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Headlight Bulb Replacement?


rickmoen

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Any quick tips on replacing a low beam headlight bulb on a '14 RT? Seems like all of the small-handed and strong fingered kids are out of town. Just thought I'd ask before removing tupperware. Thanks in advance for any ideas or prayers.

 

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There are a couple threads here about that.

 

Easiest way to do it is from the front of the bike. Move the horn out of the way. You can reach in and up from the front of the bike to wiggle off the two spring clips. Done by feel. Not as hard as it seems.

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Moving the horn did help open up a bit more room to work. Nearly done - still need to secure the last spring clip. I'll just keep wiggling it until it finally latches.

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I didn't move the horn, but the front reach up from the underside of the faring worked for me. Did it by braille and to took about 15 minutes, but could do it in 5 minutes now that I did it once. The trick of the spring wire retainer is that the latch tab slots are hook shaped so you have to pull the wire toward the bulb while squeezing wires to the middle to unlatch and latch again.

 

Recommend using thin work gloves as the tension of the spring wire will bruise your finger tips a bit.

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It's hard to believe that BMW is still making us do contortions to change these bulbs that don't last. Don't most modern motorcycles come with LED headlights now-a-days???? :dontknow: :dontknow: :facepalm: :facepalm:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a 2017 RT that is on it's fourth low beam bulb in 49K miles. With my arthritis and 71 year age this is not acceptable...usually taking me an hour each time and much pain. My 2008 RT was almost as bad going through the low beams at about 15K intervals, but at least it had a bit larger opening. One would think that BMW could have remedied this after all these years.

 

Ron

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kellenbenz,

 

Looks like your 2017 R1200RT takes a H7 in the LO beam, H1 in the HI. I'd bet they are CANBUS, also. Fleabay shows a bunch, mostly pairs of bubs for cars, which means you get a spare bulb.

 

H7 LED CanBus headlight bulbs

 

The first bulb is 6000K (white-white) and 180,000LM (Lumen Meters - very bright even if that is a combined total), for $22 for the pair, delivered.

 

Most of these type LED "bulbs" are super easy to install by installing just the mounting ring into the back of the reflector first, then inserting the LED "bulb" into the ring.

 

 

Edited by Lowndes
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Most of these type LED "bulbs" are super easy to install by installing just the mounting ring into the back of the reflector first, then inserting the LED "bulb" into the ring.

 

 

While easy to install, the problem with LED conversion bulbs is two fold. First is finding one that does not cut back power due to overheating. Second is finding one that keeps your CanBus system happy.

Went through that on my RT. Here is a link to what I found. The original link does not work, but the one towards the end by another owner is the same bulb. LED conversion

 

Edited by realshelby
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Most of these type LED "bulbs" are super easy to install by installing just the mounting ring into the back of the reflector first, then inserting the LED "bulb" into the ring.

 

 

While easy to install, the problem with LED conversion bulbs is two fold. First is finding one that does not cut back power due to overheating. Second is finding one that keeps your CanBus system happy.

Went through that on my RT. Here is a link to what I found. The original link does not work, but the one towards the end by another owner is the same bulb. LED conversion

 

Realshelby,

 

While none of my bikes are CANBUS (99 R1100S, 99 R1100RT, 00 K1200RS), I have installed LED headlight bulbs, Lo & HI, by a variety of manufacturers and sources in all of them. They are all also the fan cooling type LED bulbs. I have never had any of the cooling problems or lower light output problems referred to. Could this be a CANBUS thing ??

 

The RT has the fan on the outside of the rubber boot/dust cover while the R11S and K12RS both have the fans inside the cover, still without problems.

 

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Overheating is not a CanBus issue. I had two bulbs do this. One was a $120+ dollar bulb from Europe. You would NOT know it was cutting back power unless you were riding at night. They looked more or less normal in that they had a very white light, but the light down the road was diminished greatly. If you rarely ride at night you might not notice that until you do. It is all about airflow over the cooling elements. I did not try the fan type as I was concerned about how much room they take up and several reports of the fans failing on the cheap Chinese units.

 

LED conversions into non-CanBus vehicles is a LOT more likely to be successful. I ordered 3 completely different bulbs as well as two different resistor kits trying to make LED lights work in a Ford Cmax I had. Never got the lights to come on! On the bike all the lights I tried came on just fine. A couple immediately had the CanBus light come on with them and stayed on.

 

There have been several owners contact me after buying and installing the bulb I found to work. Like them, I felt the work to do the conversion was more than worth it. I did not want to add auxiliary lighting to this RT, and the night vision with one incandescent low beam was not up to modern standards.

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For what it's worth, I found a tip on line about using Napa Auto Parts Wagner h7 bulb as a long lasting replacement and I have to say I haven't replaced one of those yet. Ymmv.

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Realshelby,

 

I've looked at the static, braided copper heat dispersal type LED bulbs. Not impressed. It seems to me there isn't much mass (braided copper or aluminum) at the source of heat to wick the heat away from the bulb (someone commented that it stays cool to the touch). I think braided is more "marketing" than heat dissipation. Also, those bulbs seem to be on the lower end of light output (lower lumens), maybe for the simple reason that they can't deal with that much heat. The LED's are not far off the price of halogen bulbs now, anyway. Also, I've had these little fans on all my computer CPU's and graphics cards, plus a few extra fans for RAM and SSD's for years, most of them never turned off, and I can't remember ever having one fail. I think they have these fans figured out.

 

Even with the fan entirely inside the cover on the headlight, there is enough surface area sitting in the wind stream and turbulent air inside the fairing that the fan can transfer the heat to the enclosed air that then transfers it to the shell. Mine work just fine, anyway.

 

If a fan dies (and the bulb with it), I usually have the second bulb handy, but that has not happened yet on any bike or car. I MUCH prefer the light output from these LED's over any halogen or HID and will gladly pay the price for another fan type LED, IF/When that ever happens. I'm more afraid of deer at dusk or night than the road and the light output sure makes their eyes shine a long way away.

 

 

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Looking at the braided type heat sink is one thing. Actually using them while testing other types is what I based my writing on. You can touch the bulb housing where the braid comes out of it. Stays reasonably cool. With these braids outside the housing, they stay cool to the touch going down the road. Unlike the finned LED bulbs that would actually scorch you! Again, I did not try the fan type. They may be just fine. I can say, after over a year and many thousands of miles, that the braided heat sink type bulbs are quite good at controlling the heat produced at the bulb. I found that lumen output claims are not worth much. Comparing bulbs I didn't see a lot of difference in actual light, until some were on for 30 minutes or so and dropped off due to heat. I figure simple is better. No moving parts is one less failure point.

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