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HID upgrade time

56207 Views 79 Replies 31 Participants Last post by  Rock1
Since the LED setup from the 1199 is more than I'm willing to spend on some **** lights, I'm going to order an HID setup.

I'll be going with this one I believe, 6K and 55w (did the same on my 848, it was brilliant!)

Ducati 1199 Panigale and 899 HID Plug and Play HID Kit | eBay

I went with the DDM kit on my 848 but this one seems good.

I do 90% of my riding at nite and the 899 lights absolutely suck balls on high speed curvy mountain roads. The low just doesn't project out very far and the hi-beam, ****, it's so narrow I may as well duck tape and LED flashlight to my nose fairing! By 75mph I'm already out riding my lights and I don't feel safe at all.

What HID kits have other gone with so far?

Alex
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Doesn't the 848 got some projectors? Throwing hid on the 899 halogen reflectors will just cause more light scatter and glare for oncoming traffic. Just like you see a bunch of cars on the roads today. I'm looking at retrofitting a pair bi-xenon morimoto matchbox projectors as these are the smallest projectors for the little bitty space on the 899 headlight. Just waiting to see when more used headlights are hitting ebay so I can retrofit while I enjoy my 899.
Since the LED setup from the 1199 is more than I'm willing to spend on some **** lights, I'm going to order an HID setup.

I'll be going with this one I believe, 6K and 55w (did the same on my 848, it was brilliant!)

Ducati 1199 Panigale and 899 HID Plug and Play HID Kit | eBay

I went with the DDM kit on my 848 but this one seems good.

I do 90% of my riding at nite and the 899 lights absolutely suck balls on high speed curvy mountain roads. The low just doesn't project out very far and the hi-beam, ****, it's so narrow I may as well duck tape and LED flashlight to my nose fairing! By 75mph I'm already out riding my lights and I don't feel safe at all.

What HID kits have other gone with so far?

Alex
I ordered mine thru DDM, picked up the 55w kit but with a 5k bulb. 6k is more of a blue tint and I was trying to match the LEDs on our front lights. After warming up it looks pretty close
Anyone knows for sure if the 1199s headlights fit our bikes?
Before buying HID kits here is what you need to know. Go with 35w 4500K or 5000K. I had 4500K from DDM on my pervious bike and my friend had 5000k, I have to say that mine at night were easier on the eyes then my friends and actually seemed brighter and wider. This is just my own personal review. But now I'm looking at lifetimeledlights.com and will most likely go with this setup. Once I get the led headlight bulb kit I will post a video of it and give you guys my 2cents.

(6000K will be a lot more blue/purple then the led running lights go with 4500K or 5000K)
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I'm still going to do 6K 55w. I did this on my 848 and it was BARELY blue, exactly what I wanted, just like their pic on their eBay ad. It was not allot blue or even close to having a pink/purple tinge to it.

Far as the projectors, I don't know what the 899 vs the 848, but after the upgrade, the 848 was SPOT on for cutting off the line of light right at the top of cars trunks so it wasn't going in their back windows and blinding them. No issues there. I thought the 899 had the same type of bulb as the 848 did stock so I presumed the projectors would be the same?
Before buying HID kits here is what you need to know. Go with 35w 4500K or 5000K. I had 4500K from DDM on my pervious bike and my friend had 5000k, I have to say that mine at night were easier on the eyes then my friends and actually seemed brighter and wider. This is just my own personal review. But now I'm looking at lifetimeledlights.com and will most likely go with this setup. Once I get the led headlight bulb kit I will post a video of it and give you guys my 2cents.

(6000K will be a lot more blue/purple then the led running lights go with 4500K or 5000K)
Are you going with the H4M bulbs (4x)? How do the lumins compare with stock? The twichy HID lights bug me, but they do seem to do a much better job of lighting the road. I'm very interested to see how the LEDs do.
Sorry, I don't have a 899. But just sharing my limited experience about HID. I have a SV650SA and it uses H4 headlights. So it was very easy for me to just installed some bi-xenon H4 HID. I paid 40$USD free shipping for the whole kit (2 bulbs, 2 AC 35W ballast, wiring and relay). It was so cheap that I decided to buy 2 kits, just in case something fails. One kit is 6000K and the other one is 8000K. The bi-xenon have a metal case that prevent from glairing incoming cars and it's working very well.

In my opinion, 55W is useless. 35W is more than enought brithness. The problem is already about not blinding other people since hallogen reflectors are not meant for HID. Why making it worse with 55W? It is known that they are not a lot more bright than 35W, they don't last as long and they produce more UV light that will damage the surface of your headlights making it foggy.

I think 8000K would be too blue for a red bike, but ok for a white. 6000K with my 35W AC ballast are pure white. Similar to light reflecting on a diamond. It's a pefect color in my opinion. It's pure white with 10% of blue and 10% of pink.

Stay away from DC kits. Unreliable, flickering problems, dosen't last as long and not consistent with the color. And use a relay harness.

Hope it helps. I apologize for any spelling mistake, my first language is french.
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And I just want to add something else. If you don't want to out ride your headlights, too bright is not necessarily better. Bright is good to see the surface in front of you but it's bad for your vision for distance. The reason is your eyes are getting used to the brightness close to you but you slightly loose the capacity to see in low light. So what it does it's very good vision of what is close too you, more contrast with brighter objects but darker shade with a reduction in your adaptation to see object that are farther away, even if your headlight produce more light. I've only read about it. With my 35W HID I don't feel that it's a real problem because I'm not driving fast at night and what I want more is to see the details of the surface of the street I'm riding on.
Are you going with the H4M bulbs (4x)? How do the lumins compare with stock? The twichy HID lights bug me, but they do seem to do a much better job of lighting the road. I'm very interested to see how the LEDs do.
I'm just going to go with low beam only. I think our bikes use H11 bulbs, and here is the info; H11 LED headlights and here is a example video Lifetime LED Headlight Comparison & Install - YouTube
If anyone is interested in getting your headlights custom done, take I look at this guy call Sick HIDS on youtube. My friend got his 848 done and this guy work is top notch. I don't see a 899 or 1199 yet but I am sure he can do anything you want.
The 6k HIDs, wouldn't the light visibility be poor when it's raining ? them white lights cant really 'penetrate' water..not sure how to put it in exact words lol. also, hids take time to warm up..

Need more hands on review from those who are going that way..
Would you all just install them already, I want to see which looks best so I can replicate...:D
i prefer 4300k - 5000k

but get em installed and post up some photos~!
Can anyone confirm the 899 bulb type?
Can anyone confirm the 899 bulb type?
It's an H11 bulb, 55w are the stock on all 4 ports (2 high, 2 low)
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Thanks Jarel!
Info on LED kit


I found out from the company that the base cooling fan system is 2in/5.008cm diameter. These kits will not work on our bikes, because of lack of room. I don't feel like cutting anything around the bulb access.:( I told the company if they change the design aspect of it to 1in/2.54cm then it will work.
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