HI LO HID Installation on 99 K1200LT With Pics !

[JPSpen]

HID Installation on 1999 K1200 LT John Spencer

Step 1 Remove the nose cone… You really need to do this. It makes the job easier. I’m not sure you could do it with the nose cone in place. I know some have, but not me..
I’m not going to go into this.. There is plenty of good info on how to remove the tupperware. I will say I found the center mounting of the instrument cover had broken off and I had to epoxy that back in place before re-installing the instrument cover. This is the one behind the map light…

Step 2. Pic1

I went ahead and pulled the headlamp assembly out of the nose cone so that it was easier to work on, It is only 3 more screws and I thought what the heck.

Step 3. Pic2

Remove the bulb cover and both lamps. Remove the screw holding the wiring to the hi-beam and pull the two ground wires from the hi-beam snap clip…You’re going to have one ground wire that you’re not going to use, the one on the low beam lamp connector, so just wrap it around the connector and secure it with some tape so it won’t float around.

Step 4. Pic3

Here’s where I went off on my own…
I used a hand file to cut a small gap in the flange of the headlight housing just wide enough for the three stock wires to pass out of the headlight housing. Pic 4

Step 5. Pic5

I drilled two ¾” holes in the Bulb access cover directly above each lamp.
This is for the new lamp wires to pass through and their grommets fit the ¾” holes.

Step 6.

Disassemble the high beam lamp, There are two pieces, The black plastic rear portion and the galvanized metal front portion. Pull the black plastic rear portion from the metal part and remove the lamp. There are two tabs one either side of the black plastic that are pushed in to disengage the two pieces. Remove the stock lamp. Next, you’re going to push back the release tab and remove the ground strap from the black plastic piece. You’ll save this for when you go back to stock. It’s a Z shaped piece of copper that contacts the bottom of the stock H-3 bulb.

Step 7.

Now I used a fairly aggressive round file to enlarge the hole in the center of the black plastic part enough to pass the HID lamp’s leads through. Leave as much plastic as you can on the side that the ground strap came out of so that it can be put back on if/when going back to stock.


Step 8. HI Beam. Pic6

DON’T TOUCH THE GLASS ENVELOPE OF THE BULB !!! IF YOU DO CLEAN IT WITH ALCOHOL BEFORE YOU INSTALL IT INTO THE HOUSING.

Leave the protective bubble wrap on the lamp itself but take it out of the shipping protector.
Pass the leads and grommet through the black plastic rear part of the lamp mount and then carefully place the lamp into the metal holder. Snap the black rear part into the front metal part the same way it came apart. Now you can remove the bubble wrap from the bulb itself and carefully insert it back into the housing and secure the snap keeper.

Step 9. Low Beam

Replace the H-7 stock lamp with the HID lamp just by removing the screw from the hold down and inserting the new lamp in the same spot. Re-secure with the original spring and screw.

Step 10. Pic7

Pass the high and low beam wires through the two holes in the cover and secure the grommets in the holes. Put a small dab of silicone RTV in the notch you cut out of the flange in the housing and route the three original wires out of the housing. Put another dab of silicone RTV on top of the wires and replace the cover…Gently take any slack out of the HID wires so there is no excess inside the headlight housing. Pic8.

Step 11.

Re-assemble the headlight assembly back into the nose cone. 3 screws.



ELECTRONICS. Pic9 and 10

I got some High Strength Superlock Fastners # 64-2360 from Radio Shack to secure the electronics to the shelf. The shelf is the top of the headlight assembly. Clean all surfaces thoroughly with alcohol and mount the Igniters as shown with the leads for the lamps in the center.. Install the ballasts ON THEIR SIDE not on their bottom as in the picture. It won’t go back together unless you stand the ballasts up. I found this out on re-assembly. One will hit on the windshield motor and the other an electrical connector if mounted on their backs….This is the only thing I had to change.

Route the wires all nice and neat and ty-wrap them LOOSELY at this time.

I made a Y adapter for the ground wires because there was only one real ground wire there and I needed two. One for each lamp. The other was just a jumper and we taped it back to the original connector a while ago. Get some connectors from the AutoZone and crimp one together. I also soldered mine.

