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Adaptive Xenon headlight on R1250RT.


Led

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Hello everybody!

I want to share my experience of installing adaptive lighting on the R1250RT. I love my bike, I like everything about it except the low beam. I have to drive in the dark on narrow roads and often there are exciting moments. When the bike tilts more than 10 degrees, the border of light falls and approaches, it is unpleasant. I decided to help myself.

I bought a broken headlight from GTL and took it apart. You need to take the low-beam module and electrical wiring out of it. Then I disassembled the RT headlight and compared the details. Surprisingly, they have a lot in common. I have an opinion that the manufacturer did everything to put the adaptive on the conveyor but did not want to pay the patent. See for yourself: high-beam reflectors, low-beam module can be changed without alterations. In the RT headlight housing, places are prepared for the installation of GTL control units.
 

 

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There were no problems with the wiring for me. Connected an additional CAN bus and additional power for the adaptive control unit..
 

 

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There was no need to code or program anything. Adaptive earned immediately and without errors.
The headlight has become heavier by 1300 grams. (4650g) I have already ride 7,000 km and everything is functioning correctly.

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12 hours ago, Carlisja said:

Maybe you would consider doing this as a service for a price.

Thank you for the idea, but this service is very expensive and time-consuming. If anyone wants to repeat my work, I will be happy to help with information. Buying the necessary parts cost me about $1200 without a job.

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12 hours ago, Led said:

Thank you for the idea, but this service is very expensive and time-consuming. If anyone wants to repeat my work, I will be happy to help with information. Buying the necessary parts cost me about $1200 without a job.


that kind of explains why the RT does not come with adaptive lights.  It would put the price of the RT on par with the bigger touring bikes.   

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that kind of explains why the RT does not come with adaptive lights.  It would put the price of the RT on par with the bigger touring bikes.   

 

I don't know. Doing a retrofit is much more complicated than a factory install.

I agree  that the price of the parts would raise the price of the bike a bit but their cost doesn't compare to buying them as separate parts.

IMHO If there was nothing different (extra) on the K1600 from the RT except the engine it would affect their sales.

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Nice work LED.  Do you think the braided LED can still be installed in that?  Can't really tell from the pictures.  It appears to me the mirror moves, not the bulb.

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Hi, thanks!

 

The low-beam module has two movable elements. The mirror tilts in turns according to a very interesting algorithm: the border of the beam always remains horizontal and the center of the beam is shifted in the direction of the turn. Another movable element is the lens. Leaning forward and back compensates for the height of the beam depending on the load of the bike. 
Attempts to install an led lamp instead of xenon led to terrible light distribution and reduced brightness. I tried a lot of led lamp designs, it only got worse. I put a branded xenon lamp and changed the settings in the ignition unit. It was 35 W, it became 50 W. This negatively affects the lamp itself, but I can change it every two years.

Here is an example of a night trip. In the high beam led lamps based on XHP70 are used.

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Hey Led, with an exception  of the windscreen, this is one of the best farkles I have ever seen added to a Wethead.

If the cost was less, I too would do that. I didn't realise it was even possible without external lean sensors and various other transducers!

NIce one. 

I am envious!

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On 8/8/2020 at 2:36 AM, Led said:

... Connected an additional CAN bus and ...

 

Please provide more details on that statement.  Does this require another device like an EZCan?  Or is there a extra CAN bus connector hidden somewhere?  Do you need a cable with specific end terminations?  Can you salvage the necessary parts from the K1600 harness?  

 

Really nice work.  Thanks.

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4 hours ago, Cap said:

 

Please provide more details on that statement.


Hi Cap!

If you saw, I started my story in a different topic (2021 1250RT changes?) There is a photo of two headlights: the original RT and the adaptive RT-based one. Two control units are installed on the modified headlight. The right control unit is a xenon unit . The left control unit controls the servomotors of the low-beam module. These control units are original from GT/GTL. The CAN bus R1250RT has all the necessary information for the operation of the GTL module. I'm sure it's the same in 1200RT. No aftermarket devices are required, this is the value of the idea. To connect additional wires (CAN-H, CAN-L, Battery backup), there is a free space in the headlight connector. These connectors are used on many BMW car headlights and are available for order. The wiring inside the headlight is also used from GTL, but with minor modifications to fit it into a single RT connector. All you need is to connect 3 wires to the motorcycle wiring. CAN bus is closest on the dashboard. Battery backup connects to the lightmodule satellite.

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  • 1 month later...

Led, this is fantastic! I've seen a conversion project where this guy turned his entire set up into a projector headlight but he did have error codes which was ultimately resolved by a custom re-flash.

 

But if I were to do something similar, would I be able to do this to do a Xenon low beam conversion only? If yes, then how do you solve the problem of the heat generated by the ballast? I've heard stories that it melts the housing but based on your story this is clearly not the case. Especially given the similarity of the housing.

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Hi profbodryak!

Error codes occur when the lamp circuit is broken or the load is insufficient. Probably the project you saw is built on low-power led lenses. You can only install xenon of course. Don't worry about the ignition unit overheating, this is its factory location. It is well ventilated on the way.

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On 8/10/2020 at 3:54 PM, Led said:

<snip>
Attempts to install an led lamp instead of xenon led to terrible light distribution and reduced brightness. I tried a lot of led lamp designs, it only got worse.<snip

 

Last weekend, after about a year in service, I ditched the three LED bulbs I installed in my Camhead. The three I tried were ADVMosters, Cyclops, and some no name Amazon brand (ironically these had the best beam projection and were the ones I've been using for the last year). I got tired of the odd beam projection pattern and concern about blinding other drivers with the glare (yes, I am one of the dwindling number of people left in the world that still have consideration for others).

 

Bravo on this conversion, I'd do it myself if there was a similar solution for Camheads.

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  • 1 year later...

This is by a country mile the coolest mod I would like to do to my 2019 RT

 

 Plug and play (well kind of….)

 

well done.

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Shelterwoods

Nice work! It is difficult to modify an already well designed product, and make it work better than the original. I applaud your inginuity and skill.

 

Del

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