Awhile-ago, I fitted an EMGO 7" headlamp bucket w/a 35/35 watt bulb, w/good, heavy-duty brackets having rubber isolators from the downtubes, and more rubber washers between the mount 'ears.' All-done in the interest of minimizing vibrations.
Recently I had an intermittent function of the low beam after having-blown-out a bulb. I had purchased several two filament bulbs from a going-out-of-business shop. I replaced the bad bulb w/one I got from the shop, name-brand bulbs. A few days later, I had an intermittent low-beam.
I measured voltage at the plug, both legs were 12 V. I checked the ground leg. I checked the grounds. I pushed/pulled and flexed the lead from the headlamp switch. Nothing interrupted the electrons' flow to the headlamp plug.
Then I disassembled the headlight switch, I cleaned the contacts w/180 grit paper, used dielectric grease, and reassembled everything. Nothing in there was apparently amiss, though there was some oxidation, but no 'green-stuff.' I live two blocks from the Intracoastal Waterway which is a body of water in FL which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, so salt in the air is a factor, being < a mile from the Atlantic Ocean itself.
I reassembled the switch, and paid-attention to what looks like a ground bar to the handlebar itself. Everything remounted, and went for a ride.
The low beam was still intermittent! Not all-the time off, as in burned-out, but sometimes working, sometimes not, more "not" than working! I pulled the bulb and used a glass to examine it for a bad filament. Nothing I could see. I tried tapping it against a hard object to see if the filament would reveal it's 'sometimes' break. Then I used my circuit tester and checked for continuity. Open circuit (low beam)! The bulb which was new-in-box had a partial-contact low-beam filament, which eventually broke, but not visible to the naked eye.
So, it looks like I got a bad few new bulbs, and the shop is out-of-business, so no returning them, but they were a couple-bucks apiece, so not a big loss. It was vexing to have them work initially, and then go-bad so-quickly.
I recently got a complete late-model Softail headlamp bucket for a friend, and he didn't need the bulb, so I cadged it for the 'Max, as I have a 'Bar & Shield' jewel in the center of my lens, it's a late-model H-D lens I swapped-into my EMGO bucket. So, I have now finally-fixed my problem, and the bulb is better, as it's a 55/60 watt Osram. I also took the time to correct a minor alignment issue of the H-D center metal cone which reflects the light to the lens's 7" reflector.
Tonight I took a short night ride to my friend Steve's shop by the FLL International Airport and the beam was centered, brighter (more watts), and much-more useful on both low-and-high beam. No erratic low-beam operation, a wide swath, good cut-off, and on high, working like it never had w/the 35 watt bulb. I had previously used at one-time a 55/100 w bulb in the stock 5-1/2" headlamp, but this current setup appears to provide me with a good output similar to that. Without being able to do a 'side-by-side' comparison, I prefer the 7" 55/60 w light dispersion.
So, the lesson: don't overlook the obvious. Sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one. I got a couple of suspect bulbs which didn't last long in-service, and it didn't look like someone swapped a used defective bulb into the packaging. As one of the other guys recently-posted, citing "Ocam's razor:" "The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
The light is out, it's the bulb, not the wiring, not the switch, not the plug. The fact that I just recently installed a new-in-the-box bulb (which was defective in the short-run) shouldn't have kept me from the fact that the bulb itself was soon bad. I had this happen once before w/new spark plugs for a KZ1000, I got a bad one, and it wasn't until a friend who is a professional mechanic urged me to buy another, from a different source, and try that. Sure-enough, a bad plug! :bang head: Just-like many tires are flat only on the bottom, Captain Obvious.
Recently I had an intermittent function of the low beam after having-blown-out a bulb. I had purchased several two filament bulbs from a going-out-of-business shop. I replaced the bad bulb w/one I got from the shop, name-brand bulbs. A few days later, I had an intermittent low-beam.
I measured voltage at the plug, both legs were 12 V. I checked the ground leg. I checked the grounds. I pushed/pulled and flexed the lead from the headlamp switch. Nothing interrupted the electrons' flow to the headlamp plug.
Then I disassembled the headlight switch, I cleaned the contacts w/180 grit paper, used dielectric grease, and reassembled everything. Nothing in there was apparently amiss, though there was some oxidation, but no 'green-stuff.' I live two blocks from the Intracoastal Waterway which is a body of water in FL which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, so salt in the air is a factor, being < a mile from the Atlantic Ocean itself.
I reassembled the switch, and paid-attention to what looks like a ground bar to the handlebar itself. Everything remounted, and went for a ride.
The low beam was still intermittent! Not all-the time off, as in burned-out, but sometimes working, sometimes not, more "not" than working! I pulled the bulb and used a glass to examine it for a bad filament. Nothing I could see. I tried tapping it against a hard object to see if the filament would reveal it's 'sometimes' break. Then I used my circuit tester and checked for continuity. Open circuit (low beam)! The bulb which was new-in-box had a partial-contact low-beam filament, which eventually broke, but not visible to the naked eye.
So, it looks like I got a bad few new bulbs, and the shop is out-of-business, so no returning them, but they were a couple-bucks apiece, so not a big loss. It was vexing to have them work initially, and then go-bad so-quickly.
I recently got a complete late-model Softail headlamp bucket for a friend, and he didn't need the bulb, so I cadged it for the 'Max, as I have a 'Bar & Shield' jewel in the center of my lens, it's a late-model H-D lens I swapped-into my EMGO bucket. So, I have now finally-fixed my problem, and the bulb is better, as it's a 55/60 watt Osram. I also took the time to correct a minor alignment issue of the H-D center metal cone which reflects the light to the lens's 7" reflector.
Tonight I took a short night ride to my friend Steve's shop by the FLL International Airport and the beam was centered, brighter (more watts), and much-more useful on both low-and-high beam. No erratic low-beam operation, a wide swath, good cut-off, and on high, working like it never had w/the 35 watt bulb. I had previously used at one-time a 55/100 w bulb in the stock 5-1/2" headlamp, but this current setup appears to provide me with a good output similar to that. Without being able to do a 'side-by-side' comparison, I prefer the 7" 55/60 w light dispersion.
So, the lesson: don't overlook the obvious. Sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one. I got a couple of suspect bulbs which didn't last long in-service, and it didn't look like someone swapped a used defective bulb into the packaging. As one of the other guys recently-posted, citing "Ocam's razor:" "The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
The light is out, it's the bulb, not the wiring, not the switch, not the plug. The fact that I just recently installed a new-in-the-box bulb (which was defective in the short-run) shouldn't have kept me from the fact that the bulb itself was soon bad. I had this happen once before w/new spark plugs for a KZ1000, I got a bad one, and it wasn't until a friend who is a professional mechanic urged me to buy another, from a different source, and try that. Sure-enough, a bad plug! :bang head: Just-like many tires are flat only on the bottom, Captain Obvious.
