LED headlight upgrade question

[Severeign]

Electrics ain’t my strong point so all ideas welcome. I’m upgrading the headlight on a Suzuki GSR600 to an LED light. The H4 connection is ‘plug and play’ but there is also a daytime running light wire which powers the two smaller LED strips (pictured top and bottom).

The stock headlight also has two smaller bulbs powered by the connector pictured. Originally I’d thought of just splicing the drl wire into the low beam wire on the loom but is there a way to connect the one wire from the new headlight to the two wires pictured? Is this a viable power source for the drl?

[WD Forte]

tap it into an Orange wire
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bikers smell of wee

[TravisBickle]

I don't know about the electrics and/or wire colours on your bike specifically like WD appears to but I'll try to expand on it anyway...

So let me get this right...

That black connector pictured bottom right is the original plug from your bike that goes into the back of the headlight cluster to power the sidelight? If so then yes, you can use it to power you DRLs. One of the wires will be live and the other earth. Just need to find out which is which. Getting the wrong one won't damage anything so feel free to do trial and error. 50% chance of getting it right first time.

Otherwise if you've got use of a voltmeter, anything that shows live with ignition on and no voltage when it's off would be fine also.
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[Easy-X]

The DRL connector is the positive side of those top & bottom LED strips and the negative side goes to the negative on the 3-pin main headlight connector. This is not a problem, the negative is shared between most components on a motorbike.

Connect up the 3-pin and check the hi/lo beam works. Run a wire from the LED DRL connector to one of the bike's DRL pins. Nothing? Try the other one. Then the only decision is which connector you replace to match the other, LED DRL or bike DRL.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Scotsrick]

Note the headlight regs are changing with regards to MOT testing:-

Quoted from the updates provided by the DVSA.

4. Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
4.1.4 Headlamps - Compliance with requirements - Sentence changed from 'Some motorcycles may be fitted with high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps. Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.' to 'Some motorcycles may be fitted with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) headlamps. Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with HID or LED bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.'

[redeem ouzzer]

[TravisBickle]

[jeffyjeff]

[wr6133]

^^ wot he said. Changing the whole unit should be ok, should depending on the beam pattern and how much your tester gives a shit.

[steve the grease]

The way bulbs and LED/HID emit light is totally different. The filament in a light glows and emits light all over, some shines out of the front, most reflects off the reflector from the optical centre in some fashion or other giving a beam , some of which is occluded to give a dipped beam ( basically the light that will shine up is cut off).

LED/HID shine intensively, but only within a limited angle so a regular reflector just shines it all over the place as we all know.

Specifically designed LED/HID headlamps, great , £5 quid ebay 'bright but shite' special no chance. A sensible piece of legislation, unless you enjoy being dazzled. .
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All the above is my personal opinion, you can see my lips move, but I'm talking out of my arse.
I've been riding, and fixing , bikes for 50 years, in that time the more I learn, the less I am absolutely sure of.....

[MCN]

Fitting HID to halogen reflectors has always been illegal for road use.
The Police could always give a compliance order to fix it or issue a NIP.
But like exhaust mods and or engine performance mods it's not always simple to measure.

And people can d what people do and present a legal unit for MOT then swap when passed.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Ribenapigeon]

On a related area, are there any rules regarding indicators to be aware of? I hate the stock ones on my xj6 and would like to upgrade to led but have seen some ones which do the progressive lighting up thing, would they be OK or should I just get normal flashing?

[MCN]

[Ribenapigeon]

I believe they need to:
Be of a certain brightness
Show a visible light all around and from certain angles above too.
Not leak white light.
And flash on and off at a certain frequency.
And not present a hazard to pedestrians in the event of collision.[/quote]

These are what I'm looking to get https://www.ledperf.co.uk/sequential-led-indicators-for-yamaha-xj6-n-p-37001.html

I just don't want to go spend money then have a bloody MOT fail.

[TravisBickle]

Again, if they're E-marked I really can't see you having a problem.

Most aftermarket LED indicators consume less current than the stock bulbs and will result in rapid flashing unless you either put an inline resistor on each side (R&G do a plug and play one that's inexpensive) or replace the flasher relay with one designed for use with LEDs. Even if it's E-marked it should fail the MOT if they're flashing too fast so make sure you do one or the other. I recommend replacing the relay, much easier and makes for a tidier job without having to chop into wires etc.
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[TravisBickle]

Looking at that link you sent a bit more closely I see they are E-marked AND come with the resistors so you should be good to go
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2024 BMW M1000XR
2021 Honda CMX500 Rebel S
2016 Triumph Tiger 1050 Sport

[Severeign]

Thanks for all the input. Dropped in to see my usual mechanic (who does my MOTs) and he said “it’s got the correct marking, all down to the beam pattern when it comes to the MOT’ which is fair enough (been using this garage for years and I trust his judgement). Will install and keep fingers crossed it gets through the test. If not it’s not the end of the world, can just put the stock light back on (even if it is ugly as sin) until I find another.

[Ribenapigeon]