[Z7What]

Ever since i bought my bike a couple weeks ago ive been looking at upgrading the headlights. I was really only looking into throwing a HID kit into the stock housings but Eagle Eye wouldnt sell me just the bulbs. I have tons of spare ballast and prefer to build my own harness so spending $180 on a kit that i only really needed the bulbs seamed a bit extreme.

So after some measuring and test fitting i placed a couple orders for parts. So far ive only mocked up one light, still need to align it and seal it up but so far i couldnt be happier with the way they turned out.

The best part of it all is that once im completely finished with them, i will have less than the cost of the Eagle Eye Kit but will be much better looking and much brighter lights all while not blinding others.

I searched for days and couldnt find a single Rancher with a Projector Retrofit done. Do yall know of any?

Whatcha think?

Wayne

 

[Z7What]

Well i finally had time to finish building the headlights, aligning them and finally installing them! They are BRIGHT! I also decided i didnt like the look of the 20" light bar on the front rack so i removed it and installed 2 9" light bars, one under the front rack and the other in the grill.

While i had the lights out and running all the wiring for the lights i made a plate to mount all the electrical components on it, installed a new winch along with new rope and fairlead.

Whatcha think?

Wayne

 

[Z7What]

Wayne

 

[aTVitsnot]

Mighty Tidy

 

[HEMIpoweredSDC]

Good looking setup! Most of the complaints I see on the Ranchers is that the headlight bulb is a Honda specific connector and there are no aftermarket options for LED or HID bulbs.

 

[_Wilson_]

Great job! Looks very neat! How about a pic at night time ? I'd like to get an idea actually how much brighter they are then stock.

 

[Z7What]

Mighty Tidy

Thanks!

Good looking setup! Most of the complaints I see on the Ranchers is that the headlight bulb is a Honda specific connector and there are no aftermarket options for LED or HID bulbs.

That is correct. There is one company that sells a plug and play HID kit that they charge $180 for. I tried contacting them to buy just the bulbs but they wouldnt sell me just the bulbs so i build my lights which are better quality, brighter and doesnt blind people(due to the sharp cut off line) for about the same price.

Great job! Looks very neat! How about a pic at night time ? I'd like to get an idea actually how much brighter they are then stock.

The only night picture i have is when i was building them and its only 1 headlight. Im heading to my hunting lease next Friday to spend the weekend so ill be sure to get some pictures of the output then.

The greatest thing HID projectors provide is very bright light with a sharp cut off line so you dont blind oncoming traffic. Well, as you can see in the picture above the cut off line is glarey and not sharp like it should be. This was a huge disappointment to me but it turns out it wasnt due to the projector itself or a problem with the install. The problem is that the actual len of the factory headlight has a line in it and that line is causing that little glare. If you look at the close up picure of the headlight i posted in my previous post you can see the line im referring to. Cant do anything about it, the cut off is still sharp and the lights are still bright AF so im not going to stress over it.

Here is a picture of the same light withOUT the factory lens.

Wayne

 

[_Wilson_]

Thanks! Looks really good and bright, and yep i like that sharp cut off line, I've tried deferent types of led bulbs, always get too much walkie radio interference (fire dispatch, and ham) i wonder if those HID projectors types will ? Looking forward to more pics

 

[Z7What]

Thanks! Looks really good and bright, and yep i like that sharp cut off line, I've tried deferent types of led bulbs, always get too much walkie radio interference (fire dispatch, and ham) i wonder if those HID projectors types will ? Looking forward to more pics

The projector is just the housing the HID bulb goes into. But yes some lower quality HID kits do cause radio interference. The ballast for the HIDs(the big black squares on the electrical panel I made) i have used on a bunch of different vehicles, some vehicles i have no issues with, others i have had static issues. I dont plan to have a walkie radio or any other type of radio but if i do chances are it will be Bluetooth from my phone so no worries but if I did have a walkie radio and had issues, I’d just upgrade the ballast to a even better brand.

For example. In my daily driver(2001 Ford Ranger) I was getting bad static when listening to FM radio stations when my HID headlights(it also has a Retrofitted Projector in the stock housings) were on. I was using the same ballast as the bike currently has which is Morimoto brand. I swapped the ballast out to a Xenon Depot ballast and all static went away.

My sunny day, weekend truck/toy(2013 F150)has factory projector HID headlights but I installed HIDs in the fog lights using the same Morimoto brand and I don’t get any static.

