Installation of HID kit 848/1X98

This modification takes a loooooong time. If you're think of riding tomorrow, don't. But
again I'm a dimwit at mechanical and electrical stuff so I have been banging my head
against the wall more than once.
Secondly I accidnetially bought the wiring harness' witht the H7 and not the H11 plugs...
makes a hell of a difference when trying to figure out where what goes
I am around 20h in, some more inclined can probably do it in half the time,

Disclaimer: This is a write from different sources and a special thanks should go out to
VJ020 (DUCATI.ORG) for making it possible as of this thread in the first place and then to
bdaroci2010, Tchase and Dmitriy5099 as the last pages of this thread clearly shows.
(https://www.ducati.org/forums/how-tos/57257-how-retrofit-trs-minih1-hid-projectors-into-
your-1x98-848-a-22.html)

Everything I bought has been out of the The Retrofit Source i US, count on import taxes if
you are outside US or bring it home yourself if travelling there. I’m not affiliate it was just
what I saw as easiest.

The purchase list for this project (based on a double low/high beam
setup):
1. H11 Dual Output Relay Harness
LINK
2. Ballasts
Either choose 35W or 55W. The 55w gives more of a light output but shortens the life time
of the bulp and drops the colour of the light with around 1000k.
35W Ballast LINK
55w ballasts LINK
3. H1 bulps
LINK
4. Mini H1 projectors
LINK
5. Bulb/amp extensions
It is not a must and I found a good way to place my ballasts without, but it can give you
possibilty for placing ballasts on the frame more easily.
LINK
6. Headlight sealant
A must-buy as it works so good and there are plenty to go around
LINK
7. Headlight splitter harness
Remember too chose this as you will not need to splice any wires, it's all plug'n'play
LINK

Carbon frame to hold the smaller RTS mini moto projectors in place. Buy it from VJ020 /
Jasper (from ducati.org) or make some of your own. Great guy, fast repsonse, always
helpful and kind.

If you chose this frame you need to get 6 pcs of UHX 3mm bolts and nylon lock nuts as the
European bolts are of a slightly different measurement than the US apparently. At least the
ones I could find was off by half a milimeter.
(EDIT: Jasper told me he would drill the holes that much larger so it fits both US and EU
4mm bolts).

For dismounting fairings, vent covers and nose, please take a look i the workshop manual
found here: Link

Step 1 - To unmount the headlight unit

1) Take off side fairings
2) Take off air vent covers
3) Take off the nose fairing, remember there's a bolt on the underside of the headlight unit
behind a rubber washer.
4) Pull the plugs from the left and right parking light and the main wire in the middle
5) unbolt the three bolts of the headlight unit and it comes right off

Step 2 - To disassemble the headlight

unit
Tools needed:
Small, medium and large flat head screwdrivers
Exactoknife
Gloves
Maybe a heatgun

BRACE YOURSELF!
It WILL take time and is a PITA to do - nothing covered up.
This part is by far the hardest and most time consuming.
Ducati unfortunately used a non-heat dissolving rubbersealant that is sticky as hell. The
older the bike the more sticky it'll apparently be.
I had good experience with putting the unit in the oven for 10 minutes at 120C/260F.

When coming out hot use the smaller screw driver and start plying in one of the cornes.
Take the exactoknife and start cutting the crack all around the assemblly line.
It'll take some time before you see any result but take your time and take care not to screw
up the plastic housing or crack the clear cover.
When you feel the housing has cooled too much put it back in the oven and repeat the
process until the clear lens comes off.
Be careful of not overheating the unit, especially the bolts tend to stay hot a lot longer than
the plastic.
When you start getting to know the materials you can add more force to the plying. I got
surprised at how much it actually takes to pry the two from each other in the end but use
baby steps.

Another eye-opener was to discover that you had to go in and under the plastic housing to
get around the clear lens. It is not enough just to get to the bottom of the assembly line.
Hopelessly pictured here, where the red are the clear lens, the blue the plastic cover and
the grey the sealant.

When the two are apart you can scrabe the rest of the sealant out of the assembly line with
a small screw driver or knife (but it is also time consuming)
Step 3 - Change projectors
This part is just straight forward work. Unscrew each of the adjusting rods and take off the
stock projektor. When off unscrew the aluminium L-shaped bracket

Now bolt the carbon bracket directly onto the Mini Moto projector

and bolt the carbon bracket on to the aluminium bracket. Remember to use the spacers
provided along with the carbon brackets as there are bolts on the projector that makes it
impossible to fit the carbon bracket directly on the aluminium one.
You should now have a setup looking like this:
In each projector you can place the high beam connector cable kit to the backside of the
procetor and assemble the plug
Put the put the bulp and bulp wire (the one with the rubber sealant cap) in the projector
now

Now you can use the splitter harness and plug both of the high beam connector cables to
the single high beam plug coming from you main cable. It will be the plug in the headlight
unit with a brown and white wire (left side, driver direction).

Now you are finished with you dual high beam.

