Halfords Spots

[gazza]

The Beak and the Bar. ( M'lud

The beak protector ( Bush Guard ) Pidcocks about £23 including fitting kit, don't forget to ask for the fitting kit.

The Bar, ( light bar ) standard tv aerial. Just remove the 9, 15 or 18 cross bars ( they usualy all screw together ) cut to length then slid a length of shrinkdown on warm it up and hey presto a rubber covered mounting bar. Strong enough to support the lights and soft enough to bend if you happen to drop the bike without ripping the beak off.

 

[Malky]

The quest for the BAR a Result, I love this board

You know the ariel reference did it for me. Yesterday I was eyeing up all the ariel stuff at B&Q etc. Thinking the only square stuff is on an ariel and they all seem a bit pricey just to rip apart.

I then had the notion to pop down to my local tip and find something along the lines of aluminium ladder or if lucky an ariel.

Clearly I was having a mental block. Until you guys gave me the nudge.

Ariel was mentioned once more. "Hang on, I wonder if there is an old crappy one in my loft space". Sure enough BINGO. It even has end caps ! Fantastic.

Now do I really need to heatshrink with a length of shrinkdown ? I guess my electrical store would be the place. I may make it all up first then do this is I think it will be more pleasing to the eye.

Cheers. all particularly richwi and gazza.
now I am off to find another bar one that sells the falling down stuff

 

[Simon Eassom]

Rich:
To be precise, the Adventure "beak" extension is now available to order from any BMW dealership. It is £17.88 plus VAT. To describe the extra as a "fitting kit" might be misleading. It's six torx head bolts (two slightly longer than the other four), six washers, and six threadlock nuts. Mine didn't come as a kit, but in about 7 packets each itemised and costed (e.g., washer 6 x £0.12 plus VAT). The extras (the "kit") came to £3.02 plus VAT but you'll probably find you've got enough stuff in your odds and sods box to do the trick.
Anyway . . . looks good. Easy to fit but traumatic drilling into your pride and joy. Totally irrelevant and highly satisfying!
Glad to see you're back with us!
Simon E.

 

[Keith Chapman]

Malky
Now that you have nicked the ariel from your loft will you be needing a mini dish to watch TV.

I suppose you can make one from the old Dustbin lid thats behind your garage.

I feel your next project coming along

 

[Greg Masters]

Anyone copying Lee Bastin's excellent light bar design at http://www.gsclubuk.com/gsmisc/auxlights/auxlights.htm should note that the mounting bolts are M6, not M5.

Greg

 

[blackduck]

Couple of questions

Regardless of where you fit these lights are they set up to dip with your main beam?

The mechanic at the dealer made abig deal of the diognostic info that can be sourced from the earth on the GS and that home fitting lights etc can if botched screw this up.

What do you reckon was he softening me up?

Cheers

Stephen

 

[gazza]

Aux Light Circuits

Hi Stephen, firstly the aux lights are switched on when you select main beam or flash as the control relay is operated from the main beam circuit. Switch to dip and the lights go out.
Actual power for the aux lights is directly switched through the relay from a fused wire connected straight to the battery, so does not affect the bikes main circuits. As for the lights affecting the grounding of the bike, if you follow the instructions published, there will be no problems with the diagnostic function of the earth supply.

 

[blackduck]

Well that seems a bit pointless so when you are on your own on the road it's like daylight and then when a vehicle is coming the other way you are reduced to bog standard dipped 55watt OME.
Anyone gots spots that dip with the headlight, can it be done?

thanks

Steve

 

[Greg Masters]

A couple of comments in respect of the above queries:

The Motronic diagnostic is not in any way affected by fitting spotlights EXCEPT if you disconnect the battery when you physically fit the lights (good idea!!) it will wipe out the diagnostic history to that point. If your bike has been running OK, why worry?

Yes, the spots can be easily wired to extinguish when you switch off main beam. Come what may, if you have extra lights, you should use a relay. Simply connect the relay 'on' trigger terminal to the main beam feed.

If you want to add an extra switch to selectively turn on your lights with main beam, simply place this switch in the line from the relay 'on' trigger terminal to the main beam feed.

If you want to use the CycloActive Autoswitch for this, connect its red wire to the main beam feed, not the ignition feed as described in the instructions.

Greg

 

[Greg Masters]

Re-reading Blackduck's question which I now take to ask 'can I fit spotlamps that dip?', I'd have to say that this would be either expensive or trickey or both.

