Headlight keeps burning out

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yamyam

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Hello everyone. Its a sad day here in Calgary... our first snowfall of the year.

I finished building my XS400 a few months ago and ever since Ive got it out riding I keep burning out headlight bulbs. The headlight is aftermarket. Consistantly with all the bulbs when I run the lowbeam it will burn out in a matter of about an hour of riding so I will flick the highbeam on and that will last longer at about 4 hours of running time.

I checked the voltage at the battery and at idle it was around 13 and when I brought the rpm's up the voltage climbed to about 14.... is this normal or could this be the problem, any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

cheers,
Peter
 
Check the mounting and the connections if the light is loose or getting excessive vibrations ( bad motor mounts/ wheel out of balance etc) it will kill your light quickly. I've also found that if the connections to the bulb are loose that can burn up lights too. 12-14 volts is normal and shouldn't be the problem. You said the light and bulbs are after market that's fine but are they cheap after market? If so try a different brand of bulb then what they came with also while not what you normally want to hear but some times using a lower wattage bulb will last longer. Good luck and let us know how it turns out

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Voltage spikes or slop in mounting (lost motion) that has an amplifying effect on vibration.

Make sure no part can be felt to move when you pull on it, if not solidly mounted, it will shake it apart. Ales be sure the electrical connections are good: if they make and break, it will cause amp/ voltage surges.
 
Yes 14v under load is normal, but do a more comprehensive test. Attach your digital volt meter to the battery terminals (alligator clips will do), then tape the meter to your gas tank. Go for a good ride and keep an eye on the meter to see if there are voltage spikes.
 
Inspect a burnt out bulb and tell us what you find. Compare it to a good bulb, and post close-up pics. The failure of the bulb can tell what caused the bulb to fail.
 
You're probably shorting out due to a bad wire in the loom or a bad connection in the headlight bucket.

When you say you have an aftermarket headlight, do you mean a different than suggested wattage?? LED? Please list the details of what you have running so we can help you.

Please takes pics and upload them to your album. Then cut and paste the bb code beneath each pic into a message for it to show up without a hyperlink. We can go from there.
 
16VGTIDave said:
Wouldn't a short cause the headlight fuse to blow? Rather than the bulb?
Click to expand...


Yes. A true short should pop a fuse. But non-electrical types call any electrical problem a short more often than not. (too much TV :D) If a partial short, when just some of the wattage is shunted to ground, it can do all sorts of fun things.

But the on-off-on of a bad connection will certainly kill bulbs. The handlebar switch is often the culprit, as is the wiring inside the headlight bucket.

Nothing like 30+ year old electrics to make everyone happy. The big question is what bulb are we using. The stock one wasn't a 60/55W H4.
 

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