Plug the positive (red) wires from the ballasts into the appropriate sockets on the original connectors. YELLOW is low beam and WHITE is high. Wrap the connections with electrical tape to secure and waterproof. Plug the negative leads (black) from the ballasts into the Y adapter you made and then into the original ground. Tape all these connections also to prevent moisture entry and corrosion. Pretty up all the wires and ty-wrap them down.. Don’t overtighten the ty-wraps and dig into the insulation of the wires…

Re-connect the original headlight power connector to the headlight housing and set the nose cone in place… Now is the time to test to make sure everything works…

Re-assemble the Tupperware and take a nice ride in the dark…I hope this sheds some good light on installing your HID kit…

As Always

YMMV

John

[pgeller]

Nice installation, good pics.

One thing bugs me; with this wiring you have a total of one 16 (maybe 18) gauge ground wire (brown) responsible for carrying all the current of both ballasts. Granted, the original lights pulled about 9A through that same wire when both were lit, and that should be down to 7.5A or so with the HID. But with the HID, startup can consume 10-13A each for the first few seconds, tapering down to 3.2A when settled. When you turn your key ON with the high beam engaged, at least 20, possibly 25 amps will be carried by that one skinny wire and it's crappy spade terminal. If the supply voltage is less than 12.8V (and it often is on these bikes, owing to all the skinny wire and undersized connectors between the battery and the lights), the current could be even higher at startup. Also, the AMP Timer Junior connector used on the original headlight is generally not recommended for such high current.

I'm not sure of the implications, but were it my bike, I'd install a decent-gauge harness and relays between the battery and ballasts.

Cheers

pg

[Dick]

Hi, John - Hall of Wisdom candidate and winner for sure. Thanks for sharing; great job that'll help a lotta folks 'see the light'.

Take care, ride safe.

[JPSpen]

Most of us tend to agree that the relays are not necessary.

I do agree, however, that the ground is a little small.

I thought I'd see how it holds up.. The startup current only lasts a sec or two. I certainly don't leave my hi-beam on when starting or turning on the bike so hopefully they both won't be starting at the same time. If you're squeamish on the ground you could just run a heavier wire to any good ground point on the frame and be done with it. Shouldn't be much extra work and if it would make you feel better go for it...

John

[Portguyofva]

John,
Incredible post! Thank you for sharing.

[surfran]

John,

Thanks for posting the steps and pics. I like the way you have done this, looks neat and thought out. Sure will help if I tackle this one.

Randy

[airborneod]

Now that's what I call a Detailed Post!!! Thank you so much!

[Toolman]

I have taken the liberty of putting John's excellent post into a pdf file (attached). Makes it handy to print everything out at once (including the pictures). Enjoy....

Toolman

[Texas42]

Great post, I am doing the low beam soon and this will help a lot. :)

[messenger13]

I just finished my HID install. I would only recommend using an AutoSwitch to control the HIDs via a relay. A little more work, but now that I'm done I'm really happy with the functionality of it all. And I don't have that whole light ON, OFF, ON every time I start the bike. Shame on BMW for doing this in the first place. My Ninja's headlight doesn't come on until the bike is running.

[Toolman]

Joe, did you go with the Autoswitch that wires directly into the turn signal cancel switch?....and if so...which one?...the single or double push?

[messenger13]

Joe, did you go with the Autoswitch that wires directly into the turn signal cancel switch?....and if so...which one?...the single or double push?I went with BOTH of them. The single press controls the HID. The double press controls a set of halogens. It's my understanding that you must install the older version (single press) before installing the newer version, according to the documentation that came with my switches. Quite frankly, I don't understand why this would be so...but that's what the instructions state. Call Sean at Cycle Gadgets if you really need to know the answer to that question.

[Toolman]

I might just take a ride over there (to Cycle Gadgets that is) to pick one up. It's a nice 40 minute ride for me to Plymouth, IN. In fact, I paid Sean a visit last Friday for my GPS mount and Powerlet/Battery Tender pigtail. What a great guy and a super business. Thanks for the info Joe.

