First sign of HID bulb failure???

[haydw]

I have had HID's fitted for nearly 4 years now to my 1150 and I always ride with my dipped beam on.

Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed the odd bit of electrical interference in my autocom and it then appears that my dipped beam light goes out. I then turn off then turn back on the lights and 99 times out of 100 it comes back on. Checked all connections and cannot find anything wrong.

Is this the first sign of these types of bulbs failing? As it is just the dipped I can swap the dipped for the main beam bulb which is hardly used, or is the bulb going to be knackered???

 

[Fanum]

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that this is a developing fault with the HT Ballast unit or the wiring......I would have thought that the bulb itself would probably fail in one go, instantly. *POOF*, just like that

I'd check all of your wiring thoroughly, even breaking and remaking what look like perfectly good connections, wire brush every terminal and spade connector (if not replace them completely) and feel each wire for kinks and/or breakages.

If you've got any soldered connections, re-make them and don't forget the flux.
(motorcycles + soldered joints x time+ vibration= dry joints with not enough contact to pass very high voltages)

All that will take an hour or two, but it'll be pleasant 'fettling time' that won't be wasted rather than unpleasant 'lashing out on expensive replacement bulbs time' that you don't know will solve the problem

As I said though, that's all just a guess and what you're describing may well be the first and well known sign of an HID bulb failing.

I'd wait a bit and an adult will be along to answer your question shortly.

 

[Fanum]

PS the websites I've just had a quick look at do say that an HID bulb has a life expectancy of 2500-ish hours.....

If you've ridden 2 hours a day, 5 days a week over 4 years, with 4 weeks holibobs per year when you don't ride/have pig flu/dysentry/whatever, that's still well over 75% of the predicted average lif of an HID bulb.........(1920 hours)

Please disregard my previous post

Where's me coat

 

[Les Wassall]

Post 2 is good advice, also make sure the battery is good, usually the bulbs fizzle and then fail, if what you describe it may be ballast.

 

[King Rat]

I've got some hard core to get rid of if you need more ballast....

 

[Snoopy]

The slim ballasts only switch on and off 1,500 times. The larger ones are double that.

My slim ballast has just failed after 10 months and that's the reason Yifano (makes most HID's in China) have given. 1,500 times might sound a lot but when the headlight is always on, switchs off/on for ignition start and the like it soon adds up.

 

[1Rider]

switch

The slim ballasts only switch on and off 1,500 times. The larger ones are double that.

My slim ballast has just failed after 10 months and that's the reason Yifano (makes most HID's in China) have given. 1,500 times might sound a lot but when the headlight is always on, switchs off/on for ignition start and the like it soon adds up.

If this holds true, and you have HID-mod at both lights (high & low), it sounds like it would be an option to switch between the two ballasts at say two thirds or so of expected life time (for the low beam). Les

 

[Septic]

I had the same problem twas the ballast.

 

[vilguy]

i had something similar and it was a chaffed wire shorting out.... something to look out for.. espicially with the voltages were talking about... (it made a mess i tell you)