Jetfixxr Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 Guys, i am stumped, i have even replaced the little connectors behind the light between the harness and the bulb. i am Effing stumped. My output with the engine running is 14.03 battery charged and i don't know what else 21k on the bike, the headlight relay is working. Any ideas??? Jet.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomek Posted September 12, 2010 Share Posted September 12, 2010 What brand of headlights are you using ? I`m asking because 3-4 years ago I went thru similar experience,it all stopped once I found old school plain white Phillips made,I think,bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetfixxr Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 What brand of headlights are you using ? I`m asking because 3-4 years ago I went thru similar experience,it all stopped once I found old school plain white Phillips made,I think,bulbs. That's what i am going to install next. Just 2 plain jane h7 bulbs. Jet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John01XX Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 What brand of headlights are you using ? I`m asking because 3-4 years ago I went thru similar experience,it all stopped once I found old school plain white Phillips made,I think,bulbs. That's what i am going to install next. Just 2 plain jane h7 bulbs. Jet HID is the answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peepa Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I went thru the same thing when I tryed the bright white bulbs. One of them even melted the adapter plug before it burned out. Put in the stock bulbs and have been fine ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironmike Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 Gotta agree with John... the standard Philips H7 (as stock) is the band-aid - HID is the cure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon haney Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I haven't had to change a motorcycle headlight bulb yet, but I've heard that touching the bulbs with your bare fingers can cause premature failure. :icon_think: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peepa Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 I haven't had to change a motorcycle headlight bulb yet, but I've heard that touching the bulbs with your bare fingers can cause premature failure. :icon_think: true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rideonXX Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 If your not touching the bulb with bare fingers---and being gentle putting the bulb in the adapter----might be time to do something about the harsh stock suspension. Just a thought---since stock suspension was so harsh for me at 220 in gear. Good luck---those bulbs can be expensive from the stealer. Happy trails, kel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banshee Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 Touching the bulb can leave fingerprints that will etch & cause the glas to fail in time, but if it just the filament burning out, fingers aren't the cause. I had several expensive bulbs go & went back to fairly plain ones that lasted ok. They just couldn't take the bike vibration. Now with HID, all is good in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetfixxr Posted October 27, 2010 Author Share Posted October 27, 2010 Touching the bulb can leave fingerprints that will etch & cause the glas to fail in time, but if it just the filament burning out, fingers aren't the cause. I had several expensive bulbs go & went back to fairly plain ones that lasted ok. They just couldn't take the bike vibration. Now with HID, all is good in the world. Now i put a pair of plain old phillips H7's in and they lasted 15 minutes, so here we go....last thing that changed on the bike before I started having issues was the battery, so back to S1, new battery, new headlights then we will see. I sure hope the RR is not bad.. Jet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesail Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Guys, i am stumped, i have even replaced the little connectors behind the light between the harness and the bulb. i am Effing stumped. My output with the engine running is 14.03 battery charged and i don't know what else 21k on the bike, the headlight relay is working. Any ideas??? Jet.. Now i put a pair of plain old phillips H7's in and they lasted 15 minutes, so here we go....last thing that changed on the bike before I started having issues was the battery, so back to S1, new battery, new headlights then we will see. I sure hope the RR is not bad.. Jet Is that the output over the entire rev range, or at idle?? Make a measurement from idle all the way up to 6k or more, tell us what it does. If you can blow two bulbs in 15 minutes, it is hard to believe that your RR is working properly. Failure to regulate can be caused by the RR being bad, or by a poor connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 Aside from POS bulbs being the issue, I always clean bulbs with rubbing alcohol before installing. Even if I don't touch them. Just to be safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetfixxr Posted October 28, 2010 Author Share Posted October 28, 2010 Guys, i am stumped, i have even replaced the little connectors behind the light between the harness and the bulb. i am Effing stumped. My output with the engine running is 14.03 battery charged and i don't know what else 21k on the bike, the headlight relay is working. Any ideas??? Jet.. Now i put a pair of plain old phillips H7's in and they lasted 15 minutes, so here we go....last thing that changed on the bike before I started having issues was the battery, so back to S1, new battery, new headlights then we will see. I sure hope the RR is not bad.. Jet Is that the output over the entire rev range, or at idle?? Make a measurement from idle all the way up to 6k or more, tell us what it does. If you can blow two bulbs in 15 minutes, it is hard to believe that your RR is working properly. Failure to regulate can be caused by the RR being bad, or by a poor connection. It will transition from 13.8 to 14.03 from idle to 6k I am going to swap in a R/R and see what it does, i have a spare but it will really piss me off that the RR is bad. Jet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesail Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 It will transition from 13.8 to 14.03 from idle to 6k I am going to swap in a R/R and see what it does, i have a spare but it will really piss me off that the RR is bad. Jet. Sounds OK, unless it intermittently fails ( the bane of all troubleshooting...) Good idea to swap if you have a spare, that should answer the question quickly. It does take quite a bit of voltage to pop a bulb quickly. At 17 volts a Halogen bulb is very bright but still will run for at least several hours, in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockmeupto125 Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 You're probably not doing this at night....at least I hope not. But is there anything you've been able to notice as far as the lights getting brighter before they go out? A glitch in the way the bike runs, or anything tied to the occurence? You smarter guys....I'm too fried right now to mentally dissect a wiring harness in my head.......is there a conceivable situation in which the system could ground through the headlight bulb? That would explain it, and also accomodate why the fuse doesn't pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesail Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 You're probably not doing this at night....at least I hope not. But is there anything you've been able to notice as far as the lights getting brighter before they go out? A glitch in the way the bike runs, or anything tied to the occurence? You smarter guys....I'm too fried right now to mentally dissect a wiring harness in my head.......is there a conceivable situation in which the system could ground through the headlight bulb? That would explain it, and also accomodate why the fuse doesn't pop. There is really no way a wiring error in the headlight can allow the voltage to increase above the battery/alt level. There are transients like the starter motor which could cause a spike, but not enough to hurt a bulb A fuse has so much margin that a voltage that would do this would not likely pop the fuse. I'm guessing that either the bulbs are incorrect in some way, or the charging system is putting out something like 20 to 24 volts. One more scenario would be excessive vibration of the bulb, if it was REALLY being hammered it could fail quickly. Hard to believe this could happen in our plastic housings. The RR is the only item that limits the charging voltage, so if the bulb is proper then my money is on the RR. It is quite possible that the RR unit works normally until it gets too hot, and then allows an overvoltage condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALCXX Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Have you lost any dash lights? Gauges acting "funny". Mike, does polarity at the socket make a differance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesail Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Have you lost any dash lights? Gauges acting "funny". Mike, does polarity at the socket make a differance? No polarity concerns for incandescent bulbs. Although theoretically AC will help a bulb last longer, though I doubt you could measure the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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