I'm reviving this post, as sometimes it's good to have the end of the story. I finish the project at end of April, but as always I like to test and take some pictures to share and write something that can help others, and never have time.
A brief summary:
The lighting at night on my MP3 left a lot to be desired (I live in an area with narrow roads, lots of potholes, and very poor lighting, not to mention the rainy and foggy weather conditions). After trying the most obvious solutions, such as putting H4 bulbs instead of H7 and making both low and high beams turn on at the same time (good light, very high consumption, 110W on low, 120W on high, and a pass situation would be about 230W, if they are standard halogen bulbs, if they are Osram Night Breaker or similar, this increases to about 140W on low and 150W on high, combined almost 290W in pass, it is quite high for the original MP3 electric system/installation) or putting LED bulbs (dispersed light, without focus and generating great annoyance to other drivers, not counting the trend of bulbs of more than 6000K or 6500K that bother even more and are horrible in rain or fog, and the only ones I got of 4500K in the UK, the emitted light was very very bad), or putting auxiliary lights, which in the case of the MP3 I did not see a way that they would not break the aesthetics of the motorcycle. So I decided to do a more in-depth job, installing some 2.5" Bi-LED Projectors (the 3" ones were too big) from DDM Tuning (I'd read good reviews about the product quality, and the installation seemed the easiest), and I managed to keep the consumption at around 76W on low and 92W on high.
Projectors have been on the market for quite some time, first as the correct way to install HIDs (the same reasons for poor light as LEDs when the headlight isn't designed for them) and then with the new trends with LED lights (more and more vehicles come with them from the factory, for example my Audi Q3 comes with LED projectors from the factory). So I started the "not so relaxed" journey to install them, since as usual, what seems easy often ends up being complex...
Disassembling the headlight wasn't complicated; between one post and another, the best way is to separate it from the center to the sides, carefully but firmly. Here came the first surprise. I thought they were glued/sealed with Butyl, but they weren't, they were glued with Urethane. Then, looking at the components, it becomes obvious that Butyl is very soft on these headlights, as they don't have any real mechanical fasteners (screws, clips, etc.) to hold the two parts together. Therefore, to reassemble, Urethane had to be used again. Once the parts are separated, you have to be very careful with the cables and connectors for the DRL LEDs, which in my case are part of the headlight unit (inside).
Once disassembled, removing the reflector screens was simple, as they are held in place by three snap-fits. Be very careful with the top one, which is the primary for vertical adjustment, as it's a kind of plastic stick that can break... I had one that happened to me, and I had to fix it.
Then I installed the headlights using the original H7 hole/base, etc. But when I put the two parts together, I realized that although I had measured and the distances seemed right, I measured them in the center, and the MP3 headlight closes tightly on the sides, causing the BI-LED lens to touch the external transparent screen and prevent the headlight from closing in full (need some like 1-1.5 cm (0.4-0.6 inch) extra space. So, the decision was to modify the original reflector screens and make 3D-printed supplements on the rear, which gave me about 2.5 cm (1 inch). To give them a better grip, I made them with an H4 design in mind (three legs instead of one in H7 and a larger diameter bracket).
The wiring was modified internally in the headlight, let me explain. Normally, high and low beam headlights work as follows: there's a common wire; in most cars or motorcycles, it's the ground (except for Subaru, which uses the positive as the common wire in the headlights). The low beams go through one wire and the high beam through the other. When you switch from low to high, the low beam turns off and the high beam energizes, and vice versa. But in the case of the projectors, the light is the same, except that a gate opens or closes, which is closed when the low beam is on. When the high beam is switched on, the gate drops using a solenoid and allows all the light to escape (a somewhat simplistic explanation, but it's easy to search online for how they work). So, I needed the LED part to be powered in both high and low beam, and when switching to high beam, the signal to activate the solenoid would be executed. I used two 30A 50V Schottky diodes to prevent current return, and the connection was simple, ensuring that everything outside the headlight remained as it came from the factory.
The 3D supplements were glued to the reflector screens with high-temperature, high-hardness epoxy, and then the process of reassembling both parts began, after first checking the height and vertical and horizontal alignment according to DOT regulations. There is a moderately complex part during assembly, because the MP3 headlights internally have a kind of chrome cone that is not affected by the original screens and bulbs, but when installing projectors with their Shrounds, they limit the vertical graduation movement (something I discovered during assembly and had to open again). The solution was to add some small nylon washer supplements to increase the height of the light beam on the legs that attach the headlight assembly to the motorcycle, since the adjuster is too weak/delicate to withstand the pressure and can break (it happened to me with one and need reparations).
The only problem with installing these supplements externally is that the V that covers the screws and aesthetically closes the central assembly of the MP3 was slightly separated when reassembling the front of the bike. Therefore, I had to reduce the height of the bubble in the center of the headlight (in a previous post, I asked if anyone knew what its purpose was
What function does this protuberance serve?), and everything fits together as if it came from the factory.
I glued both parts together with 3M Urethane, and when it dried, it was really firm, but it allows for later disassembly if necessary.
The result in terms of light quality is wonderful, without disturbing anyone, a precise cut that doesn't dazzle oncoming drivers, but with light concentrated where it should be. The DDM Bi-LEDs say the light temperature is 5500K, but when measured, it's closer to 5000K, which is excellent for rainy or foggy conditions.
I'm attaching some photos of the process and the result (the light is a lot better that the pictures show). I hope it helps some other explorers who is encouraged to invent, ha ha ha
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Sorry for the long
, but sometimes is good have all the info...
