Trail Tech MR11 and MR16 HID's

[disco]

I bought the SCRM16 bar mounted lights a few years ago.  They are VERY bright.  Initially I had problems with them going out.  I called Trail Tech and they said I had an older model with a bad ballast or something, they wouldn't auto-restrike.  I sent them in and they updated them.  No problems ever since.  They do take several seconds to fully illuminate.  When I first installed them on years back, me and a buddy were ticked because we both just blew $300 each for a set and they weren't much better than stock.  Then they got brighter and brighter and brighter.  We couldn't look at them anymore.  Rolled the quad outside and they shone clear across the field. 

When riding locally I usually turn them off when going into camp.  Everybody looks to see what making all the light, then it hits their face and every one of them winces and shields their eyes.

I like the bar mount because you can illuminate whatever you want with them.  The finish has held up well.  The voltage drop when you crank up the bike usually kills them though, have to turn them off for a few seconds before turning them back on again.

I have a Dr. D reverse lever and the push button for the lights is mounted in the block off cover on the fender.

Finish holding up great.





MR11 - stock location mount

The 16's worked out so well I thought I would buy these and have some super lighting.  Not so.  I'm not pleased with these at all.  I removed these before the Little Sahara Rally and put my stock lights back on.  The quality of light is fine, nice white light but amount of light they put out is poor.  They just don't go very far at all.  The factory lights may be a dull yellow light but they reach farther than my MR11's.  The finish is falling off of these fast.

Not happy.  I'll probably end up gutting these and turning them into halogens or something.  Sand/bead blast the housings and have them matte finished black.

The chrome on the mount is still good but it's falling off the light housing.


Comparing the two.  Both have seen equal abuse.  Despite the handlebar mount, I can still cover them in mud.





For the Rally and as an afterthought I mounted these by the bumper after drilling out the mounting hole on the bracket the light is attached to and used slightly longer bolts.  Sloppy wire routing on my part but this was just to get me through the Rally and I was running out of time.  The supplied mounting bolts broke on both MR11's while hitting some whoops pretty hard.  Maybe I over tightened them and it's my fault?  Went back to camp with them flopping around the bumper and removed them.  The total amperage draw with all four HID's on is about 7.5 amps.  The supplied Trail Tech on/off push button is rated 10 amps so I figured I was fine.  My 5 amp fuse however lasted long enough to turn the lights on once.  Oops.





Cellphone pic

[jstev]

I have the 50 watt halogens that go in the stock location like that.  I have broken 3 sets of the brackets.  Trail tech kept sending they to me but they are crap.  Light is ok.  I ended up useing some aluminum angle I had.

[disco]

Yeah, those cap screws or whatever you call them are entirely too small/light duty.  Makes for a tidy looking package but doesn't hold up well.  I'll probably borrow your scrap angle idea after I rework the lights.