How I installed LED headlight kit in my '89

[frankd]

I just bought the SpeedMetal 2200/2400 Lumen LED headlight conversion kit from CycleGear for $60. I don't know he long they'll have this sale, but they have it every so often. I wondered about the light pattern, so I removed the headlight from my bike and took it down to my workshop. I used a big wooden 'C' clamp to position it in a repeatable position. Before I took the Sylvania Silver Star bulb out of the headlight, I applied 13 volts to it and observed the light pattern on the basement wall. I marked the top of the main part of the light beam with a marker, and then repeated this with the high beam. I also marked the workbench where the 'C' clamp was so that I could put it back in the same position. I switched to the LED lamp and powered it up. There appeared to be very little difference in the beam shape or position, but of course the light beam was much brighter. The light beam on low was just a tiny bit higher, and the high beam was more than a bit higher. It looked great.

 

 

I connected it to the bike, and I had the headlight alarm in the CMS on, and I couldn't switch between high and low beam. Dingy recently showed a picture of the CMS printed circuit board and also where to jumper to eliminate the alarm.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/first-generation-venture-tech-talk/92274-jumper-cmu-leds-bulbs-prevent-warning-light-coming.html

 

 

Of course, the instrument panel has to be removed from the bike first. It's not a bad job, just take the windshield off and take the screws out for the front turn signals and let them hang by the wires. Look inside the turn signals mounting at the openings to the sides of the instrument panel. On each side you will see 2 phillips screws that hold the instrument panel cover to the instrument panel. Take the 2 that prevent the cover from sliding upward completely out, and loosen the 2 screws that prevent the cover from sliding toward the rear of the bike. Then just slide the cover toward the rear of the bike. To remove the instrument panel, using a 1/4” ratchet, long extension, universal joint, and 10mm socket, reach upward from the headlight opening and remove the 2 bolts from the bottom of the instrument panel. DO NOT REMOVE THE NUTS---they just hold the brackets to the instrument panel. Also when I had the bolts out of the threads, but still in the hole, I reached in from the top with a magnet tool and prevented the bolts and washers from falling when I pulled the socket off the bolt. Looking through the headlight opening, towards the left side of the bike (look right into the opening) you will find 2 connectors for the instrument panel---disconnect them. Disconnect the speedometer cable, and then pick up the instrument panel slightly to slide the top pins out of the grommets, and move the panel towards the rear of the bike slightly. Reach in and disconnect the 2 connectors on the back of the CMS (BTW, CMS=Computer Monitor System). Now remove the instrument panel. Place a soft cloth on the work bench and set the panel down face down. Take the screws out that mount the CMS, and remove the CMS. Take it out as 1 piece, there is no need to slide it apart yet. Lift the side that has the wire bracket under a screw first, and then when it's clear of the hole, slide it towards where the wire bracket was mounted. You'll see that the other side has a clear plastic piece on it that allows the panel bulb to illuminate the CMS. Separate the CMS but be careful. One board has a connector that can be pulled to separate that board. However 2 boards have a ribbon cable that you can't easily remove, so don't stress this area too much. The CMS light monitors have a magnetic proximity switch wrapped with a coil of wire. The lamp current flows through the coil, and creates a magnetic field, that closes the proximity switches. You need to solder a small piece of wire across the proximity switches for high and low beam headlights. Dingy has arrows pointing to the correct places to put the jumpers. Then re-assemble the CMS and re-install it in the instrument panel. (see picture of the back of instrument panel)

 

 

(See picture #1) You can see the RLU (Reserve Lighting Unit) at the top of the picture. Follow the wiring out of it to the connector. On the motorcycle side of the connector, cut and tape the G/R, Y/G, and the light green wires (the light green isn't shown in the picture). Now, you'll be able to switch between high and low beam, and the HEADLIGHT white lamp on the instrument panel won't come on, but the blue high-beam light on the instrument panel won't work. To get that working, on the motorcycle side of the instrument panel connector, cut the Y and the R/Y wires leaving about 2” of them still on the connector. Tape the 2 wires not in the connector (that you just cut). Using two 12” lengths of 16-20 gauge connect them to the Y and the R/Y wires from the connector. I soldered mine and used shrink tubing to insulate them, but you could use butt connectors. (picture #2)

 

 

 

Connect the Yellow wire to ground. I used a terminal and put it under the screw in the picture (picture #3). Shorten the wire before putting the terminal on it. Connect the R/Y wire to the headlight high beam lead (Y/R). On my bike, I've replaced the headlight socket, so I had soldered and taped connections to the new socket. I just untaped mine, wrapped the R/Y around the previous connection, soldered it and then taped it again. If you still have the original headlight socket, use a pocket knife and strip a short length of the Y/R wire, wrap the R/Y wire around the bare wire, solder it and tape it. (picture #4) This completes the necessary wiring changes and your LED headlight should work on both high and low beams, and you should have no alarms. Also, your blue high beam light should work.

 

 

Now you need to mount the LED light control module. In picture #4 you can see where I mounted mine. Then when I was installing the headlight into the bike, I saw that the control module was hitting the side of the headlight. I ended up using a heat gun to get the double sided adhesive pad to release and then I moved the control unit about 1/4” more to the left side of the bike. The connector between the LED bulb and the control panel has a lock nut, but on mine the lock nut wouldn't stay tight. To cure this, I wrapped the connector with electrical tape to prevent the nut from loosening.

