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I rang bmw the other day and asked how much to have extra lights fitted to my 1150 gs, they told me to muster up £440 and they would be delighted to fit a pair of fogs, I declined the offer. I then checked out this very site and learned enough to have a go myself and this is the outcome. First off I had to decide what I needed the lights for. I do not go out in fog so they were not needed but I do enjoy night riding, hard to avoid it at this time of year so some extra driving lights were what was needed but then dipped or main beam, I live out in the country so main beam use is very high, so that was that, a pair of spots to come on with the main beam. Which ones though, well I figured that car spots would probably be the best bet, seemingly cheap and certainly easy to obtain so I nipped off to Halfords and bought a pack of "ice blue" spots which came with a wiring kit and brackets all for £39.99, while in there I asked about the suitability but that was a waste of time, the people in there were plainly lacking in the product knowledge department, so I paid my dosh and took my chances.
Ok before I did anything else I set the whole thing up and tested them, wires all over the place but they worked so you dont need to do the same. First was the wiring, a daunting prospect but using a little bit of logic it all worked out, the instructions were very good but what I really needed to know was how to connect into the main beam supply??..A quick call to BMW resulted in them telling me that the wire colour for the main beam was WHITE, the other wire being brown was the earth, so I removed enough of the screen and cover to get my fingers in and pull out the plug at the side of the main beam light, I then cut the white wire below the plug and connected the blue wire from the spots as instructed. I reconnected the white, now with my blue spot wire back to the plug and plugged it back into the main beam light. I ran the blue lead under the tank, feed it through with something long and flexible to avoid taking the tank off and did the same with all the other wires so that they all met back under the seat near the battery including the earths and positives from both spot leads which I had taped to either indicator boom so they did not get pulled back under the tank. I connected all the different earth leads together then attatched the lot to the suspension bolt under the seat, loosened the nut stuffed in the wires then tightened up again. I connected the red wire to the battery positive as instructed. Now all wiring was done, time to make the bar to support the spots. Local iron mongers, buy a steel bar 2.5cm wide by 50cm long by about 5mm thick. Mark the centre of the bar then using basic maths mark your two holes at each end which will have the spots brackets hanging from them, then look under the big lip above the front wheel and you will see two bolts almost in line with the indicators, these support the oil cooler. Mark their position on your bar. Drill all your holes on the bar, six altogether, file down the burrs, wire wool the steel then clean and paint with hammerite black smooth finish. Get two same diameter bolts which are about twice the lengh of the original ones. Put washers between the bolts and the bar underside to fill about a cm then secure in place, I used the two bolts that came from the back rack support which I removed some time ago to replace with a givi box. Then small matter of using 1 cm bolts with nuts and fitting spots in place. A liberal use of black electrical tape over the exposed leads and cable ties to the wiring around the forks to prevent any fouling and that was that. I have to say that this system is brilliant, the roads are lit up like fantastic, total cost £51.50 plus my labour. Also looks the bollox when flashing other bikers or whatever. If you want them on all the time instead on dipped beam simply connect your blue to the white that goes into the larger, headlamp wire, couldnt be simpler, watch out for dazzling oncoming vehicles though.
Ok before I did anything else I set the whole thing up and tested them, wires all over the place but they worked so you dont need to do the same. First was the wiring, a daunting prospect but using a little bit of logic it all worked out, the instructions were very good but what I really needed to know was how to connect into the main beam supply??..A quick call to BMW resulted in them telling me that the wire colour for the main beam was WHITE, the other wire being brown was the earth, so I removed enough of the screen and cover to get my fingers in and pull out the plug at the side of the main beam light, I then cut the white wire below the plug and connected the blue wire from the spots as instructed. I reconnected the white, now with my blue spot wire back to the plug and plugged it back into the main beam light. I ran the blue lead under the tank, feed it through with something long and flexible to avoid taking the tank off and did the same with all the other wires so that they all met back under the seat near the battery including the earths and positives from both spot leads which I had taped to either indicator boom so they did not get pulled back under the tank. I connected all the different earth leads together then attatched the lot to the suspension bolt under the seat, loosened the nut stuffed in the wires then tightened up again. I connected the red wire to the battery positive as instructed. Now all wiring was done, time to make the bar to support the spots. Local iron mongers, buy a steel bar 2.5cm wide by 50cm long by about 5mm thick. Mark the centre of the bar then using basic maths mark your two holes at each end which will have the spots brackets hanging from them, then look under the big lip above the front wheel and you will see two bolts almost in line with the indicators, these support the oil cooler. Mark their position on your bar. Drill all your holes on the bar, six altogether, file down the burrs, wire wool the steel then clean and paint with hammerite black smooth finish. Get two same diameter bolts which are about twice the lengh of the original ones. Put washers between the bolts and the bar underside to fill about a cm then secure in place, I used the two bolts that came from the back rack support which I removed some time ago to replace with a givi box. Then small matter of using 1 cm bolts with nuts and fitting spots in place. A liberal use of black electrical tape over the exposed leads and cable ties to the wiring around the forks to prevent any fouling and that was that. I have to say that this system is brilliant, the roads are lit up like fantastic, total cost £51.50 plus my labour. Also looks the bollox when flashing other bikers or whatever. If you want them on all the time instead on dipped beam simply connect your blue to the white that goes into the larger, headlamp wire, couldnt be simpler, watch out for dazzling oncoming vehicles though.