You would have to find dipping spotlamps. Something like the Cibie Oscar H4 would do, but they are large and ££££'s.

Alternatively, you could use a dim-dip arrangement, but you'd have to wire in a chunky resistor - something around 1 to 1.5 ohms at 10amp rating.

It's all too much ag!

Greg

 

[Simon Eassom]

Forgive my stupidity, but what about wiring the two spots separately, one )left) connected to the dipped beam circuitry and one (right) to the main beam circuitry?
Simon E.

 

[roger miles]

My light bar, as seen at Sarratt last night, was sourced from B&Q (as used by Greg), £2 something for a metre - yes it makes two?
I sprayed it with Plastikote "Flat Black" which matches the matt black paint and plastics. Couldn't find end caps so machined some out of mahogany and sprayed them as well.
Fitted Halfords small spots and wired it all up - took all day but fairly straght forward and well, well worth it. I am delighted with the results, they fill in all round the main beams. Now somebody said they do a 110w bulb that fits straight in.......
Whole thing based on Lee Bastin's plans, thanks Lee! (Some dimensions etc. changed slightly)
PS, I ordered a cyclegadgets BMW auto switch last Weds and it arrived by surface mail this morning - impressive delivery, I'm retiring to my shed.

 

[fredkat41]

wiring

Roger,

I am waiting for m switchie thing to arrive. Did ou have any prblem fitting it.

Fred

 

[Greg Masters]

Fred

If you can wire a plug, you can probably cope with the AutoSwitch. When I wired mine, I wanted to build in total reliability so, where possible, I soldered all joints and insulated them with heat-shrink tubing.

However you want to switch your extra lights, you will need an automotive relay (£3-4 from your local motorist shop). Some come with a small bracket that can be bolted in a suitable location. And finding suitable locations is one of the more challenging parts of the exercise. Paul G's photograph at http://www.gsclubuk.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1127 might give you some help.

You will need to cut into your indicator cancel wire (which can be accessed either in the fusebox area or in the terminal blocks under the tank, and need to find a permanent live feed (battery +ve terminal would do), an ignition swtiched feed (available in same terminal block as indicator earth) - but see my earlier posting on this.

On my bike, I have also used the LED display that comes with the AutoSwitch. You certainly don't have to and could just bundle the wires out of harm's way near your AutoSwitch mounting. But the LED gives a useful 'kick' when you've held the cancel button long enough to trigger the switch.

It took me a complete day to wire mine, but I'm fairly fussy about the quality of my own work. At a push, I could probably do the same job again in a couple of hours.

Greg

 

[Malky]

When I put my halford spots on it took half a day. But then I did rtake off the tank and every little bit (well almost) of the instrument panel apart for another job that freed up one of the switch positions.

I used this switch position to put in the halfords switch (I have the kit that comes with relay and switch etc). Usually this switch position is used for the heated grips, but I don't have them.

Maybe I'll upgrade to the Autoswitch but so far I'm OK with the manual one.

BTW: Left the spots on for a while. Killed the battery OH dear that goodness for Optimate III.

 

[Simon Eassom]

At a push, I could probably do the same job again in a couple of hours.

OK Greg . . . what can I offer you in return for turning a whole weekend of my fumbling efforts into just 2 hours of your expertise.

Simon E.

 

[gazza]

Techie weekend

Good idea's sometimes form from nothing. Simon you may have hit upon something here. What with new horns, lights, switches
crash bars and different beer there may be another meeting on the cards.

 

[Greg Masters]

City Slicker may be up to it, but I ain't wiring up half of anyone's bike (mine included) in a dark pub car-park when there are better things to do.



Greg

 

[Greg Masters]

Simon,

I've always fancied a decent degree. Can you fix me one of those and I'll wire your lights (in truth, the work is probably on par with writing a 20,000 word dissertation!).

Greg

PS If you want to contact me off-line, I'm sure that we can come to a suitable arrangement to do the job.

 

[Simon Eassom]

I've always fancied a decent degree. Can you fix me one of those and I'll wire your lights (in truth, the work is probably on par with writing a 20,000 word dissertation!).

Hhmm . . . not sure about the trade. If I get commissioned to write 1,000 words of comment for a daily national with a deadline of four hours before going to press, they pay me anywhere between £600 and £1000. So, I know what I'd rather be doing with 2 hours of my time!

However, if it's a degree you want, well these days you just have to register and pay your fees and three years later we'll give you one regardless. Cost you about £15,000 all-in if you're full time but you won't sweat a drop.

Simon E.