[skeely]

does anybody here have experience with either baja designs or trail tech's lights and stator replacements or rebuilds? went riding sunday morning in the heat wave and would rather ride in the cool of night.

[crfsonly]

i have direct experience with the Baja Designs lights and stator rewind. both are outstanding.

[gal8x]

If you are going to ride at night you will want more watts than the stock 35w.

[Kyle450x]

I've been running the DDM Tuning HID H6M Motorcycle kit in my stock headlight housing and it was GREAT light for night rides in the dunes, to night rides in the open desert, and VERY affordable @ about $30 with lifetime warranty. I've been running this on my stock stator for a year now.

That being said, I got way too good of a deal on a Baja Designs La Paz 8" light with mount etc, so i'll be throwing that bad boy on for some serious night runs. Although not 'needed' it is recommended you re-wind the stator as well as run the new rectifier (which is true for any aftermarket light setup).

My friend has the Baja Designs Squadron LED kit and that thing is incredibly bright! Super lightweight (probably lighter total system than the stock housing with my DDM HID kit). It also requires a stator rewind and a new rectifier.

I think it really depends what type of riding and how much of it you plan on doing. Yes, the La Paz 8" light should be more than sufficient for my riding at night, but so was the stock housing with the DDM kit. I honestly think the stock headlight housing with the DDM HID kit was enough for me riding @ night. It has great distance, and is super bright. Like I said, I felt 100% comfortable riding around in the dark with that: dunes, mud hills, some high speed flat stuff too.

[crfsonly]

I wasn't familiar with the DDM kit you mentioned so I am looking into it. The lighting question answer is always "it depends". If you are running 100mph in the Baja 1000 you will out run your stock light and the DDM kit. If you are just trying to have a brighter stock light for slow trail riding at night or to make sure you can get back to the truck after one of those epic "should take about 3 hours" rides that turned in to a 10 hour ride then the DDM kit sounds like it may work. It's all about how much light you need to ride the way you want to ride with MORE than enough light to allow you to ride safe.

[skeely]

after a little research the ddm tuning setup looks very good. for around $35.00 you get a bulb and ballast that works with the stock stator and produces 32-3400 lumens. baja designs has the SII model producing 1800 lumens and the squadren model producing 4300 lumens. they are $220.00 and $330.00 respectivly but also require a $150.00 stator rewind,$35.00 harness and $50.00 regulator. the trail tech version is close in price to the baja system but i could not find the lumen capability. if anybody else has direct knowledge of these or any other systems and can verify prices i surely would appreciate your knowledge/experiences. i would really like to be able to ride in the cool night not to mention the chance of seeing wildlife that you would not normally see during the day.

[Kyle450x]

Yea like I said i'm very happy with that stock housing and DDM Tuning HID kit. Everyone that's into cars and trucks alike has DDM Tuning HID plug and play kits in their rides (myself included). I hard wired mine from my battery and ran an inline fuse up by the number plate, and is still accessible if I do need to ever change fuses.

I only really plan on using that Baja Designs 8" HID kit when we set out for a real 'nightride' somewhere a good distance away. Riding from wash 15 to the store, to say comp hill in Glamis, my stock housing with the DDM Tuning kit is more than enough. It is seriously bright, and lights up the whole hill when i'm heading up it. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again...

We'll see how the Baja Designs kit compares; because it sure is heavier

[PhilM]

We have run both from both.

On the 450x, I had an issue with a BD stator. Could not get it squared away. Got a TT high output and never looked back.

We have ran the TT HID helmet lights for years so I wanted a headlight with the same lighting. That is why I got the X2. I do hear good things about BD's headlights other than the dualpsort halogens. Had one, was worse than the stock 450 light with a capsule upgrade.

I continue with TT as they are local. BD would not be in business this long unless they were doing something right though.

[Kyle450x]

We have run both from both.

On the 450x, I had an issue with a BD stator. Could not get it squared away. Got a TT high output and never looked back.

We have ran the TT HID helmet lights for years so I wanted a headlight with the same lighting. That is why I got the X2. I do hear good things about BD's headlights other than the dualpsort halogens. Had one, was worse than the stock 450 light with a capsule upgrade.

I continue with TT as they are local. BD would not be in business this long unless they were doing something right though.

We've never had any issues with any stators from Baja Designs etc, and i'm willing to bet that if we did they would take care of it too.

Granted circumstances always arise and for whatever reason parts do fail.

Trail Tech products are great as well and are ready to drop right in, a very convenient and well made product, no doubt!

[sevenbridgesangler]

Hey I see this topic dates back a little bit but I gotr a question about the DDM kit? I have been running them in all my trucks and quads and never had a problem. I installed a set on my buddies 12' YFZ 450 quad and wired directly to battery with a fuse and all as well. The only problem was if he rode around for about 35 mins with headlights battery was dead. The stator could not keep up with the rate of discharge. He obviously NEEDS a high output stator, not that being said. With the X here is this the same case? Or can this bikes stator keep up with the 35 watt kit and it's just recommended that the stator gets replaced? Thanks for the info in advacne.

[jasonoutside313]

I've got a 450x 2005. I'd like to run a pressure switch for the rear brake so I don't get hit desert racing. Light on all the time is bad. Lift on and the. Brighter would be good. . I bought a pressure switch, but I'm not sure how to works it so the light is on but gets brighter. Any thoughts?

[gal8x]

I've been running the DDM Tuning HID H6M Motorcycle kit in my stock headlight housing… .

