkies once said,
"The KTM headlight is a joke--I'd have more light from holding a candle in one hand."
Or something like that.
So out came the bulb and in went the HID.
First things first:
I used DDM Tuning for the kit, a 35w 5000K single low-beam kit. ($25).
35W to have the "safe than sorry" approach to my Dr. Zed's stator,
5000K because I wanted a very pure white with no yellow,
and a single-low beam because I'd read that a hi beam was pretty obnoxious
and it may have gotten tricky in my head light assembly.
The kit came from China, and took about a week from date of order to my door step.
Link:
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-35W-55W-Single-Motorcycle-HID-Kit
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Overall, the wires and connectors feel good on the kit. I'm actually pretty surprised...for 25 bucks I would expect some chintsiness, but in truth the whole thing feels pretty dang solid. I've heard that the quality control from this company is good and from all appearances that's true.
The first order of business was to see about the bulb.
The KTM head light assembly I have strapped to the DRZ is from an '07/'08ish EXC model with a BA20D bulb--which kinda sucks. After hours of searching I found the best guess for a good modding match was the H4 bulb, and that seems to be true...lucky me! :bannana:
The long version will be posted in a video below, but for you brass tacks guys here's the short low down:
The mounting ring on the H4 bulb is literally about 2mm too wide to let the bulb assembly fully slide into the headlight lens. I shaved/filed the edges and it dropped in like a champ. Using the hooks on the back of the reflector I grabbed a heavy piece of wire and looped it thru the hooks and across the back of the H4 bulb plate. This held the bulb into the assembly very firmly and snugly.
In all honesty, I had what I thought would be the toughest part done in about 45 minutes worth of thinking and work.
So file the edges of the nylon H4 bulb plate till it drops into the BA20D slot, and then strap it in using heavy duty wire. That's the big BA20D to H4 conversion DIY secret.
:thumbup:
I had some wiring shenanigans that made things a lot trickier, again, because the first owner of this bike was an idiot.
After the fast success of the bulb swap I hoped to be done in an hour. Pfffff.
The final assembly had to wait till the next day, but I did get a test in.
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Note that in the above pic my reflector was upside down, which is why the pattern is wonky.
More on this later. It also looks blue-er than it really is.
Now, where to put this darn thing...:headscrat
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The next day I was ready to find a place for the ballast and the other little magical black box where the gnomes make it all happen.
If the wires to/from the ballast had been longer by another 10" it would have been much easier to find a place behind the engine/under the seat for it all. The ballast itself is not huge: maybe the size of a deck of cards, only slightly thinner. You'd think that it would be a slam dunk to find a spot for it, but between my KTM headlight and the wiring rats nest behind it, I was a tad short on reasonable space.
Eventually the ballast went under the front of the tank with the magical black box.
Yes, zip ties are about as classy as a plastic flamingo in front of a single wide, but I had no choice. Worse, I was out of the black ones.
At least I got to use that split-tubing from Home Depot.
![]()
![]()
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Finally it was back together...and it worked.
A night test ride revealed that the light was WAAYYYY too high...after a lot more shenanigans I realized that the reflector (on the bulb itself) went on the BOTTOM, not on the TOP. It's kind of counter-intuitive until one thinks about the way the light reflects. :bannana:
So now the light was too LOW but a quick adjustment fixed that...now this thing floods like crazy. It's easily 2X-3X brighter than the stock bulb...
I really am ok without a high-beam light. The spill over gives a nice view of the up close road and the sides of the road.
In the pic below you can see how it looks. I daresay it might actually be brighter than the pic suggests. The orange detour sign is perhaps 200ish yards off.
As you can see, the pic suggests that there's little if any blue in the light, and it's true.
Looking at the headlight itself gives a blue-ish impression, but to the rider it looks pretty darned white. 5000K for the win!
Hopefully I'll get my vids edited and online soon. In the mean time, here's the pix.
