Don Eilenberger's


Kisan Headlight Modulator Fix

Andy at Kisan Tech finally came up with the solution for the flashing "Lamp" warning - which drove me slightly batty for about 4,000 miles.

The warning was caused by the ZFE bulb-monitor system not seeing enough current draw during the dim phase of the headlight modulation (the modulator doesn't turn the bulb off - it dims it to about 20% brightness.)  Kisan tried using a different timing on the modulator - that didn't work. They tried using a capacitor across the bulb output to give a different RC constant - that didn't work. Finally - Andy thought of using a "ballast" bulb.

The ballast bulb is a 20W bulb that is illuminated when the normal headlight bulb is dimmed. The current draw that the ZFE monitoring system sees is then within acceptable parameters - and it doesn't throw an error code.

The following photos show the modulator with the ballast bulb mounted in the headlight nacelle. The modulator came with a warning to keep the bulb away from anything that might be effected by the heat given off. The mounting position I chose did that - and allowed me to secure it to the inside surface of the headlight using some foam two-faced tape. I also added an additional tie-wrap that goes loosely around the base of the high-beam bulb holding the wiring away from the ballast bulb.

This is what it looked like finished and ready to close up

A closeup of the bulb and modulator

Sideview showing it fastened to the "shelf" with 2-face foam tape


 

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