BMW F800R red bullets and tail/brake converter

Started by runrunny, April 01, 2016, 07:12:37 PM

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runrunny

I've wired red bullets and tail/brake converter on a 2011 BMW F800R.  This bike has a single incandescent tail/brake light bulb.

When the ignition is turned on, the bullets light up, but their brightness doesn't change when a brake is applied.

I have tried connecting the converter's wires to every combination of wires in the taillight bundle, and there is no combination where the bullets are brighter with a brake applied.  I haven't checked yet whether or not having the engine running makes any difference.

I've also compared their brightness to the white bullets I've also mounted.  As installed, the red bullets are not nearly as bright as the whites. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Michael

Fluke

Hi Michael

Sorry you are having trouble.

Has the F800R just two wires running to the rear light / brake cluster ?

Regards

runrunny

No, the wiring to the taillight is as follows:


Brown -- ground, to which I've connected Black from tail/brake converter
Gray/red/yellow -- tail light, to which I've connected Red from t/b converter
Gray/black/Yellow -- brake light, to which I've connected Yellow from t/b converter


In the same bundle there is:


Brown -- ground for turn signals
Blue/black/white -- right turn signal
Blue/red/white -- left turn signal

Fluke

Hi

Thanks for getting back, it does sound strange for sure.

If the converter is not getting a good switched live the Bullets will stay lit at 50%.

One way to confirm this is to manually touch the yellow on the tail brake converter to the live of your battery to see if the Bullets brighten up... this would isolate the issue for sure.

It's very possible the brake feed wire on the F800 is going to be the issue. If this is the case it may be simplest to remove the converter all-together and run the Bullet lights at 100% all the time (what many customers do)

Regards

runrunny

Good idea.  So touching the yellow lead from the converter to positive on the battery does make the red bullet much brighter.


Maybe I just don't have a good connection to the switched live wire?  If it's not that, any other thoughts?


I really would like to have some sort of modulation for the red bullets.  Might this issue be specific to this t/b converter?  Might a different gizmo (SMiDSY brake light flasher, Skene's IQ-260?) work instead?


Thanks.

Fluke

Hi

It would be worth double checking the connection but I suspect it's something else.

Has the F800 got a LED brake light ?, if this is the case it could well be the brake feed wire is a active driver for the LED and not at 12V needed to power the Bullet.

Unfortunately I think a lot of 'gizmos' will struggle to work :(

We can refund the converter in full though, let me know if you want to proceed on this and I can message you the return address.

Regards

runrunny

Not giving up yet.

The taillight is NOT an LED.

For this converter to function properly, what voltages does it need to get from the switched 12V brake light wire?  I have a voltmeter, so I can check this out.

Fluke

Hi

Thanks for confirming the brake light is filament... should make things simpler.

It needs to be a switched 12v (up to ~14.5V when bike running)

Will be interesting to see what voltage you are getting.

Regards

runrunny

All's well.  I just didn't have a good connection to the switched brake light wire :)


I had used Posi-Taps that were just a bit too big for the 18-gauge switched brake light wire, so the tap went through the insulation but just missed the copper of the source wire.  Rearranged that, and bingo!  I'll get some smaller Posi-Taps for the permanent install.


Thanks for your help.


I'll send some pics of my install of the white bullets with PodMod, and the red bullets with tail/brake converter.   I came up with some simple aluminum brackets for front and rear that work well on the F800R.


Michael

Fluke

Hi

So glad you are up and running, good point with those posi-taps...  they can appear a good connection when in reality no good at all.

Looking forward to seeing some photos :)

Regards

runrunny

Now I'd like a CAN-bus compliant HID Xenon conversion kit for the Beemer, H7 bulb.  Is this available?

Fluke

Hi

I'll private message you some info on this :)

Regards