I'm hoping someone out there in ADV land will have a suggestion or two about this: What I want to do is add lights to my BMW F800GS. It's a CANBUS system. I've tried HID conversions for the low & High beams, but so far haven't found a system that plays well with the CANBUS & doesn't deliver a big "Lamp Failure" code & warning light. While studying the problem, I realized that a big part of my problem with the stock lights is that the high beam light pattern does not extend beyond the low beam, it just makes a hot spot in the middle. This makes me want to ad auxiliary lighting instead of improving the OEM high beam. Ideally, I'd like those lights controlled by the high beam switch. That way the high beam will brighten up the near distance, and the aux. lights would reach further into the distance, all with one switch. When I need to dim my lights, I want to just use the one switch. I can't just tag on to the power line to the high beam feed though, that will annoy the CANBUS. So here's my question: Is there any sort of device that would perhaps sense the current in the circuit to the high beam that I could use to trigger the aux. lights simultaneously? I'm thinking of the way a timing light senses current in an ignition wire, but hey . . . what about a photo cel in the high beam light housing?? Thoughts?
Perhaps I wrote too much and clouded the issue. I am trying to trigger the aux. lights with the OEM high beam switch, along with the OEM high beam, without introducing any additional current draw in the high beam circuit that will cause an error message from the CANBUS system.
Wire the lights through a relay with the relay trigger connected to your high beam. The relay will pull about between about 80 and 175 milliamps. Your high beam is pulling 3500 ~ 4000 milliamps. Your bike's electronics module won't care about the difference. I use the low beam of my R12GS to trigger all of my switched accessories. That way they aren't powered until after the bike starts.
The extra current drawn by the coil of the relay is very small and won't cause an error in the canbus system.
Just be sure to trigger the relay for the aux. lights of the hi-beam light circuit, not off the switch. The switch is just a low(very)current ground input to the ZFE, completely separate from the lighting power circuits. Oh and by the way, none of this has anything to do with CANbus.
I assume then that two relays triggered by the high beam circuit would also not be a problem? I am thinking of running two sets of aux lights on a r1200gs, one HID and one LED
Getting? it's been borderline Deliverance for a long time. Now it just went to Pulp Fiction, Which one is Zed and which one is Maynard?
You're going to need a bunkmate. Another Severe Cold Advisory here today. Good luck getting the door open buddy. I tolerate him cause there's an ocean between us. If he shows up at my door I'm calling the gang.
If you want instructions on where to tap into the light circuts, this is what Tourtech does with their Fog+HID aux light combo. They have thier istruction sheet on line. David
