Need a little help tracking a wiring fault. Main beam died - 1150 Adventure

mr_magicfingers

mr_magicfingers

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Evening all, the other night I was riding home and the main beam suddenly died. Figured it must be a fuse so had a dig in the fuse box but the main beam doesn't seem to have a fuse.

Thought perhaps then it's the hid unit that had died. pulled the connector on the side of the bulb housing, applied 12v and the bulb lit up perfectly so it's not the hid unit.

Tested the other side of the connector, the plug that goes into the headlight housing and there's no voltage when you turn main beam on, suggesting it's a wiring issue on the bike itself. Bugger.

Tried flexing all the cables around the headstock area in case it's a brittle wire or such and still no difference.

Before I go pulling the loom apart trying to find the fault, I thought I'd mine the knowledge here and see if there's any suggestions of how best to track the fault.

Thanks.
 
I'm not entirely clear on your testing on the lamp/bulb, but if you've got HIDs fitted then it's possible the ballast has failed and nothing is wrong with the loom...
 
If I put 12v into the connector block on the side of the headlight housing, just as if the 12v was applied through the bike loom, the hid lights up just fine. It's not an issue with the hid. There's no 12v getting to the connector at the headlight.
 
mr_magicfingers said:
If I put 12v into the connector block on the side of the headlight housing, just as if the 12v was applied through the bike loom, the hid lights up just fine. It's not an issue with the hid. There's no 12v getting to the connector at the headlight.
Click to expand...
Your description still hasn't helped.

You're putting 12v into the plug that first runs into the ballast unit? It's just that if you've got HIDs fitted, then your gonna be well away from the 'headlight housing'. No? Or have i totally misunderstood?
 
Slipperyeel said:
Your description still hasn't helped.

You're putting 12v into the plug that first runs into the ballast unit? It's just that if you've got HIDs fitted, then your gonna be well away from the 'headlight housing'. No? Or have i totally misunderstood?
Click to expand...

I'll try and explain differently.

on a regular bike, with standard lights, the wiring goes

12v from wiring loom > connector on headlight housing > halogen bulb

by replacing the halogen with hid it goes like this

12v from wiring loom > connector on headlight housing > interior of headlight housing where wires are joined to hid > out of housing down to hid ignitor/ballast > back to housing > hid burner bulb

So, power still goes into the headlight housing connector, regardless of if you're using halogen or hid, the connection is still made in the housing and the power still has to come into the housing from the loom connector.

If I pull the loom connector off the housing and put 12v into the housing, the hid bulb lights as 12v is going through the housing, down to the ignitor/ballast and back to the bulb.

If I put a multimeter on the loom connector going into the housing, there's no voltage when I turn the main beam on, suggesting that the fault is between the switch and the headlight housing connector. It's tracing that fault that's the difficult bit.
 
You never said whether your bike is a twin spark or not.

On twin sparks
Fuse 8 (7.5amps) is for the low beam circuit
Fuse 9 (7.5amps) is for the high beam circuit.

:thumb2
Ian
 
In order for the lights to come in the Load Relief Relay has to function. It could be the relay or it could be the relay' ground wire which gets its ground through the starter, using the starter solenoid as ground when the starter button is not pressed.

When the starter button is pressed that lead goes to 12V and the load relay opens, disconnecting +12V from the lights.
 
Ian J Hartley said:
You never said whether your bike is a twin spark or not.

On twin sparks
Fuse 8 (7.5amps) is for the low beam circuit
Fuse 9 (7.5amps) is for the high beam circuit.

:thumb2
Ian
Click to expand...

Oh you fabulous man!

I used to have a single spark, which didn't have fuses for the lights, this one's a twin spark. Nowhere have I found anything to say that fuse 9 is main beam, just that fuse 8 is dipped beam and instrument lights. The only fuse 9 reference I've found is that it's an ABS warning light fuse.

Just checked fuse 9 and it was dead. Replaced it and on came the lights.

Thank you very much. I was about to spend tomorrow pulling the connectors and wiring loom out, and I'd have been pulling my hair out too.

This is why I spend £12 a year on the forum.

Thanks again Ian, another bit of info squirrelled away for future reference and I'll have to modify the fusebox diagram available elsewhere on the site that adorns the fusebox lid.
 
You're not out of the woods yet....

When HIDs initiate, their initial current draw can be quite high, once the arc is struck, they then drop down to a lower current. In your case it has been enough to draw to much current for the fuse.

I would keep an eye on things. if the fuse blows again, then it could be your HID ballast is on the way out.

But glad you're sorted.

:thumb2
Ian
 
Hooray! But Ian beat me to it.

I was going to say be aware it might blow again, so try to make a mental note of what's going on if it does. I've had both an HID bulb and a ballast go. When the ballast went, the light just stopped.

Keep us posted!

(And you're right, this forum is worth every penny - I owe several people a beer, including Ian (we all owe Steptoe a beer ))
 
Thanks all.

I've run hids on my old 1150 for years and never had a problem, run them on this one for 2 years and no issues. I'm hoping it's just a fuse glitch but will keep a sharp eye on it for a while.

Thanks again for all your help. Even after years with these bikes, you're always learning things :)
 
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