BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hey team,
Quick question about the rockster headlight. The previous owner installed a HID headlight (which recently broke). I'm going to replace it, but before I did, I wanted to check on something. The light had a really nice "organge" color to it. Someone mentioned that all rocksters have that. So my question is, did that orange color come from something in the lense or was it the bulb? Thanks guys!

-Colin ( from a phone... Please excuse any typos)

Anyone? Are the lights all orange? Or am I making this up?

don't remember my bike ever having an 'orange' glow to either of the headlight units.....

cgguy09 wrote:Anyone? Are the lights all orange? Or am I making this up?

Nothing orange or pink or blue in the Rockster headlights. H1 bulbs are conventional incandescent light sources (unless coated for cosmetic effect), and the optics (low/dip projector and high beam reflector+lens) are not tinted.

HID color temperature can be wide range of nonsensical colors. The HID in my Rockster projector lamp is white 5000K.

I have the Clearwater hella developed HID light cluster developed for the 1150 GS on my rockster.
Light is bright white (low beam) normal hi. 150K on the HID bulb and counting,great system, not made anymore.

:-)

kirby wrote:I have the Clearwater hella developed HID light cluster developed for the 1150 GS on my rockster.
Light is bright white (low beam) normal hi. 150K on the HID bulb and counting,great system, not made anymore.
:-)

That's cool! Didn't know whether anyone else had considered that retrofit.

I talked with the Clearwater folks when the 1150GS HID kit came out, and couldn't justify the cost since I already had HID in the low/dip projector.

FWIW, I'm working on a homebrew upgrade for the GS/Rockster headlights, with goals of low cost and high illumination performance. The idea is to use a Hella 90mm Bi-Halogen module (H11 bulb) with second lamp position used as driving light, either HID or LED (haven't decided).

Yeah, they even did all the mounting for the headlight in milled magnesium I can't say enough about the results it turned my night time riding into no big deal huge difference from the stock system, Germans must be able to see in the dark as the stock set up was not very good at least for me. Hope you have good luck with your project if you decide to do it.

FWIW Its the hella developed projector/lens/ reflector that really makes this special an amazing amount of usable illumination just where you need it without blinding on coming traffic. They spent allot of time developing it and that's why the high cost. The bright white is also good for day recognition.
:-)

thanks for the help guys! I'll let you know it turns out!

It's gotta be the bulb. The OEM is white.

Sweatmark - I am interested in how your project will come out. I have been playing with ideas on this, trying CAD design for fitment ect. But I have not gotten to the buying hardware stage yet.
Spoon

spoon wrote:Sweatmark - I am interested in how your project will come out. I have been playing with ideas on this, trying CAD design for fitment ect. But I have not gotten to the buying hardware stage yet.

Spoon - Here's current Rockster headlight status:

1. The OE low/dip beam side mounting is awkward. I kludged together a mount adapter for the Hella 90mm Bi-Halogen module but wasn't happy with result. Considered casting an acrylic ring that would mate with the inner GS/Rockster headlamp module bracket, but my head started to hurt with the complexity.

2. I then considered mounting Hella module on high beam side, but the module's mount "ears" need radical surgery in order to fit under Rockster headlamp shell (front and back sections).

3. Installing HID bulb (adapted with H9 base) into Hella module produced too much glare, with imprecise low-beam (shutter in place) cutoff.

4. So I reinstalled the OE Rockster low beam projector, reinstalled Philips HID with H1-adapted burner installed by original owner, and declared the cutoff quite good. That OE GS/Rockster projector seems to be good optics, but suffers from the weak H1 bulb.

5. Now I'm sketching out adapter mount for the high beam side (the easier side to mount using OE lamp adjustment pivot-screws) and will use this LED for high beam/driving light:

http://www.bajadesigns.com/pc_combined_ ... 35CC01EEAA

The Squadron Pro lineup recently expanded to include round faceplate that fits perfectly in the RHS of Rockster headlight. Rockster high beam circuit & fuse are well suited for the LED, and I'm installing switch for LED brightness selection via Skene smart dimmer. I'm a fan of the B-D Squadrons, bright and indestructible. When I get it together I will post some pics of the nighttime illumination results.

I like the Squadron idea. Keep us posted.

Sweatmark, any updates on the headlight mod?

Being a cheapskate ( Scottish ancestry - ¿ remember when two taxis collided in Glasgow and thirty-six people were taken to hospital ? ) and very underwhelmed by the Rockster's front lighting, I simply added two extra CREE 15W LEDs to the crashbars... ¡ what a difference !

https://s26.postimg.org/ldli90xp5/LED_C ... ashbar.jpg

Alternative more expensive Chinese lamp, sold by EU distributor :-

https://postimg.org/image/8fckb0951/

Best to wire them in from a simple switched feed in case the Federales pull you over.

Update: -
On the Rockster in the UK, as opposed to the Honda with the crash bars here in Spain, I decided to mount the pair of cheapo Chinese 10Watt CREE spots on the matt-finish silver bracket at the sides of the Rockster's headlamps. Careful choice of hole position means you avoid clashing with the winkers, you prevent the back of the lamps bumping the tank oil-cooler fairings on each full lock, and also you can have the spots in the same horizontal plane as the OEM twin headlamp bulbs, making a trio of lights all on the same level.

According to my expert bike MOT tester, there's no need to have them switched. Leave 'em on all the time the bike's running. My Rockster is an EU model without the option of switching headlamps off. When you turn the key, on they come, and you simply choose between dip or full.

Plenty adequate forward lighting for any situation, but some cagers may find the pair of CREEs a touch bright in their rear-view mirror.
Never a bad thing....and you can always point them downwards a touch.

Much better to have a pair of super-bright CREE DRLs like that, IMHO simpler and more reliable than messing with HID circuitry and all that. And due to the tiny current drain, there's no need for a relay feed.

I hooked them into the two under-tank 12V fused ( Fuse # 7 ) connectors for the Heated Grips, which are duff on my bike anyway. Those nice and not-too-expensive KEIS-brand heated slim inner gloves are much more effective than any HGs 'cos they warm the BACK of your fingers, which normally freeze even with HGs warming your palms.

Forgot to camera them so I'll get my MOT man in the UK to send a pic or two showing the exact position of the CREE lamps.

CREE 10Watt Driving Lights mounted at side of OEM headlight - kushtie.

https://s17.postimg.org/lxfzbcodb/Rockster_CREE.jpg

https://s17.postimg.org/fjqw8642n/Rockster_CREE_a.jpg

Sykospain, tried your links and they don't seem to be working. Or is it me?

Strange....they work instantly for me. I point the mouse at the URL line, it lights up, then I right-click and choose "Open in link in new tab" and up comes another tab at the top of the window.
When I select that new tab, there's the foto.
Other than following those steps, I can't fathom why you don't see the foto.
Sorry,
AL

Ahhh, that's what I was missing, right-click and "Open link in new tab". That worked. Nice lights. They are a perfect size for the Rockster.

I would still like to come up with something that will fit in the orginal bucket. There are a couple of nice H4 bulbs out their but nothing that replaces the H1, that I can find. I'm talking LED.