I talked with TT customer service and she is sending out some spring type holder and also suggested I try lock tight. Have any of you used this spring type holder yet?

 

Havent tried the TT spring thing. I came up with something on my own like a small spade terminal - slide on and silicone in place. Not ideal but hasnt come apart.......

 

How are the lights powered? Rechargeable battery or from the quad?

If powered by the quad, do they use external ballasts, or is it just a simple two wire hookup?

There's only one manufacturer of these mini HID bulbs. I used one of these (not a "Trailtech" version) for the last two years at the 12hrs of America race (the same lamp both times) without any trouble of any kind on a 400EX and a Cannondale.

From my experience, your problem sounds like one that can be solved and not an inherent problem of the HID bulbs.

 

Just talked with Jeff @ TT and he suggested looking over the wiring harness I got from them. Said the guy that was making the harnesses was over crimping them and that might be my problem. The way he put it was that the HIDs need constant DC power and if power flickers even for a split second, the light will shut off and wont come back on again untill u turn them off and on again. So it looks like it is a quality control issue. I bought the dumb harness from them because I thought they would be better than what I would do, but it looks like I was wrong. Im not upset but if I pay $300+ for something, Im expecting not to have any issues with the item for a LOONNGG time.

 

Did what Jeff told me to do and I found that both + and - connectors where loose. One ground wire actually pulled out pretty easy. I went ahead and put in a new connector and made sure all the connections where tight again by squezing them with some pliars. I will solder all my connections this friday and hopefully that will get rid of my problems. I will also call TT and complain to them, I paid an extra $20 for the harness/switch and it sucked, I hate it when this stuff happens, but all is good now![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

1986atc250r,

The lights have everything inside the housing, ballast and all. Only thing you have to do is wire to the quad battery and setup your on/off switch and your set. My problem was in the harness they sent me, not the lights themselves. They actually light up great, I will be getting the PIAA bulbs to compare the two and ofcourse to have better lighting. If your quad doesnt have a battery, TT sells all you would need to run the HIDs!

 

Sounds like you found your problem. TT is right, if the lights lose power, even for a split second, they will extinguish.

The problem lies with how HID bulbs operate - the are essentially the same technology used in Stadium lights, Mercury vapor and Sodium street lights.

As you may know, these (stadium and street) lights take a while to warm up & don't like hot restarts. Losing power momentarily is like a hot restart.

Luckily these little HID lamps do hot restarts much better than their street lamp counterparts, but it's still hard on them (read that, it decreases their life), and they still have to cool momentarily before re-striking (which must be done manually).

From your description it sounds like TT is using the 10W HID bulbs. Keep this in mind as you compare them to other incandecent lights. Also keep in mind that at 10w each, you have enough power left that you can run a lot more auxillary lighting if you like.

Also, the ballasts for the 10w lights use unregulated ballasts with a very narrow window of voltage that they'll operate under. If you continue to have problems, it may be worth hooking up a graphing VOM to see what voltage ranges the lights are seeing.

When we've raced the 12hrs of America, we used rechargeable Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries to power the small HID lamp, this way if the quad's stator and main lighting failed, we'd still have headlights.

Good luck!

 

Cali,
Good news on your lights - at least ya "fixed" it ! Although, it's a problem that shouldnt be happening and is hurting TT in the short run.

Wired up my Hellas and they are very nice - significantly more light than the TT torch lights. The "backyard test" was VERY promising. I'll have a full report (either disaster or sucess) after a long dune trip over new years......

 

Any pics? What Hellas are you using? I will be stopping by my dealer this week and picking up some PIAA bulbs so I can light up the night on new years. I tought about welding an angle to a spare bumper I have and getting some 550 Hellas to use them at my ranch. We do a lot of night riding and that would really help light up the sides, going 50-60mph on curvy roads and not being able to see towards the next turn is kinda scary. It wouldnt look pretty but it would sure light everything up!

 

If you want "real" light - get some automotive HIDs. They consume approx 42 watts each (after you consider ballast loss) - but they output 3200 lumens vs the 530 lumens the TrailTech HIDs output.