HID not working

Afternoon all,
Any HID guys out there today?

Last weekend my GS's dipped beam HID bulb broke. The plastic base of the bulb is broken around the in the middle where the bulb itself is moulded. I assumed this was what caused my headlight to stop working.

Today I replaced the bulb with a new one. I've plugged in all the connectors the right way round and they all click firmly into place.

Turn on ignition, turn on headlight.......nowt!

I'm used to hearing a high pitched whine from the ballast but now I get none.

Looking at the Haynes manual it seems the headlight doesn't have a fuse. I've checked them all anyway and they appear to be fine. The tail light comes on too.

The ballast (the metal bit with the cooling fins which looks like a regulator/rectifier) looks pretty rough but as it's been on the bike for at least the two and a bit years I've had the bike I'd expect it to look a bit rough. Weathered is probably a better word. The wiring looks good though.

I don't do electrickery but is there anything I can test? I have a multimeter but I don't know where to poke it and what to look for when I do.

Is it possible the broken bulb has taken out the ballast too?

Any advice will be welcome.

Regards

Rob C

Just checked the load sheading relay too. Put it in my RT and the lights come on.

Must be a problem with the either the silver or black ballast boxes yes? Both have ballast written on them so that is what they're getting called.

Regards

Rob C

Try switching ign on, let it complete the checks then swith off.
Switch on and repeat above
Only start bike 3rd time.
Hope this helps

Hi Harry,
Tried it. No change.

Side light, tail light, main beam and dash lights all work. I only have HID on the dipped beam. I didn't make that clear before.

Regards

Rob C

Afternoon all,
I need to check to see if power is getting through the HID system. Here's what I'm going to do:

1) Check for 12v and 55w on the bike's original wiring into the silver box
2) Check for 12v and 55w on the wiring between the silver box and the black box
3) WILL NOT insert my multimeter into the wiring coming from the black box to the bulb. From what I read that is a sure way to get a funky hairdo.

Question: Am I doing the right thing re: #1 & #2?

Next thing I want to check is the load shedding relay. I know the unit is undamaged as I put it into my RT and it worked. Can I check that the relay on the GS is getting power? Into which slots on the relay socket do I insert the multimeter and what voltage/wattage am I looking for?

I need to get the GS back on the road sharpish as the RT may have developed an alternator fault last night.

Any advice is appreciated.

Regards

Rob C

robc said:

Afternoon all,
I need to check to see if power is getting through the HID system. Here's what I'm going to do:

1) Check for 12v and 55w on the bike's original wiring into the silver box
2) Check for 12v and 55w on the wiring between the silver box and the black box
3) WILL NOT insert my multimeter into the wiring coming from the black box to the bulb. From what I read that is a sure way to get a funky hairdo.

Question: Am I doing the right thing re: #1 & #2?

Next thing I want to check is the load shedding relay. I know the unit is undamaged as I put it into my RT and it worked. Can I check that the relay on the GS is getting power? Into which slots on the relay socket do I insert the multimeter and what voltage/wattage am I looking for?

I need to get the GS back on the road sharpish as the RT may have developed an alternator fault last night.

Any advice is appreciated.

Regards

Rob C

Click to expand...

I've no idea what the various coloured boxes are in your HID system (I assume at least one of them is the ballast on which as you rightly say, you want to stay well away from it's output terminals) but you're not going to able to check for '55w' anywhere.

Watts is power (amps x volts). With a suitable meter (and / shunt) you could check for current if it was all working but the very fact that it isn't working means that it won't be drawing any (or at least minimal) current

I'd work through the system methodically with a meter checking for voltages where you'd expect to find them and earth continuities.

Could you refit the original incandescent bulb carrier and bulb (at least temporarily) or did fitting the HID's mean butchering the headlamp shell?

The HID was fitted by a previous owner and I don't have the original parts.

I'll have a poke around and see what I can see

Regards

Rob C

Relay

Hi,

suggest putting relay wiring on you tube/google to get relay info i.e. coil and current 85 86 87 30 etc, plus is it through a switch/led. Have you a buzzing noise from ballast, and have you got a 30A inline fuse.

Ian

Hi Ian,
No noise from the ballast which is why I think it might be dead. It used to whine a bit.

Fuse? The standard headlight isn't fused. I'm going to be tracing all of the wiring later so maybe I'll find something hidden away.

Regards

Rob C