Reserve Lighting Unit

[BigDick]

So a while back I did the Reserve Lighting Unit Elimination that's in the tech tips here. "Seemed like a good idea at the time" (famous last words huh?) now I'm replacing headlight bulbs way too often, around once a year. The low beam always burns out first, followed by high. I do still have the unit, with enough wire on it to splice it back into place. I intend to do this sometime soon.

My question is: does anyone have any suggestions as to what may cause it to burn out prematurely other than this? Has anyone else done the mod? Had any problems with it?

Thanks!

[yamahansolo]

I too had that problem but mined burned out faster than a year. Which rlu bypass procedure did you follow?. Search my posts and you'll see how I fixed it. If you did what I think you did you are actually having both elements on during dim... you can check by pulling the bulb out and looking at it directly. The rlu procedures are wrong for some 11's. I am at work otherwise id look and let you know

[BigDick]

XS11 tech tips is the procedure I followed, the link in that page is dead (mods maybe remove it?) On mine the low beam is on all the time including when I switch high beam on.

[yamahansolo]

That could be how mine was??? You have to eliminate one of the connections I'll look and see

[natemoen]

I dont see why you would NOT want the lows on all the time. It just gives you more light to see and be seen with. High on all the time though is a problem.

[BigDick]

One reason I'm going to look at it Nate, is it seems with it set that way (low on all the time) High doesn't seem that much brighter. Like maybe it's pulling too much of a load and just kinda falters with both the high and low beams on. So I'll probably dig into it and fix it so it's only one at a time.

[natemoen]

One reason I'm going to look at it Nate, is it seems with it set that way (low on all the time) High doesn't seem that much brighter. Like maybe it's pulling too much of a load and just kinda falters with both the high and low beams on. So I'll probably dig into it and fix it so it's only one at a time.

I guess that makes sense. I dont have any extra stuff on my bike, no front turn signals (yet), and my gauge lights are all LED so I dont have a normal elec load on my bike so I dont really have a problem with electric load.

[yamahansolo]

You don't want them on because of heat and power drain. 55 watts for low and about 60-65 for high is a lot. Here is the link follow it to the fix.


http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ight=headlight



Also it disrupts the light pattern. And it can make the bulb have a bubble. One of my old higher watt bulb actually bubbled out above the high filiment. I will post a pic later. This threw my high beam into the trees above.

[BigDick]

The only extras on mine are a siren (won't pull a load unless it's switched on, that's not a problem) and a set of halogen driving lights (same deal), so I have no idea why it's acting like it's drawing such a huge amount.

[BigDick]

You don't want them on because of heat and power drain. 55 watts for low and about 60-65 for high is a lot. Here is the link follow it to the fix.


http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ight=headlight



Also it disrupts the light pattern. And it can make the bulb have a bubble. One of my old higher watt bulb actually bubbled out above the high filiment. I will post a pic later. This threw my high beam into the trees above.

Yeah, that seems like the thing to do. Been talking on "that other place" also and oseaghdha has recommended this to me. Thanks everyone for your inputs. It may be a couple of weeks before I can get to fixing this but I'll update if you guys are interested.

[crazy steve]

I dont see why you would NOT want the lows on all the time. It just gives you more light to see and be seen with. High on all the time though is a problem.

Having both filaments on at the same time is what kills the bulb; too much heat. It can throw out more light, but that's the trade-off. You also risk melting the headlight plug (and wiring inside the bucket).

I tried this on a car with terrible headlight optics (and no way to change 'em because these are model specific) and it improved the lighting but I was replacing lamps every 6-7 months or so... got expensive.