LED Front Indicators

[PaulC]

Having obtained the Hornig clear front lenses for the K1300S, I was unhappy with the look of the orange bulbs which could be seen plainly through them.

I determined that the best way forward would be amber LEDs as they are largely white when unlit and thus would fairly much invisible. The only unknown was if the CANBUS would accept the LED globes without a hissy fit, though I suspected it would be fine as the R has LED fronts and it seems unlikely it would have a different system.

Long story short, amber T15 LEDs work a treat and no complaints from the CANBUS. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else was wondering.

No orange through the clear lenses except when lit is nice too.

[robertbentley]

I've been looking everywhere for amber front bulbs. Where did you get them ?

Cheers,
Rob

[PaulC]

Found them here.

The site is a mess but the service was top notch, bulbs arrived in Australia in under a week.

[kpavey]

I tried a couple of sub standard T5 LED lights but having already fitted LED rear indicators found the flash rate went to pot with both front and rear LED indicators.

In the end I used these as I had trouble sourcing the OEM bulb. These are super bright, significantly more so that the OEM. They are not that visible through the clear lenses. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polarg-M-5-Bl-H ... 399wt_1180

I assume you are still running the OEM rear indicators? Cheers.

[PaulC]

No, I have the BMW LEDs at rear, fronts for a K1300R if I recall correctly (think I obtained those rather than rears to ensure clearance for panniers).

Flash rate is unaffected, I'm guessing here but would suggest that perhaps the T5's fell below the draw level considered a fail by the ZFE?

[robertbentley]

I bought some ebay bulbs - they look just the same as the ones pictured above.
They produce a LAMPF ! error, and the flash rate is way too fast.

So they were waste of about ten US dollars.

Maybe I will splash out on the ones above, but they were 4 times the price. At least I know that they will work !

Rob

[GSteyn]

I have tried the same, and got the same error message

[kpavey]

Yeah if buying the front LED bulbs (non BMW) off eBay you need to find ones which say CANbus error free. From what I have seen there is no great magic in them, they just have a SMD resistor of around 120 ohms in parallel with the terminals. Sometimes you can see this in the pictures. If you were handy with a soldering iron, you could try putting a 1W/120R resistor over the terminals of the previous bulbs you already have. I haven't tried it myself however. I expect the W5W variants wouldn't have enough light output to be suitable. The Polarg ones are 16W (non LED) and are very nicely bright.

If you are anal about a clear bulb appearance you could try painting the Polargs chrome. Again I haven't tried it, and if you lose a few watts of brightness because of the chrome it wouldn't be a deal breaker given how bright they are standard. Have fun experimenting. Cheers.

[robertbentley]

OK so as I mentioned a while back, I too would love to replace my front indicator bulbs with LEDS. My rears are already BMW K1300R fronts (see above) but the front lenses are tinted, (whitelights brand) so I needed orange LEDS.

I bought some orange LEDS from ebay a while back, but they gave the LAMPF error, and they flashed far too fast.





Then a fellow member (kpavey)suggested wiring a 120 ohm / 1W resistor in series with the bulb. Interesting idea, but I don't want to cut any of BMW's wiring...

So it was off to Maplin - where I bought a few 120 ohm / 2W resistors, and fitted them to the LEDS.









I glued the resistor to the LED, and took the wires down to the contacts. I kept it tight so it would fit inside the indicator body.

I am very pleased to report it works perfectly. No error message, the flash rate is unchanged.

The LEDS are not quite as bright as before, and I suspect that with orange indicators they would be brighter still, but they are perfectly adequate. Thanks kpavey !!

Rob
UK

[kpavey]

Hi there Rob

Glad to see it worked out. BTW, I said put the resistor over the terminals, not hack the wiring harness...which is what you did anyway...

How hot does the resistor get? Might be able to get away with 1W resistors possibly if they are not scorching hot.

Well done. Cheers

[Eka]

That 1W or 2W doesn't mean how much power they use. It means how much power they can last. Both are 120 ohm, so both use at the same voltage the same amount of power and heat as much. 12V nominal voltage both has 12V/120ohm=0,1A and that means also 0,1A*12V=1,2W. That 1W should last that little overload well as signals are not all the time on and use is only few seconds.

[kpavey]

Sure but the regulated voltage of the battery when the bike is running is around 14V, not 12V. That's more like 1.6W. With the duty cycle of a blinker, 1W might still work, but 2W is a safer bet. Cheers.

[robertbentley]

Sure but the regulated voltage of the battery when the bike is running is around 14V, not 12V. That's more like 1.6W. With the duty cycle of a blinker, 1W might still work, but 2W is a safer bet. Cheers.

Well I got lucky then, cos the shop was out of 1W resistors, so I went 2W

[Blueiyz]

They now carry Canbus Friendly bulbs
Error free LED bulbs are specifically designed with built-in load resistors to allow them to be used with lighting control modules without triggering the OBC (on-board computer), which are commonly found in high end European vehicles such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsches.

168/194 Miniature Wedge Base CAN Bus Bulbs
12 VDC Wedge Base bulb (194/168 type) with High Power LED. Tower type, side, or top firing CAN Bus bulb.
WLED-CBWLED-CBT
WLED-CBT
WLED-x5-CBT:5 Radially Mounted High Power SMD LEDs, 1 Forward Aiming SMD LED, CAN Bus bulb - 360 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized
WLED-x9-CBT:9 Radially Mounted High Power SMD LEDs, 1 Forward Aiming SMD LED, CAN Bus bulb - 360 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized
WLED-x13-CBT:13 Radially Mounted High Power SMD LEDs, 1 Forward Aiming SMD LED, CAN Bus bulb - 360 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized
Available colors:
Information:
12V 360

[RobC]

I had an issue with converting indicators to LED, however to avoid the flashing rate issue, I installed these inline. Which have worked perfectly.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Load-Resistor ... 53ec718cef

[scrape]

Just wanted to confirm for everyone that the following LED's do work with the K1300s, fit well, and do not cause any can bus issues.

They can be purchased here: http://www.superbrightleds.com (do a search for "can bus" or with the part numbers below)

WLED-x5-CBT: 5 Radially Mounted High Power SMD LEDs, 1 Forward Aiming SMD LED, CAN Bus bulb - 360 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized (I used Natural White LED for headlight area W5W replacement and license plate light replacement)

WLED-x13-CBT: 13 Radially Mounted High Power SMD LEDs, 1 Forward Aiming SMD LED, CAN Bus bulb - 360 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized (I used amber for front turn signal replacement (remember with LED to match light housing color))

The replacement LED size is the same as OEM so there are no fitment issues to concern yourself with. They are very close to OEM brightness, maybe even a smidge brighter.

I use Weiser LED replacement kit for the rear turn signals and, ignoring the headlights, am now 100% LED, I have no can-bus issues, have not had to modify anything and the flash rate remains the standard rate and is not accelerated with this setup.

[CRASH!]

Dude, you're not 100% LED until you get those headlamps upgraded

Not that I have any suggestions there...

I'm in North Andover and will be getting my K-S within two weeks. My Ducati riding buddies are shunning me and I never developed any Triumph buddies.

Don