Need Electrical assistance please
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Joined: May 2009
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From: Central Florida
Need Electrical assistance please
Working on a 97 Softail for a friend that has no money. He has a modified Softail with the S&S 113 motor in it and it FLIES! No rear signals ( he signals Old School style) The aftermarket Headlight (Arlen Ness housing Adjure Light ) keeps blowing out the bulbs in it - high then low. The first bulb was the 80/100. It got so hot it melted the spade plug so i swapped it out for the smaller wattage bulb 55/ 70 i think. Popped that bulb too. Time frame is first bulb lasted three weeks the second bulb lasted 8 days ( four rides )
Is there an electrical schematic with color codes available ( free ) for this older scoot? if I can see what wire goes from where to where I may be able to figure out what is going on here. I see there are two leads coming from the headlight and the cable going to it from the fuse box has three. Actually there are four at the pigtail but it drops down to three on the headllight side. Is the headlight supposed to be grounded externally or from the Source ( battery) ?
Any help on this would be awesome. It's not popping fuses so I know its not a short in a wire, its popping the headlamp bulbs themselves.
Is there an electrical schematic with color codes available ( free ) for this older scoot? if I can see what wire goes from where to where I may be able to figure out what is going on here. I see there are two leads coming from the headlight and the cable going to it from the fuse box has three. Actually there are four at the pigtail but it drops down to three on the headllight side. Is the headlight supposed to be grounded externally or from the Source ( battery) ?
Any help on this would be awesome. It's not popping fuses so I know its not a short in a wire, its popping the headlamp bulbs themselves.
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 581
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From: Portland, OR
Over voltage condition? Do the bulbs seem to run brighter to you? Have you checked the voltage value to the battery with the bike idling and revd up to 2500 rpms? If you have eliminated the possibility of vibration popping the bulbs, it could be an over voltage situation or a voltage spike. Maybe the voltage regulator is going bad and the over voltage condition is not effecting anything else, like frying the battery, but is popping the bulbs?
The head light case should be grounded since the triple tree is grounded via a wire that is grounded to the frame via the neck bearing bolt.
The head light case should be grounded since the triple tree is grounded via a wire that is grounded to the frame via the neck bearing bolt.
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From: Central Florida
I ran teh ground wire from the connector to the ground post inside the housing. before i did that i checked from the housing where the buld socket is grounded to the negative post on the battery and got continuity so that wasn't the problem.
I checked the voltage at the socket and it never exceeded 14 volts which matched the resulta I got at the battery. At idle i get 13V and at 3500 i get 14. No more no less.
I did notice that now the headlight is loose in the housing where it wasn't before. i'll tighten that up by making a silicone bead to fill the gap and hopefully isolate some vibrations.
I really am disappointed i didn't find anything that I can point to and say,"that's the problem"
Still open to suggestions as i view this as a failure to resolve the issue
I checked the voltage at the socket and it never exceeded 14 volts which matched the resulta I got at the battery. At idle i get 13V and at 3500 i get 14. No more no less.
I did notice that now the headlight is loose in the housing where it wasn't before. i'll tighten that up by making a silicone bead to fill the gap and hopefully isolate some vibrations.
I really am disappointed i didn't find anything that I can point to and say,"that's the problem"
Still open to suggestions as i view this as a failure to resolve the issue
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 4,109
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From: Connecticut
Did you change the plug for the headlight? If the plastic melted the connections could be loose. A poor connection or too high of a wattage bulb melted it or a combination of both. If the light is moving in the housing that too but as you said you corrected that issue. Good bulbs as cheap bulbs go quick
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Joined: May 2009
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From: Central Florida
Did you change the plug for the headlight? If the plastic melted the connections could be loose. A poor connection or too high of a wattage bulb melted it or a combination of both. If the light is moving in the housing that too but as you said you corrected that issue. Good bulbs as cheap bulbs go quick
That was indeed the problem. Replaced the H4 socket ( plug ) and problem disappeared.
Just in case others are researching the same / similar issue
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