![]()
![]()
![]()
fixing things that aren't broken.
As one of the great internet forum junkies once said,
"The KTM headlight is a joke--I'd have more light from holding a candle in one hand."
Or something like that.
So out came the bulb and in went the HID.
First things first:
I used DDM Tuning for the kit, a 35w 5000K single low-beam kit. ($25).
35W to have the "safe than sorry" approach to my Dr. Zed's stator,
5000K because I wanted a very pure white with no yellow,
and a single-low beam because I'd read that a hi beam was pretty obnoxious
and it may have gotten tricky in my head light assembly.
The kit came from China, and took about a week from date of order to my door step.
Link:
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-35W-55W-Single-Motorcycle-HID-Kit
Overall, the wires and connectors feel good on the kit. I'm actually pretty surprised...for 25 bucks I would expect some chintsiness, but in truth the whole thing feels pretty dang solid. I've heard that the quality control from this company is good and from all appearances that's true.
The first order of business was to see about the bulb.
The KTM head light assembly I have strapped to the DRZ is from an '07/'08ish EXC model with a BA20D bulb--which kinda sucks. After hours of searching I found the best guess for a good modding match was the H4 bulb, and that seems to be true...lucky me! :bannana:
The long version will be posted in a video below, but for you brass tacks guys here's the short low down:
The mounting ring on the H4 bulb is literally about 2mm too wide to let the bulb assembly fully slide into the headlight lens. I shaved/filed the edges and it dropped in like a champ. Using the hooks on the back of the reflector I grabbed a heavy piece of wire and looped it thru the hooks and across the back of the H4 bulb plate. This held the bulb into the assembly very firmly and snugly.
In all honesty, I had what I thought would be the toughest part done in about 45 minutes worth of thinking and work.
So file the edges of the nylon H4 bulb plate till it drops into the BA20D slot, and then strap it in using heavy duty wire. That's the big BA20D to H4 conversion DIY secret.
:thumbup:
I had some wiring shenanigans that made things a lot trickier, again, because the first owner of this bike was an idiot.
After the fast success of the bulb swap I hoped to be done in an hour. Pfffff.
The final assembly had to wait till the next day, but I did get a test in.
Note that in the above pic my reflector was upside down, which is why the pattern is wonky.
More on this later. It also looks blue-er than it really is.
Now, where to put this darn thing...:headscrat
The next day I was ready to find a place for the ballast and the other little magical black box where the gnomes make it all happen.
If the wires to/from the ballast had been longer by another 10" it would have been much easier to find a place behind the engine/under the seat for it all. The ballast itself is not huge: maybe the size of a deck of cards, only slightly thinner. You'd think that it would be a slam dunk to find a spot for it, but between my KTM headlight and the wiring rats nest behind it, I was a tad short on reasonable space.
Eventually the ballast went under the front of the tank with the magical black box.
Yes, zip ties are about as classy as a plastic flamingo in front of a single wide, but I had no choice. Worse, I was out of the black ones.
At least I got to use that split-tubing from Home Depot.
Finally it was back together...and it worked.
A night test ride revealed that the light was WAAYYYY too high...after a lot more shenanigans I realized that the reflector (on the bulb itself) went on the BOTTOM, not on the TOP. It's kind of counter-intuitive until one thinks about the way the light reflects. :bannana:
So now the light was too LOW but a quick adjustment fixed that...now this thing floods like crazy. It's easily 2X-3X brighter than the stock bulb...
I really am ok without a high-beam light. The spill over gives a nice view of the up close road and the sides of the road.
In the pic below you can see how it looks. I daresay it might actually be brighter than the pic suggests. The orange detour sign is perhaps 200ish yards off.
As you can see, the pic suggests that there's little if any blue in the light, and it's true.
Looking at the headlight itself gives a blue-ish impression, but to the rider it looks pretty darned white. 5000K for the win!
Hopefully I'll get my vids edited and online soon. In the mean time, here's the pix.