 

 

Now it's time to install the headlight. Position the original headlight and the LED to control module wiring so that they won't get pinched by the headlight and the height adjusting mechanism.

 

Last night I rode the bike for a bit to 'test' the headlight---Low beam was a lot brighter than the OEM bulb, and the pattern seemed a bit wider. Nobody flashed their lights at me though. It's not a road burner. However when I rode along side of a car with halogen headlights, his beams looked like they were made by candles. The high beam wasn't that much better than the low beam. The high beam pattern seems to be pretty high.

Edited December 14, 2014 by frankd

[camos]

The high beam wasn't that much better than the low beam. The high beam pattern seems to be pretty high.

This does not seem to be a very positive comment. Are you happy with the way this LED kit works? If high beam is a bit high perhaps lowering the beam would put more light on the road.

 

Looks like a 2 prong connector. How does that work?

[frankd]

Well, I didn't ride too much, but I did get down some dark county roads. Probably some of the reason the head light doesn't seem to change too much is that when you switch to high beam, the low headlight stays the same and some additional light is added on the top of the beam--it looks like they switch on an additional section of the LED bulb. The kit is rated 2200 lumens low beam and 2400 high. Yes, I'm happy so far, but I only had the bike out for 2 short rides. When you say that it looks like a 2 prong connector, I imagine your talking about the headlight connector. No, it's uses all 3 leads of the original headlight connector. The original headlight connecdtor plugs into the LED's controller module, and then another cable comes out of it and goes to the LED. If it ever quits raining and the wind lets up a bit, maybe I could take some pictures of the light pattern on my garage door and compare it to the pattern of a car headlight.

[camos]

Well, I didn't ride too much, but I did get down some dark county roads. Probably some of the reason the head light doesn't seem to change too much is that when you switch to high beam, the low headlight stays the same and some additional light is added on the top of the beam--it looks like they switch on an additional section of the LED bulb. The kit is rated 2200 lumens low beam and 2400 high. Yes, I'm happy so far, but I only had the bike out for 2 short rides.

Not too long ago someone posted a YouTube review from a fellow who installed an LED headlight bulb conversion. Initially the new bulb did not put out enough light in it's stock configuration with the reflector hood installed. The manufacturers of the LED suggested removing the hood to get more light. After doing so the fellow said there was indeed more light but after testing on the road, he found he was getting flashed a lot. His conclusion was that the hood did not let enough light out and with out the hood there was no way to block the un-reflected light from the bulb.

Hopefully you can make sense of that.

 

When you say that it looks like a 2 prong connector, I imagine your talking about the headlight connector. No, it's uses all 3 leads of the original headlight connector. The original headlight connecdtor plugs into the LED's controller module, and then another cable comes out of it and goes to the LED. If it ever quits raining and the wind lets up a bit, maybe I could take some pictures of the light pattern on my garage door and compare it to the pattern of a car headlight.

Oh, OK, the big pic on CycleGear probably was just of the bulb and not of the controller.

 

There seem to be a number of LED headlight kits available lately. I have been wondering if the LED conversions suffer from the same issue that HID ones do with the light not quite being in the correct position to have the light properly reflected out of the lamp. I look forward to hearing about your experience with this setup when Old Man Winter lets up on you a bit.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with this Frank.

[frankd]

The weather has gotten much better here and my son-in-law was here to help me push the Venture around and help me with some pictures of the LED headlight. The LED headlight looked pretty good compared to my Ford FreeStar with regular halogen headlights. The pictures show the bike on low beam, then on high beam. Then you'll see the FreeStar on low beam, and then high beam. Then with the left headlight blocked followed with the right headlight blocked (low beam) and the right headlight blocked high beam. Then both high beams again. It's probably about 160' to my garage. The LED headlight looks better than I thought when I first rode at night. I also have LED driving lights on my bike (they were off for the pictures) and the dark area close to the bike would be quite a bit brighter with them on and aimed low. The pictures were taken with identical, fixed exposure and aperture.

 

Frank

[camos]

Perhaps aimed a bit high but the pix of the bike headlight pattern look pretty good to me. I'm inclined to give them a try. Thanks for getting back to me on this Frank.

[MasterGuns]

Frank, I want to send you a special "Thank you" for these instructions plus the personal help you gave me over the phone. I now owe you and if ever I can lend you assistance, please ask. The LED headlight install on my 86 is now complete with no CMS warnings and the High Beam indicator works just fine. All I need to do now is go on a test ride but I can tell the LED is a drastic improvement while just parked in the garage; even over the old 60/100 watt Osram I had in it before. Everyone with a standard headlight bulb needs to install a LED.

[syscrusher]

Is there any way that you could mount the "Freestar with high beam" setup on the bike?

It was the one that looked the best to me. Maybe the LED needs to be aimed a little better.

[frankd]

I pulled the LED headlight from the bike and put a SilverStar back in. The led headlight caused RFI (radio frequency interference) bad enough that only local FM stations could be heard. There was also medium interference to the CB, and a little bit to the AM also, but the FM was by far the worst. I'm going to try to contact the manufacturer to see what they have to say. The unit is not FCC compliant so they may do something.