[Fr000m]

No worries, love the avatar too.

 

[tima]

Fr000m, please, please do not take this offensively.

The reason I started this thread was to show how I made LED lamps in the headlight work without any TFT errors. I tried to be specific while describing what I did. I also mentioned how hot the resistors get after being energized for a few minutes. That said, I'm sorry for the issues you've had. Hopefully you can get these to work as you want.

 

[Fr000m]

Fr000m, please, please do not take this offensively.

The reason I started this thread was to show how I made LED lamps in the headlight work without any TFT errors. I tried to be specific while describing what I did. I also mentioned how hot the resistors get after being energized for a few minutes. That said, I'm sorry for the issues you've had. Hopefully you can get these to work as you want.

There is no problem at all! I hope that I am not posting inappropriately by adding to this thread? I'm enjoying the conversation with everyone and having a lot of fun. It's my own damn fault I melted things a bit I am having a lot of fun contributing to the knowledge base, or rather, I hope it's contributing. My goal is to further your efforts and try to create a plug and play type solution with things that exist on the market. I may fail, but I will rule out lots of thing! 🤣

 

[fireman]

The bulbs I have are 20 each, meaning these need to absorb the other 35. The reviews from other folks have indicated they get hot, but not melty hot, more like a level where you can touch it but you don't really want to, which is far under the melting point for ABS and such. IF they do stay that cool, I will tuck them into the headlight assembly. They are actually quite small. See below. Of course, they may not work, but I like a challenge and I am LOVING this bike. So I will win eventually >=D


: View attachment 115654 View attachment 115655

If you look at the headlight housing, you'll notice cooling fins on the back/side: I believe these are mostly for DRL LED heat dissipation. LEDs bulbs die mostly because microelectronic components driving the LED chips die, either because they are bad quality, or due to overheating. By introducing up to additional 70 watts of heat into the housing, you might just shorten the lifespan of the DRL. In any case, these Philips resistors look like a nice option for those who don't want to cut and splice wires.

Suggestion: considering only the low-beam is usually turned on for most people at night, only one of those Philips resistors plus an LED bulb might be sufficient for adequate road illumination at night. Could be a good compromise between all LED headlight setup.

 

[Fr000m]

I've actually thought of just doing the low.

I did note the passive heat sinks - nice and large for such small LEDs, definitely designed to last a LONG time with some overhead.

The lower quality resistor in this case is what I think bit me in the ass, but I actually somewhat expected it - just not as melty. None of the components in the back of our OEM assembly are going to suffer with just 70 added watts of thermal dissipation, so long as it's not concentrated like the low quality resistor I used is. Even then, with such large heat sinks, some of the added heat should dissipate through those same pathways. The benefit of what I am using (lasfit) is also that they are designed to dump their thermal load into the same area as the halogens, so unlike units with a rear fan or large rear mounted heat sink, I'm only going to have to contend with the 70 watts, without adding the other 40 from the bulbs. But, then again, these phillips units might also go all melty too. Let's find out!!

 

[fireman]

JUST to lighten the mood

We need to Photoshop this onto r1250r BIG Ass LED

https://speedmotoco.com/cyclop-moto...ICsNP4N-U3GA3gqkFf7tW7kq5th46Q4hoC2DEQAvD_BwE

 

[Fr000m]

Sorry, still dying laughing. All my coworkers ride too, we're currently all dying laughing....

 

[fireman]

Sorry, still dying laughing. All my coworkers ride too, we're currently all dying laughing....

Somebody, call the emergency services, people are dying here 😃😄😁

 

[Fr000m]

Yep, the superbrightleds BAU15S were too long. I was off on my math a bit. Gonna try something else XD Gonna just get the dynamic motorrad ones, since the cost is nice for lifetime warranty.

Also, an update: The Philips adapters work, or at least seem to. I left one on for a solid 5+ minutes, and it got hot, but I could still hold it, and had no canbus error. Right now, I'm looking at the bike and thinking of where I could mount them, and just route the cables into the headlight assembly through grommeted holes (I have grommets). The main steering or fork post thingy seems like a good place, since they are small enough to allow the forks/handlebars to fully pivot either way, and it would allow them to stay external where they can shed heat. Unfortunately, they are just a smidge too big to mount to the back of the headlight cover, which was my initial plan. Will update when I get this sorted, probably Friday. Time for ye olde zip ties. Will post pics.

 

[fireman]

Yep, the superbrightleds BAU15S were too long. I was off on my math a bit. Gonna try something else XD Gonna just get the dynamic motorrad ones, since the cost is nice for lifetime warranty.

