Trail Tech HID Helmet Lights
Like night and day
Desert season is coming for hundreds of thousands and its time to get that list of “upgrades I want before next year” done. This year was different for some though. It seems the season never came to an end, but with temperatures in the desert reaching the triple digits on a regular basis riding times take a drastic change. Becoming nocturnal like the local sidewinder rattlesnake is the most prominent way to beat the heat but stock lighting on an ATV or lack of lighting all together on a dirt bike becomes a serious issue in the wind swept dunes. Riding that razor back looking to transition into a black abyss of a bowl below can make any veteran rider a little nervous. However, Trail Techs helmet mounted HID lighting system brings night rides into a whole new light.
Specifications
The MR11 HID Helmet mount lighting system from Trail Tech boasts the equivalent of 76 watts of halogen lighting in just 26 watts. (13 watts per light) With your average DC (electrical system with a battery) ATV putting out about 60 watts of power, that leaves plenty of room for a couple more to be installed later. The fully self contained ballasts ensure that you don’t have to worry about mounting any extra pieces to the frame or your helmet. The kit also includes a 4’ pig tail to wire directly into your ATVs electrical system. Sold separately is a Ni-MH battery that will run the twin HID kit for up to 100 minutes on a full 3 hour charge. Battery weight is about 23oz and is designed to clip on your chest protector or ride in your camel back or a fanny pack.
Mounting and electrical installation.
The HID lights are secured firmly to your helmet using 3M brand Dual lock strips making mounting super easy without compromising your safety by drilling holes in your helmet. The back side of the lock strips are coated with a heavy duty adhesive so be sure to clean the intended placement area thoroughly to ensure the best stick possible.
Here is where it gets a little tricky. When mounting your lights, I would suggest doing it in the dunes. I mounted my lights at home in front of the garage door only to find that I had mounted them with the light pointing too low for my riding style. I found that I was riding with my head up to get the light further out in front of me. Although this was a fairly easy fix of just moving the lights back an inch on the helmet it made for a couple minutes of awkward riding. For this reason I suggest adding additional adhesive strips too your order.
Installing the included pigtail is just as simple as mounting the lights. The kit includes 2 solderless connectors, adhesive strips for strap fasteners and zip-ties. Simply run you cable with the rest of the wiring harness, attach the two solderless connectors and attach them to the battery. (Black to negative and red to positive)
Both the pigtails female connector and the Ni-MH battery female connector come with rubber caps to keep sand and moisture out of the terminals.
Test Results
With the lights connected to the Ni-MH battery pack we set out for where else but Olds Hill. The dunes have never seemed so inviting at night. Cornering was a piece of cake with the lights pointing directly where my head was pointed. Being able to look ahead 100 yards in any direction made it possible to pick smooth lines through the dunes and avoid witch-eyes. The transitions were no longer a drop into the black nothing. These lights work great! Once we got to Olds it was time to see what these lights really had, Dumping the clutch and hitting the whoops in 3rd the lights did not even flicker. Having the lights mounted to your helmet means that they will stay steady as long as your head isn’t bobbing all around, The high mounting point means you are looking down into the whoops and ruts with out the shadow that you normally get from the low stock lighting.
After a long night in the desert it is easy to see that the Trail Tech HID Helmet mounted lighting system is well worth its weight in gold. The lights were very easy to install and very easy to use. The lights are built tough and all of the wiring is done right with heat shrink and heavy rubber shielding. I am looking forward to more trips with these lights and possibly installing a couple more in place of my inferior stock lights. You never can have enough light can you?
