HID Lights for Norge GT

[esmurrell]

Hey guys, I have a 2012 Norge GT and would like to find HID lights for it.  Do any of you have any recommendations?  Have any of you done this and can you point me in a good direction?  Ideally, I would like to have something that is a simple swap.  Please help.

Thanks,

Eric

[ITSec]

Three things to be particularly careful with in going this route.

First, how much heat is given off by the bulb? The Norge headlight assembly is prone to damage if the bulbs used are hotter than the ones specified as stock. This will certainly include bubbling of the black paint inside the housing, surrounding the lens. It may also lead to other more serious damage. Owners who have tried things like the H3 100 watt bulbs have experienced this, and HID bulbs are often hotter than their traditional counterparts.

Two, HID bulbs work best when they are turned on and NOT turned off. They take several seconds to come up to full output. On a bike such as the Norge, where the low beams are switched off when the high beams are turned on, there would be several seconds of delay with much-reduced lighting each time you switch between low and high beams or back again. If you look at cars that come from the factory with HIDs, they are designed so that the low beams stay on at all times, and the high beams are added to the lows rather than switching the lows off.

Three, the projector lenses used by the designers are intended to focus the light from a specific point source located in a specific place in relation to the lens. This is calculated by the designers for the bulb and mount they use in the original design. If the HID bulb locates its source point very close to where the bulb it replaces has its filament, then all is good. If it is further forward or back in comparison to the stock bulb, then the projector lens will not focus the light properly and much of the increased output will be wasted. Compare carefully before you even bother installing any conversion bulb on any vehicle that has projector-lens headlamps. Traditional reflector designs (such as on the Stelvio) are much more forgiving on this issue.

I looked at HID and LED replacements for my Norge, and in the end it was more effective to use LED auxiliary lights.

[kingoffleece]

100% correct

[esmurrell]

Got it - the consensus appears to be to leave the stock lights alone and focus on aux lights.  I didn't say but I already have some installed and am happy with them.  In today's day and time, I just think it is easy to focus on lighting as a way to be more seen.  The more you are seen, the less likely someone is to run into you with the allegation they didn't see you.  Thanks much guys.

Eric

[swooshdave]

Got it - the consensus appears to be to leave the stock lights alone and focus on aux lights.  I didn't say but I already have some installed and am happy with them.  In today's day and time, I just think it is easy to focus on lighting as a way to be more seen.  The more you are seen, the less likely someone is to run into you with the allegation they didn't see you.  Thanks much guys.

Eric

[twowings]

Remember, drunk drivers are attracted to bright lights like moths to a candle flame...just ask Highway Patrolmen...

[ITSec]

Remember, drunk drivers are attracted to bright lights like moths to a candle flame...just ask Highway Patrolmen...

I can recognize target fixation easier than I can predict who is going to turn left in front of me claiming "I didn't see him!"

[drdwb]

One of my friends installed LED headlight system in his wife's Jackel, he said that due to the color of the light he had trouble at times seeing her in his rearview mirror especially on the open road where he might get a  hundred yards ahead of her. So he went back to the yellow light. Im considering a LED conversion to my wife Breva 750 just to take some of the load off the charging system.
Any thoughts?
Dave

[Leo]

I've also been thinking about a headlight upgrade for my Norge (2015 model year). I was thinking about LEDs rather than HIDs, and have read about some of these fancy LEDs that have a built in fan.

For example:
Cyclops 7000 lumen headlight: http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/7000-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-Bulb_p_169.html
Safego headlight: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C1AOSVS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sa-no-redirect=1


Has anyone had success installing these bright LEDs onto a Norge or similar?

[ITSec]

I've also been thinking about a headlight upgrade for my Norge (2015 model year). I was thinking about LEDs rather than HIDs, and have read about some of these fancy LEDs that have a built in fan.

For example:
Cyclops 7000 lumen headlight: http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/7000-Lumen-H4-LED-Headlight-Bulb_p_169.html
Safego headlight: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C1AOSVS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sa-no-redirect=1


Has anyone had success installing these bright LEDs onto a Norge or similar?

LEDs have the problem with the projector lens that I mentioned earlier. They may be brighter at the source, but the lens is unable to focus that light the way it was designed to for the halogen bulb. Take a look at the way the ones you linked to are made - they cast all the light to the side, where a traditional reflector assembly would catch it. The projector lens assembly is designed to make use of light being sent forward from a point source. Reflectors in a projector headlamp design are small and less effective than the substantial parabolic designs of traditional headlights.

If a replacement LED bulb had a source pointing forward, particularly one that places the actual LED itself in the same position as the filament of the equivalent halogen bulb, then it would work in a projector lens housing. Unfortunately, the ones I've found with the required design are generally down in the 700 lumen range - hardly worth considering.

One other point - LED replacement bulbs in H1 and H3 (required by the Norge) are less common than H4, H7 and some other sizes. Shop carefully.

[stormshearon]

I have replaced the stock H4 bulbs in my Stelvio with a pair of these - http://stores.advmonster.com/h4-r3-led-headlight/. It did take a bit of fiddling ( I have pictures if anyone interested) but they are stock replacements and work with the stock reflectors. The same company has other bulbs  - H1, H9 etc - that are designed as stock replacement . Instead of using a fan, they expose the mesh strips to the air after the rubber bulb cover. They work very well and the mesh barely gets warm.

[Leo]

...Shop carefully.

Thanks for those thoughts, I'm going to read some reviews, and you're right those bulbs I linked are all H4.

[ITSec]

I have replaced the stock H4 bulbs in my Stelvio with a pair of these - http://stores.advmonster.com/h4-r3-led-headlight/. It did take a bit of fiddling ( I have pictures if anyone interested) but they are stock replacements and work with the stock reflectors. The same company has other bulbs  - H1, H9 etc - that are designed as stock replacement . Instead of using a fan, they expose the mesh strips to the air after the rubber bulb cover. They work very well and the mesh barely gets warm.

Just so it's clear - I have no objection to LED replacement bulbs in a suitable application. If I had (actually, when I get) a Stelvio, I will certainly look at that option. Projector lens headlamps are their own peculiar beast, however. They are perhaps the best possible design for traditional filament bulbs - but the trade-off is that any other bulb design may not work.