Headlamps

Both my old 2008 K1200S and my new 2015 K1300S have halogen lights as the factory installed head lamps.

On my old K1200S, I upgraded the halogen lights to HID lights by DDM Tuning. These were relatively expensive at the time and required that we create a custom bracket to hold the three ballasts. The light output on the DDM HIDs was impressive though the lamps threw the occasional LAMPF error, particularly when I used the high beams. (This was due to the difference between the resistance of the halogen v the HID lamps).

 

Given the advancement in LED technology in the past eight years, I wanted to install LED and not HID lighting on my K1300S. The advantages of the LED lights include: longer life, lower cost, lower energy consumption, immediate full light output, and smaller ballasts. I have followed testing of various LED lights on the K1600 forums and decided to order 3 LED lights along with resistors from a reputable seller on eBay.

To test the new lights, I installed the LED bulbs with the factory light cover off. I also attached 50W resistors to avoid the LAMPF errors with the old HID lights. The results were impressive. The light output and dispersion are far brighter and more uniform than the halogen factory lights. The photos below show the low beam and high beam headlight output. The chairs in the photos are spaced 25 feet apart. By contrast, the factory halogen lights barely lit beyond the second chair.

 

 

The next step was to install the LED lights. First, we determined that the LED lamps’ small ballasts could fit inside the existing light enclosure. For the LEDs, we could use strong double stick tape to adhere the ballasts. We didn’t need to build a custom bracket like the HID lamps. The added advantage of this was that everything fit within the existing weather-sealed compartment for the lights.

 

 

Our only concerns were 1) potential overheating of the LED lamps within the sealed compartment (because the fan was exhausting within a sealed compartment and, unlike the halogen lamps, it was a focused point of heat in the rear of the compartment) and 2) the need for resistors to avoid LAMPF issues. We drilled a hole and placed a thermostat within the lighting compartment, then rode for an extended period with both the low beam and, later, both the low and high beam lights on.

The low beam headlight registered 31 degrees Celsius. High beam lights (with the low beam light also on simultaneously) registered 47 degrees Celsius. All of these are within the tolerance of the ABS plastic enclosure.

Also, no LAMPF errors were generated while the resistors weren’t connected. Therefore, we concluded that we could keep the new LED lamps including ballasts in the original K1300S lamp enclosure and without using the resistors.

Additionally, I installed LED bulbs for the city light and the front turn signal indicators. I also installed rear turn signal bulbs but, because these were dimmer than the standard bulbs, I reverted back to the factory bulbs. the rear tail light on the K1300S is already LED.

For more safety, we also installed Skene Design front (Photon Blaster) and rear (P3 Lights) visibility lights.

Updated on March 14th, 2019