KTM RC8 LED headlight conversion

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Installation and review of H7 Philips X-treme Ultinon LED gen2 headlight bulb

I knew the headlight on the RC8 was not great, but it only became truly apparent after a ride in the dark, with a tinted visor.

It seems the previous owner had fitted a dodgy HID kit, or a bulb had exploded. The headlight reflector had burned, and no amount of cleaning made it any better. The lens was also smoky near the top, and the bottom of the inner upper plastic housing also had some evidence of burn marks.

In order to improve things, I bought a used headlight from eBay. I gave it a quick test with halogens and thought that would be that. After stripping down the bodywork to take out the old headlight I decided this would be the last time for changing bulbs.

Besides, every light bar the headlight is LED as standard on the RC8. I decided to complete the set, as LEDs are longer lasting, and less susceptible to vibration. Also changing a headlight bulb is very fiddly unless you take the headlight out, which is rather tedious.

After some research, and mediocre experience with H4 LEDs, I decided to go with the Philips X-treme Ultinon LED gen2. OK £99 is a bit steep, but if they last “up to 12 years” as advertised, then I’ll probably be OK 😊

https://i.postimg.cc/sfP7dvtp/00-Side-By-Side.jpg
The bulb ‘filament’ area matches up with that on a standard H7 halogen. This looks promising. There's an array of LEDs on both sides.



https://i.postimg.cc/jd7VSY4Q/01-Adjustability.jpg
Build quality is good, a fan and heatsink on the back make it a bit bulky but there’s also an adjuster for angle which is locked by grub screw, allen key is provided – turned out not relevant for me, but could be useful in some cars.



https://i.postimg.cc/d395LnDF/02-Fitting01.jpg
With the lamp removed, I installed the LED unit in the aperture and snapped into place the retaining clip, a dental pick was required as there’s no finger room left when everything is installed.



https://i.postimg.cc/qBZLZtnj/03-Fitting02.jpg
I marked off the positive and negative feeds on the standard connector to make life easier for future me. <boffin>It's the D part of LED that requires you to respect the polarity </boffin>



https://i.postimg.cc/RFxrtsCJ/20191011-154346.jpg
A quick check on the final depth reveals it’s going to be tight – but still doable, I wanted to keep the original covers to stop insects, water and that God damn Loch Ness Monster getting in.



https://i.postimg.cc/vmNr2kxD/05-Fitting04.jpg
A check on the size of hole that would need to be drilled in order to pass through the electrical feeds. On a car they recommend you fit everything inside the headlamp and seal it all inside. This is not possible with the RC8, there was only just enough room inside for the light, so the drivers and connectors will be located outside behind the headlight - hence drillage and fillage.



https://i.postimg.cc/c4vNV8zH/06-Fitting05.jpg
Hole drilled and deburred, wires passed through – H7 bulb connector will be put back on in due course.



https://i.postimg.cc/TPB622Wx/07-Fitting06.jpg
All connected up, trimmed down some grommets to pack the oversized hole and give the wires an easier life. Added some heat shrink just to be sure.



https://i.postimg.cc/Zn7jZnCF/08-Fitting07.jpg
A bit of the old universal black gloop to seal it off a bit better. This doesn’t need to be 100% waterproof as there’s other connectors behind the headlight that are also exposed - these sit above a splash shield.



https://i.postimg.cc/j2F6m1FM/09-Fitting08.jpg
Now to stuff all of that in here – it was very tight and the dash display unit was removed to see exactly what was going on. Main concern was keeping wires away from chafing/trapping and not pressing upwards on the back of the dash. In the end both driver units ended up in the lowest half of this recess area, above the splash shield and just below the OEM connector.



https://i.postimg.cc/t40W6FQn/10-End-Result.jpg
Testing the unit, before refitting the bodywork. Made sure the LED cooling fans were heard to be spinning, and main beam plus dipped beam came on as planned. I put in an LED 5W sidelight while I remembered I could swap it out from the CBR600. Would not have been best pleased with myself if that bugger blew and had to be replaced.


TLDR - before & after; what you probably came here for

https://i.postimg.cc/J7vTzTxb/11-Halogen-Low.jpg
Beam test – this is before – H7 halogen low beam. A bit of reflection from standing water, and the lamp is aimed a bit low. In real life this is adequate. Meh!



https://i.postimg.cc/9M3MMHD6/12LedLow.jpg
After... H7 LED low beam, nice horizontal cut off, noticeably brighter, good hotspot and shadowing is not too bad.



https://i.postimg.cc/dVpQHcjh/13-Halogen-High.jpg
H7 halogen high beam – this is before - nice and bright, as before this was aimed a bit low at the time, just as you would expect really.



https://i.postimg.cc/MKrzHJ49/14-Led-High.jpg
After... H7 LED high beam – in fact the RC8 lamp units are separated so low and high beam come on together whenever high beam is on. Thumbs up from me.



https://i.postimg.cc/VvV2fm6M/15-Half-And-Half.jpg
B O N U S image!
This was a mix of LED dipped beam (bottom) and halogen main beam (top) on together just for comparison.

£99 !!! - are you a decadent western pig?
Yes, £99 is not cheap, but an OEM LED headlamp unit isn’t either. I could have gone with a cheap HID kit, but I know these LEDs run cooler, and after seeing the damage on the old headlamp I decided not to experiment. If I don’t replace the equivalent halogens every other year at about £22 a throw then I’m up on the deal, especially if you factor in time spent.

Will it pass an MOT?
I hope so, although they are technically not road legal despite arguably having a better cut-off than the halogens. I will update this thread next year 😉

My mate has some £9.99 LEDs and they’re brighter
I think your mate is irresponsible, please ride towards him at night time. The beam pattern on 99% of other LEDs on the market is not compatible with reflector housings. The area where the light comes from is outside of where the halogen element emits light from. As a consequence the horizontal cut-off tends to be blurry and the light is not centred properly where it is really needed, in the hotspot area. They also throw a lot of light up the side of the road. Good luck getting his money back if they fail after a few months.

What are the advantages of LED over halogen?
Lower power draw (21W per ‘bulb’ vs 55W)
Lower heat output
Brighter
Longer life

Disadvantages
Cost (for decent LED units)
Initial "flash" response on main beam is not as quick as halogen, but subsequently they're faster to respond.
Potentially not passing an MOT
Bulky, hard to find space on some bikes to hide the drivers.

Conclusion
Not that hard to fit if you've got the space to squirrel away the drivers, connections are decent quality and the instructions were fine.
Although I went off script, as the LED drivers are recommended to be sealed into the lamp, but I had the means to bodge it properly!

8/10 - retrofit LEDs are improving, these are gen2 not sure how much improved over gen1 but gen3 when they arrive will probably be marked road legal.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8