PIAA light bulbs

[king]

Hi everyone
Has any of you had any experience of PIAA light bulbs in K1200lts,
Are they as claimed the equivalent of a 110watt.
They are not very common in the UK but there are some dealers that stock them but at a high price.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Brian King UK

[larryschumer]

I have the PIAA 1000s on my bike. The bulbs are rated at 55 W and are supposed to be equivalent to 85 Watt bulbs. They fill in the near distance nicely. They're alright, but definately not as good as HIDs.

[dshealey]

They are only a marginal improvement over stock. Not much difference at all. I tried quite a few halogen "upgrades", only to find them a waste of money. After a few months of trying, I put in HID low beam. HOLY COW! What a difference.

I was still running a true 85 watt PIAA Super White bulb in the high beam, but it looked like a weak, yellow candle in comparison the HID low beam.

[timtires]

Where do you find the HID lights that you are speaking of?

[zippy_gg]

Try www.hid-online.com.

Gilles

[daisy3d]

I put in a PIAA low beam Xtreme white, I think a 55w-100w bulb. Was a big difference over stock for me, but helped to have my 1100 PIAA's on. Worked good. But, just went to HID slow beam and now I don't even need the 1100's on, but even better with them on.

The high beam PIAA did nothing! Wondering if HID high beam will do anything....

I can sell you my low beam for a good $ if you want to give it a try. I only put 3-4K miles on it this summer. So, pretty new IMO.

e-mail me at: daisy3d@peoplepc.com or PM.

Cheers,
Phil
Brooklyn, MI

[cottissnjw]

You may find this article informative. This is the largest laboratory based independent test I am aware of for halogen product.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product_test/

The claim on higher ‘output’ wattage is actually filament luminance and is the technology used here on certainly the Osram and Philips products in the +30% and +50% ranges. This however is a very precise science and it’s easy to get it wrong and they do not test6 life here which if done badly is a negative consequence

Nick

[Reids]

Hi Brian you might want to look on their site at PIAAlights.com

[sheepdog1969]

I have a 2005 K1200LT and am researching converting the high and low beams to HID. Is there any problems with greater heat and fogging or damaging the plastic headlight covers?

[lhendrick]

The HID actually seems to run cooler than a high wattage halogen. Word is, this leads to long life of bulb too. After the 20,00volt blast that lights the gas in the bulb the actual energy to run the bulb is less, hence the cooler running. I have read here of many who tried a higher wattage bulb and it caused heat problems, and the various "blue light specials" seems to be more of a fashion statement than a serious improvement in light output on the road.

[meese]

No problems. The HID is more efficient, giving more useable light but using less energy to do so. Several members have upgraded '05 LT's to HID without any issues.

[Sharkey]

I changed mine to HID's High & low beam about a month ago. Was about to give up riding at night. Thought I was getting to old and losing my night vision. Now I ride at night all the time.