Aaarrrggghhhh....Not a good Day

[Peteoz]

Well I just spent 3 hours trying to install the Wolo horn on the F3 Limited. I was blocked at every turn....you know those days you get sometime? Either I mounted the horn bracket in the wrong spot, or the F3 Limited cabling is different from the 2015+ F3 standards. There is no way I could get the horn into the mounting bracket because of the thick fixed cabling. I'll have to look for another spot. It wasn't all bad though.....I know how to take panels off and the general lie of the land under the front hardware pretty well.

Then I find out that the US and Aussie lighting is different. We have "low beam" (city lights) where you guys have your "fog" lights, and "high beam" (country driving, no oncoming traffic) where you guys have your normal headlights, so I can't install my LED lights from Lamonster. That's what you get for not doing your homework.

I think I'll have a beer and contemplate where to from here :thumbup:

Pete

 

[Peter Aawen]

Hey Pete, just check your headlight globes & the plugs on the back of them before you get too far into replacing everything!!

I have a more than sneaking suspicion that on the F3's, you can swap out the BRP Hi beam Globes for 'normal' Aust car style Hi/Lo globes; then add the third wire to the plug on the back & 're-activate' the Hi beam lights as Hi/Lo lights, thereby moving both Hi & Lo into the upper lighting position!! :yes::2thumbs:



There are a few Can-am Spyder F3 Low Beam Headlight Reactivation and Panel Removal vids on YouTube that might help with doing this, if you want to search (the bold bit is a copy of the heading I found, if that helps your search - sorry, but I don't have a link handy anymore!)

And if you do that 'shift both lights to the upper position' thing, then your Lamonster Fog Lights will come in bloody handy AND make your F3 lighting really useful, instead of being half baked & useless by having the Lo beams down where no other Aussie road user ever looks for them or can even see them!!

Why on earth our idiotic Design Rule Legislators decided that Spyder Lo beam lights should be separated & lower than Hi beam is beyond me - a lot of testing has shown that if you are much more than about 30m away then other road users aren't all that often aware that your Lo beam lights are on even in the dark, let alone bright sunlight (which we have a little of here!) effectively making you invisible to many other road users!! And heaps of other testing has shown that when you are within about 30m or so, NO amount of extra lighting will help them realise you are there in time to do anything about getting out of your way after they've just pulled out in front when they shouldn't orta!! :yikes: Why couldn't we have both Hi & Lo beam lights included in the same assembly up at 'normal' light height where everyone expects them to be instead of splitting them to put Lo further down & more out of view??

Just as an aside, it's a bit of a funny thing but mounting a couple of dummy lights up above the mirrors on the front of a white RT really makes other road users pay attention, even just empty black light covers taped up there work a treat & no-one will ever pull in front of you! In fact, I've seen other road users back up or do U'ies to avoid driving ahead of me at all.... altho I'm beginning to think that it just might be because a white RT with lights up there looks a whole lot like a Police bike!! :shocked:

 

[Peteoz]

Many thanks, Peter......now there's plenty of food for thought.....I'll start looking immediately......well, maybe after I have another beer.

Pete

 

[monkeyboymorton]

That is gutting if you've ordered Lamont's fogs from the states. We do indeed have the low beam in that position. I've actually found the light output form the 50mm Hella projectors (used for low beam) to be very good and haven't thought they required changing.

I'm a bit skeptical of these LED conversions in how good a penetration you will get in to the darkness. Sure, they'll look nice and white and shiny but are they actually working as a headlight? i would be interested to see some proper comparison shots of before and after.

If you want the bulbs for the low beam, the 'H7 Philips LUXEON ZES Headlight Kit' is I think the same line as the one Lamont sells for the US lights. Heatsink and chips certainly look similar:



I don't know off hand what bulb is in the EUR/OZ main beam unit as I've not had to look at it yet.

 

[Buckeye Bleau]

There have been posts where people had the old and new lights shining on a garage door, I do not remember what post it was. Research will lead to discovery I am sure.

