Wunderlich - Micro Flooter Light Kit for R1200GS

*** WARNING *** (check this out if you've recently received recall updates on your R12GS)

Something to note on this light kit.  The lights are connected directly to the battery but there is a relay in the mix for auto power shut off.  The red lead goes on the positive (+) battery terminal and the brown lead goes to the negative (-) battery terminal.  The small black wire will be spliced into the red wire on the BMW accessory plug outlet kit (kit part no.: 71 60 7 685 121).  Wunderlich has provided the cable splicer in the kit.  It's the red plastic part at the top left corner on the parts list picture below.

Here is what came in the Wunderlich light kit.  Parts list:


Not all the parts here are used.


Alternate view.


Large shrink tube, tie wraps, and small shrink tube.


Electrical cabling ... excuse how it looks.  It has to fit into one picture.




This is the fuse for the power cable (15A).


These are the power leads for the left and right lights.




The relay for the lights.






The lights are made of glass and metal.


Right side mount (right is relative to being on the bike).  Note the non-flushed piece of aluminum
on the large piece, towards the top.


Left side mount.  This large mount piece also has a non-flush piece of aluminum
towards the top.


This is roughly how the mount is suppose to fit together.

I don't know if you can see it or not but the mount that goes onto the bike has a bit of aluminum protruding when it's suppose to be flush.  As a result, some hand grinding needs to be done.  In fact, it turns out two of the spacers also needed major grinding in order for the light to be mounted.  It almost seems like Wunderlich doesn't test fit their parts.  There were indications that quality control isn't very hot.  This is particularly true because I found an extra screw where it's not suppose to be.  I'll point this out later.

In preparation for a smooth fit on the bike, I had to grind down the two mounting pieces that are to have contact with the bike.







As you can see from the three images above, the primary mounting plate has a protrusion of aluminum where it's suppose to be flushed.  This is the part of the mount that touches the bike.  Having this part shaped in this way will no doubt cause an uneven mounting of the lights.  Here is the same mount piece after a couple of applications of elbow grease with a file.







It's not pretty but it works.  The next step is to attach the light brackets on to the mounting pieces.  There are two fairly short counter sunk screws.  This in conjunction with the small washer and lock nut will connect the brackets together.


Here is all that is needed from the parts list to put the light bracket and light mount together.
This is for the left mount.


Here is the same thing for the right side.

The next thing to do is prep the lights themselves for mounting.  At this point go ahead and disassemble the light that came with the kit.  The lights should look like the pictures below.  Note the arrows point to the screws that you need to remove.  However, it's a good idea to keep the rubber washers for later use.






In the end you should have these components per light.

The interesting thing for me was, one of the lights after disassembly was rattling when I shook it.  That's not right.  Why should a light make a noise when it is shaken.  I was listening to the light as I shook it and determined there was something within the light's rubber housing in the back.  I removed the rubber housing and found a screw.  "What the f**k!!"  The probability that you'll encounter the same problem is dismal.  However, it happened to me and I didn't know what to make of it.  So now I have 5 unused light mounting screws instead of 4.  Weird.


And there you have it, the extra screw at the left end.

Of course this is the thing that makes me question Wunderlich's QA.  I have also noticed other products from Wunderlich that doesn't fit so easily in the past.  I guess they just crank parts out as fast as they can.  QA?  What's that?

Now that the lights have been disassembles, it's time to put them into the light bracket.


The start of a brighter future ... at night.
Note the rubber washer to the right of the spacer.

Now here's the deal.  As you can tell from the parts list, Wunderlich gave me two short spaces and 4 long spacers.  As it turns out, what I need is the opposite.  4 short spacers.  The long spacers don't do jack for me.  It doesn't fit anywhere.  The sad thing about this is, there are no instructions as to how the lights are assembled.  The instructions were more focused on putting the light on the bike than putting the lights together.  So I ended up improvising.  Once again, I have my handy-dandy machining tools ready to go.


That's no regular file, it's a triangular file.
No special reason for using a triangular file, it's the only one I have.

Here are some images of where I've been and where I'm going to.  The thing to keep in mind is that I chose to use the rubber washers that were originally on the light.  My thought is, the rubber washers will dampen vibration and will also prevent the light from shifting because of better friction.





The spacer on the very left is one of the 4 long spacers.  The spacer on the very right is the short spacer (Wunderlich provided).  The spacer in the middle is yours truly's master machining techniques of one of the long spacers.  You can see the scuff marks from the pliers clamping the spacer while I was busy creating aluminun fairy dust.  Once again, not pretty but quite functional.

Here is and indication of how much I had to loose to get things working for me.



Here is the light in it's bracket all put together on one side.




It's kind of hard to see but if you look close enough, you can see the rubber spacers.

It took me approximately 15 minutes to file the spacer down by hand.  If you have power tools, you'll probably be able to do it in no time.  Minutes.  I sold most of my power tools a while back so I have to do everything by hand now.  Once the second spacer is to the desired height, I install it with the rubber washers and I'm all done.  Two rubber washer per side.


The hand constructed spacer is on the right ... of course.


Here's a closer look.  You can see the two rubber washers a little better in this pic.

At this point I'm done until I get the replacement/correct accessory plug outlet kit from Santa Cruz BMW.  Stay tunned.  BTW, installing these lights involve removing the gas tank. Ugh...


The final assembled lights.

Page 2 , Page 3 (if you already have a front BMW accessory plug installed)

Written on: Dec 10, 2005
Last modified: September 6, 2006