DR650SE Index Topic # 9 ELECTRICAL/LIGHTING

[planemanx15]

Saw on the first page a lot of people are running heated gloves as well as heated grips. Is that usually necessary?

[thumpididump]

I relocated my Watsen Design's LED turn signals. I bought these a couple of years ago for my SV650. They are actually made to fit the turn signal slots of the front fairing on a V-Strom, but they have a pretty generic mounting system, they can be adapted to fit almost anything. They were quite expensive but I do like the fact they are made with top quality craftsmanship, and they're small and extremely bright.

I decided to relocate them because I recently swapped my OEM luggage rack for a Pat Walsh Design rack. Rather than drill holes in the new rack I tried to come up with a more creative mounting solution that would be practical. This is what I ended up with:

Drill a couple of small pilot holes.

Enlarge the pilot holes and drill 2 more small ones for the lock pins.

Use a glue gun to seal the wiring.

Cover it all up with heat shrink tubing for added protection.

Right side installed.

Both installed. Clean and out of the way.

While these suckers may be small, they are extremely




bright... insanely bright. They are easily visible




on a sunny afternoon.

Here's the link to a previous blog entry which shows how they were mounted with the OEM luggage rack

http://www.fy-yff.com/2010/03/led-lighting.html

[sagedrifter]

Ouch, $119 CAD per set....

They look good though.

[thumpididump]

I know, I know.... But I managed to get free shipping because I got in on a group buy. Silly expensive but they're the bomb as far as blinkers go.

[Adv Grifter]

HID conversion for DR650
If you’ve ever ridden on a dark, Moonless night with no street lights and little traffic then you may already know the stock DR650 headlight ain’t much good. I recently up graded my ’07 1050 Triumph Tiger with an HID and was very impressed with the result.

For the DR650 I first ordered the 35 watt, H-4, Hi-Lo HID kit from DDM Tuning. This kit indeed has the H-4 bulb but is really set up for a CAR with two headlights. So, basically you get a whole length of harness you can’t use .... and the install is much more complex. The Triumph Tiger has two headlights but with the HID I use only one ... and that’s all I need. So I figured to do the same on the DR650. I sent back the Hi-Lo kit and got the $25 HID single bulb kit.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/category.php?CA=61

They refunded my $15 (HI-Lo is $40). The new kit arrived in a couple days and was very straightforward to install on the DR650. You only have one beam ... but so far its a huge improvement over stock. HID bulbs have very long life ... but if one does go down, replacements are $15.


Here is the DR650 headlight with stock light on low beam. High Beam is not great at all ... useless on a very dark road.

I’m not great at tutorials but here goes anyway:
Take off plastic headlight cowl.
This is what it looks like:

Ignore my two brown wires ... they go to my funky headlight switch. Yes, if you ride off road this area may be dirty. Clean it up if you care. Headlight has to come off to get to bulb. 4 bolts (two on each side)



Headlight off, back of headlight. Carefully unplug three prong female from OEM bulb.



Gently peel off rubber cover. Release spring clip and remove OEM bulb. SAVE for back up! (wrap in bubble wrap, put in plastic bag ... DO NOT TOUCH with bare fingers)

Handle the HID carefully! Never touch it with bare fingers or skin ... or greasy rag. Remove from plastic holder it is sent in by twisting clear plastic tube counterclockwise. Thread HID bulb wires through stock Rubber boot dam and through HID kit rubber dam.

You will have to pull through the HID kit power wires as they connect to OEM stock plug outside the headlight shell ... but there are options here.



Carefully install HID bulb into headlight shell. It only goes ONE WAY. Do Not Force. Once the three locating tabs are seated in the slots, lock in spring clip as normal. See above pic.


Slip stock rubber boot along wires and replace back into its position over the shell.

Next, slide the rubber boot up the wires and firmly fit it over the bulb end. It should stay there.



This is what it looks like now. At this point you have to start deciding where to stash the ballast and ignitor. I fitted mine up into the little shelf area in the headlight cowl. But there are options here and plenty of room for creativity. All the plugs on the cables have rubber, water proof gaskets and snap together nicely. THEY CAN ONLY GO ONE WAY ... so hard to screw this part up. Notice the two HOT WIRES (Hot and Ground). These go into the stock three prong headlight plug. You have options on where it can go. I plugged mine in and wrapped the plug up in the vinyl pouch with the rest of the wiring.


Notice only TWO of the three plugs are used .... and they are NOT the same as the stock set up. The good news is plugging in any combo
will not damage unit .... but HID light will only work as shown above.


Here is stock headlight .... low beam.


Here is a before and after of the light against my garage wall. Very unscientific but there it is.

HID @ 5000K, 35 watt bulb. WOW!


HID straight on. I guesstimate about 4 times brighter.