Toolman

[tarheel_rider]

do not start by pulling out the high beam light :o

I installed the HID low beam yesterday with some help (ok a lot of help - but my incompetence overwhelmed the great help I had lined up). We got started on the wrong foot by pulling out the lower bulb (which turns out as many of you know to be the high beam light). We just couldn't figure out how to plug in the wires for power and ground. We made some emergency calls to John and Joe (thanks guys for calling us back and trying to help us), but we still couldn't figure out the instructions to just plug it in. The low beam light has the yellow and brown wire into a connector that the bulb plugs into. The high beam has a white wire into a connector and the snap holder (my made up term) acts as the ground with the brown wire fastened to it. So, we finally decided to plug the red wire (power) into the connector where the white wire was and jury rig the black onto the piece the brown wire was connected to. Hooked it up and turned it on just to make sure it worked and it did indeed. Then, just because we hadn't wasted enough time, we decided to replace the HID bulb with the original bulb because things just didn't seem to fit. After swapping out 3 times and looking at it through the front and trying out the high beam on the final trial hookup, it dawned on us that we had been working on the high beam, not the low beam. AH HA, put the high beam back in and pulled out the low beam - and all of a sudden the instruction just to plug into the original connector made sense. It really is that simple. Anyway, just in case someone else does the low beam replacement only, here is one additional picture that shows things in the right place when you are trying to do just a low beam replacement.

The red and blue wire are from the HID bulb (goes to the ballast, which wires into some black box, which has red and black wires from it). We cut a small hole in the case to pass these wires back into the housing and plugged them into the connector for the brown and yellow wires, then tucked it off to the side and put the cover back on.

Finally got it to work and then moved on to the other tasks, flushing the coolant and installing the PIAAs (which turned into a story of its own right, but this post has gone on long enough). By starting at 8:30 AM, we finally buttoned the bike back up at 12:30 that night. We figure any abuse we get is well earned for all of our mishaps - we couldn't stop laughing at ourselves most of the day. I hope our follies saves someone else from making the same mistake.

Cheers, Joel

[tarheel_rider]

Well adding the picture is going about as well as the HID install yesterday. I've tried 4 times and it just won't go. If anybody cares, I'll e-mail them the crazy thing - but this is more exasperating than trying to get the light replaced.

[Dick]

Well adding the picture is going about as well as the HID install yesterday. I've tried 4 times and it just won't go. If anybody cares, I'll e-mail them the crazy thing - but this is more exasperating than trying to get the light replaced.
You have just GOT to come to CCR and volunteer to help out on the tech session --- it alwayz can use a leetle levity and it sounds like you've got that part down pat!!!!!! :D :D :D

Just kidding, really. I think it's great when one can have your attitude after Murphy's Law has struck --- I end up throwing thangs which have sentimental attachments to Cheryl and in the end, it costs me a 'forgiveness' gift. No cheapies either!!!

I wish I could help you on the picture posting thang, butt I spent several hours today trying it out - got it to work, butt dang if I remember what I did when it did. Sheesh on me.

And thanks for sharing your wrenching experience. It'll help somebody avoid that same initial 'wrong path'.

[JPSpen]

Picture is probably too large... try resizing it to a smaller size... my 1024 X 768's always go through..

Glad you got things worked out....

John

[tarheel_rider]

Thanks, that seemed to be the problem. Here is the pic.

[markbreen]

HID Installation on 1999 K1200 LT John Spencer

Step 6.

Disassemble the high beam lamp, There are two pieces, The black plastic rear portion and the galvanized metal front portion. Pull the black plastic rear portion from the metal part and remove the lamp. There are two tabs one either side of the black plastic that are pushed in to disengage the two pieces. Remove the stock lamp. Next, you’re going to push back the release tab and remove the ground strap from the black plastic piece. You’ll save this for when you go back to stock. It’s a Z shaped piece of copper that contacts the bottom of the stock H-3 bulb.

Step 7.

Now I used a fairly aggressive round file to enlarge the hole in the center of the black plastic part enough to pass the HID lamp’s leads through. Leave as much plastic as you can on the side that the ground strap came out of so that it can be put back on if/when going back to stock.




Hello John and everyone else,

Thats a lot for the post, it is great, I am currently installing the two HIDs for Hi and Lo. I have filed as you suggested the black housing for the H3 bulb, but what I cannot figure is how to hold the bulb in place. On the bulb I removed, the copper contact also acked as a spring, to keep the bulb pushed into place, having removed the copper, I no longer have the forward tension on the new HID lamp. Am I missing something? At first I thought perhaps my black plastic was out of shape, but I do not think so now. I cannot imagine that it sits loosely in the black plastic housing. If temperature were not an issue, I would consider some silicone, but I am not inclinded to hold the new HID in place with Silicone? Any advise would be appriciated.

