LEDs and stuff

Being a techno nut there are some things that need to be brought up to date on any machine some time after it left the factory. A good example of this is engine oil, which has advanced so much since the K100RS was built, that you cannot follow the recommendations that are in the owners manual anymore.

Another thing that has changed is efficient lighting – minimum power fro maximum visibility. This is where LEDs come in. The first thing to do is to remove the BMU (bulb monitoring unit) that BMW fitted when light bulbs used to blow (LEDs don’t). The BMU was there to tell the rider that the back light is not working. It takes 10 minutes to remove and bypass. The second thing to do is to cut pin 7 of the microchip known as a U243B inside the flasher unit so that the indicators don’t flash like mad with LEDs fitted due to the lower power consumption. If you Google “U243B” you will get the idea.

Now for the pictures:

The first picture shows the standard 21 watt bulb fitted into the indicator which is covered by an orange plastic lens.

So we take a square of LEDS that are sold for about £3.50 on ebay and come with a B15 fitting to plug them in.

These squares come with a sticky backing, but I have used a hot glue gun to hold the corners as I don’t want them falling off and rattling.

This picture shows the old and the new illuminated. The new is on the right as you are looking at the picture. So 21 watts consumption on the left and around 2 watts on the right. While I had the 4 way flashers (hazards) on to take this picture, it looked like the  two sides were out of sync, that would be impossible. What was happening is that the old bulbs were taking longer to illuminate than the LEDs. Another bonus the LEDs come on quicker! Note the LED strip in place in the top of the headlight, this replaces the crappy little sidelight bulb that was in the middle before.

Now for the rear. I have a set of ebay LED indicators (about £5) fitted. They are a bit small but are brighter then the originals which were huge and ugly.

This picture shows the rear light. It should be a 10 watt bulb, but I found that was burning the plastic due to the heat. I fitted a 5 watt bulb and a pair of 10mm LEDS on each side. If the bulb fails then the LEDs will still illuminate, this proves that I don’t need the BMU. The next step is to get hold of a spare rear lamp and build a complete LED array into it. For now I may just put a couple of LED panels into this one to replace the 5 watt rear bulb.

The instruments also have LED back lighting. The LEDs cost around £4 from ebay and are very easy to fit after removing the pod and working at a desk.

Click on any picture to see a bigger version, but be aware that the camera that I was using is not very good at macro pictures.