Winter project was to get some proper lighting on the 990 without hanging a bunch of aux lamps on. Was gonna go with the euro reflector setup but decided to look around a bit to see what else could be done. Found a great source of Hella lamps and parts at Susquehanna MotorSports: http://www.rallylights.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=359 . Ordered a 99802 Bi-halogen H9 hi/low projector and a 68152 H7 high beam with a city light, both 90mm in diameter. They also have genuine Hella xenons (HID) but they are pricey! Here are the new lights and the stock US lamp before the surgery began: Bi-halogen and bi-xenon lights are low beam projectors with a shutter for the beam cutoff that raises out of the way when high beam is selected. Great idea, especially when using HID because there is no delay or bulb warmup when you hit the brights. Here you can see the bi-halogen lamp on the right and the high on the left. Stock headlight bucket after removing the cover and reflector and starting to open up the hole at the back: Shaving down some extraneous metal on the low beam lamp: Cutting extraneous metal ears from the high beam: The top of the stock bucket only needed a little bit of dremeling to allow the high beam lamp to go in with an interference fit: The trim ring needed some extra clearance: Made some angle brackets and attached them to the mounting ring (58001) that I ordered with the light: Didn't use the aluminum ones; tapped holes in the steel brackets then positioned the mount in the bucket, securing it with 3 bolts from the outside. Ignore the "top" designation: Here's a top view with hi beam in and the low beam bracket in place: Side view with both lamps in: Front view with bracket painted: View from behind: Wired up with a relay for high beam (I'll post wiring diagram later): On the bike, without windshield. You have to make a little room for the back of the light by moving some wire bundles a bit. All done: Finally had enough snow and ice to clear so I could go for a ride tonight, although it was 19 degrees. How do they work? Pretty darn good! Low beam is wide with a nice cutoff; HID pattern seems a bit short front to back but it might be the cheap HID bulb. Didn't try the stock H9 bulb but it's supposed to be good. High beam is fantastic. Shutter raises on HID and halogen high fills in nicely.....very good coverage near and far. Now for the down side: adjustment is difficult. Start by aiming the high beam by shimming the whole bucket. I needed one washer on each top corner to aim the light down some. Then I adjusted the low using the adjusters that came with it. Heavy load in the back will require rear preload to compensate because you'll blind everyone unless your beam cutoff is set right. I'm thinking about drilling holes in the lens cover to get to the adjusters after you RTV the cover over the new lights. Could put a rubber plug in them. Wiring the lights up to do what I wanted wasn't too hard, and I'll post a diagram later. Gotta keep the low on when the high is selected. Don't know how this compares to a euro light; I've never seen one. I'm happy with this setup though, and it didn't cost a grand from TT.
I totally clicked this link thinking you were going to "Lighter" your whole bike, trying to shave weight here and there! Bahahahaha!! Yer setup looks pus, I'd totally do it but I'm so bloody blind I cant see past my low beams anyway. I put a 55watt bulb in the top spot in the light bucket, "That which burns twice as bright burns half as long", hell of a smoke show when the reflector started on fire!! So regardless of my blindness I still may use you brightness.
Thanks for being the pioneer!! I bought those exact 2 lights last winter with the same idea in mind and just haven't gotten around to fitting them up yet. One issue that was in the back of my mind was rear clearance. Did you have to modify the support bracket at all??
Nice set-up! I am just a bit concerned about heat dissipation, probably the 2 hella lights do not cool down enough during long rides. maybe a small hole or window in the front original glass will let some air in!
Thanks, Salzig. What I meant about the euro light comparison was, I don't know how my overall light output/beam pattern compares to the euro. My low is pretty good now, and the high is awesome. Boatman, no mod to the support bracket necessary, but I did have to cut the zip ties on some of the harnesses and move them out of the way. With the length of this light, it was a tight fit! What I did in order to put an on/off switch in for the headlight was to put a small pushbutton in the left switch housing, interrupting power to the center feed wire. Then, to keep the low beam on when high is selected, I jumped the feed wire (after the switch) to the low wire so it stays on. Used a relay on the high lamp to keep current low in the stock wiring.
Little known trick... You can pop the low beam + wire crimp out of the molex that plugs the light harness into the panel. Put it in the upper left hand corner, previously unused portion of the 6 place plug, and viola, you will have the low on with the high. This is how the Euro light harness comes. Only in the US is low beam switched off with the high. Its then possible to still use the low beam switched + middle right position to trigger a relay for driving lights iffin that was something you might wanna do for extra credit. The green wire. This is a spare harness I made a while back so the wire colors don't jibe. Upper left though is what you want. Nice mod ! Cheers
I have two questions if I may 1) how did you remove the lens? It seems that there are the clear tabs and the that pesty glue. Hints would be appreciated 2) did you consider the basic H9 version ? By measure of lumens they should work darn well Thanks, Steph
I knew there had to be a way. Anyone do a step by step for us electrically challenged folks? Where is this low beam + wire crimp out of the molex that plugs the light harness into the panel that you speak of?
I figured out how to take the the headlight apart. Hint oven about. 240 degrees and be willing to use some force, measured of course. Now I will order the lights. I will use the H9 loe beam and high beam. Simpler and hopefully just as effective. I might even take pictures of the install Thanks Alpo for the inspiration
