Headlamp bulb failure

[David Price]

Gents

Quick question. My dipped beam headlamp on my 1200GS fails about every 2000 miles

It's not a problem for me to change them but I was wondering if this was normal. I've been through 3 in 6000 miles

 

[trainman]

Gents

Quick question. My dipped beam headlamp on my 1200GS fails about every 2000 miles

It's not a problem for me to change them but I was wondering if this was normal. I've been through 3 in 6000 miles

I go through at least one per year/5000, the fancy hi power or blue ones seem worse, now use cheap halford's bog standard multi packs which last longer and cost a lot less
I guess it may be down to vibration or 'character'

 

[Beemerman59]

Not had one blow yet in 36K miles. I use Philips Xtreme.

 

[Bendy toy]

Mine lasted at least 20K mile, but I now have HIDs.

Are the bulbs being fitted correctly? I find the only way to be really sure is to take the headlamp and instument unit off the bike (10mins work).

 

[adventuredon]

Mine go almost every 6000

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Go buy a HID conversion and get better light and no blown bulbs. Unfortunately it's fairly standard for them to blow due to the vibration.

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Two bulbs in 27000 miles. Being from Yorshire just purchased a spare pair of Osram with 3 year warranty

 

[bikemad]

Two bulbs in 27000 miles. Being from Yorshire just purchased a spare pair of Osram with 3 year warranty

Lol no good if the 3 years are up before you use them

 

[Roymondo]

Gents

Quick question. My dipped beam headlamp on my 1200GS fails about every 2000 miles

It's not a problem for me to change them but I was wondering if this was normal. I've been through 3 in 6000 miles

Seems a tad poor - What bulbs are you using? FWIW I had dipped beam bulb replaced (under warranty!) at 7700 miles and have replaced it myself once since then (didn't note the mileage - but I now have 27000 miles on the clock).

 

[Mick-B]

Not had one blow yet in 36K miles. I use Philips Xtreme.

The only experience I have of this bulb was about 5 weeks... guess I was unlucky.

 

[Mick-B]

Last weekend our local Halford had Bosch twin-packs at £5.00 - okay place of manufacture is India but I'm done with paying premium price for bulbs that last no better nor worse than cheapies. E.g., 80p headlamp bulb (including p&p!) fitted to 4x4 last year is still ok whereas Philips Extreme bulb (I've erased the cost from memory but I do recall it wasn't cheap!) fitted to GS lasted slightly longer than a Mayfly...

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Seems a tad poor - What bulbs are you using? FWIW I had dipped beam bulb replaced (under warranty!) at 7700...

Did you get it recovered ?.....



+1 for Phirips extreme. 12,000 on present lamp.

 

[Roymondo]

Did you get it recovered ?.....

Yes, and a loan bike while they did the job. Bike was also valeted afterwards and delivered to my home by the dealer principal.

Actually I may have imagined some of that...

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

3 in 50k using whatever they sell at Halfords

 

[JJH]

My rt 12 was fond of bulbs 1 would go and then the others would follow within a week. Years ago domestic bulb manufacturers had a club and bulbs could not last longer than 1000 hours or they could get fined by their assoation. I wonder if anything like that is going on? JJH

 

[Ted]

Ours go at about 6000 miles, one each a year! Having seen how much the light unit/instruments vibrate not surprised. Got some of these and so far so good 8000 and still working
http://www.powerbulbs.com/store/category/car-bulbs/fitting/h7-499/bulb-type/eco-and-long-life

 

[Zach]

Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs!

I have replaced 2 in the dipped beam since November, approx 7000 miles. Now I am buying Lidl 2 for £5.99.

 

[Scotriders]

I had a headlight bulb go late evening a couple of years back, the only place I could find a bulb at the time of day was the local Tesco filling station and it was in a cheap car set they sold. The replacement blew the next day and I mean blew, it actually exploded inside the headlight and to this day you can still see tiny pieces of it melted to the inside of the light.

I have since gotten an HID kit (18 months ago) but recently I've been having problems with that too, every now and then when I start the bike I get a LAMPF warning and the bulb doesn't come on, switch off the ignition, try again and it lights up? (sometimes it takes two or three attempts) Anyone able to 'shine a light' on this problem?

P.S. I seem to go through an Aux light bulb every other month.

 

[Neil W]

Buy better quality bulbs ie Philips Extreme or similar, many years ago at work we were going through headlight bulbs in our newer vans literally every week, our fleet spoke to the bulb manufacturers who confirmed that the main problem was a combination of using lower spec bulbs and the change from glass headlight lenses to plastic lenses which caused the bulbs to overheat and blow prematurely.
Fleet splashed out on better bulbs (Bosch at the time) and after that the bulbs were lasting for 6 to 12 months ( ie over 30,000 miles)

 

[Pukmeister]

Buy them from a Motorrad dealer.

The filaments are allegedly hand wound from purest unobtanium on the inner thighs of virgins whilst sat astride unicorns which makes them worth the premium you will be charged.