Ninja 250 - What is a good headlight upgrade?

[Redfox]

Been trying to do some research on a good headlight for the 250 and I'm getting crossed messages all over the place. One website says go MORE POWER extra light you can never faillll, and other sites are telling me careful to not get to much power as it will dammage my headlight. I'm looking for a new headlight that will provide more light and or a blue hue or brighter than it is currently...

anyone help with some info? :thumbup

[Sane_Man]

You may want to look into a HID headlight upgrade.

Check this post: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228581

[hitman5532]

piaa headlights... do it on all my bikes

[Hooli]

Sylvania Silverstars FTW! :thumbup

[Galvatron]

I'm looking for a new headlight that will provide more light and or a blue hue or brighter than it is currently...


Blue hue = less light output than a normal bulb. Just get a Silverstar, and upgrade the wiring if you're feeling feisty.

[Burning1]

In my experience, the ninja 250 already puts out far more light than most super sports I'm aware of. You're just looking to spoil yourself, man. :laughing

[hitman5532]

In my experience, the ninja 250 already puts out far more light than most super sports I'm aware of. You're just looking to spoil yourself, man. :)

ive gotta disagree, at least the ninja 250's ive experienced have had terrible light output from them

[ST Guy]

Do NOT use bulbs with blue tints. This includes PIAA's. The blue tint does nothing to help you see better and actually robs light output since a good portion of the halogen light output is in the blue range and the blue tint filters that out.

Buy some +30 or +50 bulbs from reputable outfits like Osram, Phillips, or Sylvania. There are some bulbs out there that are slightly higher in wattage. LIke 65/70's. Going up to 80/100's will certainly give you more light, but depending upon the construction and materials used in your headlight housing, it may or may not cause a problem. While the lens is usually glass, the housing itself with the reflective coating is often a glass filled polymer of some sort and can melt if it gets too hot.

Also, upgrading the wiring to your headlamp bulbs can make a big difference as well. As wire lenth increases and wire size gets smaller, the voltage at one end can be much lower than when it started at the other end. That means your bulbs aren't getting full voltage. Usually this is as simple as a separate fused and larger gauge wire running directly from the battery through a relay, and then to the bulb. Don't forget to upgrade the ground side of the wiring.

Here's an excellent source for quality bulb info:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulb_types/bulb_types.html
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/superwhite/superwhite.html
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/blue.html

Also, beware of putting HID systems in housings designed for halogen bulbs. The light will certainly be brighter but it won't be where you need it because of inherent differences in reflector design requirements between the two technologies. You'll end up with super bright light right in front of the bike and even less than you used to down the road where you really need it. That effectively can partially blind you and make riding at night even more dangerous.

I strongly recommend the following:

1. Upgrade your stock wiring.
2. Use a 55/60 +30 or +50 bulb or even a 65/70 bulb. NO blue bulbs!!
3. Buy and use some aftermarket driving lights. PIAA makes some real nice ones. Just don't use their bulbs.

[hitman5532]

from use of bulbs:

i think the "output power upgrade" is a hoax, however, the bluish tint makes me stand out in someones rear mirror and lets them know im their. I commute everyday on my bike, and the day the piaa's go in, people start kindly moving out of my way... i dont look like everyother light in their rear/side mirror and it catches their attention :thumbup

even if the light output is less light spectrum, i get a better definition of the road on my ride to my home with no streetlight

my goal with lights:

1) be noticed--check
2) see the f'ed up bumps and debris on my ride home--check

i dont care about the number of lumens or lab testing as long as these two things are accomplished

[paladinnorcal]

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_about_the_new_extra-bright_headlights%3F

[Sane_Man]

from use of bulbs:

i think the "output power upgrade" is a hoax, however, the bluish tint makes me stand out in someones rear mirror and lets them know im their. I commute everyday on my bike, and the day the piaa's go in, people start kindly moving out of my way... i dont look like everyother light in their rear/side mirror and it catches their attention :thumbup

even if the light output is less light spectrum, i get a better definition of the road on my ride to my home with no streetlight

my goal with lights:

1) be noticed--check
2) see the f'ed up bumps and debris on my ride home--check

i dont care about the number of lumens or lab testing as long as these two things are accomplished

It's all about the lumen's. :x

[ST Guy]

It's all about the lumen's.

Only partly. It's also about where those lumens are directed and in what proportion. For instance, you don't want most of your light right in front of you. That will cause your pupils to close up more than they should and you won't be able to see shit down the road or to either side of you. There are many more examples like that. That's why using bulb types and reflector types that are designed to work with each other are so important.

[Knight R1d3r]

I would suggest HID light bulbs for your upgrade. I highly recommend the color temperature of 6000k. This is the whitest light with a touch of blue. My R1 has a HID bulbs in them and I would never go back to halogen bulbs. They're about $100 for a pair. The advantage with HID buld is that it doesn't have a filament. This means the HID bulb last much longer than ones with filament. Buy the HID conversion kit with a slim ballast.

[wsmc831]

try some 60 dollar piaa's. they're a more white light and 'claim' to put out more with the same wattage. I did notice an improvement when I put them on, and they've been in there since early 2000 an 45k miles so that alone is enough reason imop.

you can't have enough light.