Put your new projectors in the house and screw them on to the adjusting rods.
Strip your wire up appropriately so it's not dangling all over the place and REMEMBER TO
MAKE SURE you're low beam plug (yellow/brown wire) are pushed as far back under the
right projecter (drivers direction) as possible. It is vital you can access it from the backside
of the housing when the projector is in!
Marked where the red arrow is:

Before doing anything else I would suggest you put everything together to test for errors.
You want to discover now and not when you have assembled everything and bolted it back
in place.
You need to attach the headlight unit to the frame again because you need the main cable
to activate the light, and the cable is relatively short.
You also need your relay harness with the control unit to be attached to the battery and it is
a good time to do that, because you will then know how much wire you have in the end to
fit ballasts and AMP connectors.
There's a small hole on the backside of the battery box where you can slide the two cables
"Battry (+) and Ground/Chassis (-) through. Connect them to the battery poles respectively
and close up the battery box.
Route the wires up along the frame to the triple clam. Secure the wires with strips.
The Battery (+) is noteably much longer, but pull all the excess wire up there as well, I'll
attend it later.
Here's a picture of the assembly order:

Let the relay harness dangle off the top of the triple clamp will get back to the rest of the
wires as well.

If everything works go on, if not... search for errors

Step 4 - Assembly of the headlight unit

Take your rubber sealant and put it into the grove on the plastic cover. Make sure to press
it firmly in.
Bake the back side of the headlight unit with the sealant in the oven as the producer
prescribes (currently 7 minutes at 130C/265F)
Put on the clear lens and press it firmly againt each other while securing all the plastick
locks are clicked back into place.
You can remove excess material with a knife when it's colled off.

Take the back plates for the headlight unit and drill a 18-20mm whole in the back where the
bulp plug is, run the bulp wires with the rubber sealant through the hole. For the high beam
side (left side drivers direction) you can close is off, leave it be for the low beam.
When I drilled mine 20mm they where a little too big so I had to seal them with some
silicone in order for them to be waterproof. Also remember to seal the two left-over holes in
the high beam side.
Step 5 - Wiring

Take your relay harness with the control unit on (the large wire network with a H11 plug).

You can chose to disassemble your low beam plug or the plug on your relay harness. I
chose the harness as I could then have the plugs connected inside the headlight housing for
a cleaner look.

Take the H11 female plug on your relay harness and push the small locking-tap beside the
pin to the side. While doing that take a flat plier and push the pin backwards into the plug
housing. It takes a little technique but is not hard at all.
Push the small wires though the rubber sealant
Assemble the plug again on the other side

The H11 plug going therough the rubber sealant is now connected to the low beam male
inside the headlight housing (right hand side, driving direction). It is the wire with the
yellow/brown wires.
Now you're done with the low beam and you can put the cap back on the housing.

Mount the headlight unit on nose and put the plugs in the parking lights and the main cable
in the unit.

Connect the AMP connector cables (the wires with the little square half way) to the cables
comming off you headlight unit (the bulps). When connected pull the cords directly
outwards over the air vents and around the stay so the wire and the square thingy is
dangling over the side.
Place the square beneat the dent in the stay and strip the wire aroung the thinnest part of
the front. Drag the wire down the top of the airvent and let it go around the back side were
the vent is ducking in under the frame. Secure it with another strip.

Take the ballasts and mount them upside down un the underside of the airvent with the
plugs facing the rear of the bike, this to secure water is not forced in the opening by the air
pressure. REMEMBER to check if they are turned the right way downside as you want to be
able to un-connect the plugs to the ballast again and you cannot do that if the lock pins are
facing the wrong way.
Ballast and AMP connector marked with green arrows. Right and left side is the same

(Only for the right side (driving direction): Surplus wire from the relay harness is marked by
a light blue arrow but wait until last to secure this with strips)

In the end you can attach the control unit of the relay harness to the frame. There are just
room at the top of the frame behind the right hand side fork leg.
Secure the unit with a strip on the wire on each side and a strip around the body.
Remember to secure the control unit with a strip at the top preventing it from falling "out"
into the area where the fork leg is moving. It will prevent you from getting full range of
motion.
There should be 0.5-1.0 cm fromt the unit to the fork leg with the handle bars turned all the
way to the right.

Yellow wires marking right and left side ballast, light blue wire marking excess wire from the
Batter (+) connection on the relay harness and the green arrow mark the cable connecting
to the low beam in the headlight unit.
When all wire are secured so nothing is loose with the risk of damage, you are ready to dial
in your lenses
You light should not blind any oncomming traffic, so aim for a downward beam of 1% or
done by measuring a drop at 10cm over 10m.
You can adjust by turning any three (each side) of the bolts on the backside of the headlight
unit.
Find a dark place like a underground parking facility or another place with a level ground.
Just remember to do the adjustment on a wall 10m away as recommended in the manual. I
tried to do it in the garage like you with only a couple of meters (4m in my case) to the wall
and got a horrible result.

The reason I believe, is that you are adjusting your settings almost at the focal point of the
beam, thus creating a totally wrong setting at the 10m mark. At least I had my projectors
35 degrees off and blinded everyone first time I rode. Doing a proper adjustment on a wall
far enough away corrected that.

It is much easier to do having a friend assist you, as you need to do the adjustment with
you full body weight on the bike, not supporting with your feet.
When lenses are adjusted to fit your legilation you're ready to go.

Congrats, you've done it

Ps. You will probably have some wires left-over as they manufacturers are packing more than you need.
No need to worry.