Help! Headlights keep burning out!

So...

After a thorough check of the stator and R/R. I replaced the R/R
with a new one from electrosport. Seemed fine at first.

then burned out the low beams on both the stock headlights,

2nd replaced them with new Silverstars. $40... Blew them out,
high and low in no time.

From what I've read this is a bad R/R??? Is there any other cause
for of this problem?

My Stator checked out fine from the Haynes specs. And the R/R is NEW!

 

Back when I was on the "big list" several years ago, those r/r's didn't have a real good rep.

Have you checked your voltage readings? That should tell you what's going on. Sounds like too high of voltage in the system. Your battery may be the next to go. An onboard voltmeter is a great piece of mind mod.

 

Every time I check the voltage it looks great.. 13.8 +/- .3

Maybe it is the battery, I guess it's worth trying. I'll have
to put a volt meter where I can see it so I know what's going on here.

 

At idle, 5k, or both?

 

Woah, taken a break from riding this winter but time to get back to it.

I still have this headlight problem.. Does anyone have an idea?

The voltage always looks good when I'm checking it in the garage.
13.8V +/- .3 V at idle and 5K.

So the question is, is this voltage somehow spiking? If yes, what the hell
is causing it?
If no, then will actual OEM bulbs maybe handle a little more voltage than
the ones I've been breaking the tabs off of at Autozone?

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

RichS

 

This might sound really silly, but are you wiping off the bulbs after you install them, as in removing all the oils from the glass?

It might be worth putting the voltmeter leads on the headlight socket when checking the voltage. Just because it is 13.8 at one place doesn't mean that is 13.8 everywhere else. Also, as convenient as a digital voltmeter is, they only read average voltage. An analog voltmeter will sometimes show charging wierdness with a flickering needle. And I would do a few quick revs a bit higher than 5K, just to see if anything changed voltage-wise.

Unless you have been unlucky with faulty components, it is definitely an over-voltage issue. Have you tried a different voltmeter? Sounds goofy, but trust me on this one...

 

Thanks for you thoughts on this.

Yes,I've used a napkin or paper towel and been carful not to touch the
bulbs, but they didn't 'pop' they just burned out anyway.

The voltmeter I'm using is a top of the line FLUKE meter, I really doubt
it's off.

I haven't checked at the socket, I'll do that. Also I have checked at
higher than 5K.. it's REALLY steady, that's why this is so weird.

I do have an analog meter, I'll try to take a look at it with that.

 

It doesn't have to be over voltage. It can also be under. Voltage drop is worse than it spiking because less voltage means more resistance which can burn up lights very quickly. The last time I had a bad battery I blew my headlight, and turn signals.

 

I'm not sure why low voltage would burn out a bulb... More resistance?
Why is that?

I will try to check the battery tomorrow at Autozone if they do motorcycle
batteries.

 

I never thought about this before, but if a battery had one cell that was intermittently shorting, that would cause the charging system to go full output. If the full output "cleared" the short in the cell, as in burned it out like a fuse, that could cause a voltage/current surge that the regulator might not be fast enough to prevent. I can't imagine that a battery that borderline would continue to take a charge and start the bike repeatedly, though.

Oh, by the way, Fluke is one of the best, if not THE best, so disregard my comment about a different DVM. And as I have mentioned in other posts, my comments are never meant to be demeaning in any way. I tend to explain my ideas from a basic approach for the sake of clarity.

How long after you replaced the R/R did the bulbs start going out? After I had typed the above paragraph, it occurred to me that a rectifier/regulator with a relatively slow reaction time could let some surges get through that the DVM wouldn't see. I called it "weirdness" before without giving specific thought to it... Doh!

 

Thanks Lgn001,

I really doubt it's the battery since it's gone 2 months in my cold garage and
still started the bike, just fine.

I will however hook up a Analog meter to this and have a look, maybe while
riding if I can figure a way to secure it. Today looks nice out, good reason
for a ride.

FYI, I'm a EE by trade so I know what we're talking about. I'm just stumped by this problem and hoping someone else has had the same.

