Headlight woes

[mbigdaddymikeb]

Hello to all I am having a problem with my head light it will not light i have 16volts on low and 17 on high beam when i check it with a meeter. maby i am checking it wrong? i also do not have any lights on my speedo and tach. my marker lights are working signals are working brake light is working. i have checked the fuse and it is good last year i had a problem with the fuse block and changed that and it worked well thanks to all who helped me with that. also i changed the bulb to a new one and still no light. please help thanks Michael

[bikerphil]

You can try by-passing the headlight relay. It's under the tank in the front up by the steering stem. Unplug the connector and jump the red/yel and blu/blk wires on the harness. You should have headlight and instrument lights with the key in the "on" position. If you have the glass type fuses, first test the headlight fuse with a meter. Sometimes they'll look good but are bad. Check all your ground connections. HTH

[John]

If you have voltages of 16-17v, then it would almost seem that the alternator is overcharging, and it burned out the head lamp, or fried the headlight relay. Does your tach work? What is the battery voltage when the engine is off? Check the water level in the battery, I'll bet it is low from the overcharging condition, or it needs frequent filling.

[XJOK2PLAY]

voltage...

While Phil is correct, I would pose a question if I may? Are you checking voltage with the the bike off or running, and are you checking from the headlight socket... low beam switchleg to grd / highbeam switchleg to grd. and getting those kind of readings??? 16 V. and 17 V.'s sound very high. Should be around 12.5 not running, and 14 v. or so running, above 1800 rpm.
If your meter setting is first correct and accurate, and you have voltage in those areas to grd. but light still won't work... may have 2 bad bulbs. But grounding problems CAN be a real pain on these bikes. I would also disconnect the battery, and check ohms & continuity on the ground lead @ socket to main frame ground. Could be the reason.

[John]

Silly Question...

But are you checking the headlight with the engine running? The light will not come on until the alternator starts charging, and that closes the headlight relay, turning on the headlight.

[mbigdaddymikeb]

wait a min! sorry

Thank you for all your help so far! i am a fool i still have the same problem but i was reading the meeter wrong LOL it is .17 not 17volts and i should state that i have a ferring. i checked the fuses in the fuse bank and there all good i also checked the battery and it is good getting a little over 12 volts when the bike is running. I have had the battery in the celler with a tricle charger on it all winter so the bike fire's right up tach is reading well but no lights i will check the relay under the tank next. any idea what the resistance should be and how to test would be helpfull. thanks again for all the help so far sorry for the confusion ans the brain fart!

[mbigdaddymikeb]

also

I have heard of others who have had this problem and it had to do with the tach because the wiring goes through the tach is this true? just wondering

[cywelchjr]

Thank you for all your help so far! i am a fool i still have the same problem but i was reading the meeter wrong LOL it is .17 not 17volts and i should state that i have a ferring. i checked the fuses in the fuse bank and there all good i also checked the battery and it is good getting a little over 12 volts when the bike is running. I have had the battery in the celler with a tricle charger on it all winter so the bike fire's right up tach is reading well but no lights i will check the relay under the tank next. any idea what the resistance should be and how to test would be helpfull. thanks again for all the help so far sorry for the confusion ans the brain fart!

If your getting just over 12 volts that is likely a none charging system. That matches with the lights not coming on. Generally if everything else is working, the charging system is what triggers the headlight and dash lights to come on, if that's not working they won't come on. If the charging system is bad enough (not putting anything out at all) then the tach won't work either, but mine was bad in such a way that the headlight didn't come on but the tach worked, it later got worse and then the tach didn't work either. Replacing the regulator rectifier fixed the problem, which I measured mine, the diodes tested bad (ok, like 2 out of three did).