I will update on this, but so far its an improvement. Dealing with the Ignitor/ballast require some careful placement. The pay off here is not only are you getting much brighter lights for cheap, but you're saving 20 watts (approx) over stock set up. On the DR, every watt is precious.
Hope this is a good starter for those thinking of upgrades. I'm sure I've left out a few things ... please chime in with ideas or improvements in the install!

[GISdood]

Originally Posted by thumpididump

I know, I know.... But I managed to get free shipping because I got in on a group buy. Silly expensive but they're the bomb as far as blinkers go.

Part of the dimness of the stock rear signals is due to the shoddy silver spray job on the inside of the housings. Mine were almost all black, hardly any silver in there at all. I took some shiny ducting tape (the metallic stuff, not Red Green's secret weapon) and lined the insides of both housings with that, then upgraded to LED bulbs.

I recorded this video as a wrap-up after the diode-debacle of getting normal flasher function with all-LED signals and without getting rid of the dash indicator, but it shows just how bright the stock signal lenses CAN be if you give them a little big of attention.

[ADV8]

[ER70S-2]

Someone mentioned this and I like it. Hint for the electically challenged: it's inside the kill switch. And be careful, there's small springloaded pieces.

[GISdood]

Prior to our annual summer road trip, I wanted to add more visibility to my wife's DRZ - both headlights and signals. In addition to adding LED signal/tail/brake lights to her Givi (write-up here), I also installed an HID kit on her bike.

Earlier in the year, I added an Eastern Beaver H4 relay to my DR, and then replaced the stock H4 bulb with a PIAA Intense White bulb. While it was a noticeable improvement from stock, it still doesn't hold a candle (pun intended) to the HID setup.

I set my camera in manual exposure mode, metered the first shot (the DR's "upgraded" H4 on low-beam) and locked in those settings so that the subsequent shots wouldn't be exposed differently, hopefully producing a series of unbiased shots comparing the two lighting setups. Seeing as the lens/reflector of the DR and the DRZ are practically identical, I think this is as close to a 'scientific comparison' as possible without taking before-and-after pictures of the same bike (which I didn't have the forethought to do).

So... on with the goods.

DR - Upgraded H4 on low-beam:


And the DRZ with HID - low-beam:


Convinced yet? Okay fine... here's the high-beam shots, too.

DR - high-beam:


DRZ - high-beam:



The HID kit I installed was one I sourced from a local online retailer. He had installed the same dual-beam, 55W/5000K kit in his VTX 1800 and I was impressed with the brightness, colour, and spread of the light it produced. My hopes that the DR/DRZ headlight would produce similar results with an HID kit didn't go disappointed.

[ER70S-2]

Originally Posted by poppawheelie

Does the DR have a rev limiter, or is that just my carb running out of air when it goes "dut... dut... dut" at really high rpm? Sure sounds like a rev limiter.

Originally Posted by procycle

The CDI stops the party at 7750 RPM

[rsteiger]

To get more light from my DR, I ended up adding an Eastern Beaver Headlight Relay harness with an extra Hi beam power line. I made up some brackets to mount two 10W Monster LED spots up on the handlebar were the mirrors mount. This bracket also moved the mirrors out 35mm so I would be able to see around me.

[Adv Grifter]

Those side lights are great! Especially in Deer country. We have twisty roads here ... even a good headlight doesn't work going round corners. Those little lights seem perfect for that!

How many Watts do they draw? Cost or the pair?

[rsteiger]

Originally Posted by Adv Grifter

Those side lights are great! Especially in Deer country. We have twisty roads here ... even a good headlight doesn't work going round corners. Those little lights seem perfect for that!

How many Watts do they draw? Cost or the pair?

Here is the link for the lights.

http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hst...off/Detail.bok

I paid $80 each but right now it looks like they are on sale for $60 each. I may have to pick up a couple for my DL now!

They draw 10 watts each. Right now I have the RH side aimed pretty much straight down the road and I have the LH side aimed to the right (a crossing pattern) and off along the side of the road in an attempt to see deer a little bit earlier than usual.

[Ot tuda]

Hello, everyone.
I got a couple of questions.
I have a 1999 that was neglected.
1. does the speedo have backlight? mine does not light up.
2. can I use LEDs without relay?

[Aerocycle]

Originally Posted by Ot tuda

Hello, everyone.
I got a couple of questions.
I have a 1999 that was neglected.
1. does the speedo have backlight? mine does not light up.
2. can I use LEDs without relay?

The speedo does have a back light, if you look at the bottom of the housing you will see a little grey round rubber thing with wires sticking out. That's the back light. Mine was blown too when I bought the bike, I think its a generic 3 watt bulb. Just R&R.

On the LED's, I don't know, I'm figuring that out as well.... Anyone to clarify on use of LED's would be great. I am looking at going LED on turn signals, maybe the brake light, but I want them bright too and a decent price. I don't know if I have to use a relay, or if I can just remove/replace with the cluster style led bulbs...