The "Halo" Thread

FZ1riderNY

FZ1riderNY

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i180.photobucket.com
Call me bored but I have this entire front stock headlight unit sitting on my kitchen table for quite some time now. I decided that once I install the newly painted upper fairing, that maybe I would mess around a little. So I was in Harbor Freight a week or so ago and picked up their 1500W Heat Gun on sale for 10 bucks. It's a double heat range model and looks pretty good. So this evening I decided to take it out of the box and see if I could separate the headlight halves. I didn't want to put it in my oven which is why I picked up the heat gun instead. To make a long story short I ordered the light kit and am waiting for it to arrive. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm going to do a "How To" video anyway. Once I have finished the install I will make a decision as to mount it on the bike or not. If I decide not too I'll sell the unit here on the forum. Here are a couple of pics just to wet your whistles. Videos will follow next week.

What they will look like (Only with two bulbs)
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My new heat gun. This thing made short work of separating the unit. Works awesome.
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The reflector side already separated...
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The lens side separated....
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More to follow!!
 
Thanks buddy! I figure that since the tank and rear tail section of the bike will be going to repair and paint, I'll have a couple of weeks to kill getting all the other maintenance stuff done in the meantime. I think this light kit is gonna look cool. While I'm really not a big fan of L.E.D. Kits on a bike, I really like these Halo Light Kits.
 
Okay, I made some time to work on the installation of the kit.

You have seen the first couple of steps so I'll continue on.

The instructions call for you to drill a hole in the reflector to pass the wires through and would be siliconed later on. What they didn't think about is that the connector is so big that a 1/2" drill bit wouldn't have been big enough. I opted to find my trusty sewing needle and remove the connectors, making sure not to break the tiny metal prongs that hold the wires inside the connectors.
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Next I laid the bulb in place and centered it in the reflector and my needle again to make a mark where the hole needed to be drilled.
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I marked the spot with a sharpie and started with an 1/8" drill bit. I wanted the hole to be the smallest possible, yet still allow the wires through together.
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I tried the wires with the 1/8" hole but it was way too tight. I moved up to a 5/32" bit and tried again. I was able to insert one wire, and then squeeze the second through as well making a nice snug fit.
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Now they only gave a small packet of two-part epoxy so make sure to have both sides drilled and ready to be set in place before opening the epoxy. The "work time" is only 3 to 5 minutes, and they're not kidding! I mixed enough for glueing the bottom of the bulb to the reflector first, saving a little to do the wire side once the bulbs set in place. After 4 or 5 minutes I was able to let go of the two bulbs and concentrated on applying epoxy to the wire side. Because I kept the hole very small, the glue was able to both hold the bulb down and seal the hole up in the reflector.
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Here is a closeup of the top side where the wires exit through the reflector.
The hole is definitely sealed.
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Once the epoxy dried, the bulbs weren't going nowhere. They were in there solid so it was time to re-attach the connectors to the wire leads.
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It was now time to hook up the ballast and apply some voltage. Just a word of caution: please make sure to hook up the bulbs FIRST, before gluing everything down. I was fortunate that they worked because when it was all dried and I went to show my son, he asked me if I had tried the lights first before gluing them down, and of course I didn't! So here is a preliminary shot before closing the light covers again with the heat gun.
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Tomorrow I'll seal everything up and see if I can rig it up for the headlights to work as well. After seeing them lit, I'm really sold now and these babies will definitely be mounted on the bike. I will post a couple more shots when I have the enclosure together again. Thanks!
 
Okay, all thats needed is for the ballast to be wired to the headlights. Thats the route I'm taking. I'm not going to run a switch to enable/disable the halo's.

My thoughts: I heated the enclosure halves together and mounted the headlight unit into the newly painted fairing. My first impression is that these things are BRIGHT!!! I shut the lights in the livingroom and powered only the halos and it was almost like having the headlights on.

Conclusion: The kit was a quality one to say the least. Installation was pretty straight forward, and hopefully they last a long time. I give this kit a "thumbs up" for anyone that likes this sort of stuff!

Here are 4 shots of how they looked in the fairing in the dark......
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Wow! I totally missed this thread! Must have been the Florida Daze I wore for a couple weeks... ;) Those look awesome Billy. So, how do you know if you have the two halves sealed up water tight again? ;)

Well done!!
 
FZ1inNH said:
Wow! I totally missed this thread! Must have been the Florida Daze I wore for a couple weeks... ;) Those look awesome Billy. So, how do you know if you have the two halves sealed up water tight again? ;)

Well done!!
Click to expand...

I actually don't know! What I did do was before putting the halves together again, I used the heat gun to form a uniform puddle of glue in the valley, all the way around the enclosure. I then used a lot of pressure for about two minutes or so to make sure that the halves were tight together. I will probably use some black silicone before final assembly to make sure that they are sealed up good. In any case I'm glad I have my other set in the garage just in case.
 
I installed the switch in the fairing insert just forward of my power plug. I can now switch the halo's on and off when I choose.
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Tonight I'll wire it up in preparation for the big install on Wednesday!
 
NJFZ1 said:
That switch looks factory installed. Nice job Billy :tup:
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You know Tony, I'm not one to "toot" my own horn but I took it real slow with this switch and waited until I was at work to do the final filing to get the cutout perfect. I was all ready to use some two part epoxy under the lip but when I slid it down and it locked in so tight that there wasn't any room for epoxy I was so happy. Some things are better done slowly and this was one of them. I'd like to thank Dremel Tools and Forney Files for all their help! Hahaha!
 
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