How to upgrade the headlight?

[adamktm]

What have the rest of you done? I’m luckily enough not to have ridden at night yet, but my mate with his 2010 has and he said a candle would’ve worked better.

Are there upgrades one can do? I know they only have a 35w headlight bulb and the system is designed for that so was thinking LED or something.

Spots are also an option I suppose, but my bike is standard so no crash bars to mount them to.

[Mpandla]

Following with interest.
Had to ride at night in Baviaans and that little candle in front is not good at all

Was thinking of putting a LED bulb in but not sure about the space for one

[Dux]

Come and see me

[aka.Goliath]

I would really suggest not using the oem headlight. Even with a brighter light bulb it still throws the light really badly. Try looking at something like this rather.

https://thumpertalk.com/forums/topic/1196085-ktm-690-%E2%97%8B-xl-pro-headlight-replacement-kit/

[adamktm]

Come and see me

Will do! Be good to see you again. I bought my first Ktm off you in 2009

[Thumper Dumper]

I have a 2015 model and I fitted a led bulb that I bought from another dog. I can post a pic of the box if you interested.
It is an improvement but it isn't a big one, the light isn't very concentrated is about the best way I can describe it.
Space behind the headlight is tight but it does fit, it is plug and play but you do need to trim the rubber that seals the original globe.

[Dux]

Come and see me

Will do! Be good to see you again. I bought my first Ktm off you in 2009

[adamktm]

Please post a pic @Thumper Dumper

[Thumper Dumper]

Please post a pic @Thumper Dumper

I'll post one as soon as I get home.

[adamktm]

Thanks mate

[Thumper Dumper]

Here is a pic of the box for the led headlight. Let me know if there is any other info I can help with.

[funky_munky]

I am currently building my own LED replacement kit for the 690, using a big 4 led spot light as the primary light and then a small 2 LED spot as the brights. It is about 90% complete. I need to tweak the positioning of the smaller spot, to move it back a bit further in the housing. Light output has improved considerably.

Here is  the links to the spotlights I used originally:
Small Spot
https://ruggedsa.co.za/collections/rugged-sa-led-bars/products/rugged-sa-aurora-2-inch-road-led-light-bar-20-watt-spot-beam
Larger Spot:
https://ruggedsa.co.za/collections/rugged-sa-led-bars/products/rugged-sa-double-row-cube-20w-ip69k-led-off-road-spot-light

The 2" spots fit nicely in the existing housing. I need to manufacture a decent back plate so that water ingress is limited.

After looking around I found a slightly bigger LED flood light on Wish, ordered it and waited about 3 months for it to arrive. nice thing is it came with a yellow cover that spreads the light a bit more. The flood provides a less intense light and the beam is wider. I wired the main LED to stay on when switching to the spot light.

[adamktm]

Thanks for posting the info. When you pull it apart to make the back cover will you please take pics on how you mounted it and also please explain how you wired them up. 

[funky_munky]

Wiring to have both low and high beam elements on at same time when high beam is on.

Procedure:
In the white connector used to disconnect headlight shell from bike there are four wires. Blue(high), Green(low), White(park), Brown (Negative). The wires are held in white connector with tiny barbs on the blades. Use jewelers screw driver to push down on barb and another driver to gently push out blade. Change green and white wire positions in the connector. I swopped them all around when I was figuring how it all works. So my main beam is on all the time and switching the brights to the on position turns off the high beam and vice versa...  I have to swop them around but am to lazy to do it at the moment.

Test after connected:
Low beam is the same ,one bulb element on and park light on.
High beam has both elements in headlight bulb on and park light off.

Essentially we are using the park / pilot light as the main beam and the main beam as the pilot light. If you look at the wires, they are all the same thickness, neutral, park, main and high.

[funky_munky]

Image14 - removed the headlight with the 4 hex screws.
Image13 - created a support bar which the main flood bracket will connect to.
Image12 - created 2 little tabs which connect to the bottom bracket and bring the bottom support back
Image11 - other view of the 2 little tabs
Image10 - top bar connected and bottom 2 tabs connected.

[funky_munky]

Main flood connected to support bars.

[funky_munky]

Image5 - Cross bar at the bottom of the headlight bracket where the bright spot connects to.
Image4 - Everything bolted together.

[funky_munky]

I clipped the H4 connection off and made a cable split which the spot deutch connectors connect to, but I used the original white connector that connects to the bike.

I still have to figure out how to create a blanking plate which will keep most mud / water / dust from going back into the wiring behind the mask.

Probably just need to get some flexible plastic and mount it behind the lights.