HID Conversion on a 12GS (pictorial)

I run HID H7s on both high and low beam in addition to two Hella Mico HID aux lights triggered on high beam. I can start the bike with the high beam (and Hella aux lights) on and get no faults. The system really adds a lot of light. When all are on inside my garage with the white garage door down, it swamps my V1 laser detector which alarms. That's a lot of light!!

No issues at all, and no appreciable heat.

My left one is now mounted to my plastic cover on the fuel pump.

Jim

You tell us where you will get your slim ballast ...

Paul Jr
R1200GSA oO

Hey John,

I'd sure like to get a looksee at those lights and how you mounted them. Any chance I can meet you somewhere and buy you a cup of (insert favorite beverage here)?

-jeff

Some times it can be a stupid little thing. On my whole trip to Utah in September I had a intermittent low beam, but reliable high beam. I push/pulled on the wiring inside the headlight, changed bulbs, cleaned connections, nothing. Finally at home I found that at the main plug-in where the harness connects to the headlight the springclip was lost, and the connection to the low beam was intermittent but high beam was OK.

Sure, I PMed you my phone#,

john

Thanks Paul, it may be the connection, because the light was flickering this morning before it shut off. It comes on everytime I start the bike though.. weird. What a bummer...

I too have been reading up on HID conversions, and I am ready to order.

I am currently running some cheapo amber fog lights (so I can be seen) during my 46 mi commute, but they do nothing for illuminating the road. I will likely convert the low beam first and decide later if I want to do the high beam too. I don't want to be blinding and pissing off drivers. According to what I have read the the reflector on the R12GS works well with HID bulbs.

Now I need to decide between the 35W kit or a 50W kit. The 50W kits are claimed to be about 40% brighter than the 35W kits and in most cases twice as much money.

To those of you with first hand expirence, is it worth it to go for the 50W HID kits? Who did you order from? And are you happy with the kit?

Johnlt,
That is one nice looking setup!
I like the red grill too.

Question: what is the "pod" attached to your upper crashbars, that says Touratech on it?

My "slim" kit arrived yesterday and I'm going to send it back.

5' of wire and 7 connectors per bulb is ridiculous. There is not an inconspicuous or tasteful way to hide this mess.

I think I'll leave the HID for the sake of HID folks to their vices and explore a more traditional route to enhanced lighting.

These are small zippered pouchs for storage. I store my bike cover in one of them and rain gloves in the other. I've sure they'd get torn up in a simple crash but got them anyway.

I was requested to provide some close-ups of my light mounting plateform. Here are a couple close-ups. I used a 1/8” aluminum plate cut to size and polished. I mounted it at an angle where it would sit flat across both the large and small bars. I then drilled two holes through the plate and bar at the rear and one hole at the front and mounted it with #8 stainless steel allen head bolts with SS locking nuts. It seems to be rock solid and I really don’t think it hurt the bars strength much. The front bolt/nut was positioned in the middle of the lower “U” piece that holds the OEM fog lights. Hope this helps

johnit:

Really nice job!

I finally finished my HID installation, using JVBs invaluable guide. I was very nervous when I first fired her up, dreading a LAMPf error or something else. Fortunately, both lights work great and the output is INCREDIBLE!!!

Using rsimpson's idea, I mounted the ballasts on my crossbar. I spraypainted everything silver to keep it looking clean. I am also going to replace the black corrugated loom with silver that I will order online. I am happy with how it looks





the difference in light is simply superb. I put my camera in manual mode and shot this photo at an aperture of 3.2 and a shutter speed of 1 second (400 iso). This is the original lighting:



and here is the lighting with a full HID conversion. I used the exact same camera settings and took the photo at the same time of night, so there is no exposure trickery here. Note: the fogs are on as well, but they are aimed very low and don't really affect the forward area.
:eek1



All in all, the $90 for an HID conversion is probably the best bang for your buck that you can find for the GS.

Aaaaaa-men.

Nice pics.

Welcome to the world of the night!

Looks great Grad!

Nice clean installation!

Jim

You can save $20 on the exact same item if you shop VVME's Ebay store (Ebay seller: flashplus) $36 + $35 shipping.

I just installed my kit today and it went very smoothly! No lamp fault. I attached the ballasts to the underside of the oil cooler by bending the long tab on the included mount bracket. I zip-tied that end to the front subframe behind the side of the beak and ran another zip-tie through the bottom row of cooling fins.

Kev.

Hey Kev,

Can you post some pictures?

Jim

Hmm, very tempting, guess I don't have an excuse now. Thanks for the tip!

Do you think they are blowing out old stock?

Guess it doesn't matter at that price.

If I'm not happy with them I'll just out them into my FF50's I have on order. And upgrade to 50W HID unit for the low beam.