Joe

 

[monkeyboymorton]

There have been posts where people had the old and new lights shining on a garage door, I do not remember what post it was. Research will lead to discovery I am sure.

Joe

That's the exact comparison that is next to worthless though. I'm not interested in lighting up my garage door (not that I have one) at 5-10 feet. I'm more interested in how far are those lights are going to help me see when I'm doing 80mph down an unlit country road.

Like I said, they look all nice and bright up close but how much penetration are you getting. If all you're interested in is making your lights look white round a city that's fine. I personally don't care what colour they are as long as they light up the road ahead. It's not about style, it's about function.

In that respect I've found the Hella low beam (specific to Europe/Japan/Australasia) to be very good. At least as good as any car I've owned. I have read threads on here about how poor the light output is from the US spec low beam in the centre of the bike, but that's a different discussion.

 

[al0vely]

Well I just spent 3 hours trying to install the Wolo horn on the F3 Limited. I was blocked at every turn....you know those days you get sometime? Either I mounted the horn bracket in the wrong spot, or the F3 Limited cabling is different from the 2015+ F3 standards. There is no way I could get the horn into the mounting bracket because of the thick fixed cabling. I'll have to look for another spot. It wasn't all bad though.....I know how to take panels off and the general lie of the land under the front hardware pretty well.

Then I find out that the US and Aussie lighting is different. We have "low beam" (city lights) where you guys have your "fog" lights, and "high beam" (country driving, no oncoming traffic) where you guys have your normal headlights, so I can't install my LED lights from Lamonster. That's what you get for not doing your homework.

I think I'll have a beer and contemplate where to from here :thumbup:

Pete

So how did the horn install end up? I have one yet to be installed.

 

[Peteoz]

So how did the horn install end up? I have one yet to be installed.

I gave up yesterday, al......you can't get the front side panel off without dismantling the front end panels on the Limited, which means you are effectively working blind, and losing a lot of skin :sour: I am pretty sure I had the bracket fastened to the correct body bolt but could not get the horn body below the bracket and above the thick cabling. I think they are made for the F3 and F3S only as they have different side bodywork for easier access (BUT I COULD WELL BE WRONG AS I AM ONLY NEW TO SPYDER).....trying to get the underbody plastic protection panel covering the existing horn also caused me grief......that's when I gave up and had a beer.

I'm not saying it WON'T fit in the recommended spot, just that I could not get it to fit on my Limited. I'll have another go some time this arvo (it's 6:30am here) to see if there is something I missed.....but then again, I might just go riding, albeit with my beep beep horn :2thumbs:

Pete

 

[Peteoz]

That's the exact comparison that is next to worthless though. I'm not interested in lighting up my garage door (not that I have one) at 5-10 feet. I'm more interested in how far are those lights are going to help me see when I'm doing 80mph down an unlit country road.

Like I said, they look all nice and bright up close but how much penetration are you getting. If all you're interested in is making your lights look white round a city that's fine. I personally don't care what colour they are as long as they light up the road ahead. It's not about style, it's about function.

In that respect I've found the Hella low beam (specific to Europe/Japan/Australasia) to be very good. At least as good as any car I've owned. I have read threads on here about how poor the light output is from the US spec low beam in the centre of the bike, but that's a different discussion.

Yes, it's the penetration I am interested in too, Monkeyboy.....I just figured the LED would help with that as it is "brighter", and the low beam lights are so close to the ground. Bad assumption, eh?

When you speak of the Hella low beam, is that the stock Eu/Japan/Au Spyder bulb?

