[Daboo]

... I get the LAMP error after several minutes of sustained high beams. ... Am I doing something wrong? Could it be heat building up in the housing?

Try unplugging the harness for the bulb from where it joins the bike's wiring harness...and then turn it over 180 degrees and plug it back in.

I've read that in situations where they don't work initially, that this will fix it. Maybe it'll do the trick for you. I'll see if I can find a link to reference, but in the meantime, try it.

Chris

 

[Daboo]

From Troubleshooting Guide for HID & LED Headlights | XenonHIDs.com

Chris

 

[jmsnyder01]

Upon further review, I am in fact part of the 2% that this bulb apparently doesn't play well with the canbus. So, back to my original question... have you guys and gals found bulbs that do? I think I read earlier on this thread that the Cyclops works. Now that some time has elapsed, is this still true? Thanks again.

 

[Daboo]

I've been using LED bulbs from Amazon for years now. Some tips for your purchase.

• Don't get suckered into buying the brightest bulbs you can find. There's a tradeoff here. More lumens, means more current being consumed. An advantage to using LED headlights is the lower current needed. Get enough lumens, and you'll get no current savings.
• Too bright of lights will get you flashed by oncoming traffic...or you'll have to point them down lower and not get the distance. It looks like my last purchase back in 2021 was 25W each and 5000 lumens each...and I get flashed.
• Amazon's listings for LED bulbs always double the lumens because you're buying two bulbs in the order, not one. For reference, your old halogen bulbs put out about 1500-2000 lumens.

Chris

 

[Blapper]

My other bike is a custom that I've built around a Motogadget CCU. It uses a similar bus system but I can access the settings in detail and make it learn the new system requirements so it knows correctly when there is a blown bulb. Shame they donn't all have 'calibrate' modes like that.

 

[Thumpin]

There is a similar thread in the GT Modification section, and I posted a lot of information on page 6. A member posted his succes in using the Lasfit brand: F800GT full LED headlights system

With the stock filament bulb I often had people in cars/truck pulling out in front of me - with the brighter/whiter LED it happens far less often.....I believe the light is far more noticeable in the daylight.

There are hundreds of poorly made LED bulbs - I have bought a few crappy ones and the beam pattern can be awful with dark and light blotches, and inadequate control of the upper cutoff on low beam. It is not unusual for the LED to be polarity specific, and if the LED doesn't work initially you may need to reverse the polarity of the connector. I also believe the CanBus is looking for a certain amount of current draw from the bulb, and if it doesn't see that minimum amount the error code can be triggered (as I mention below a Lasfit 35 watt bulb triggered the Canbus in my R1200RT but the same brand 50 watt did not and I am running that bulb in my R1200).

I have had very good luck with a couple of light brands.....Lasfit and Cyclops.

With the Lasfit brand you get a good light pattern, a self contained light without a separate driver, and an affordable price. They only come in pairs....so you get bulbs for both high and low beams in the same order! The 35 watt model tripped the Canbus in the R1200RT - but worked in the F800GT. The 50 watt model worked in both without triggering the CanBus. You may be able to get these to work without the extended caps in the headlight housing....but I used the longer caps.

H7 LED Bulbs 6000K White｜LASFIT

45mil Flip chips on each side of H7 LED bulb to provide more lighting effects in lower power consumption. It can be 200% brighter than your factory halogen bulb and more lighting effect in 50 wattages (per set).

www.lasfit.com

The LED I am currently running is the Cyclops in both high and low beams. I have been using them for several years and they work great. You will definitely need the extended caps to get the bulb and driver and connector installed (the connector between the driver and bulb is excessively long and fiddly to get in the extended housing....you have to move stuff around a bit until it all fits). It is expensive - but it works great. You need to buy 2 if you want to do both the low and high beam.

4.8 Platinum H7 LED Headlight Bulb-CIL-LED-H7

www.cyclopsadventuresports.com

 

[Armanr]

Here's my take on leds for the gt. I have a china h7 led bulb I bought as a pair for 18€, and a 3d printed extended cap I made to fit the fan and ballast. I only have it on the high beam as it's very bright, it pulls a bit over 40w per bulb. I did not install it on the low beam as I wouldn't want to blind oncoming traffic, but haven't tried it.

 

[Daboo]

I like what @Armanr has done. It's classy. If you're not as adept as he is in making a larger cover, there's another way to add the LEDs to your low beam.

What my simple drawing is trying to show is how to make the existing cover work.

1. Remove the existing cover (blue).
2. Remove the rubber o-ring gasket.
3. Drill a hole in the bottom edge (orange). This is why the rubber o-ring is removed.
4. Once you have the hole just big enough to put the wire harness for the LED light ballast through...and no more...put the rubber o-ring back on.
5. Use Velcro to hold the ballast on the outside of the cover like in the picture below.

This is looking down from the left side of the bike.

The ballast is waterproof, and in fact this is where the Cyclops people put it after my first couple of bulbs failed. I had seen how on the GS bikes, they put the bulb and the ballast inside the cover. Two of their bulbs failed right at the 1 year mark...I think from the heat in the enclosed space. On the third bulb, they put the ballast on the outside. That bulb has been in there, untouched, for about 50,000 miles with no issues.

It's not as classy as making an extended cover...but it'll work. And it'll keep the heat out of the light fixture.

As @Armanr mentioned, he didn't want to blind oncoming drivers. I think that's great. Being considerate to oncoming traffic is not only nice to them, but also to you. If you blind the oncoming driver...they could run into you. That would ruin your day.

So here are two ads on Amazon that I want to point out some things to look for.

Note how many lumens these two bulbs put out. 36,000 lumens! That's definitely not good. It comes out to 18,000 lumens per bulb, which is definitely in the blinding hot sun category. If you put those in your bike, I hope the first LEO who sees you, writes you a huge ticket. Note also that they are using 120 Watts. Divided in two again, because they are two bulbs, you're using more power for these bulbs than a standard halogen bulb does. If you're trying to find ways to save power...and LED headlights are a great way to do so...these bulbs will leave you with less than you started with for things like heated gear.

On the other hand, here are some I bought in the past.

Note the lumens again. It's 10,000 total lumens or 5000 lumens per bulb. Your standard halogen bulb puts out 1571 lumens, so this is three times brighter. Note also that the bulbs are only using 25W for each bulb. In other words, if you put this in your low beam position, you'd be saving 30W of power to use on something else.

Bigger and brighter is not always better.

Chris

 

[Gsxf65]