What bulb type did you order? I am currently using a PIAA powersport ‘H6M’ and cant cross to DDM’s selection of Hi/Low bulbs.
Ex. H4, H13, 9004 and 9007
per DDM...
“Headlight Bulb Cross Reference:
9003 or HB2 bulb can be referenced to H4.
HB1 bulb can be referenced to 9004.
HB3 bulb can be referenced to 9005.
HB4 bulb can be referenced to 9006.
HB5 bulb can be referenced to 9007.
9008 bulb can be referenced to H13.
9145 bulb can be referenced to H10.
5202 bulb can be referenced to H16.
880 bulb can be referenced to other 800 series bulbs.”

[Kyle450x]

Hey I see this topic dates back a little bit but I gotr a question about the DDM kit? I have been running them in all my trucks and quads and never had a problem. I installed a set on my buddies 12' YFZ 450 quad and wired directly to battery with a fuse and all as well. The only problem was if he rode around for about 35 mins with headlights battery was dead. The stator could not keep up with the rate of discharge. He obviously NEEDS a high output stator, not that being said. With the X here is this the same case? Or can this bikes stator keep up with the 35 watt kit and it's just recommended that the stator gets replaced? Thanks for the info in advacne.

Yes, eventually the X battery will also die, as it does not produce enough power to ride a long time with the HID firing. HID's draw a lot of power... However, I'd be very curious to test the Baja Designs Squadron light with stock stator as the LEDs are targeted to fire specifically in our visible wavelengths and therefor don't waste as much light energy lighting up other spots of the light spectrum. Interesting stuff!

I've got a 450x 2005. I'd like to run a pressure switch for the rear brake so I don't get hit desert racing. Light on all the time is bad. Lift on and the. Brighter would be good. . I bought a pressure switch, but I'm not sure how to works it so the light is on but gets brighter. Any thoughts?

Sorry, but I have 0 experience playing with pressure switches. Perhaps go into the dealerships and examine ATVs like the LTZ400 that do have pressure switches and replicate that wiring design?

I've been running the DDM Tuning HID H6M Motorcycle kit in my stock headlight housing… .

What bulb type did you order? I am currently using a PIAA powersport ‘H6M’ and cant cross to DDM’s selection of Hi/Low bulbs.
Ex. H4, H13, 9004 and 9007
per DDM...
“Headlight Bulb Cross Reference:
9003 or HB2 bulb can be referenced to H4.
HB1 bulb can be referenced to 9004.
HB3 bulb can be referenced to 9005.
HB4 bulb can be referenced to 9006.
HB5 bulb can be referenced to 9007.
9008 bulb can be referenced to H13.
9145 bulb can be referenced to H10.
5202 bulb can be referenced to H16.
880 bulb can be referenced to other 800 series bulbs.”

I just re-checked their website to confirm it's still available (you scared me! ). Go to their website, then click "motorcycle HID kits and accessories", then the first option is the single bulb HID (click that), then select H6M bulb. Side note i'm running 35W ballast... 55W is supposed to be much brighter, but I wouldn't be surprised if the small OEM housing would not allow much more light projection. But in theory it should!

Side note my DDM kit is still going strong. I have had a friend who had one of their bulbs die on him but I think there may be a coincidence between his bulb dying and the fact that he was removing/installing the in-line fuse to act as his switch. Either way lifetime warranty...

Also: the Baja Designs LaPaz 8" is freaking sick! It projects the light incredibly far which is nice for my occasional long distance night rides, but I have to admit I can feel the weight up front... I've been looking into the BD Squadron and waiting for them to release the Squadron XL CRF kit (no eta yet ).

In the end, re-wound stator and regulator is a must for these bikes if you plan on riding until the sun sets then working your way back to camp (which always seems to happen). The DDM kit with a 5K bulb is very white, which looks 100X better than the stock yellow light (which i always hated riding with at night). It's nice to have the lighting when needed, and with the DDM setup there's not much weight added, kinda sleeper mode . I can't see myself running the 8" La Paz 24/7 due to expense if I lay the bike over, and the weight factor. It's not crazy heavy but enough for me to notice it while riding etc. BD stator rewind has been doing me well and I wouldn't hesitate to go back to them for it again. Super cool people there!

[JimDirt]

Yes, eventually the X battery will also die, as it does not produce enough power to ride a long time with the HID firing. HID's draw a lot of power...

So your saying the stock stator will NOT keep up with this H6M light bulb if you use it for longer than a few minutes (over 15 minutes) ??

So if i went on a 80 mile each way ride , and ended up coming back at dark , i would not make it back to my truck with a light because the battery would go dead and i would have no light correct ?

If so then the stock or PIA light would be better for any distance over a few miles without having the stator rewound ?

[Kyle450x]

Yes, eventually the X battery will also die, as it does not produce enough power to ride a long time with the HID firing. HID's draw a lot of power...

So your saying the stock stator will NOT keep up with this H6M light bulb if you use it for longer than a few minutes (over 15 minutes) ??

So if i went on a 80 mile each way ride , and ended up coming back at dark , i would not make it back to my truck with a light because the battery would go dead and i would have no light correct ?

If so then the stock or PIA light would be better for any distance over a few miles without having the stator rewound ?

Correct. Apparently the stock stator is ~37W, but thats between AC and DC circuits and I had my light DC powered off the battery.
I've had my DDM kit last a solid hour before dying prior to my stator rewind while using a Shorai battery. Then.. darkness! My buddy guided us home slowly with the OEM light which seemed like a cheap flashlight after riding with the HID lol.

I wouldn't replace your stock light unless you get the stator rewind though... Just because its small in size compared to the 8" lights, its still 35W along with the big 8" lights. You could ride until it dies, then turn it off and run your bike around to charge the battery back up to keep going .