And to answer your question, the old RR was definitely bad, it jumped the
Voltage up past 20VDC after it got hot.... That's how the bike was when I
got it. The previous owner didn't know much about bikes but had gone
through the process of putting a fan on the RR to try and fix the problem.
He had decided that it was the stator causing the problem. However when
I got the bike home and did all the resistance checks and overvoltage checks
it clearly pointed to the RR. So I replaced it, and everything looked fine.
Then the bulbs burned out within a few miles. I replaced with $40 Silverstars and they burned out the low beam quickly. Since then I've replaced them with cheaper autozone bulbs. So far these are actually working but I've only ridden the bike a few miles. I'll report back after a ride today.

 

Voltage v/s Resistance. From my limited experience when your voltage drops your Amps & Ohms increase creating heat. I doubt it's your battery if it held a charge that long and started the bike.

Most of my experience with voltage has come from Car Audio. I could run 3,000 watts of power with a 300amp draw thru a 30 Amp fuse for about 3 seconds in a compition, with full 14.4 volts. Once the voltage dropped off @ about the 3 second mark the Amp draw maintained but the Ohms increased and blew the fuse. I would also blow out my running lights due to the voltage drop.

The only way I understand it is, the light doesn't care what your voltage is, it just lights up. If there isn't enough power it still tries to light up and doesn't do it as effeciently generating resistance and heat.

 

I can understand if the voltage was out of spec. higher or lower then
the bulbs might have and issue. However, the voltage is dead on.

I checked things out with an Analog meter and the voltage is steady even
at 8 or 9K RPM.

The autozone automotive bulbs in there now are working. The high and low
beams are reversed which I find interesting however they are working. I never got a chance to go for a ride but when I do I'll report back if they blow
out again.

I'm crossing my fingers that the first bulbs were just old and the second
we're just bad... Unlikely but possible.

 

Pontiac, check out the following links:

http://www.hamuniverse.com/ohmslaw.html

http://www.rfcafe.com/references/el...- basic navy training courses - chapter 6.htm

Pretty much what they define is the basic relationship between voltage, current and resistance. Essentially, a light bulb or any other electrical load usually has a "fixed" resistance. The resistance can be affected by temperature to some degree, but for the most part it stays the same. If the voltage across the load is increased, more current will flow and more power will be produced. If the voltage is decreased, less current will flow and less power will be produced.

300 amps is a lot of current. When the fuse let go, I would imagine that there would be some sort of "system disturbance", for lack of a better way to put it, that would be happy to damage a few things.

What I have always found interesting is that if you double the voltage across a load, it produces four times as much power. It makes it easier to understand why a bad R/R will quickly destroy things.

As a side note, AC loads (as opposed to DC loads) that are magnetic, such as motors, solenoids, etc., will definitely overheat if the voltage is too low, but I believe it has to due with magnetic efficiency, coil saturation and other stuff that is beyond anything I care about, other than being somewhat curious about it. OK, lecture is over now...

So Dman, did any of the other bulbs take a hit, or was it just the headlights?

 

Only the headlights, nothing else has been effected.

I'll report back after I get in a good ride as the bulbs in there
now are working for the time being.

 

I was Having the exact same problem as you described. Using a new electrosport R/R and my headlights kept burning out. Very frustrating with nice H4 bulbs. I found that the R/R connectors to the stator were not tight. The connector was snapped together but the contacts in the connector were not tight. I tightened them up by squeezing them with a small screwdriver. Once I did that I put in my old stocker bulbs and have not burned them out yet. I have been hoping that the loose connection was causing a capacitance and spiking the system.

 

Electrosport r/r

Before you go any further with replacing bulbs I had the exact same problem with my electrosport r/r assembly. There is a voltage or amp spike that caused the same problem on my 98 VFR. It would also dim or brighten the lights at night with the throttle. I swapped the electrosport for the Honda updated part # and it works flawlessly. I have not burned out bulbs and the lights stay constant with the throttle.