Wayne

 

[Jeepwm69]

Ever since i bought my bike a couple weeks ago ive been looking at upgrading the headlights. I was really only looking into throwing a HID kit into the stock housings but Eagle Eye wouldnt sell me just the bulbs. I have tons of spare ballast and prefer to build my own harness so spending $180 on a kit that i only really needed the bulbs seamed a bit extreme.

So after some measuring and test fitting i placed a couple orders for parts. So far ive only mocked up one light, still need to align it and seal it up but so far i couldnt be happier with the way they turned out.

The best part of it all is that once im completely finished with them, i will have less than the cost of the Eagle Eye Kit but will be much better looking and much brighter lights all while not blinding others.

I searched for days and couldnt find a single Rancher with a Projector Retrofit done. Do yall know of any?

Whatcha think?

Wayne

Those look sweet.

I contacted Eagle Eye a couple of years ago about bulbs, and they said they would sell them separately but they wanted $80 for the two bulbs.

Where did you get the projectors? I don't have any need for the running lights (they look good though) but the projectors interest me.

 

[Z7What]

Those look sweet.

I contacted Eagle Eye a couple of years ago about bulbs, and they said they would sell them separately but they wanted $80 for the two bulbs.

Where did you get the projectors? I don't have any need for the running lights (they look good though) but the projectors interest me.

These are the projectors I installed

https://www.lightwerkz.net/index.php/components/hid-projectors/micro-h1-bixenon-projectors-2-0.html

These are the HID bulbs I used

H1 HID Bulbs | H1 HID Headlight bulb | H1 HID kit bulb

I already had a set of relays, ballast and igniters so I didn’t need to purchase a set but if you don’t have them instead of ordering just the bulbs I listed above I would order this entire kit.

H1 HID Headlight Kit | H1 HID Upgrade

Sealant to seal the lens back to the housing.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/morimoto-retrorubber-butyl-glue-51911.html

As you can see the items come from 3 different websites. Although I have in the past ordered directly from those sites I no longer do. I now go through a friend of mine that is a dealer for all 3 of those sites. I just text him, tell him what I want and make one payment via PayPal and he sends me everything. There’s a few different ways to contact him.

Instagram - dccustomssrt
Facebook - DC Customs
Email - [email protected]

I’d rather not give his number out without his permission so I just texted him to ask the best way to get in touch with him if someone doesn’t have Instagram or Facebook.

Hope this helps.

And if anybody was curious this is where I got the “running lights” from. There the 16MM, 1W, Silver Housing, No Lens LED Bolts.
https://www.oznium.com/led-bolts-prewired-leds/led-bolt

Wayne

 

[Jeepwm69]

Those are some pricey HID kits.

I started off using Xentec, which turned out to be garbage. The ballasts didn't hold up well to frequently being submerged.

Then I started using VVME and they've been great. I haven't had a single dead ballast now in about 5 years of using the VVME's.

I do think I might try those projectors though. That looks like a much better alternative to shaving down a bulb like I did following this writeup.

https://www.hondaforeman.com/130-foreman-500/74689-foreman-500-hids.html

 

[Z7What]

Those are some pricey HID kits.

I started off using Xentec, which turned out to be garbage. The ballasts didn't hold up well to frequently being submerged.

Then I started using VVME and they've been great. I haven't had a single dead ballast now in about 5 years of using the VVME's.

I do think I might try those projectors though. That looks like a much better alternative to shaving down a bulb like I did following this writeup.

https://www.hondaforeman.com/130-foreman-500/74689-foreman-500-hids.html

Quality HIDs aren’t cheap. Xentec is garage, can’t say I’ve ever heard of VVME. Morimoto is the brand I use a lot of but recently started using the Xenon Depot stuff. Just a FYI not all HIDs are created equal, my buddy that I mentioned above did a test and found that the Xenon Depot bulbs are brighter than just about any other brand bulb out there when tested in the same housing and using the same ballast.

Also just a FYI, as it was mentioned the H1 bulb doesn’t have a seal or oring on it. So once you install the bulb into the projector and align it you need to seal it. I used a high temp rtv sealant.

This was my first projector retrofit so I’m by far not a expert in building them but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Oh I never mentioned that the projector is a Hi/Low Projector. I didn’t hook up the Hi/Low because after testing the headlight wires in the bike I found that when you swap to Highon the handle bars it only provided power to the High, not Low & High. So instead of having to wire in more relays to keep power to the lows when the highs were on I just did away with it and put ge light bars on it.