Also, an update: The Philips adapters work, or at least seem to. I left one on for a solid 5+ minutes, and it got hot, but I could still hold it, and had no canbus error. Right now, I'm looking at the bike and thinking of where I could mount them, and just route the cables into the headlight assembly through grommeted holes (I have grommets). The main steering or fork post thingy seems like a good place, since they are small enough to allow the forks/handlebars to fully pivot either way, and it would allow them to stay external where they can shed heat. Unfortunately, they are just a smidge too big to mount to the back of the headlight cover, which was my initial plan. Will update when I get this sorted, probably Friday. Time for ye olde zip ties. Will post pics.

On the way home I was thinking about this setup, using Philips CANBUS adapter… a few things come to mind that I would check before fully committing to this solution:

1) Check how many watts of power the Philips resistor is using, just to be on a safe side not to overload the circuit when running together with the LED bulb. I would also check the the LED bulb power consumption, since the advertised wattage is probably very optimistic
You would probably need to run a multimeter in Amp to measure in-line with hot of the resistor, or two of them if you want to see both voltage and Amp measure. I suspect this Philips resistor is probably a bit smarter than a simple dummy load (I hope so), otherwise why would they dip it into epoxy…? Note the running voltage of the bike is around 14.3 V, idle is whatever the battery is at (13 V or something). This would change the Amp drawn while running the bike vs on battery, although not by much.

2) You might want to cut the resistor cables shorter, and/or splice at least one resistor into the circuit, to save space inside enclosure. Splicing itself will use space, which might not be enough.

3) last but not least: to save space, you might try removing the plastic casing completely or partially from the Philips resistor.

I’m a bit too excited about this

P.S.: rubber gromets tend to let moisture in, especially as they age… considering you’ll probably have sharp bends on on the wire when it exits the back housing, potential moisture ingress could be exaggerated further…

 

[Fr000m]

Hello all. Pictures will be coming, but I can confirm 100% the Philips resistor packs work with the bike on and off. I've decided I will attach them with a stainless metal pipe clamp to the stem, behind the headlight housing. It's not easily visible, is a safe place for heat buildup and cannot damage anything around it, will get good airflow for cooling, and doesn't obstruct any portion of the steering or suspension. Right now I am just working out how I want to bring all 4 leads into the headlight housing. The beam pattern using lasfit bulbs is very good and a dead on match for OEM. I wouldn't call the output massively increased - perhaps 40%, but I'll do another night ride once I get it all sorted out, and compare. Apart for modifying the rear panel of the headlight housing (some grinding down the honeycomb pattern, and holes of course), this leaves everything else intact/factory.

I lack the equipment to properly measure what the Philips pack is doing, but from what I can tell from digging around online, it's got a basic circuit board that detects the PWM signal used by CANBUS and adapts the resistance to meet the expected or measured load. I don't know what the overhead is, but with 20w bulbs, I feel pretty safe. I may even try a higher wattage down the road, just to see if I can further improve output (but maintain the proper beam pattern still)

 

[fireman]

Hello all. Pictures will be coming, but I can confirm 100% the Philips resistor packs work with the bike on and off. I've decided I will attach them with a stainless metal pipe clamp to the stem, behind the headlight housing. It's not easily visible, is a safe place for heat buildup and cannot damage anything around it, will get good airflow for cooling, and doesn't obstruct any portion of the steering or suspension. Right now I am just working out how I want to bring all 4 leads into the headlight housing. The beam pattern using lasfit bulbs is very good and a dead on match for OEM. I wouldn't call the output massively increased - perhaps 40%, but I'll do another night ride once I get it all sorted out, and compare. Apart for modifying the rear panel of the headlight housing (some grinding down the honeycomb pattern, and holes of course), this leaves everything else intact/factory.

I lack the equipment to properly measure what the Philips pack is doing, but from what I can tell from digging around online, it's got a basic circuit board that detects the PWM signal used by CANBUS and adapts the resistance to meet the expected or measured load. I don't know what the overhead is, but with 20w bulbs, I feel pretty safe. I may even try a higher wattage down the road, just to see if I can further improve output (but maintain the proper beam pattern still)

Good luck, and please keep us posted! This is about the least intrusive method of installation I've seen so far (least damage to OEM wiring) and replacing a headlight back panel is relatively inexpensive and easy if you decide this didn't work-out (BMW part 63 12 8 549 265).

 

[Fr000m]

THANK you! I feel a lot better proceeding with a PN. Found them on fleabay for 35 bucks. Appreciate it!

 

[fireman]

THANK you! I feel a lot better proceeding with a PN. Found them on fleabay for 35 bucks. Appreciate it!

I was curious were you found it... just be aware this ships from Latvia, and will take several weeks. I ordered something in the past from this seller (Oem245), and it arrived in 3.5 weeks.

 

[Fr000m]

Genuine BMW K53 0A14 0J73 Headlight cover 63128549265 | eBay

OEM Numbers: 63128549265 / 63 12 8 549 265 / 8549265. BMW K53 R 1250 R 19 (0J71, 0J73) 2018/10 Without 2017-2019. BMW K53 R 1200 R (0A04, 0A14) 2014/09 Without 2013-2018.

www.ebay.com

Sorry for the link length. Lengthy link? Lingthy lenk?

