Hello all having a car park itself on my bike at new years eve Im slowly bring her back to life 
The next stage of work is front nose cone / head light 

I have an 86 Rs which has the on / off switch on the right hand cluster 
A few people have told me to cut a relay into this switch to stop a fault 

Also who has changed over to led lamp or the xon lamps ?

The switch is a bit marginal at best so a relay will make it last. As for the LED I haven't found one yet that has a good focal point. To get enough light the area of LED is large so destroying the pin point of light that is needed, especially for the right side cut off for low beam.
They are fairly cheap so every now and then I try again.

Best way to easily prevent switch damage and increase light output is the Eastern Beaver headlight relay harness.

https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

I have these beautiful harnesses on all my bricks.  One of the first things I do when I get a new bike.

A relay will improve the light a bit.

While you are doing it swap the bulb holder for a ceramic one. You buy them in pairs very cheap.

After that you can upgrade the halogen H4 bulb to 80 100 110 130 160W if you use appropriate wiring when you wire in the relay. 160W is brilliant. You can focus the light down more and it avoids causing dazzle.

Works darn well. Always done it in cars and bikes and now doing it on the Ks. I don't find LEDS good because you really need different reflectors and lenses for them.

I run relays and beefy wiring with 100/90W "Xenon" bulbs that I get off of Ebay for about $8/pair shipped. (Despite the Xenon in the name they are not actual HID bulbs as real HID bulbs would generate a lot of scatter from the stock reflector.)  Yeah, they're cheap Chinese made bulbs but the "worst" one I got lasted 20K+ miles and at the low cost I always have a spare in the tail cowl.

In the RS/RT/LT headlight they do really well so that I can do 80+ MPH at night with the high beam on and see where I'm going.  (The speed limit in Montana on I-90 is 80 MPH so you can ride 89 MPH without getting a ticket.)

On several of my Ks I also run Hella Micro DE  and FF50 aux lights that I converted to 35W HIDs.  These put out BOATLOADS of light in wide patterns - enough to land a small plane.  (I have them tied into my high beam and am very judicious in using them as they easily blind oncoming traffic.)

LED H4s: These were crap initially but in the last couple of years a number of really good ones have come into the market.  They vary widely in both price and quality but look on Amazon and you can find decent ones with lots of good ratings.  The good ones have fans on the backs of them so clearance might be an issue so I'd opt for one with the shortest rear end.

duck wrote:I run relays and beefy wiring with 100/90W "Xenon" bulbs that I get off of Ebay for about $8/pair shipped. (Despite the Xenon in the name they are not actual HID bulbs as real HID bulbs would generate a lot of scatter from the stock reflector.)  Yeah, they're cheap Chinese made bulbs but the "worst" one I got lasted 20K+ miles and at the low cost I always have a spare in the tail cowl.

In the RS/RT/LT headlight they do really well so that I can do 80+ MPH at night with the high beam on and see where I'm going.  (The speed limit in Montana on I-90 is 80 MPH so you can ride 89 MPH without getting a ticket.)

On several of my Ks I also run Hella Micro DE  and FF50 aux lights that I converted to 35W HIDs.  These put out BOATLOADS of light in wide patterns - enough to land a small plane.  (I have them tied into my high beam and am very judicious in using them as they easily blind oncoming traffic.)

LED H4s: These were crap initially but in the last couple of years a number of really good ones have come into the market.  They vary widely in both price and quality but look on Amazon and you can find decent ones with lots of good ratings.  The good ones have fans on the backs of them so clearance might be an issue so I'd opt for one with the shortest rear end.

I have one fitted to my K100RT, it fits fine, it is just awkward to fit.

Point-Seven-five wrote:Best way to easily prevent switch damage and increase light output is the Eastern Beaver headlight relay harness.

https://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

I have these beautiful harnesses on all my bricks.  One of the first things I do when I get a new bike.

Hello Point - Seven  - Five 

Which of the many kits available is correct one for the K100  ?

Just email Jim Davis (Eastern Beaver owner) and ask him which is the best kit for a K. He used to own a K100RS and knows K bikes well. (Tell him Duck says hi.)

Matthew-Brisbane wrote:Hello all having a car park itself on my bike at new years eve Im slowly bring her back to life 
The next stage of work is front nose cone / head light 

I have an 86 Rs which has the on / off switch on the right hand cluster 
A few people have told me to cut a relay into this switch to stop a fault 

Also who has changed over to led lamp or the xon lamps ?

I strongly recommend a Cyclops LED bulb. I crossed the United States this past Summer with it on my K75.

https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/Cyclops-100-H4-LED-headlight-bulb_p_192.html

What is a K75T?  What headlight does it have?

duck wrote:Just email Jim Davis (Eastern Beaver owner) and ask him which is the best kit for a K. He used to own a K100RS and knows K bikes well. (Tell him Duck says hi.)

Thanks Duck  

Think that there may need to be a  group post to OZ  to reduce the  postage from USA   

Mick and Paul  and myself in QLD   so far

Matthew-Brisbane wrote:Think that there may need to be a  group post to OZ  to reduce the  postage from USA 

The Eastern Beaver site indicates that it is located in Japan and ships from Japan.

I'm looking at doing this too. I was just thinking of two relays (the ones with a fuse holder)  and some wire good enough for battery positive .

Point-Seven-five wrote:What is a K75T?  What headlight does it have?

A K75T is a bike originally produced as a K75C from the Fatherland but modified by BMW NA to make it a better bike for touring by installing a K100 standard headlight, adding a handlebar mounted fairly large windscreen and full-sized system cases.

I've used Eastern Beaver kits on airhead BMWs in the past and found them to be first rate.  
Since my K1100LT is somewhat pulled apart now due to the repair on the ABS component, I plan to fit a headlight relay.  Mulling over the underlying reasons -- being the brighter light and preservation of the switch gear -- I wonder what the collective wisdom of the forum might be as far as a relay for the horns, as well.  
What say?  

brickrider2 wrote:I've used Eastern Beaver kits on airhead BMWs in the past and found them to be first rate.  
Since my K1100LT is somewhat pulled apart now due to the repair on the ABS component, I plan to fit a headlight relay.  Mulling over the underlying reasons -- being the brighter light and preservation of the switch gear -- I wonder what the collective wisdom of the forum might be as far as a relay for the horns, as well.  
What say?  

There already is a horn relay.

Another thing to consider if going LED H4 on a RS/RT/LT light is the mechanism that holds the bulb in place.

Earlier bikes use a locking ring so the rear end of the LED with the fan would need to be 31mm or less for the locking ring to fit around it:




Later bikes have a squeeze or pinch type retaining mechanism which you could bend around an H4 LED with a larger diameter fan:




Something like this would probably work with the locking ring:
https://www.amazon.com/AUXITO-Headlight-Bulbs-000LM-6500K/dp/B07TQLK6SH/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=h4+led&qid=1580295994&s=automotive&sr=1-11