GL1800 HID projector retrofit

6167 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by newday777, Mar 22, 2015

Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · Jan 5, 2014 (Edited)

Started out this morning to do this retrofit. An hour later I had the fairing off and the headlights disassembled. An hour later I had one projector installed into the left headlight. For those on the fence about this , installation is pretty straight forward and not that difficult.

I just did the low beam bi-xenon projectors with 55 watt HID's .

Parts from theretrofitsource.com

Bi-Xenon-Morimoto Mini 6.0 H1 projectors w/ mini Gatling gun shrouds
Highbeam splitters H7 / 9006 / H7
H4 connectors (to swap out the H7 connectors on the splitters)

parts from wholesalehids.com

H1 55 watt 6000K

I made a custom wire harness with a 30 amp relay , I used a klixon relay to trigger the main relay from the low beam wiring.
The klixon relay is a time delay of 20 to 30 seconds so the voltage is up to 14 volts before the HID's kick in .

here is my wiring diagram.

Wire harness

Klixon and 30 amp relay

stripped bike

And this is what happens when you put a higher wattage bulb in your headlights

I split the headlights and fired up the oven to 200° . place a piece of plywood in the oven with the rack set low enough to allow the headlight to be put in the oven with the lens up. make sure it doesn't touch any hot oven surfaces!

pull the headlight out of the oven after 8 minutes and pry it apart.

you'll need to grind out the hole where the H7 bulb locked into the headlight. the tabs need to be mostly removed to allow the nut to be tightened. As ReadyT suggested , wear latex gloves with handling the projector and shrouds. blow out the headlight assy with compressed air after sanding/grinding on the hole. remove the clip and parts for the H7 bulbs .

After mounting the shroud to the projector , install the projector per the instructions. tighten the nut just hand tight.

I modified a 1 1/16" socket to fit in the hole.

Tip, when mounting the projectors into the headlight assy. lay the styrofoam padding that the shrouds come wrapped in ,down and set the projector on it. this will keep from scratching and help hold the projector into the headlight while you fit with getting the nut started on the threads.

Projector in headlight before reinstalling lens.

After you get both projectors in the headlights ,bolt them back together before reinstalling lens' and adjust the level and alignment of the projectors and then tighten them down all the way.

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jan 5, 2014

After you get the projectors aligned, put the lenses back on the headlights and stick them in a 200° oven for 8 minutes. When you take them out ,squeeze them tight against your chest to get the seal back together. make sure all the clips lock back. I didn't have to replace my sealant ,but some folks have.

I mounted my ballasts with plumbers tape. I didn't want to rely on just the double sided tape to hold them.

install the highbeam splitters

and route your relay harness.

Reassemble everything and reinstall the fairing.

once you get everything done, readjust the headlights.

from a previous thread, here's a comparison.

LED lights.

And the HID's

All together ,this took me about 6 hours total...

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AZgl1800

· #3 · Jan 5, 2014

Fantastic report worthy of going into the FAQs and surely is being bookmarked.
Thank you

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 5, 2014

AZgl1500 said:
Fantastic report worthy of going into the FAQs and surely is being bookmarked.
Thank you

Your welcome ,thank you!!

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 12, 2014

don't do like I did and buy a cheap set of HID's , I am having issues with light output as a result, I think. have yet to resolve that issue, working with theretrofitsource.com to rectify it now. I ordered their 4300k bulbs to replace these to see if it fixes it as I'm having an alignment issue. could be bad bulbs, could be the projectors themselves. i'll find out when I put these other bulbs in

well the bulbs from wholesalehid.com are too short and the capsule is about half an inch closer to the back of the projector than the bulbs I got from theretrofitsource.com.

that puts the light too far back from the focal point of the reflector and caused the hot spot to be in the wrong location.

All I've got to say is holy **** these suckers are bright!!

Here is the HID's in projectors at 100'

And EC's H7 LED headlights..

And here is the HID's on the garage door...

And the LED's on the door...

and finally here is the HID's at 25'

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 19, 2014

Here's an update!

LEDs around headlights installed !

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exavid

· #7 · Jan 20, 2014

Interesting but I've never felt the lack of light on either 1800 I've had. I could have use better lighting on my 1500 but the 1800's OEM lights are the brightest I've ever seen for OEM lights on a motorcycle.

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 20, 2014

exavid said:
Interesting but I've never felt the lack of light on either 1800 I've had. I could have use better lighting on my 1500 but the 1800's OEM lights are the brightest I've ever seen for OEM lights on a motorcycle.

While the wings lights were the best lights i've ever had on any motorcycle they were not exactly the greatest for putting light on the road at any distance. These lights are the epitome of lighting...

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exavid

· #9 · Jan 20, 2014

If one want's more light the HID light seem to be the best option available. Might be of some help with critters on the road.

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Macgyver0856

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 20, 2014

exavid said:
If one want's more light the HID light seem to be the best option available. Might be of some help with critters on the road.

Exactly what I was wanting. At first I had off road LED lights under my mirrors, I then upgraded to PIAA 910's . Although the PIAAs were good, just wasn't what I was looking for .

I ride allot of back country twisty roads with allot of them critters on them..
That and I'm getting older , need to see where I'm going!!

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srt8-in-largo

· #11 · Aug 21, 2014

MAC, thank you for this write up and review!!

The GL1800 low beams flat out stink IMO. I bought an F6 two months ago and have been searching for an upgrade since day one. I ordered the Osram 65W bulbs, but you're the 3rd rider who advised against using them (thx for the burn damage pic above). Then I started looking into the LED bulbs, and frankly the results are ridiculous and will make you a road hazard.

About three days ago I was turned onto this Morimoto kit but I wasn't exactly sure which kit I should get and had no idea how it all went together. But now I know...

exavid said:
Interesting but I've never felt the lack of light on either 1800 I've had. I could have use better lighting on my 1500 but the 1800's OEM lights are the brightest I've ever seen for OEM lights on a motorcycle.

If you put Mac's bike next to yours for comparison, you will quickly realize how poor the OEM lighting is... or how good a true HID system is. HIDs literally put out twice as much light; 3000 lumens vs 1500 of the OEM halogens.

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newday777

· #12 · Mar 19, 2015

Macgyver0856
Any updates on this?
How have they held up or are you still using them?
The links in the original post are no longer good for the parts you used.