599 headlight

[Wallybanger]

....the 599 headlight kicks all sorts of ass....

[mntnceguy]

Originally Posted by robtharalson

Keep in mind KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Running a heavy gauge power wire from the battery to the headlight bucket makes sense if there wasn’t already a heavy gauge wire headed in that direction. Fortunately there is. And a good ground. Both available right there in the headlight. There is no need for the relays. Or the 20 feet of wire.

All you need to do is splice a sealed fuse holder into the Red / Black wire on the main harness side of the ignition switch connector and connect the low beam directly to the other side of the fuse. You could then either use all the original dimmer switch high beam wiring to activate the high beam or cut the Blue / White wire (feed from the starter button headlight kill), splice in a second wire from the fuse, and tag the Blue headlight wire for the high beam bulb. If you want the least voltage drop to the high beam use the dimmer switch to pick up a relay to power the bulb, again powered by the fuse you installed. Whichever way you go the low beam stays on and the high beam is switchable. NO DIODE! It may be the “simpler” way to do it, but will double the load on the dimmer switch and does drop the voltage to the low beam (they are called semiconductors for a reason). The biggest plus? It will use about 6 inches of wire instead of 20 feet, and can be done in about 1/2 hour while never moving from the front of the bike. Total cost? Whatever the two sockets cost plus a foot of wire, a $3 fuse holder, a few splices, and some heat shrink tubing. That’s simple. And effective. And doesn’t overload any stock component. And will probably take considerably less time to do than it would if you have to remove the seat and side covers, tilt up the tank, pull the battery to attach the power and ground wires, route the harness forward to wherever you happen to mount the realys making sure it doesn‘t go across something that can cut or abrade it and won‘t be trapped when the tank or seat is back in position, run the rest of the harness into the bucket, plug the H4 adapter to the original socket, pay hell trying to get all that extra stuff crammed into the bucket, reassemble everything, and test it. KISS in action.

Obviously if you don’t trust your ability to make good connections then spend the $40 for the harness and plug everything in. You won’t learn anything that will be useful in the future, and will be posting up here when you have even a minor problem crop up instead of confidently going at it armed with the knowledge you got by actually doing it all yourself.

Life is all about learning, and there is no such thing as useless knowledge.

Rob

So Glad I save these threads! Did my swap today, and as always, Robs way of wiring it up works pefectly. Thanks again Rob, been tinkering on my 9'er for years now, and your tips/tricks and advice give me the courage to try stuff I normally wouldn't.......gotta love that! Saved me the expense and clutter of a $50 harness, and I did it with stuff I already had.

Oh, and Wallybangers idea of using some shims to space out the brackets was very helpful as well. I used flat washers (3.5mm each side), longer bolts with black plastic bushings to act as the bolt "shoulder" all sourced from ACE. My Brackets may have already been spread a little due to the Dominator setup I had before it, so 3.5mm a side worked fine for me, and a little spreading of the blinker mounts made it possible to perfectly fit, and aim the headlight however I needed to.

The cramming of the wires into the bucket ain't so bad either if ya keep the bulky connectors between the 2-5 o'clock and 10-7 o'clock positions so the headlight bulbs have a space to fit in the middle.

Headlight works fantastic, and even with the stock crappy bulbs, this setup blows all others I've tried away in a BIG way (Stock and Dominator)

[brenner182]

oh man. i wanna do this.

[HeliMech]

Just ordered my 599 headlight conversion parts. Great thread guys, all this info should make it a straight forward swap.

Cheers,
Ian

[schrock86]

I ordered mine last week. Now I'm just waiting for mine to show up.

[undercover919]

How much did you guys end up finding your 599 headlights for? or did you get them from a parts place like honda parts warehouse or something similar

[schrock86]

Originally Posted by undercover919

How much did you guys end up finding your 599 headlights for? or did you get them from a parts place like honda parts warehouse or something similar

Honda Parts Direct

I usually order from these guys but bike bandit had a %20 off sale and I bought it from them. I ended up paying $176.01 its more than I had hoped to spend, but I got sick of searching ebay.

[Pvster]

picture of the inside of 599 bucket to try and show what works best for me on arranging the wires to make the light fit. i routed the OEM h4 connector out of the bucket and into the neck where i also housed the eastern beaver harness. from there i ran the 2 h11 wires back into the bucket. the goal is to try and get all the wires to the sides of the bucket as that's where you'll have the most room considering the shape of the backside of the headlight.

if you try to force it too much, you will crack the bucket like i did. been cracked for going on 9 months now with no issues of riding in the rain nearly daily. i intend to replace it soon though.

[g00gl3it]

You still have the broken out pieces? At least for the cracks, go to Home Depot and get the purple ABS pipe glue in the irrigation isle.

[Pvster]

Originally Posted by g00gl3it

You still have the broken out pieces? At least for the cracks, go to Home Depot and get the purple ABS pipe glue in the irrigation isle.

great idea! except i didnt keep the broken pieces... didnt think of that then

[g00gl3it]

Originally Posted by Pvster

great idea! except i didnt keep the broken pieces... didnt think of that then

Well, the acetone in the glue pretty much melts the plastic, then it re-hardens as the acetone evaporates.


You could break up some black ABS pipe, make a mixture of sorts, and patch it.

It's been done before. Then you could even sand it and throw some semi-flat paint on there, no-one would know the difference.

[Brewcrew02]

Originally Posted by g00gl3it

You still have the broken out pieces? At least for the cracks, go to Home Depot and get the purple ABS pipe glue in the irrigation isle.

Aisle... Sorry but my GF is a 6th grade reading teacher so I notice that stuff more than I care to. Trust me, I wish HD had an irrigation island!

Oh yeah, that's good advice by the way...

[g00gl3it]

Originally Posted by Brewcrew02

Aisle... Sorry but my GF is a 6th grade reading teacher so I notice that stuff more than I care to. Trust me, I wish HD had an irrigation island!

Oh yeah, that's good advice by the way...

Good catch! I'm usually the grammar/spelling Nazi in the house. Funny thing is, my wife is also a teacher, and I correct her more than she corrects me .

[Brewcrew02]

I'll chalk this one up to laziness... that damned "A" button is so damn far out to the left!