Yeah, if the starter button does not engage the starter when the engine is running (I believe you, I just never tried it :-) ) then it should work OK for re-starting HIDs. As far as 'hot starting' goes....
WARNING POISON DANGER CAUTION HAZARD
Technical discussion follows! Rules of physics may be employed! Rules of nature always employed!
There, that ought to scare 'em (you know who you are) away.
Auto HIDs are the only HIDs that I know of that have a hot re-strike capability. The others in use for area lighting simply cannot build the voltage necessary to re-start the arc when the arc tube is hot.... which is why we see mercury vapor, metal halide, sodium types all do what they do- they turn off but the arc tube continues to glow for a while until it cools down sufficiently and the ballast then attempts a re- strike. Auto HIDs must re-strike when hot for the obvious reason; they are also required to come to some minimum amount of light output in a specific amount of time whether hot or cold (75% light output w/in two seconds comes to mind but I really do not remember).
As the arc tube ages, the color temperature of the light output shifts (toward the blue), the light output goes down, and the voltage required to maintain the arc goes up. The increasing voltage requirement is usually what shows end- of- life for the lamp: they will cold start and seem to work for a while but the required running voltage (dozens to hundreds of volts, not thousands) gets high enough that the ballast cannot supply it and so shuts down. At that point the lamp goes into a cool down and restart mode which is why we see things like street lights go on, run for a bit, go <mostly> off and wind down to fully off and then relight. If these bulbs must maintain light output the usual way to do it is to use two arc tubes and ballasts w/in one light package so when one quits the other one strikes and produces light. That would not work for automotive lighting for two reasons, the first obvious one is the warm- up time (going down the highway WHEN SUDDENLY an arc tube goes dark and the second one strikes and builds up light output. The second reason is because headlights are focused and the second arc tube could not be in the right place. There is a method to deal with that too in that a mechanism to rotate the new arc tube into position and then ignite it when the first one goes out but that just would not do for automotive lighting.
There is also a disadvantage in hot restriking an arc lamp in that it shortens the lamp's life. When the arc contacts are hot and the ballast blasts a lot of current across them it tends to vaporize a bit of the arc contacts. So a hot restart is hard on the arc tube contacts also. Some folks seem to be quite concerned about it and won't re-light an HID on a vehicle until some amount of time passes by. I figure those are the folks who measure the oil in the crankcases with an eye dropper but it probably is a good idea :-) I just use my headlights when I need them and I figure I'll replace them when (if) they wear out.
Brian
Thanks Brian. Good info.
As for the start up and restart of the C14, I watched this morning when I started the bike, and the lights don't ignite until releasing the starter button. Thinking back to the halogens, this was also the case.
I also remembered bumping the starter button against my tank bag a few times (long before installing the HID lights) while the bike was running, and it turned off the headlights while the starter button was pressed (doesn't activate the starter though, thank goodness). If one light doesn't fire, that should do the trick to "restart" it.
Do you know if HID lights are subject to the same or similar restrictions of on / off / on time as other gas based bulbs? Just thinking ahead, if one light doesn't fire and the other does, will it shorten the bulb life of the one that's on by just restarting them both? I know sodium based bulbs need 5 to 10 minutes to cool down before turning them back on.
