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14 RT low beam bulb

D

davagail

New member
So we take off last Saturday for a ride to D.C. Arrive Sunday afternoon after I noticed the dreaded bulb out light on dash! Get to hotel unpack relax a bit and go to change bulb out. Always carry spare because I'm on my second RT! So I've changed prolly 6 or more. Reach under from front and pull cover off reach in clip clutch side in about 30 seconds then go to brake side and feel clip and do dam thing I've always done! For three days I fart with brake side clip and still won't release!! $&/:);@ thing!! So I call mortons bmw down in Fredericksburg and tell them my dilemma and they say bring it down Wednesday. Ok cool gonna have to pay them to change bulb that I put in, osram long life I put I. About 15-16000 miles back. Long story short they had to pull headlight cause I guess I got heavy fingered and bent said tab down so clip wouldn't release!! While it was out they suggested LED bulb from cyclops, I asked about light pattern radio noise etc... said, they've had no problems and even called cyclops to confirm! After they get done with headlight and reset service light and check and install updates they give me a bill for only wait for it $173.00 I asked service manager is this right and he said yes sir we only charged 1hour labor plus parts!! I shook his hand and said thank you for the gift! He said no problem, we like to take care of travelers!!!! WOW is all I can say excellent customer service especially to an out of Townes!! Awesome experience and light seems to work just fine!!
 
Wow. Just changed my bulb for first time today. Yes it s a bitch. It went at 15100 mi on my 15RT. Do you know what the part # is on that Cyclops?
 
+1 on the Cyclops. Did my low beam on 2016 RT last Spring and performance and pattern are great. Going to do high beams next.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Anybody got a link for that cyclops bulb? I've got a 16Rt with 25k miles and am on my 2nd replacement low beam. They are a pain to replace but gets easier after you do it once.
 
This is very interesting.

I just went through 2 failures of a high performance low beam bulb that I got from a famous company whose name starts with 'P' and ends with 'IAA'. - Quite disappointed. And yes, I know how to install the bulb with out touching the glass of the halogen.

My question is, what have people experienced with the reliability of these LED bulbs from Cyclops? Last for years? Able to handle the vibration? has anyone checked for how much heat these bulbs throw and any issues when in the fairing of a bike, like an RT-W? Any 'quirks' with how the bulbs work?

Looking for comments before I send $'s.

Thanks and ride safe!
 
All good so far with Cyclops bulb

glenfeld said:
This is very interesting.

I just went through 2 failures of a high performance low beam bulb that I got from a famous company whose name starts with 'P' and ends with 'IAA'. - Quite disappointed. And yes, I know how to install the bulb with out touching the glass of the halogen.

My question is, what have people experienced with the reliability of these LED bulbs from Cyclops? Last for years? Able to handle the vibration? has anyone checked for how much heat these bulbs throw and any issues when in the fairing of a bike, like an RT-W? Any 'quirks' with how the bulbs work?

Looking for comments before I send $'s.

Thanks and ride safe!
Click to expand...

I've had the Cyclops LED as my low-beam in my 2016 1200 RT since last Spring. I've ridden about 8000 mi so that's probably only about 200 hrs +/- on the LED, but it's the data I have. Mostly commuting on county-type paved roads, a couple thousand on long rides in the Cascades in WA and BC. All good so far. Light is steady, beam pattern is fine. No obvious signs of heart deformation to the reflector or any odors. I asked about heat concerns when I bought it and the response was something akin to "it's cooler than a halogen bulb". I didn't measure anything, but as I said - all OK so far. I'm pleased enough that I'm going to swap out the high-beam bulbs as well soon. The Cyclops folks needed to add something to the circuity (resistor? capacitor?? not sure which) for my 2016 bike as compared to 14-15 models, something about a change in electrical system causing faults without the extra component addition. I'm not sure how that affected the claimed output - but it's much brighter than the stock halogen bulb subjectively. I'm a happy customer.
 
reg26 said:
Wow. Just changed my bulb for first time today. Yes it s a bitch. It went at 15100 mi on my 15RT. Do you know what the part # is on that Cyclops?
Click to expand...

Once you figure out how to do it it turns into a 10m job is it. I think this is what you have to do to avoid the frustration of pushing on the wrong part of the retention clip. When you do it like this it releases quite easily. Photograph complements of realshelby:

Screen Shot 2017-10-22 at 9.32.53 AM.jpg
 
led

Well after using led bub for few days i happen to turn on high beam and get bulb failure symbol on dash! Checked all three lights are lit when i hit high beam and stays lit when notice on dash lights up. Anyone else having this issue?
 