 

[Fr000m]

Ok, I have finished with the headlight. Caveat: I haven't done a night ride yet with LED to compare to halogen.

The first thing I did was make 2 holes in the rear cover. I did some dremel grinding to get rid of honeycomb both front and back to accommodate this. In the two pictures above, you can see I've shown with a grommet in place as well, front and back. These grommets have a gap between front and back that seats on the headlight casing. Like this: ||||||___||||||. The underscores show the inner part. These are what I used: GROMMETS.

Next, I routed the cables into the grommets. I did have to stretch the grommets a bit to get the cables in, so they cracked a bit. Hence the gratuitous silicone as a secondary seal. I also did a ziptie inside and outside to join the two and act as a sort of cable stop. The idea here will be to mount the canbus packs, then attach the back cover as the headlight is put into position. Also this is an ideal time to plug everything in and do a final test for proper function. I had one resistor pack flipped around on the bulb end. 2 second fix by flipping the connector (polarity).

Here is the view looking in towards the bike's stem, from the front, with headlight assembly removed. You can see the two canbus packs tip tied into place (turns out the pipe clamp I got was way too big, didn't have enough slots to tighten properly. Highly recommend a stainless pipe clamp instead of zip ties). You can see I also put some strain relief ties onto the two sets of headlight cables. I chose this location becuase there is no hindrance to functionality -no wires are blocked, the suspension and turning travel is unhindered, etc.

Final pic. Everything looks and feels OEM, with the exception of more light. Again, I cannot quantify the improvement yet. I do think an HID would do far better in a similar fashion, and although I am extremely picky about proper beam pattern and not blinding people, I do think this particular reflector assembly does well with non-halogen bulbs. The cutoff is sharp and proper. So, I may try it down the road. In fact, I am sure I will try other things, since new back plates are cheap and I like to fiddle.

Also, for anyone that wants it, this is how you connect the headlight connections internally. Detatch the OEM power connector from the metal retaining clip

 

[fireman]

Ok, I have finished with the headlight. Caveat: I haven't done a night ride yet with LED to compare to halogen.

View attachment 115716 View attachment 115717

The first thing I did was make 2 holes in the rear cover. I did some dremel grinding to get rid of honeycomb both front and back to accommodate this. In the two pictures above, you can see I've shown with a grommet in place as well, front and back. These grommets have a gap between front and back that seats on the headlight casing. Like this: ||||||___||||||. The underscores show the inner part. These are what I used: GROMMETS.

View attachment 115714

Next, I routed the cables into the grommets. I did have to stretch the grommets a bit to get the cables in, so they cracked a bit. Hence the gratuitous silicone as a secondary seal. I also did a ziptie inside and outside to join the two and act as a sort of cable stop. The idea here will be to mount the canbus packs, then attach the back cover as the headlight is put into position. Also this is an ideal time to plug everything in and do a final test for proper function. I had one resistor pack flipped around on the bulb end. 2 second fix by flipping the connector (polarity).

View attachment 115715 View attachment 115718

Here is the view looking in towards the bike's stem, from the front, with headlight assembly removed. You can see the two canbus packs tip tied into place (turns out the pipe clamp I got was way too big, didn't have enough slots to tighten properly. Highly recommend a stainless pipe clamp instead of zip ties). You can see I also put some strain relief ties onto the two sets of headlight cables. I chose this location becuase there is no hindrance to functionality -no wires are blocked, the suspension and turning travel is unhindered, etc.

View attachment 115719

Final pic. Everything looks and feels OEM, with the exception of more light. Again, I cannot quantify the improvement yet. I do think an HID would do far better in a similar fashion, and although I am extremely picky about proper beam pattern and not blinding people, I do think this particular reflector assembly does well with non-halogen bulbs. The cutoff is sharp and proper. So, I may try it down the road. In fact, I am sure I will try other things, since new back plates are cheap and I like to fiddle.




View attachment 115720
Also, for anyone that wants it, this is how you connect the headlight connections internally. Detatch the OEM power connector from the metal retaining clip

When you have a chance, please post photos of the lite cut-off: very curious to see how it looks with LED.
I didn't realize you had r1200r when I suggested the headlight back cover: the one I recommended is for r1250r - not sure if they are the same part.

 

[Fr000m]

Not a problem, and I will happily do so as soon as I can get a chance to (probably against my garage).

 

[Panzermann]

I didn't realize you had r1200r when I suggested the headlight back cover: the one I recommended is for r1250r - not sure if they are the same part.

You can check this via online parts fiches like RealOEM or MaxBMW

 

[Fr000m]

Righto, low beam:

High beam:

The exposure is a bit washed out. The hotspot is not at all that insanely bright. There are some foreground artifacts I am not super happy about, but overall it's fine. Definitely a sharp, flat cutoff.