Projector Retrofit Kit from The Retrofit Source

[Allan]

Being sick of the sucky output the stock light gave, I broke down during a 4th of July sale and decided to buy a projector headlight for my bike. I know we have vendors and other headlight options, but I feel just buying a brighter bulb just ins't the solution for me. I don't want to blind people coming towards me by just putting a brighter bulb in the headlight that wasn't made for it, so for me this was the way to go. I also didn't want to buy some cheep ebay projector that might not last me, because I only want to open this headlight once. The Retrofit Source is to headlight upgrades as Revzilla is to motorcycle stuff. I decided to buy the Stage One Single Kit along with some extra stuff that I ordered separately from the kit.. I got it in the mail yesterday and I am very pleased with the components. Here is what came in the package.
 

 
Here is a list of components:
-D2S 3.0 Projector X-Lens (Meaning the lens is square) LHD
-Morimoto XB Igniter D2S
-Gatling Gun 2.0 Square Shroud
-Square XSB Switchback LED Halos (83mm X 90mm)
-Morimoto XB35 35 Watt Ballast
-D2S XB 5500K Bulb
-H4: Single output motorcycle Wire Harness
-Black Retrorubber Sealant
-XB LED T10/194 (For parking light)
-XC LED Demon Eye RGB
-XC LED ColorControl Module and Remote
-Demon Eye Bracket D2S 3.0 Adapter
-Velcro Patches
-Custom Etch Lenses
 
  
 
Here is everything opened up so you can see what they look like.
 
  
 
And perhaps the most important component, the Projector. I had this lens custom etched in house by them with the logo that they worked with me to design. I am so pleased with the result of this as it looks awesome. This projector can be purchased in the standard O-Lens circle design instead of the square X-Lens that I got. The X-Lens however is slightly smaller. The design that is in my projector can also be selected if you wanted to custom etch your lens the same way. Just go into their gallery and go all the way to the bottom and tell them that is the one you want. It looks so good and I am going to be really happy when it is installed and the demon eyes light it up.
 

 
Here is the lens that I etched.
 

 
Since we have single headlight motorcycles, many of the things that they sell come in pairs, because cars have 2 headlights, so you can ask to buy only one of pretty much anything which effectively cuts the price in half. So it cheapens things up considerably for this bike. I will be doing a full Tutorial/Write up or Video if I can take good enough videos on how to install this specific kit. All and all, I'm extremely pleased with this kit and I would say it was money well spent. I will give an update on that statement after I have installed it. It might by pricey for some people, but the output of light from projectors is just far superior than a bulb upgrade, so it was a premium price I was willing to pay. Let me know what you guys think! Ride safe.
Allan

[dizzid1320]

Thanks for sharing the post. I have been mulling over this exact kit for months, but decided on the more economical CycleOps LED route. I'd love to see a side by side comparison with a dedicated HID projector. Let us know how the install went and if you found the upgrade to be a good value.

[yamobethere]

I'd be really interested in an install video, keep us posted!

[splytsecond]

I like where this is going... definitely gonna have to keep an eye on this

[No Hater]

Thanks for sharing I am also interested in the results. It appears you have some accent lights going on too. Aaaand of course we would all like to know how much you dropped on this set up.

[p0k3yiii]

lurking.

[Allan]

Glad to see so many people are interested in this. I need to buy some Yamaha factory blue paint to paint the shroud first so I probably won't get this done until at least next week.

[djdiddles]

I'm very interested in this built! :-) looks awesome

[sorkyah]

I know this kit is for HIDs but think thered be any way to use the projector lens for an led?

[Allan]

I know this kit is for HIDs but think thered be any way to use the projector lens for an led?

You have a cyclops bulb, don't you?   I will email The Retrofit Source and ask them what they think.  
If I had to guess though, it probably wouldn't be easy or practical to put a cyclops bulb in there. The D2S bulbs that this kit came with, and which many stock OEM projectors come with as well, are always in "high beam" mode so to speak. Meaning the bulbs themselves are not getting brighter by switching on a different filament on the bulb when you switch your high beams on (as our stock H4 bulb does as well as the cyclops bulb). Rather, the cut off shield in the projector moves out of the way for more light to move from the bulb and the reflector bowl in the projector through the lens. You would somehow need to make the cyclops bulb in high beam mode all the time and have your high beam switch connected to the solenoid of the projector if you wanted this to even remotely work. And on top of that, from what I've seen about the cyclops bulb, the light output isn't very uniform and that is an issue with projectors. The projector specific D2S bulbs are designed to throw light evenly throughout the inside of the projector's reflector bowl in every direction and reflect it into the lens and cut-off shield the proper way. The cyclops bulb which was designed for use with our motorcycle's reflector bowl, would not throw light evenly, possibly resulting in weird patterns and dark spots below the cut-off line. And to add even more insult to injury, the cyclops bulb sticks out of the headlight housing a tad further because of the fan on the LED, I think this would probably get in the way because the projector will stick out of the housing further too.
 
