R1200 GSA 2008: CanBus and fog lights

[spacey1]

Hi Techies,

QUESTION: How sensitive is the CanBus to seeing less that expected wattage at a globe?

JayCar have a range of LED driving lamps for extraordinary low prices.

Each is available in flood or spot.

From the specs:

1. 4" - 25 w 2A 12V 1733 lumens = 200w halogen brightness
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SL3930

2. 5" - 34w 2.8A 12V 3400 lumens = 300w halogen brightness
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SL3918

3. 6.5" - 80w 6.6A 12V 6300 lumens = 500w halogen brightness:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SL3922

4. Standard BMW Fog light H11 / 55w 4.6A 12V

QUESTION: How sensitive is the CanBus to seeing less that expected wattage at a globe?

I know that when I put in a LED front park light, the CanBus threw a 'LampF' error on the dash which wouldn't go away until it was removed.

I accept that the 6.5" LEDs are going to go over the top unless I install a relay and power off the battery (which I would like to avoid).

Any clues to how the CanBus will respond to lower wattage LED driving/fog lamps.

Possibilities:
2x 25w < 2x 55w

4x 25w < 2x 55w (2x floods + 2x spots)

2x 34w < 2x 55w

Less current draw = better fuel consumption of course.

If you have to insert a resistor to match the expected current draw, it's a moot point really...
Would really like to plug into the standard system.

Ta
nev

[Bozo]

The GSA has a separate fuse and relay for fog lights located behind the ECU. I suspect there is a good reason for this.

Davey Sprocket had a lot of grief with his enhanced light setting on his 2008 GS (the ex Bully Steel Pig). The problematic farkling I think was down to relay problem. He might be worth talking to.

[spacey1]

Thanks Boz,

We're making up a load rail to check where the limits are...

But will talk to Davey. I know Cookie was involved with setting up the Sprocket GS.

[jono]

Nev

I run the led park light and HID high beam no problem with 1200GSA CanBus
The park light installation did cause the lampF error but off / on of the ignition and all was well!

Cheers
JonO

[spacey1]

OK, finally got around to adding LED lamps to the front of my GSA.

The LEDs make great DRLs. It's quite obvious that traffic knows that I'm there.

The standard BMW plastic lamps both cracked at the mounting hanger.

JayCar have these small LED lamps that actually fit inside the crash protection bars on the GSA.

I made a couple of small T-shaped steel tabs out of 1/8" bar and drilled a hole into the standard lamp hanger.

Top pair are spot beams whilst the lower pair are flood beams and are pointed outwards to the side.

These LEDs draw, in total, less current than one of the standard BMW lamps. And the CanBus has not complained.

I have asked numerous club members about their brightness during the day.

The feedback I'm getting is suggesting that the lamps are not blinding, but extremely visible in broad daylight.

The mounting and the LEDs survived the dirt roads to the Kennedy Ranges and back, and the heavy rain of the last month or so.

[spacey1]

Update on the BMW 1200 GSA 2008 CanBus and fog lights.

Firstly, the fog lights have a separate circuit. Under the very front of the Left Hand fuel tank cover, there are 2 relays with 2 fuses that provide power to the fog lights.
That is, relay and fuse for each lamp. The standard fog lamps are 50 watts each.

The JayCar lamps were rubbish. They provided an awesome spread of light, presented beautifully as DRL, however, one after the other, these lamps vibrated to pieces.

Certainly not recommended.

Opportune timing came my way when I was chatting to Altronics about similar LED lamps. The rep for 'JayCar-like' LED lamps came into the shop while I was discussing the problem with these LED lamps.

Both the JayCar items and the Altronics items were identical.

These are 2-piece lamps consisting of a base that connects to the bike, and the LED lamp assembly.
The base has a tapered slide fit to the lamp and is secured by a tiny 2mm screw.
This probably would be sufficient if the tapered slide didn't bottom out in it's mating taper.

But as it does bottom out, there is no tapered fit, only said tiny 2mm screw holding the assembly together.

The visiting rep at Altronics mentioned that most of the cheap lamp manufacturers copy each others products.
Stupidly, that includes copying the design errors.
The LED lamps sold at Altronics have the same fit problem for the base to LED lamp assembly.
So I didn't buy them either.

Re-visiting JayCar and pointing out the design fault on all the lamps that were in stock, I was expecting that they would pull all stock off the shelf and return it to the suppliers.
This did not happen.

So Buyer Beware

If you do decide to purchase these, check each item in the shop to ensure that the screw pulls the tapers together, otherwise...

[spacey1]

I always ride with the extra lamps turned on as DRLs (Daytime running lamps). The 'conspicuity triangle' (the property of being clearly discernible) is of great value in traffic.

Now, after all the 'el cheapo' LED lamps failed, I started to notice that motorists stopped seeing me. All sorts of crazy incidents started to occur.

So what to do?

I chased down a model run-out set of Denali LEDs (previous to Denali DR1) and supporting electronics at Adventure Moto for a very good price. Still not cheap!
The electronic wizardry is wired directly into the low beam and high beam circuits.
This enables the Denalis to run at half-power (5 watts) on low beam, while switching to the full 10 watts on high beam.
All operated via the standard BMW headlight switch.

In traffic, there was instant recognition by other motorists. Cheese and chalk.

At night time, the standard halogen lamp high beam light signature almost completely disappears from the road.

The Denalis are proving to be very robust.