Wayne

 

[Jeepwm69]

Those are some pricey HID kits.

I started off using Xentec, which turned out to be garbage. The ballasts didn't hold up well to frequently being submerged.

Then I started using VVME and they've been great. I haven't had a single dead ballast now in about 5 years of using the VVME's.

I do think I might try those projectors though. That looks like a much better alternative to shaving down a bulb like I did following this writeup.

https://www.hondaforeman.com/130-foreman-500/74689-foreman-500-hids.html

Quality HIDs aren’t cheap. Xentec is garage, can’t say I’ve ever heard of VVME. Morimoto is the brand I use a lot of but recently started using the Xenon Depot stuff. Just a FYI not all HIDs are created equal, my buddy that I mentioned above did a test and found that the Xenon Depot bulbs are brighter than just about any other brand bulb out there when tested in the same housing and using the same ballast.

Also just a FYI, as it was mentioned the H1 bulb doesn’t have a seal or oring on it. So once you install the bulb into the projector and align it you need to seal it. I used a high temp rtv sealant.

This was my first projector retrofit so I’m by far not a expert in building them but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Oh I never mentioned that the projector is a Hi/Low Projector. I didn’t hook up the Hi/Low because after testing the headlight wires in the bike I found that when you swap to Highon the handle bars it only provided power to the High, not Low & High. So instead of having to wire in more relays to keep power to the lows when the highs were on I just did away with it and put ge light bars on it.

Wayne

I wired my bottom HID"s to a relay which I tied into the tail light bulb. That way anytime the headlight switch is on, regardless of whether you're on high or low beam, the bottom lights are on. Then wired a lightbar into the high beam wire for even more light with the switch in high beam mode.

Run the lows off your tail light wire, and then the high off the high beam wire.

 

[Z7What]

That’s a great idea but I’ve got so much time in the wiring I did I just don’t feel like redoing it lol

Wayne

 

[Jeepwm69]

I totally understand that.

On the first bike I did I wired a diode in from the high beam wire to the + on the ballasts, and also ran the low beam wire to the + on the ballasts. That way the lights were on whether they were on high or low beam, but that momentarily flicks power off and on to the ballasts (while flipping the hi/low swtich) which I'm sure wasn't' good for them.

 

[Z7What]

I actually tied the low and high wire together before going to the relay so that no matter if the switch was on high or low it would power the headlights.

Looks like we both think a lot a like lol.

BTW if you don’t have Facebook or Instagram you can contact my buddy that sells everything at

[email protected]

Wayne

 

[Jeepwm69]

Yeah but if you're running a light bar tied into the high beam wire, and hook the high beam and low beam wires together without a diode, the low beams backfeed into the high beam circuit so your lightbar stays on all the time too.

I wired in a $1 diode from Radio Shack. Unfortunately, the store here closed so stuff like that isn't easy for me to get anymore.

 

[Z7What]

Yeah but if you're running a light bar tied into the high beam wire, and hook the high beam and low beam wires together without a diode, the low beams backfeed into the high beam circuit so your lightbar stays on all the time too.

I wired in a $1 diode from Radio Shack. Unfortunately, the store here closed so stuff like that isn't easy for me to get anymore.

I understand completely what your saying with the diode. I wired a set of KC lights on one of my trucks using a diode so I could turn them on with a switch or whenever my high beams were on they would come on.

The light bars on the bike are wired to a separate switch.

Parts Club 12v 16A waterproof Motorcycle ATV Handlebar Double Control Button Switch Headlight Hazard Brake Fog Light ON OFF Switches (Red) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0734QRL24/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6Z9mBb2YT34R5

I have the running lights on one and the light bars on the other.

Wayne

 

[Z7What]

Corner/Running Lights Only

LED Light Bars Only

HID Headlights Only

LED Lights Bars & HID Headlights

Keep in mind that the grass/weeds you see in front the bike is in some spots 2-3' tall so its blocking some of the light but the road you see just past the trees are a little more than 100yrds away. The picture didnt capture it but you could see the cut off line from the headlights on the tree line on the other side of the road which is a little more than 150yrds away.

I couldnt be happier with the look and performance of the lights. Its makes all the work pay off.

Wayne