I'm not saying the cyclops bulb is bad, just for projector retrofitting, you should probably stick with the industry standard D2S bulb, unless your situation calls for something more specific bulbs like a D2R, D2H, D4S, etc. Most of the time, LED bulbs are used for high beam use. That what they are good at, big light that will cover a lot of area fairly uniformly by the use of symmetrical placement of bright LEDs. When you start to branch off trying to incorporate the low/high beam functionality into LED bulbs, you will start to see performance suffering (you may not notice it, but trust me, it's there) because the uniformity of the light output is disrupted by separate LEDs that activate at separate times. I'll update when TRS gets back to me but hopefully this helps.  

[sorkyah]

The cyclops bulb is just an h4 led bulb, its designed to replace headlamps on multuple models

[Allan]

The cyclops bulb is just an h4 led bulb, its designed to replace headlamps on multuple models

I understand that, but projector bulbs are not H4 bulbs. Zach from The Retrofit Source got back to me when I emailed him about this and he basically just repeated what I said, but to a greater extent. Here is what he said: 
 
"Thanks for the email. We will recommend to NEVER put an LED bulb into a low beam application, and especially not when it's into a projector. The LED lighting technology has come an incredible long way over the past few years, but it still won't come close to the quality of light as an HID bulb. The LED bulbs will actually rival the HID counterpart in intensity, but where the issues start are with the beam pattern.
 
Since the LED bulbs can't emit light in a true 360 degree spread (even those gimmicky ones with LEDs glued all over the piece), the beam pattern generally has weird hotspots, or even peculiar streaks and shadows. In a projector I would stick with the proper HID bulb hands down."
 
 
The part I highlighted in blue is how the Cyclops bulb is. While it is a 3800 lumen bulb, you will not get the uniformity and fullness of an HID projector with less lumens, around 3200. The bulb used needs to shine light anywhere in every direction and LED bulbs just simply can't do that, especially H4 bulbs with high and low beam functions, LED or incandescent. Sorry to tell you the bad news. You would just be losing performance in your light. Sorry man.  :-/

[sorkyah]

Well, damn... ive never liked HIDs and the cyclops as it is works fine... i was looking for a cosmetic upgrade and hoping for functionality, but oh well. Thnx panzer

[Allan]

I'm about to tackle this today. I'll be doing a video for you guys to show you how to do it with this specific kit. Would you rather a "How it's made" style how to video, or a first person video shot with my helmets Sena 10C for a exactly what I see kind of view?

[dizzid1320]

I vote shorter video, POV style. No need to unbox or explain all the parts. Thanks!

[dreadykrueger]

I'd like to see an unboxing video

[Allan]

So I'm about 3/4 of the way through the Retrofit and I got to say, it is really difficult to remember to film while you are going to town on trying to tackle this. Haha I'm going to warn you, this video will be terrible, but it should help with the install. There are a few things that were especially difficult with my install. The painting was the most annoying part. I still haven't finished painting the shroud, but I think it will turn out ok. That is the last thing I need to do and then I can put it back together, aim the headlight and seal it back up. I'll give another update later today.

[gremlin]

This is great! I've done multiple HID installs in my bikes and friends bikes and although I don't have my Fz just yet this will be great reference. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing
 
"Popcorn"

[Allan]

So my God. This project is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, but I have to say, so far, the result has been worth it. So let me make a disclaimer first. Halos that sit on the shroud cannot be used because they cause the assembly to be too large and the clear plastic headlight cover won't shut properly. So I have to take the shroud off and get a new one that I didn't drill holes in for the Halo. Learn from my mistakes if you plan to do this. Haha If you didn't do Halos, the install would be pretty straight forward I think. Anyways, I am not done with this yet. This is just a preview of what I have so far. The light output is not what it should be because there are still things I need to do with the new shroud and finalize some things, but here is a preview of what the light output looks like.
 

 
It is really bright. I have to say I think the result will be very worth it when I finish. Here is a shot with the Demon eyes in Yami Blue.
 

[gremlin]

Looking good. Man, I really wanna my bike.
 
Curious do you know if the headlight is AC or DC?!
Tripage has a time delay relay for HIDs can help with the load.?!
 
I emailed Tripage and they said they have bunch of things they want to make for this bike just need a donor bike.( I believe someone said they would, but hasn't dropped it off)

[Allan]

Looking good. Man, I really wanna my bike.  
Curious do you know if the headlight is AC or DC?!
Tripage has a time delay relay for HIDs can help with the load.?!
 
I emailed Tripage and they said they have bunch of things they want to make for this bike just need a donor bike.( I believe someone said they would, but hasn't dropped it off)

The input voltage on the ballast is AC85 9-32V. I don't know if a time delay is what you would be looking for in this application. The ballast is what allows there to be sufficient power to light the bulb. If you were going to go this route, I would most definitely go with a ballast over a time delay relay.

[steviede]

Do you think a halo would fit in there with a different maybe smaller lens and shroud?

[Allan]

Do you think a halo would fit in there with a different maybe smaller lens and shroud?

I would say probably not unless it it is somehow integrated in the shroud or the overall length of the projector is under 5.71" to provide some more clearance.

[garrim]

There's literally a gazillion HID projector shrouds under 5", with angel eyes integrated into the shroud.

[Allan]

There's literally a gazillion HID projector shrouds under 5", with angel eyes integrated into the shroud.

I know, but remember this thread is about this specific kit. So that is what I was speaking about.