gl1800 high output led, auxiliary lighting kit

GEEKWING & DEE
Claude “No-chrome”
& Deloris Mitchell
Newsletter and Website editors
Webmaster@ohiogwrra.org
.
sales@goldwinghids.com
info@goldwinghids.com
Phone: (213) 973-3025
GL1800 kit - $165.00 + %5.00 shipping
GL1500 Kit - $185.00+ %5.00 shipping
I’ll just say this out now….
I LOVE Wing-Ding I love walking through the exhibit hall and just looking at STUFF, LOTS of STUFF. Yes I actually do buy something,
and its usually one particular object that catches my eye. Since I had already purchased my Bike MP3 Player (see last months product
review). My credit card was burning.
Walking up the aisle I stumbled across Goldwing HID’s. At first glance It just seemed like another lighting farkle and wouldn’t add up to
very much difference. Well I stood around and watched the HID lights being installed, and I was amazed by how much light was created by these things. So I took a chance, I bit the bullet and bought a set. Well because I was at Wing ding, I could not install them
myself, and I opted for the Dealer install (a not unreasonable $50.00 bucks). I watched the technician
install the lights in the LOW beam position. The installation took all of about 40 minutes, unsing absolutely NO tools. (I understand that to install the high beams it takes a little more work.)
Now during daylight I didn't notice much difference, during the day. However because of the heat
Dee, and I decided to leave Knoxville Early, about 2:30am early Sunday morning…. 2:30 am through
the Tennessee mountains! Can you say DARK????. Tennessee dark is another level of DARK.
Well it may have been dark, but I turned on these lights, and the road lit up like daylight, this is NOT
an understatement. With only my LOW beams I saw farther down the road that I had EVER seen
before. It was a totally NEW night riding experience. The highway signs jumped out like they were lit just for me. Without too much
gushing, I can truly say that this is the best safety, see and be seen modification I have EVER done on this bike. If you install them,
you WILL see better, and YOU WILL be SEEN better.
Now later in the month I added the Electrical connection LED auxiliary lighting. (see next review) The combination of these lights made
my bike a lighting force to be reckoned with on the night time highway. I cannot recommend them enough. THESE WILL MAKE YOU
SAFER!!!!
GL1800 HIGH OUTPUT LED, AUXILIARY LIGHTING KIT
ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS
www.electricalconnections.com
(800) 215-6168
3300 Rifle Range Rd, Suite A,
Knoxville, TN, 37918
Non-Airbag model $229.95
Airbag model$234.95
One of the great dangers a Motorcycle riders faces is the ability of others to see and recognize HIS right to
share the concrete / asphalt slab like the rest of the driving public. See and be seen is the mantra of the MC rider, because if you cannot see, the you cannot avoid danger, and if you cannot BE seen then you chance to fall prey to any number of traffic incidents. In
either case you become a hazard to, other traffic, and yourself. Because of the unconventional shape of a motorcycle, the average
motorist can typically look right at our bikes, and still not see them (the bike), brighter color bike usually fair better (but not much) in this
regard, however the most significant thing a rider can do to increase his visibility is to add lighting to the various areas of his ride. This
is an effective tool as any, whose effectiveness is proven by Federal laws and regulations (not to mention common sense) REQUIRING
that motorcycles run with a functioning headlight. This is a case where MORE is better. BRIGHTER is BETTER.
The Honda Goldwing line is particularly blessed by its design allowing for the addition of auxiliary light to the bike while maintaining the
lines of its original design. Typically most auxiliary lighting for the 1500, & 1800’s fits into its designated position on the front cowling,
while on other bikes this is not necessarily true.
This article is to review an auxiliary lighting product from Electrical connections, that fits directly into the factory cowling, in rather a
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unique way (you’ll see more later). Additionally it uses newer LED technology which is brighter,
cooler and longer lasting, and thus eliminates one nagging problem regarding the1800’s electrical circuitry/cabling. That is the inability of the factory harness to handle the current load of
standard H3 fog/driving lights.