Thanks again

[RaffyK]

Mark:

Why was the copper retainer removed? On all my HID installs we used the retainer to keep the black plastic bulb holder pushed in. It is critical that the depth of the HID bulb be correct so that it does not create a halo (black spot) effect when the high beam is turned on.

Which/whose kit are you using?

Are you running separate ground wires?

[markbreen]

Mark:

Why was the copper retainer removed? On all my HID installs we used the retainer to keep the black plastic bulb holder pushed in. It is critical that the depth of the HID bulb be correct so that it does not create a halo (black spot) effect when the high beam is turned on.

Which/whose kit are you using?

Are you running separate ground wires?

Hello Raffy,

Perhaps we are talking about two different copper retainers, I was referring to to the copper retainer that was pressing against the bottom of the H3 Bulb, it was the negative side of the circuit. I had to remove this to allow the H3 bulb to fit in the centre of the black plastic housing and it associated metal collar.

I think that you are referring to the copper retainer that holds the entire assembly for the H3 bulb in place. This second copper retainer has the two brown negative wires attached to it. This retainer is still in place, although the bulb assembly is not quite 100% tight, about 16th of an inch of play exists. If it were not for the heat, I would pad the plastic assemby with a little piece of paper, but not in here. But to be honest it looks OK. I was considering wrapping some bare copper wire around the retainer as a means of packing the gap between the retainer and the plastic, but this will bring its own risks also.

I eventually got the H3 bulb to sit in place inside its souround. I am not completely satisfied with it. I wish that I could hold it tighter in place with something to press it forward, but there is not an easy way to acheive this. I am intending to try it for a little while and see how it goes. I have not re-assembled it all yet, and I have not installed the ballast even yet, so if you want to make any replies, please do so.

I have read some of the comments about the single negative cable and the current being drawn at power up. At this stage, I will probably not use relays etc, if it all works when I put it back together, I will probably be satisfied. Of course relays would be better if the cable is going to over heat, but there is all the associated complications of mounting relays and ensuring that the cables are not snagged or come loose.

Thanks Raffy for your time. If I am wrong on the retainer, please let me know asap.

BTW, it took me three weeks to strip the tupperware first time, I removed the two side panels, the screen, the top plastic souround and the bottom two panels in 30 minutes and the nose cone today, not too bad!


Mark

[RaffyK]

You are correct on the retainer. There is no need for it. The difference between the other kits and that of www.hid-online.com (http://www.hid-online.com/) is the spacer they supply that goes beteen the metal collar and the bulb which keeps the bulb's depth in the right location.

Bulb + base + sit on top of balck plastic holder. Collar goes over bulb and keeps bulb and spacer in place and locks into black plastic.

You can use high temp silicone. But you need to make sure that the bulb is in the right position. A previous vendor hids4less (no longer in biz) used high temp silicone with mixed results as far as getting the depth correctly. HID-Online.com bought a K1200LT headlight assembly to come up with the spacer.

[garry_kramer]

What are the part numbers of the HID? and where do I get them?

[JPSpen]

Hey,

You'll need an H-3 high and an H-7 low kit for your 99 LT

Just call CQlight.ca 1.650.669.2811 is their phone number. Tell you need a mixed kit. H-3 and H-7. They'll box it up and send it to you ... good prices ansd you'll save on shipping by calling.....Looks like a good kit.

Only time will tell for sure.

Good Luck.


John

[surfran]

Well I finally ordered mine tonight. Last week I was caught riding at night and had to run the High beam just to see to get home. No way I am going to continue with that so tonight I ordered the set. I think they changed their name to HID Enlure at least that is what the confirmation email they sent me said.

I should have it by the weekend........I hope.

[KMC1]

Just did my High and Low beam, this set of instructions really helped out.

I need to spend a little time getting the high beam aimed properly, but overall it's a snap. The quality of the HID light pattern vs stock is oh, about 1 million times better.

Thank you for the excellent post guys! :beer:

Kevin

[rusmckay]

Hey, Thanks JPSPEN, Great post. I installed my CQ kit yesterday. Spent more time getting the nose fairing off, than I did putting the lights in. What difference, I used 6500k for the low, and 5000k for the hi. Light pattern and spead are great. So far no one has flashed their brights at me and both my Cop buddies say with all the HID lights coming on line in autos I shouldn't have any problems with the law.

