Fitting 900 Lumens LED Running Lights to S1 - Help Please

[cristo]

Hi All

I use my bike for commuting and would like to feel more visible.
I have just taken delivery of my new 2016 and do not wish to void warranty + do not wish to upset Canbus.

The lights are rated as follows:

• 10 Watt 900 Lumen Cree LED Technology (6000k colour)
• Low power, just 0.66 Amps per light @ 14.5vDC

..as per this link: http://www.bikevis.com/product/bikevis-cree-v3-motorcycle-running-lights/

That's a pretty low current draw!
Apparently folk have fitted these to other BMW's without issue.
Ideally I'd like them to run off the dipped beam feed.

I can't find anyone that knows what impact it will have on Canbus altghough I know some folk have had trouble with side-light and dipped beam LED's if they use the incorrect model bulb.
My local BMW dealer was no help (said I could pay for a few hours for a technician to work it out - i.e. he was'nt really interested as it's not BMW kit!).

Any thoughts from experience or first hand knowledge very welcome!

In case you are wondering the lights will be fitted to the upper front fork bumper mounting point.

 

[alex]

You might want to check on the GS Owners forum as I expect they have far more experience with axillary lighting.
What connectors does it use? How is it supposed to attach? Through the canbus port on the RHS of the frame?

 

[Stephen]

If your taking your live feed for these lights from the low beam and keeping the standard low beam bulb then you shouldn't have an issue.
The can bus senses the resistance and throws up an error if it's too low - increasing it by that small amount shouldn't cause any problems. The usual errors occur when standard bulbs are replaced with led bulbs of much lower resistance.

It would make sense to wire them up temporarily to start with just in case I'm wrong and an error is displayed. If it is an issue you could always power them with a relay which would have (I'm guessing) even lower current draw.

 

[Stephen]

Also, I think it would be a good idea to put an inline fuse to the new lights. The bike doesn't have fuses, the ecu 'trips' and resets after the ignition is reset. This would mean if you had a fault with the new lights your headlight wouldn't work until the fault was resolved.. an inline fuse would prevent this.

 

[mike g]

not sure about the new ones but on 2010 I don't think the main and dip bulbs are checked on canbus only the little ones if that helps

 

[JimmyMac]

Hi Cristo, I have HID 50 fitted to both my 2010 GSA and 2013 HP4. The light off them is unbelievable and they do not upset the Canbus.

A guy called Les Wassell supplies and fits them to if you don't want to do it yourself, although with a bit of care it is no bother, main thing is where to stick the ballasts. You will get lots of advice from Les who is a really nice guy with years of experience with BMW's. He is very well thought of on the ukGSer site.

http://www.hid50.com

Best of luck.

JimmyMac

 

[pof]

Hids for me as well. Super bright and no canubus issues. Ballsys i put on the inside of the nose fairings

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[alex]

I thought he was after external units?


- Sent from Mobile

 

[cristo]

Very useful info thanks.
So no fuses and trips - great to know; they do always reset do they?...and I assume it will be recorded in the log so the delaer will see this has happened.
Either way; fuse it is then.
Any thoughts on best point to splice in/plug in ?
Another suggestion was to use the aux feed but I haven't checked if this is on all the time or with the ignition yet.

As for the HID's - very tempting as the stock lights are rubbish, specially on dipped beam. I think I will progress to that later....
The current project is about external LED's to expand the lighting area, more akin to this: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj_4MCLxOfPAhXrB8AKHW6nDNkQtwIIHjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWDrzOjEhVCA&usg=AFQjCNH5RiGlc_OT46Gh5wqBePrY-qfzOA

 

[Stephen]

They should reset every time the ignition is cycled unless the fault is still there. And no, the computer doesn't store that info long term.

 

[cristo]

So tonights googling reveals that the Optional Accessory plug (in left hand fairing on 2015/16 model) should support this.
I understand that on a 2015 the left hand accessory plug has following wiring:

purple wire is constant power-all the time
brown wire is ground
Red wire is switched power

Mixed reports if this circuit is or is not part of the Canbus,and I have also read it is part of a Linbus....
Not sure what to believe so I will be testing with a meter first.

I assume for the red wire therefore it will power up when ignition is on - that's seems perfect for running lights and GPS.
So I'm thinking I'll get the BMW plug and wire in the lights using the Red switched wire and while i'm there add a cigarette socket for other USB accessories.

This looks interesting...
http://www.nippynormans.com/f650gs-...any-garmin-or-tomtom-gps-into-the-bmw-harness

 

[Stephen]

The wires on that plug block are monitored and will trip if you draw too much current, but those lights don't draw much so that will be fine, if you're planning on running multiple accessories at the same time you may want to use a relay to take your current directly from the battery..

I recently had a customer complain that his RT wouldn't run an air compressor from a power take off socket...

 

[pof]

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[mike g]

I've just fitted some "surface" LED parking bulbs in mine and they seem to be good, no error codes, but they don't go off for a couple of minutes after you turn the bike off (weird) I assume it's down to the low load not closing a relay off?
otherwise just a note that the one in the main beam side is a complete ****** to get in (and out)

 

[cristo]

......but they don't go off for a couple of minutes after you turn the bike off (weird) I assume it's down to the low load not closing a relay off?

Where are you powering them from? I read somewhere this is a feature as the Accessories Outlet is designed for the BMW GPS unit so it's handy to have on after ignition off [apparently].
..but you are fitting into the parking lights so not sure if that is relevant?
I guess I'll just think of it like the Audi 'home' feature (i.e. keep the lights on so you can see the front door...or this case garage door)...not necessary but no harm done.

What is a "surface" LED parking bulb" anyway?!

 

[mike g]

it's just the little bulbs that sit in the headlights - I think they are normally w5w or T10 I think, so they are straight replacement for standard

 

[stuartb]

They are w5w Mike

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