The lights are the high output series from Electrical connections.
High output LED comes as a kit ready for the install. Within the kit is the
following
2 - Light assemblies
2 - Steel brackets
1 - Soldering iron (NOT for wires; more on this later)
1 - Honda factory OEM fog light switch
1 - One Honda OEM fog light harness connector.
1 - Bag of miscellaneous mounting hardware.
What immediately is noticeable is that EC includes a Honda line OEM fog light switch. This is not usually recommended for most fog
light kits without an isolator since the current draw from typical fog lights can usually FRY the OEM switch in short order. This is not a
problem with this kit since it used high output LED which run at considerably less current, and can be tolerated by
the 1800’s harness.
It is very hard to describe how these light mount to the cowling. The best way to do so is to show you how it all fits
together, and then WORK backwards showing you how it was done. Here is a picture of the finished mounting. You
can see that the steel mounting brackets are attached by cotter pins to a spring connected to the cowling.
The first step is to mount the cotter pins to the frames. This is done by inserting the pins into the predrilled holes in
the brackets. THIS is NOT an easy task. It can be done but it is difficult to do. I recommend that you have a pair
of locking and needle nose pliers handy, and if you have a BENCH vise then so much the better. The locking pliers, or vise are used to hold the cotter pin at the required length (approx ½ inch) from the bracket,
while the needle nose pliers are used to bend the cotter pins into the position shown. Now its NOT
stated but I recommend that not only do you bend the pins at 90 degrees, but you also bend the pins
BACK over the frames as shown in the following picture. Sorry about the focus, but you can still see
how the cotter pin is wrapped around the bracket. This is not stated, or required in the installation
instructions, but it just looks like good practice to me.
You now must modify your cowling by prepping the cowling for the other ends of the springs. This
modification is possibly the most tedious modification done to a visible part of your bike since Utopia
told you to take a knife to your seat. A few lines ago I told you that the kit included a Soldering iron; I
also told you that there were no wires to solder. We guess what; to prep the cowling you actually have to BURN the holes
into the support tabs in the plastic of the cowl. (noted in the picture on the right at locations 3, 6, 9, and 12
o’ clock). To top it off the tab on the left at 3 o’clock is SMALLER / SHALLOWER than the other tabs. To
help you make these holes EC provides a pretty cool soldering iron with an angled tip, perfectly suited for
this purpose.
·
·
·
Well, there are no pictures of me doing this as I was too busy trying to keep my hand steady so I didn’t burn
a hole clear through the cowl. My only advice….
· GET a GOOD small metal ruler to line and mark the target points
·
MARK your hole locations clearly / MEASURE TWICE then measure again.
Do NOT try to make the holes large on the first press through
Press the iron in… pull back, then remove the melted pieces (carefully).
Then continue to enlarge the hole. Remember… you can always make the hole larger… but if
you get heavy handed you can never put plastic back on.
And for goodness sake…. Watch BOTH sides of the plastic tab so you do not go through the plastic
on the front of the cowling, or burn clear through the tab on the top. The former will ruin the cowling,
but the latter will render the cowl useless for these mounting brackets. This is especially true on the
shallow notched side (3 o’clock side) of the hole. You cannot do this in a garage laying on the
floor, take it inside, and get some GOOD SHADOW FREE LIGHTING. (Shadows can make
you think you are burning something when you are not, or vice-versa ).
WHEW… that’s over…
Now test fit the spring to see if the holes are cleared… if they aren’t then use a small drill bit to clear out the holes
Next using the screws, and plastic spacers attach the brackets to the light themselves. (Check the threads to make sure
they are clean of any residual metal from the tapping process.
Then place the lights in the assembled brackets on the cowling, note that the slots on the ends of the brackets fit perfectly over the plastic supports on the cowl. Now here is something I must mention. BE SURE that you place the plastic
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bushing on the horizontal plane. If you do not then you will NOT be able to adjust the lights (up or down) but only
left or right once the cowl is remounted back on the bike.