[hitman5532]

Only partly. It's also about where those lumens are directed and in what proportion. For instance, you don't want most of your light right in front of you. That will cause your pupils to close up more than they should and you won't be able to see shit down the road or to either side of you. There are many more examples like that. That's why using bulb types and reflector types that are designed to work with each other are so important.

i agree, thats why i like the dispersement of the piaa replacement bulbs, they are filiment and not gas so they dont go cockeyed everywhere

[ST Guy]

I would suggest HID light bulbs for your upgrade. I highly recommend the color temperature of 6000k. This is the whitest light with a touch of blue. My R1 has a HID bulbs in them and I would never go back to halogen bulbs. They're about $100 for a pair. The advantage with HID buld is that it doesn't have a filament. This means the HID bulb last much longer than ones with filament. Buy the HID conversion kit with a slim ballast.

Unless you also installed a ballast and power supply system for those bulbs, they are not HID bulbs but instead, cheap halogen bulbs with a lot of blue tint on them. There are lots of cheap, lousy blue and purple tinted halogen bulbs with regular filaments out there being sold as "HID". They're a complete rip off. Not only do they put out less light than a regular halogen, they're not even HID. An HID bulb does not have a filament in the bulb. An HID bulb operates by extremely high voltage (not the 12 volts of your bike's electrical system) which creates an electrical arc. Like an arc lamp. Or the electrical arc of an electric welder. That requries special equipment and circuitry and the cheapest system's I've seen are near 500 dollars.

People, blue tint on bulbs reduces the light output. The only way that a blue tinted bulb can put out the same amount of light as a non tinted bulb is by having the blue bulb putting out way more light to begin with. That means a different filament design that burns much hotter which also means it doesn't last nearly as long. Then the blue tint goes on which brings the light output back down to federally mandated levels. If you take two identical bulbs and tint one of them, the tinted one will always put out less light than the untinted one. There is no free lunch. And blueish light itsn't necessarily the best for seeing at night. You might think that because it's closer to daylight's light spectrum, but that's not the case.

The PIAA bulbs might put out a bit more than a standard, normal bulb, but at the cost of bulb life and money out of your pocket. Their claims of 55=85 or 60=110 are completely and totally bogus. I don't understand how they can get away with it. They're driving lights and such are good, their bulbs are not.

If you want the absolute most light out of your stock halogen housings (and directed and distributed properly), get some +30 or +50 halogen bulbs from Phillips or Osram. Or maybe one of their 65/70 watt bulbs. Stay clear of ANY bulb with blue tint. And if a bulb claims to be HID but it plugs into your stock wiring harness and has a filament on the inside, run the other way. They're shit and you'd be better off buying a 7 dollar bulb from Kragens than using a fake HID bulb.

And if you really want to educate yourself on bulbs and lighting, read all the links and pages here: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html The guy knows his shit and has consulted around the world with car and lighting manufacturers and governments as well.

Nuff said.

[smokin_R6]

US spec silverstar bulbs are GARBAGE. They have a tint on them as well to make them "hid white" The German spec silverstar bulbs are tintless you can get them here in the US they are called "xtra vision" by Sylvania which is brighter then US spec silverstars.

I myself have a HID kit on my R6, sometimes i worry about the glare but havent had any problems so far. On my Mercedes the hid light output was horrible, the light was beamed to the center and the glare blinded everybody.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/greasybenz/P1020220.jpg

So i changed the headlights that had projectors and the light output is spread farther sharper.

I WOULD NOT SUGGEST HID's for the 250 ninja the flutes on the glass will glare the light from the xenon bulb and blind everyone. Just stick with sylvania xtra vision's or upgrade the wiring and go for 100W bulbs.

[ST Guy]

Here's a quoted excerpt from Daneil Stern's website that explains the difference between Oram's Silverstar and Sylvania's Silverstar. And why the Sylvania version sucks (it's tinted blue).

Wait a Minute, Earlier You Said Silver Star Bulbs Have Blue Glass!

It's a name game: Osram, the well-established German lampmaker, sells a line of automotive bulbs they call "Silver Star". These are Osram's top-of-the-range headlamp bulbs, equivalent to Narva RangePower+50, GE Night Hawk, Philips VisionPlus, and Tungsram Megalight Premium. They produce the maximum legal amount of light while staying within legal power consumption limits. They have colorless clear glass.

Osram bought the well-established American lampmaker Sylvania in the early 1990s, so Osram is now Sylvania's parent company. Sylvania also sells a line of automotive bulbs they call "Silver Star", but it's not the same product. The Sylvania Silver Stars have blue glass. Light output is of legal levels, but as with all blue-filtered bulbs, you do not get more light from them. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because the filament is overdriven to get a legal amount of light despite the blue glass.

To get the best possible seeing performance at night, don't choose extra-white bulbs.

[smokin_R6]

Exactly the sylvania silver stars are garbage.

But you can get the Osram silverstars at your local auto store, they are listed as 'xtra vision' from sylvania which is the Osram silverstars just repackaged here in the US under the sylvania name. They have the same light output as the German Osram silverstars.

[AkatomboR6]

Sylvania Silverstars FTW! :thumbup

i use those on my car's fog light and they work better than stock. and at 1/3 the price of PIAA :)

[Just J]

+1 for the HID upgrade. there's a real good reason why they're priced around $100 (or more). I picked up mine from www.xenonlink.com and they're one of the best upgrades i got on my bike. $99 shipped, and came in about 3 days. since i only run a single light, i purchased the bi-xenon kit, which is usable for both low/high beam lights.

it comes with everything you need, ballast, power supply, etc. i bought the 5000k temp and its a pure white color with a hint of blue.