HID Install (Detailed DDM - long load time)

[Rainman]

Hi guys,

So, there have been a number of HID threads and a few good install ones too, but a number of them have been conflicting as far as the wiring goes, what size hole is needed to be drilled, where to put the ballasts, and not many good detailed pictures either.

My inspiration for documenting this myself was from Mark-f and his better than most install

http://www.s1000rrforum.com/forum/s1...sport-kit.html

So this is for you guys.

I bought a DDM 35 watt set (High and Low) and then it took me weeks to figure out how best to install them. Well, it was frikking cold in
the garage and still is, but I gott'er done. If you're still on the fence or sitting there scratching your heads how to do it, maybe this will help.

First off, to make things easier, I took the whole front fairing off. It made the job 10 times easier, and I was installing a new damper anyways, so what the heck - it let me plan it out as best as I could.

So what size drill do you need? 7/8" is just right.
I'm lucky enough to have a drill press and a step drill bit set so it was easy to mount a 7/8" bit and do it. You will find the back covers are rather soft and flexible.



This setup gave great results. No carving, no rough edges.



Now the next thing you have to do is figure out how to get 1-1/8" connectors through that 7/8" hole .

How do you do that?
Well, don't resort to cutting the wires and reconnecting them after they are put through the cover hole.
Do this instead.
First, take a look at this connector. It has some some sort of useless clip on the wiring end.



Twist on it with some force, but be careful.
Or see the dikes in the background? Those will work as well.



It will come off.
Now you are left with some big-ass ears that used to be for the useless clip.

[Rainman]

Cut the ears off with the dikes.



Now look at what's left of your ballast connecter on the wiring end.
It's just as wide as the connector on the ballast.



And when you push it on to the ballast connecter, you haven't messed with the clip that hold it securly onto the ballast. Sweet !!!



Unhook the wiring from the ballast if you tried that last step out for yourself.
You can now push the reduced width connector through the hole with a just a little bit of cocking and deforming. It will go through.

Notice the direction.

You are pushing the ballast connector and then the other connectors from the inside of the cover to the outside of the cover so only the grommet, the flat-blade ends of the wires, and the bulb are left on the inside.

[Rainman]

Pull the wiring through to the grommet.
It's really pretty easy to squeeze the outside (smaller) part of the grommet through the cover hole and get it sealed properly.
Here is the inside when it is done.



And here is the outside when you are finished.



Of course, you have removed the OEM H7 bulbs, and I've skipped taking pictures of me putting the HID bulds in the housing. (It was too hectic at the time and I just forgot).

You need to know that the the thickness of the round mounting plate on the ends of the HID are at least 3 times thicker than the OEM bulbs (plastic vs. metal) so you will need to carefully bend each of the three tabs backwards, and make the center tab rise higher to hold the bulb firmly.

I am SO glad I took the whole front fairing off the bike at this step. You can read about others who have broke the metal tabs, or had their HID bulbs fall out after mounting, or even ended up in the mounts all crooked. Not mine. They are in there solid baby, because I could work on it much better than on the bike.

It goes without saying, don't touch the bulbs. Keep them free of greasy fingers and wipe them down with alcohol before final mounting.

Check out the picture below. The flat bladed red and black wires inside the cover are inserted into the appropriate side of the power block that used to be placed on the end of the OEM H7 bulb.

Then, the connector block is settled back down into available space inside the housing.

Be careful how you do this.

There are bare metal tabs inside the housing, and you don't want to make contact with them with your "nearly" insulated power wires in there.



As you put the cover back on, make sure you carefully pull on each of the 4 wires as you get the cover locked back down. That makes sure you have enough remaining wire outside the cover, and not too much left inside.

You will find that if the cover needs to come off again, it's easy to reverse how much of the wire needs to be where.



Now you are ready to mount the ballasts and igniters.
Besides asking where you are going to mount them, ask yourself what are you going to use? Duct Tape (looks ugly). Super glue (too permanant).

I chose the "5 lb." outdoor type double sided tape shown below from Scotch 3M. I picked up a roll at Lowes Hardware. I think it was $5 - $8. Hopefully it will work for a long time. It's nice and thick to meld over imperfections in shape.



The bottom of my ballasts (and igniter) aren't that smooth, so a product like this seems to fill the voids well.

[Rainman]

So here was another great reason for having the fairing off - placement.
The picture below shows where I mounted the low beam ballast.
There is a flat spot on the bottom of the low beam housing I used.

I had the connectors point out to the left side so I could wrap the igniter cable and ballast wires behind the lower left mounting post and bolt.



Here is a picture of the low beam headlight remounted in the fairing.
The wiring isn't complete yet, but you can see I mounted the igniter way back on the shelf and the wiring from the bulb, ballast and igniter pass behind the housing before coming up front. When finished, it will avoid snagging anything.



There is also a smaller flat spot on the right side of the high beam housing.

I used some painter's tape to test mount it until I had it right.

The picture below shows where it fits nicely by butting up against the lip. (You can see a pencil mark on the housing I used to align the spot before attaching permanently).



I had the connectors point almost straight out from here, which worked great. As you can see below, I wrapped the igniter cable behind the lower right mounting post and bolt. Out of sight here, the ballast and other bulb wires were routed behind the upper right mounting post and bolt.

As you can see, this time I mounted the high beam igniter on the floor of the breather plate. I cocked it a bit so the curved floor fit the convex bottom of the igniter.



One last picture in my TV chair before mounting the fairing back on the bike.
Almost done !!!

[Rainman]

Finally,

Here is a picture of the low beam housing after reinstalling the fairing, reattaching the origianl power cable to the housing, and adding a couple of wire ties to keep anything from rubbing or catching.



And here is a picture of the high beam housing after the same treatment.




Does it work?


You bet your sweet ass it works !!!
No ballast problems, no bulb problems. Perfecta mundo.
No sense it showing you a head-on picture. It's too bright and blinds the camera.
I'll just show you the sweet look from off center left.



And one from off center right.



I am so happy, can't wait for a dark dry night.

FYI, I let them run for a few minutes, then tried the "passing" flick of the headlight button. I really don't see any delay at all. The high beam flicked on and off repeatedly and quickly (quickly enough). Maybe I pre-loaded it by having it on for a few minutes, so I'll hold off on any final review, but liked what I saw.

Hope you liked the report of the install I did for you.

[K12]

Great post!!!

Deff. gonna keep for future referance

[J.Fok]

very clean install. just a few questions:

1. did you just get the 35w slim kit?
2. the spades to connect to the stock power block, did you crimp those on yourself? i've ran ddm kits before and i don't remember having those lol.

[Rainman]

Fok, I don't know. (Sorry, couldn't help it).

I think they are "slims". I wanted to lower the wattage so I had power for heated gear, GPS, whatever. I think the 35s will be bright enough to be seen, and then some.

There have been a few posts where people went with 55 watts because early posts with 35 watts had a lot of failures. Not the case here anyway.

The flat blades were standard on this kit just like the other poster I linked to - which was a different brand. The flat blades being standard just plug into the power block perfectly - even with a nice "click" to let you know they are locked in.

[Zed03]

Just a tip to install the DDM kit without any cutting:



The metal spades connected to the black and red wire for this plug can be pulled through the rubber waterproof grommet.

Just pull the metal spades through the grommet, stick the grommet on the dust cap, then push the metal spades back through the grommet.

[S1000RR ROB]

this is exactly what i done with the caps on my headlamp but iv managed to loose the wires down in the fairing so all you can see is 2 wires coming from the back....