gnarthwestXS
XS400 Member
i have a h-2 55w bulb I'm trying to run on my 400 and when i plug it in it kills the motor. trying to figure out how to fix this.. any thoughts?
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55watt headlight kills my motor.
- Thread starter gnarthwestXS
- Start date
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- Tags
- headlight wireing
hmusket
XS400 Addict
By killing the motor, does it blow a fuse?
gnarthwestXS
XS400 Member
no. It just slowly dies. I have a smaller sealed 12 volt battery in the bike. I wonder if that has something to do w/it.
hmusket
XS400 Addict
Does it slowly die at idle, or while your riding. What's the AH rating on the battery. It may be too low to handle the light. Have you tested your charging system? It should be putting out 14.1 or so volts. I would test it with the light disconnected, and then with the light connected.
I have a 60w/55w H4 and I'm about to change it to a 35w/35w (hopefully) because of this. As I have detailed elsewhere, i have had a persistent problem getting the bike to idle after it has been running for a while. My bike ('79) was sold with a 40w/30w headlight and the charging system seems not up to the task of something much larger.
For a long time, I never had a problem, but then I was hooking it up to a smart charger after every ride until the next one. When the weather got warm, I stopped hooking it up every time and after a few rides without hooking it up, my bike began to die slowly at idle. I tried everything- timing, carbs, etc.. On Saturday, I hooked the bike up to the charger and when I rode Sunday, it ran an idled perfectly. The only difference was the fact that I charged the battery. I'm hoping that this is the problem. I have a 35w/35w headlight bulb that I bought a while ago because others had reported problems with the 60w/55w. After I installed the big watt bulb with the Candlepower H4 conversion, I did not have problems, so I left it in and left the 35w/35w on the bench. I am beginning to think it was my habit of charging after every ride that prevented problems. I'm going to change to the 35w/35w and see what happens.
Of course, I will probably check it with my multimeter before changing to see what it is reading for voltage at idle, but I'm guessing that after a decent length ride, it's not enough. These bikes require a charged battery for ignition. The ignition will not work without a good battery even once running. If you have a smaller battery, you have less excess capacity and with the bigger watt headlight, that may just be too much.
For a long time, I never had a problem, but then I was hooking it up to a smart charger after every ride until the next one. When the weather got warm, I stopped hooking it up every time and after a few rides without hooking it up, my bike began to die slowly at idle. I tried everything- timing, carbs, etc.. On Saturday, I hooked the bike up to the charger and when I rode Sunday, it ran an idled perfectly. The only difference was the fact that I charged the battery. I'm hoping that this is the problem. I have a 35w/35w headlight bulb that I bought a while ago because others had reported problems with the 60w/55w. After I installed the big watt bulb with the Candlepower H4 conversion, I did not have problems, so I left it in and left the 35w/35w on the bench. I am beginning to think it was my habit of charging after every ride that prevented problems. I'm going to change to the 35w/35w and see what happens.
Of course, I will probably check it with my multimeter before changing to see what it is reading for voltage at idle, but I'm guessing that after a decent length ride, it's not enough. These bikes require a charged battery for ignition. The ignition will not work without a good battery even once running. If you have a smaller battery, you have less excess capacity and with the bigger watt headlight, that may just be too much.
you'll need a good 12v for;
ignition (especially electronic) and charging
that means a healthy battery in AMPS not just volts
ignition (especially electronic) and charging
that means a healthy battery in AMPS not just volts
OliverB
XS400 Junkie
If your charging system and battery are in good condition your bike should handle the 55/60W headlight bulb just fine. If either is marginal I suspect the bike might behave as described. I now have more that 1,300 miles on my '80 since I bought it last June. I installed the 55/60W headlight bulb sometime last Summer and have not used a battery maintainer, except for a couple top-offs during the Winter. Shortly after installing the 55/60 bulb I also installed a pair of LED tail/stop bulbs to compensate for the increase in headlight bulb amp draw. With this combination you are just about exactly back to the stock setup amp draw. LED turn signal bulbs would reduce charging system load even more but you also get into the flasher relay problem if you do that.
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