DDM Raptor HID's
 

I went to DDM's website where others were purchasing their HID's and they have a new brand of HID's called Raptor. I thought I would give them a try. I bought the 4500k lights. The ballasts are very small and so far so good. Here are some pics:
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/r...x/IMG_1073.jpg
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/r...x/IMG_1076.jpg

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

Just drove home with them tonight and what an improvement!! I had some of the ebay ones and these put out way more light. I think it has to do with the bulbs because I put in one of each using the Raptor ballasts and the bulbs that came with the Raptor kit are alot brighter. I'll try and post a pic of the two.

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

I have the same ones for my Claret. I am anxious to install them.:D

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

Here are some pics. The ebay bulb is on the passenger side and the Raptor is on the driver side. The ebay bulb has more of a blue tint to it 5k vs the Raptor 4500k but the Raptor puts out alot more light. I think I keep the ebay ballasts and just buy some of DDM's bulbs for them.
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/r...x/IMG_1089.jpg
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/r...x/IMG_1092.jpg

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

nice! I'm thinking about getting them too, my only worry is the lack of lifetime warranty like the other brand they sell.

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

any pics of where you mounted the ballasts???

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

SVXASH

Thanks for those pics.

I'm planning to buy a single one from DDM for my Blackbird bike to give me a good main beam.

Your pictures have settled the issue for me. I will be using 4500s. Are you sure your eBay bulb is 5000K, not 6000K? I say this because the light on the floor in your second picture clearly shows that the lower color range bulb on the driver side pulls out much more detail from the grey floor than the bluer toned bulb. For that reason the 4500s must appear a LOT brighter, and they surely will be much more effective in lighting up what is on the road ahead.

Super stuff, thanks again for the pics.

Joe

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

The increased light output may be due to the ballasts. Note that the 55W version of DDM conversion kit is a 55W ballast with the same bulbs.

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

svxistentialist,
I just checked the ebay box and it is marked 5000k. The bulbs have no markings on them. With the ebay kit when I would turn on my fogs I would notice an improvement in foreground lighting but with the Raptor bulbs the lighting change is minimal. I really like these lights!!

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

The pics I took had one of each bulb installed but both bulbs were powered by the Raptor ballasts.

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

Gordon

There is a very big difference in light output in Lumens depending whether a 35w or 55w system is used. So you would be correct if there was a different ballast each side.

However, as Ash says they are the same output each side. What I find remarkable is the strong difference in perceived color and output between two bulbs that ostensibly are only 500Ks apart in light temperature. :eek:

In the photographic world 4500 is meant to be the color of flash bulbs and meant to emulate the color of daylight at high noon with the sun directly overhead. To me this indicates that in evolutionary terms this is the light temperature our eye receptors are most sensitive to, and so we will therefore "see" more of any objects that have this type of light for illumination.

If you want to "see" buy 4500Ks

If you want to "be seen", then buy the bluer 6000Ks

:rolleyes:

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

if my calculation are good, the best between them would be 5250ks ?
...eerr i ll stick with the 5000ks

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

Sounds good Francis, you can't go wrong really.

Recently after a trade show in January I put 6000Ks on my car in England, and Graham who is using it swears by them, thinks they are the dog's nuts in fact.:rolleyes:

My only real objection is to the perceived "blueness" of the light on 6000Ks and above, as I feel the blue tinge adds to the glare factor for oncoming drivers. Scientifically I don't have any evidence to assert definitively that bluer light has a greater tendency to glare, this is just my own perception. However as with photography the 4500K flash bulb temp was scientifically deduced to be the closest to natural daylight, and this factor will dictate that this light temperature will give the closest approximation to daylight, and our eyes will collect more of this reflected light than they can of light with any of the bluer colours.

Joe

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

White balance is a tricky thing to capture accurately as it sometimes can appear too blue.

Re: DDM Raptor HID's
 

what i dont get is how "bollocks" is bad
but "dogs bollocks" is good