Replacing the headlight control unit

[Thoppa]

Hi,

Anyone found a quick way to change the headlight bulbs ? There doesn't seem to be enough space behind the bulbs to do it without removing the front fairing - anyone found a way to avoid this ?

I wanted to run some LED H4 bulbs but the HCU won't let me - it seems it has a load detection circuit and the load is too low. So when one bulb goes, they both go off. That's just dumb. With LEDS, the bulbs come on briefly but then turn off.

So I got two relays on Ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251832583469?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

and removed the hcu and cut the wires going into the connector. There are two thin wires, one blue, one white, that come from the switch. There are two thick wires blue (hi beam) and white (lo beam) that connect to the bulbs. The green is earth and the red/white is always live from a 20amp fuse - be careful not to short that.



The relays come with wiring harnesses - the yellow is the coil controlling the switch, the blue is the input voltage, and the black and the red are the switched output voltages.



To get at the hcu - remove six screws around the brake levers, and then lever down the black "handle front cover" on page 198 of the manual, then remove five screws to remove the windscreen, then unclip the coloured handguard. Then two screws to remove the black "front cover" centre piece, and lever that up. The rest is stripping wire, feeding on a piece of shrink wrap, twisting the wires together, soldering, heating the shrink wrap to insulate the join, then some electrical tape to insulate and keep the water out. Going slowly, doing it well, about two hours.

Changing the bulbs is a major pain - another hour - get the front fairing off (10 screws and 3 bolts), remove the rubber lamp protector, squeeze the lower retaining clip pins together at the bottom so they come off, remove the connector, fit a new bulb into the lamp, put the clip back on, then the electrical connector, then the rubber protector, repeat for the second bulb, then refit the fairing. I broke a bit of plastic holding the retaining pins at the top so I also had to repair that.

What a job.Hopefully the led bulbs will last forever so I never need to do that again.

[sc00ter]

I tried leaving the two screws on the "hooked" cover just above the headlights thinking that 1: The hooks will hold it on without screws and 2: I would not have to remove all the upper stuff like the windshield and such. Well, my idea did not work. That "hooked" cover will not slide up far enough to release. Thought about just snapping the hooks off and using velcro but the scoot rattles like crazy now-so I dont want to make it worse. Oh well, I thought I had a great idea for making the headlight cowling easier to remove. It just didnt work out in practice. Dont forget to put a towel over the front fender when removing the headlight cowling/shroud, as its easier to rest the assembly on the fender while unplugging the headlight wires. Big, clunky and awkward! Yes, my fender is all scratched up!

[Thoppa]

I guess there is no quicker way than to remove the front. Might get quicker with practice but who wants to practice that? I tried one hand from the top and another from the bottom but those retaining clips were too tricky, cos there's not enough space.

The LEDs are brighter but the beam is more dispersed - more like fog lamps than headlights. That's fine here where there is lighting everywhere at night but would be a problem if I were back in the UK with lighting only in the towns.