Let there be light! (XB21 headlight upgrade)

[GotMyAlly]

One of my headlights had lost a screw or two and had got some water in there, so in typical guy fashion I was not to be satisfied fixing it back without some improvements. HID's! See the difference. HID on the passengers side, stock on drivers. 3X's the illumination, and less power consumption overall, too.

(In the pic with them shining on the ground, I adjusted them all the way down and dropped the tongue Jack all the way down to show the beam pattern)

 

[GotMyAlly]

These were taken still with the drivers side stock and the passenger side HID. Just covered one up for each pic. You can see the HID light is much brighter, cleaner whiter light, and covers a broader area too.

 

[ally2dextreme]

Sweet!

 

[JWolff]

I have a bulb out also. Where did you get the HID? Part number?

 

[GotMyAlly]

HID's must have a ballast wired in, so it's a little more involved than just swapping a bulb. I'll take some pics when I do the other side and see if I can put together some instructions for anybody else that wants to do the same.
Also, when you take the lens off, you'll find that Allison installed them with sheet metal screws. Several of mine were stripped....that's why the screws worked their way out to begin with. A couple had a strip of plastic wedged in there to help the screw bite. A wrap or two of pipe thread tape will keep them tight when you put them back in, but a friend to crawl up inside the hull to put a nut on the back would be the best answer. You'll need to get up in there to mount the ballasts anyway (or take the bow depth finder out and reach through that hole).

 

[mittenbass]

Very cool. Your gonna look like a BMW driving down the lake

 

[JWolff]

Yeah mitten, the performance car lights that are a blue tint. That would be sweet with my white/blue boat. Me likey.

 

[Allyfishing]

Yeah mitten, the performance car lights that are a blue tint. That would be sweet with my white/blue boat. Me likey.

I would most definitely change my stock bulbs out for these!! Please let us all know how to do this Neal!! Thanks for sharing this

 

[Allyfishing]

The photo of the hid light against your garage door also lit up the driveway as well. That would be most beneficial with more light right out in front of the boat.

 

[scj]

I've ran HID's in all my motorcycles over the past 7 or 8 years both on and off road. They take abuse much better than halogens, use a lot less energy and last 10 times longer.
6000k is about as far as you can go without looking too blue. 8000k looks very blue if that is what you're after.

 

[GotMyAlly]

^Agreed. I've got them in both 4 wheelers and off-road lights on my truck. I don't like the blue look. I usually run 4300k or 5000k. That range is brighter anyway. Just pure white light. Halogens looks yellow in comparison.

 

[K-DAWG XB 2003]

Wish Allison made a light kit for 2003's.

 

[GotMyAlly]

Wish Allison made a light kit for 2003's.

I thought about that while i was working on mine the other day. It would be hard to retrofit something to the 03's. The 21's headlights are in a molded-in enclosure.

You could always install something like this.....but I don't think I could ever bring myself to drill the holes.
http://amzn.to/1JUlgSc

Probably better off with some LED cubes on the boats that didn't come with built in lights. I'd mount one on the side of my trolling motor bracket if I didn't have the built in lights.

 

[GotMyAlly]

I have a bulb out also. Where did you get the HID? Part number?

http://forum.allisonowners.com/index.php?threads/xb21-hid-headlight-upgrade.17161/

 

[TxAllisonXB21]

Man that looks great! Gonna have to check into this upgrade for sure.

 

[hooken203]

The HID light is far better. I have a couple concerns in this case. The bulbs do run hotter than standard bulbs. This should only be a problem if they are on for extended periods.
Don't buy the cheap China garbage kits on eBay. You will be sorry.
LED lights have come along way. Any headlight upgrades I do will be LED from now on.

 

[GotMyAlly]

Good point about the heat.
HID bulbs have a higher surface temp. Halogens produce more radiant heat.

I've ran mine for 15-20 minutes in the garage and the lens was hotter with the oem bulb. Keep in mind, the factory bulb is 55w and the HID's I put in are 35w, so it makes sense that they would be cooler. HID is more efficient at converting energy into light.

I love LED lighting too....got those on a few of my toys too. The one thing I'll add is that I haven't had real good success swapping LED bulbs into reflectors originally designed for Halogen bulbs. The focal point of the light is very different. LED's require a different reflector. Better off to buy those as a cube light, Rigid, etc. HID's work fine in a halogen reflector because the focal point of the light is the same or nearly the same position. LED's also excel at a spot beam if that's what you are going for (but again, buy the whole light, not just the bulb). HID's in a halogen reflector are very much a flood light, which is what I wanted.

The only downside to my upgrade that I've found is that it takes a couple seconds for HID bulbs to heat up from ambient temp. If you're only going to flash them on occasionally, they're probably not the best solution. I tend to run mine for more prolonged periods of time.

On my hunting four wheeler, I run HIDs in the factory headlight housing and LED spot cubes on the rack. They compliment each other nicely.

 

[scj]

I've never had an issue running HID's for hours on end. I'm not sure how hot the actual filament is but the lens is cooler to the touch running HID's than halogens. I've ran them in bikes for years and never a failure. The only issue has been mentioned by GotMyAlly which is they're not suited for running on a moment type switch.

Below is the kit I have ran for years in my bikes. I have used both the 4300 and 6000k bulbs.

You do not need the hi/lo option for the boat and I'm not sure what the plug looks like on the Allison bulb but you match it up using the chart below and should be plug and play. Or, you could just make it simple and order here through a member........


http://www.carxenonhidkits.com/FLHTK-Electra-Glide-Ultra-Ltd/High-Low-Beam-H4-9003-HB2-Bi-xenon-Hid-Conversion-kit-with-slim-ballast-Harley-Davidson-2015

 

[hooken203]

I have also had them in my motorcycle for several years. 12 to be exact. Like I said they put out great light.
I have also installed them in various cars and used several different brands of kits because the customer brought them to me to install.
All with varying success.
Most of the kits are water resistant not water proof. While I have not broken a bulb they are some what fragile and probably not suited for the pounding they will take in the front of your boat.
I didn't just make up those concerns I posted.
I have seen the lamp capsule melted and the bulb sag to the point you can't get them out.
I have seen water in the ballast. They don't work very well when they are wet.
Make sure you are buying a quality kit if you are going to install them.

 

[GotMyAlly]

Though I haven't had them in my boat for long, I've torture tested the ballasts on my four wheelers and I can't imagine a more brutal environment. Mud, water, freezing temps. On both my ATVs, the ballasts are just zip tied to the frame, so they're exposed to all the elements. They've been submerged intermittently and constantly splashed. I haven't had a ballast or bulb fail yet.

On the boat, I mounted my ballasts inside the hull behind the headlight recess. You shouldn't have water that far up in the nose unless you're sinking.