DIY: Installing Halos

[tlhamon]

This is not for the faint of heart as there is a lot of possiblity of causing damage when taking the headlights apart, so be warned and be careful.

1. Here is what I received: 2 CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamps), transformer, epoxy and instructions.



2. Removed the headlamp assembly. I was able to get at it by only removing one side fairing along with the front fairing. Remove the headlights (despite some speculation, they ARE identical bulbs, H7's) and the rubber boots and foam vibration pads.



3. Here is where it gets tricky. The assembly is held together by heat glue. In order to take the two pieces apart, you have to heat it. They suggest a heat gun or using your oven. I used my oven. They suggest 15 minutes at 250 F. I left mine in longer and it was still an absolute mother to pry apart. I also got some warpage on the clear cover lens, SO KEEP AN EYE ON IT!!! In the process of prying it apart I bent up the flange pretty bad. The problem is that instead of just an L-flange like I expected, it is a U-shaped channely with 400lbs. of glue. I am NOT going to reheat it to seal it back together. I am going to use silicone caulk and deal with any clouding by dropping a couple of silicone packs in there. This part is by far the worst.



4. You need to drill a hole for the wires and like other bikes I've seen, there is a spot for a runner bulb that is required in Europe so I just drilled that out and routed the wires there. I also drilled a couple of holes to mount the transformer.



5. Center the halos and tape them down with painter's tape and then using the included epoxy, tack them down really well.



That's as far as I got today. I need to pick up the caulk. I'll post more soon.

[randomwalk101]

Dat's **** yoo!!
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[DarkNinja52]

looks stressful, im curious to see how they come out, unfortunately its 'to be continued'
if it looks like its worth the trouble in the end, i might consider doin this, i get a feeling theyll look awesome

[tlhamon]

6. I sealed up the wire holes I drilled with high-temp silicon gasket sealer. It's good up to 650 F so it's more than adequate. I also used it to reseal the assembly together. It takes 24 hours to fully cure, so I'm going to give it another day. If it's sunny tomorrow, I'm going to set it out in the sun and let it heat up and then put the lamps and rubber caps back on. That sould get rid of any residual humidity inside without the risk of warping the plastic in the oven (notice you can see the damage on the lens from the oven).





7. I am going to wire the halos to the low beam wires since I plan to leave them on all of the time anyway. This is by far the easiest way to wire it. I have a couple of clip on connectors that slip right over the wires without splicing.

[Grn99Kawi]

very very very cool! I wish my pre gen had the headlight look of teh newer one.. IMO it is one of the best front ends on a bike.

[tlhamon]

7.5 - PSA, I got them in and wired them up. Turned on the key. Nothing. Checked fuses, checked a few other things. Cut the wires, THEN remembered something about the lights only being on when the bike is running. So I ended up creating a bunch of extra work for myself. I didn't start it because I had the fairings off. So save yourself some headache. I will take some final pics tonight when it starts getting dark.

[DarkNinja52]

looks like your signature may be holding true for this case

[Anteraan]

Ok, looking for those pics. I'm really curious. I hope it turned out well for you, Thomas.

[randomwalk101]

the problem of this mod, that I can foresee, is that cold cathode will burn out...much sooner (than say LEDs). So, installing and gluing them like this make it 'difficult' to replace. Also, i can see all those glue when the headlights are off..not too attractive to me. BMW use an led and a circular ring that diffracts lights throughout the ring. The leds will last the lifetime of the vehicle...
How do I know cold cathode will burn out? i use them in my vehicle wheel weld as accent light (they turn on when I open the door). They will burn out in about a year of usage. Of course, you don't use motorcycle as often as my car, but again, they're on a lot longer than opening/closing doors. Also, when they burn out in my car, all I have to do is reach down, unplug and replace with new one....this headlight seal/unseal & all the glue, I don't know..

[DarkNinja52]

guess we won't know till its done, I really hope it works out well, looking forward to the pics

[tlhamon]

8. Got them in and at least on this particular bike, totally not worth the $ and trouble. When the low beam is on, the one right is visible, but the one on the side with the working light is totally overwhelmed and doesn't look like anything. I guess the only reason you would want them is if you simply park your bike when it is off and run the lights, which is pointless. So I guess my experiment is a cautionary tale to everyone else not to waste thier money. The way the reflector is on this bike, you really can't paint it black like they suggest as it would affect your headlights. I took pics, but without a filter you really can't see anything. So, final words, don't bother.

[DarkNinja52]

thats upsetting, but atleast i know not to try it now

[tlhamon]

They would be good on a car where you aren't obligated to have your headlights on, but on a bike, at least here in Michigan, you have to have your headlights on at all times. We'll see if I get any comments on the one you can see. I get more comments on the Soviet decals than anything. They were only $7.

[tlhamon]

Here is a pic of the bike. Like I said, it's hard to photo the headlights, but the left one does reveal the halo when then brights are off. Do you notice the other mod I did? It was by far the better mod.

[noche_caliente]

Thomas, thanks for taking the time to post up about your modification process! I'm sorry it didn't turn out better for you.

[tlhamon]

Thanks for the condolences. Hey, somebody had to try it.

[CRXTrek]

Originally Posted by tlhamon

Thanks for the condolences. Hey, somebody had to try it.

Dimadozenn over at KF did this a year ago

http://www.kawiforums.com/ninja-250r...eyes-pics.html

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Maybe put them on a switch to use them when parked

[DarkNinja52]

def put them on a separate switch

[tlhamon]

Actually, I took it out last night and STILL had a lot of people giving me second looks. Even had a couple of cars drive beside me so everyone could take a look. So, I guess they still have an effect.

As far as the seperate switch, the headlights are wired to be on when the engine starts. So unless you simply like to park your bike and drain the battery, there isn't much reason to put them on another switch, unless you also wire the low beam to off, which would get you a ticket.

[DarkNinja52]

yea i dont remember what i had in mind , something made sense to me when i typed that, but i don't remember what it was... i'll be back when i figure it out

[tlhamon]

No need to worry. I almost ironed my pants while I was wearing them once. Suggesting a switch is far from strange.

[CRXTrek]

My zx has parking lights,good for dark parking spots while running in a store or the quick food stop .

[Snake]

The Ninja 250 also has a parking light mode on the key switch. I believe that you have to move the key all the way to the right and the key can be pulled out with the parking lights on.

[noche_caliente]

Snake: picture? I don't think we have that on the new gen

[DarkNinja52]

[headshrink]

It makes me sad when pictures go away.

[Alex]

Photobucket FTL.