Many owners of BMW R1200GS, R1250GS and F800GS would like to have the Adventure type AUX driving lights. The good news is that the cabling is already in place for most of these bikes, and everything you need is available as a kit from your dealer – lamps, mounting bracket, switch and wiring harness. The installation is plug and play, and much easier than installing third party lights.
But there is one caveat: You have to visit a dealer to enable the lights, or they will not be recognized by the CANBUS system! (These lights have CANBUS switches inside.) You can not do this with MotoScan.
You can download BMW’s installation instructions here:
K50 – R1200GS LC and R1250GS (2013 –)
K72 – F800GS (2013 – 2018)
It does not look like the first generation F800GS (2008 – 2012), F650GS (twin) or F700GS comes with preparation for AUX headlights.
Traditional halogen or CANBUS switched LED?
The oil cooled models (e.g. K25) used traditional halogen lamps with a relay and circuit breaker, even if the bike was otherwise CANBUS equipped. The newer LC models however use the NANO LED lamps with internal CANBUS switches. That means that the wiring and everything is different, you cannot easily take a K25 system to a K50 or vice versa.
The parts for an AUX lights retrofit on a 2010-13 R1200GS. Notice the old fashioned halogen lamp (3), relay (7), switch and circuit breaker (8). Here you have to install the relay and all the wiring.
From 2013 onwards (below) there are connectors already up front on the bike, and everything is CANBUS controlled. You just have to install the on/off switch on the mirror stem, and click in the three connectors.