Led

Talked with cyclops yesterday and was advised I need a resistor. They say it's plug n play. We shall see after it arrives next week.
 
davagail said:
So we take off last Saturday for a ride to D.C. Arrive Sunday afternoon after I noticed the dreaded bulb out light on dash! Get to hotel unpack relax a bit and go to change bulb out. Always carry spare because I'm on my second RT! So I've changed prolly 6 or more. Reach under from front and pull cover off reach in clip clutch side in about 30 seconds then go to brake side and feel clip and do dam thing I've always done! For three days I fart with brake side clip and still won't release!! $&/:);@ thing!! So I call mortons bmw down in Fredericksburg and tell them my dilemma and they say bring it down Wednesday. Ok cool gonna have to pay them to change bulb that I put in, osram long life I put I. About 15-16000 miles back. Long story short they had to pull headlight cause I guess I got heavy fingered and bent said tab down so clip wouldn't release!! While it was out they suggested LED bulb from cyclops, I asked about light pattern radio noise etc... said, they've had no problems and even called cyclops to confirm! After they get done with headlight and reset service light and check and install updates they give me a bill for only wait for it $173.00 I asked service manager is this right and he said yes sir we only charged 1hour labor plus parts!! I shook his hand and said thank you for the gift! He said no problem, we like to take care of travelers!!!! WOW is all I can say excellent customer service especially to an out of Townes!! Awesome experience and light seems to work just fine!!
Click to expand...
Question, when they installed the LED lamp, do they reinstall the headlight cover cap? How does that work with the cooling fan?

Thanks
 
davagail said:
Talked with cyclops yesterday and was advised I need a resistor. They say it's plug n play. We shall see after it arrives next week.
Click to expand...


That was the same thing I ran into when trying "guaranteed to work" LED bulbs in my RT.......One other BIG problem that is easy to overlook until you need it is the fact that some of these LED bulbs will get too hot after running for a while. Some a very short while. The light is still "on", and you might not think anything about it unless you are riding at night. Then it is obvious, the light output is dramatically reduced in response to overheating. Still a white light as these do not get yellow as an incandescent would do when voltage is reduced. Just not much light coming out!

The bulb I am running has the braided heat sinks. Does not trip the Canbus error. Been there for quite a while and thousands of miles now.
 
led

patm said:
Question, when they installed the LED lamp, do they reinstall the headlight cover cap? How does that work with the cooling fan?

Thanks
Click to expand...

not sure how it works but dust cover is one and cyclops told me cover would fit with resistor installed too! time will tell
 
Not to sure about other states, but in Mass. it is illegal to alter your head lights or tail lights. I waited in line at the Reg. of motor vehicles to ask about it and I was told by a very angry employee not to change anything or I could get a ticket or fail inspection. If pulled over the officer could have my vehicle towed. I apologized for wasting her time and left scratching my head.:scratch
 
junkjohn said:
Not to sure about other states, but in Mass. it is illegal to alter your head lights or tail lights. I waited in line at the Reg. of motor vehicles to ask about it and I was told by a very angry employee not to change anything or I could get a ticket or fail inspection. If pulled over the officer could have my vehicle towed. I apologized for wasting her time and left scratching my head.:scratch
Click to expand...

Yes.....and No......It is illegal to use unapproved headlight assemblies or bulb replacements. Mostly due to light pattern changes. There are replacement headlight assemblies that ARE DOT approved and 100% legal. Mainly for cars and trucks at this time, most are LED. Legal replacement headlight. If "alter" included using a replacement bulb that was a match in every way, but a different brand, you can see how that might be a problem. So, my take on the motor vehicle employee is that they don't know the correct way to answer your question.
 
led

davagail said:
not sure how it works but dust cover is one and cyclops told me cover would fit with resistor installed too! time will tell
Click to expand...

resistor showed up and is plug and play! getting everything under dust cover is challenging but can be done!! seems to have solved the problem,haven't went for ride yet but in the garage for 15 minutes or so with high beam on no bulb failure on dash!!! fingers crossed
 
She seemed to be saying you could not just put a brighter bulb in the headlight and you could not have a blinking tail light. I tried finding more on line with no luck.
 
junkjohn said:
She seemed to be saying you could not just put a brighter bulb in the headlight and you could not have a blinking tail light. I tried finding more on line with no luck.
Click to expand...

re: blinking taillight, I was told the same in NYS during an inspection. First time anyone mentioned it in several inspections. I told him I installed it after this inspection.
 
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