Pete

 

[Tango]

That sucks Pete. I have a Wolo horn myself. Just haven't gotten around to it. I just started the install of the RIP Boards. Hopefully finish tomorrow. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

 

[Peteoz]

That sucks Pete. I have a Wolo horn myself. Just haven't gotten around to it. I just started the install of the RIP Boards. Hopefully finish tomorrow. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

yeah.......I'm not discounting "operator error" though, Tom . I'm about to post a request for help along with some photos to determine if it is just me, or if there is a difference between th F3 and F3-L up front.
Pete

 

[Peteoz]

That sucks Pete. I have a Wolo horn myself. Just haven't gotten around to it. I just started the install of the RIP Boards. Hopefully finish tomorrow. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:

How did the RIP install go, Tom? I'd hoped to be installing my RIP boards this weekend, but now Aussie Customs have grabbed them so I have to wait for a snail mail letter so I can pay duty. Maybe next weekend.

I haven't had any luck with the horn install and I can't afford to lose any more blood:shocked: , so I'll look to mount the horn in the same spot as the current horn, once I work out how to get the plastic protective shield underneath it off ray: ......please don't let my problems with the install put you off trying the install as recommended. It should be dead easy, but if you find there is not enough room to fit it, it probably means there is some kind of difference with the Limited.

Pete

 

[Peteoz]

Hey Pete, just check your headlight globes & the plugs on the back of them before you get too far into replacing everything!!

I have a more than sneaking suspicion that on the F3's, you can swap out the BRP Hi beam Globes for 'normal' Aust car style Hi/Lo globes; then add the third wire to the plug on the back & 're-activate' the Hi beam lights as Hi/Lo lights, thereby moving both Hi & Lo into the upper lighting position!! :yes::2thumbs:

There are a few Can-am Spyder F3 Low Beam Headlight Reactivation and Panel Removal vids on YouTube that might help with doing this, if you want to search (the bold bit is a copy of the heading I found, if that helps your search - sorry, but I don't have a link handy anymore!)

And if you do that 'shift both lights to the upper position' thing, then your Lamonster Fog Lights will come in bloody handy AND make your F3 lighting really useful, instead of being half baked & useless by having the Lo beams down where no other Aussie road user ever looks for them or can even see them!!

thanks Peter.....I had a good look at the video, but that is more than I like to do, and I would not like to have to revert if I get some officious officer/bureaucrat decide that the new lighting in "unapproved". Plus, there seems to be a consensus that our stock Hella low beams are better for dark night penetration than the US LEDs anyway. I might look at the mini driving light kits from Tricled that mount inside the fenders to provide a little more dark night viewing.

Pete

 

[KJWEB]

so I'll look to mount the horn in the same spot as the current horn, once I work out how to get the plastic protective shield underneath it off ray:
Pete

Hi Pete, the plastic cover has 3 push pins and 1 screw and it pops right off. I had mine off last night for installing the BajaRon Sway bar and Heim Links

 

[Peteoz]

Thanks KJ

Hi Pete, the plastic cover has 3 push pins and 1 screw and it pops right off. I had mine off last night for installing the BajaRon Sway bar and Heim Links

Thanks KJ.....I figured that would be the most likely case but I couldn't get my fat head far enough under to see/get at them....

Pete

 

[monkeyboymorton]

When you speak of the Hella low beam, is that the stock Eu/Japan/Au Spyder bulb?

Pete

Yes. They are this 50mm projector unit:



But most likely grey rather than silver (there's no difference apart from the colour).

These are an automotive OEM part used in the headlamp units of BMWs, Volvos etc. They are coupled with a separate high beam in cars. So they are clearly good enough for the Spyder if the likes of BMW use them. You could but some of those '30% brighter' bulbs in if you felt like it. H7 fitment.

I haven't found their position/height to be an issue. Once set up right they light up road signs on the left of the road from about half a mile away.

I only know so much about these because I bought my Spyder from Germany and imported it tot he Uk. So I had to change the LHD lights to RHD ones. BRP wanted £600 for 2 RHD lights, I tracked down the Hella part number (took many hours..........) and paid £110 for a pair from a local Hella dealer. A bit more likle it!!!

 

[Peteoz]

Perfect.....thanks very much, Monkeyboy :thumbup:

Pete