Once attached, the units will look like the pictures here…
The electrical portion of the assembly is about as straight forward as turning on a light switch and
should provide no difficulty for even the novice individual to accomplish, this review will focus
exclusively on the mechanical aspects, and the results of the installation.
The ELECTRICAL assembly consists of…
1. Removing the left hand hazard / preload / headlight adjustment panel.
2. Removing the small blank panel in the OEM switch position
3. Inserting the switch, and screwing it down
4. Locating the auxiliary lighting connector behind the lower cowl
5. Removing the “dummy plug”
6. Inserting the EC supplied connector
7. Routing the 2 wires to the respective auxiliary light locations for connection to the light units
on the cowl
After connection to the electrical harness and reinstallation of the lower cowl, the bike was taken outside. The picture below cannot
even begin to depict the level of improvement over standard Halogen H3 driving lights. There was a 100% improvement over the quality, and distance of the light emitted from these units.
The picture below is the light emitted by the installed units on an 2005 Gl1800 ant a distance of 20 ft. The photo of the garage door
was taken while sitting on the bike, with the bike at a distance of 75 feet.
One thing I must note is that the order that I discussed the installation of the lights is NOT how it is depicted
in the official EC installation documents. There were a few glaring deficiencies in the manual.
For instance the manual NEVER tells you to actually MAKE the holes in the cowling supports. The orders
of the installation steps were not logically arranged…
For instance…
One step told you to remove the cowling, the next step was to (my words) get up off the floor, and remove
the pocket, then the next step was to get BACK on the floor and install the connector.
Get the picture? Instead of staying on one area of the bike and competing all of the
tasks in that area, there was a lot of hopping up and down. These old bones of mine
couldn’t take that very long.
SUMMARY
CONS
· Expensive
·
·
·
·
Installing cotter pins in bracket not as straightforward as you may tend to believe
Installation manual needs (and to Lewis's credit is getting ) a rewrite
The modification of the cowling is not for the squeamish. Once competed it works perfectly, and I anticipate no problems with it.
But it takes nerves of steel, and a steady hand. If you had no problem cutting your seat to install a utopia backrest, then you
should have no problem. However if you dread that task, then by all means, pay someone to make the modifications to the cowling. (I do this by appointment only)
There should be a way of ordering just the parts you need. Since the kit used the OEM switch, I should be able to order the kit
sans the switch, thus reducing the costs slightly. But hey at least you get a soldering iron out of the deal!!!!
PROS
· Less power requirements
· Cooler - no worry of cracking the lens while washing the bike, as I frequently did with my standard driving lights.
· Stronger light
· Better quality light
· Expected longer life (Solid state LED emitters)
· Extremely solid aluminum case design
· Shatter resistant lenses
· The ability to use the OEM harness, switch, and connectors, for a more finished look.
OVERALL CONCLUSIONS
The CONS of this product do not overshadow one inescapable fact….
These are GREAT lights, and are a VAST improvement over standard H3 halogen driving lights.
Not only do they improve YOUR ability to see farther down the road, but as you can see from the picture, they dramatically improve
your ability to BE SEEN.
If you have, a steady hand then dive right in to this project, if not, then grab a buddy a toss him a few beers, (AFTER HE MAKES THE
HOLES) and have him do the melting. Either way this is a best buy and you wont go wrong.
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The product itself is PERFECTION, and of the fine quality one
can expect to obtain from Lewis and the guys at Electrical connections.
However the burning of the cowling is not for the novice, and the
manual, (while being improved on and re-written as we speak)
was at the time of this writing lacking), and illogically designed.
These items prevent me from giving it the full 5 gears, but a still
a STRONG 4 1/2.
Improvement of the manual would take it to a solid 5.
In any case Good job Electrical connections…GOOD JOB…
Editors note:
The picture below is after BOTH of the lighting modifications
described above. As you can see the improvement in lighting is
tremendous. Either of these modifications can be an improvement, but both of them done together is an unbeatable combination