[JPSpen]

It is very gratifying to me to make some small contribution to the community that has give so much to me. Both in technical knowledge and just friendship..

John

[UncleRock]

Great job
Question did you do the photos yourself?
(I always find I don't want to grab my camera with dirty hands)
Rock

[JPSpen]

With my Olympus C-4000 It tolerates my dirty hands fairly well.

I sometimes wear mechanics gloves when working on cars/bikes...

Especially if I'm going to be taking lots of pics...But really, the camera doesn't get so dirty that a wipe with an alcohol swab won't clean it right up..

I did get some stuff on the lens once that took a while to get off without doing some damage.:rotf: ...But cameras are getting better and cheaper everyday...

John

[simoncharles]

I have two questions.

Would these instructions also apply to a 05 model, and if not, what differences are there ?.

I have not looked under the seat yet, but in the XenonDepot HID kit there is a plug with a white wire and a black wire, which according to the instructions says "connect to car harness".

Sorry to ask this, but will I be able to distinguish which plug, presumably on the bike, this goes into ?.

All the rest seem pretty straight forward. I suppose I will have to remove some of the "tupperware" to get the wires to the battery.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

[JPSpen]

Correct me if I'm wrong here. But at least one of the lamps on the 05 is a different type...You just need to order the correct number for your bike..
Just look in your manual for the correct lamp type...H-3, H-7, H-11 etc...

All the HID's are basically the same except for the mounting base of the lamp. And I guess the length of the envelope.
That is where the different numbers come into play..

The high and low beams are in separate enclosures on yours I believe so I don't think it will be as difficult on your bike as it is on the earlier ones....I know there are several here who just ty wrap the ballasts and stuff up under the nosecone but I worry about that coming loose at a critical time....I would think you should be able to mount both ballasts and ignitors on top of your low beam just as on the earlier models....

Good luck and PM me if you have any more questions..

John

[zippy_gg]

I have two questions.

Would these instructions also apply to a 05 model, and if not, what differences are there ?.

I have not looked under the seat yet, but in the XenonDepot HID kit there is a plug with a white wire and a black wire, which according to the instructions says "connect to car harness".

Sorry to ask this, but will I be able to distinguish which plug, presumably on the bike, this goes into ?.

All the rest seem pretty straight forward. I suppose I will have to remove some of the "tupperware" to get the wires to the battery.

Thanks in advance,

SimonYou don't have to remove tupperware to connect wires to the battery. Kneeling in front of the bike, use a coat hanger to route your wires from the nose cone area through the "tunnel" under the tank, on the left side (while facing the bike).
I was surprised how easy it was when I did this on my '99.
You will however need to remove tupperware to get the nose cone out.

[simoncharles]

Thanks gents, that has answered one of my questions.

I got the kit with an H7 bulb, which as you know, replaces the original low beam bulb.

The plug "conect to car harness" I am not sure about, is the one here:
www.xenondepot.com/images/Manualls/mcman.pdf

I would imagine it is quite near the battery due to the length of the cable.

[zippy_gg]

Simon, you can either connect to the battery, or you can install a fuse-box on/near the nose cone and connect there instead. The additional fuse-box will give you the option of tapping there to power any farkles you want to mount on the dash or a shelf or handle bars, such as radar detector, XM radio, GPS etc...
There is no right or wrong answer, just do what makes sense to you.

[LeRoi]

This is a link to how I installed hi & low HIDs on the old site.

http://www.bmwlt.net/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=K1200LT&Number=300233&page=&view=&sb=&o=

The '05s are probably easier to do than the prior years.

[simoncharles]

Kirk/Zippy, thanks.
I am sure that it will easier than it looks, especially with all the information available here.
Will keep you posted.
Simon

[matt_rad73]

Great bit of help. Obviously with the oddity of the headlights I had to do a bit of improve while I was doing this but it all went pretty well. 2 small holes on either side of the top of the backplate of the headlight housing and mounting the ballists on the shelves. I love the low beam it with the dash adjustment works great, but the high beam is only good if I am plane spotting. Is it possible to adjust the high beam independantly from the low beam? Any ideas for adjusting this down? I used the retaining clip for my groudwire to mount to and I also used a zip tie to hold the retaining clip up as it seamed to be rather loose and easy to come off. I tied it around the clip and the little black plastic base, which I punched a pretty big hole in the bottom of to allow the wires through.

Thanks!!