Dead Headlight

[FAR&FURTHER]

Hi everyone from lockdown in Morocco,

 

sad news I have to share today... My headlight seems to be dead completely... no light whatsoever. Everything else works as supposed to work.

 

There are 3 "lights" on the headlight: Aux, Low beam & High beam (as manual calls them).

 

Aux light will turn on when ignition is on.

Low beam will turn on when engine is on.

High beam will turn on when you press the dimmer switch (again manual terminology - just handlebar switch)

 

I've:

1. checked the fuse
2. measured following voltage values at the socket under the right side panel (so harness is fine)
3. verified that the ground is indeed connected to ground (continuity test)
4. took headlight assembly out checked the cable for damage - all fine

 

Could anyone please take measurements as well and see if it's the same? Any further advice?

 

Ignition ON:

Br: 13.46V

Y: 12.15V

YB: ground

L/B: 0.03V

 

Engine ON & High beam OFF:

Br: 14.11V

Y: 13.04V

YB: ground

L/B: -0.26V

High beam indicator: OFF

 

Engine ON & High beam ON:

Br: 14.11V

Y: 0.88V

YB: ground

L/B: 0.88V

High beam indicator: ON

 

Related videos demonstrating the problem:

 

Pavel

--
https://farandfurther.org
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Edited May 14, 2020 by FAR&FURTHER
Add videos

[ScorpionT16]

I was going to bring up using the penguin to block vibrations as a possible cause, is far stretched though. I did read online why the project designers made the unit that way, with a sort of shock absorbing ability. Maybe something in the headlight got shaken up. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by ScorpionT16

[FAR&FURTHER]

I've published another episode in 10k series, the followup on the Dead headlight. It seems tapping it or vibration turns the light on and off. I think this is conclusion that the electrical system is fine, it's just some kind of cold solder or wire inside the headlight unit.

 

 

[Lupan]

Could the Anti-Bobble-Head off Camel Adv in your opinion solve the problem?

 

[FAR&FURTHER]

@Lupan The question is what the issue with the light is, I'm not sure if the Anti-Bobble-Head would not make the whole assembly more rigid and transfer even more vibrations into the headlight.

 

I really don't know, and if you notice I have teddy bear stuffed between the windshield and the speedo which is mounted on the headlight to dampen the vibrations so it works similarily as the @Camel ADV bracket it's just like giant soft damping device.

 

Not really know.

[Camel ADV]

On 5/11/2020 at 2:57 PM, ScorpionT16 said:

I was going to bring up the anti-bobble head as a possible cause, is far stretched though. I did read online why the project designers made the unit that way, with a sort of shock absorbing ability. Maybe something in the headlight got shaken up. curios If the CamelADV anti-bobble head starts to cause busted headlights, we ma know in a few months, who knows

So... this rider has a headlight that isn't working properly and he DOESN'T have our product installed but you're suggesting that our part could be the cause of his this problem... what am I missing?

[Cruizin]

10 minutes ago, Camel ADV said:

So... this rider has a headlight that isn't working properly and he DOESN'T have our product installed but you're suggesting that our part could be the cause of his this problem... what am I missing?

Yeah, Teddy bears are not a good match for your Anti bobble head kit. I'll be ordering one when I get my bike, to avoid issues like these. Great job coming up with a solution @Camel ADV .   As my Grand daughter is pretty fond of her teddy bears and wont give one up. 

[ScorpionT16]

20 minutes ago, Camel ADV said:

So... this rider has a headlight that isn't working properly and he DOESN'T have our product installed but you're suggesting that our part could be the cause of his this problem... what am I missing?

 

No no, you product is awesome and I'll be buying it soon! Watched the video and think its a great solution 

 

The rider mentioned they used a penguin to stop the bobble shaking for their unit, thats why I mentioned curious if stopping the bobble movement transferring it to the internals. He did post a Part 2 video, and it looks like a connection is loose inside, not electrical, could be a host of things, a one of, or even due to not having your anti-bobble head installed, I do not know. Sorry

Edited May 15, 2020 by ScorpionT16

[FAR&FURTHER]

9 hours ago, Camel ADV said:

So... this rider has a headlight that isn't working properly and he DOESN'T have our product installed but you're suggesting that our part could be the cause of his this problem... what am I missing?

@Camel ADV I think this is misunderstanding.

 

The rider who has broken light never suggested your part is the cause of the problem... because

a) as you pointed out I don't have your product

b) I have teddy bear doing the same job

 

I tend to read threads first to get the context, before posting...

 

If you're referring to my reply to Scorpion, I did express my concerns your product could possibly make the whole assembly more rigid, that is true. However again, if you read my reply, I explicitly say I don't know if that is the case and I elaborate on my teddy bear solution being similar.

 

I think it would add more value to your response if you could elaborate why the Anti-Bobble-Head bracket shoul not cause problems so that people stumbling on this thread get clear information as you mention in your YouTube installation video.

 

Pavel

Edited May 15, 2020 by FAR&FURTHER

[Camel ADV]

On 5/15/2020 at 3:30 AM, FAR&FURTHER said:

@Camel ADV I think this is misunderstanding.

 

The rider who has broken light never suggested your part is the cause of the problem... because

a) as you pointed out I don't have your product

b) I have teddy bear doing the same job

 

I tend to read threads first to get the context, before posting...

 

If you're referring to my reply to Scorpion, I did express my concerns your product could possibly make the whole assembly more rigid, that is true. However again, if you read my reply, I explicitly say I don't know if that is the case and I elaborate on my teddy bear solution being similar.

 

I think it would add more value to your response if you could elaborate why the Anti-Bobble-Head bracket shoul not cause problems so that people stumbling on this thread get clear information as you mention in your YouTube installation video.

 

Pavel

I skimmed your videos to verify you didn't have our brace installed, read all the posts, then I replied. I should have fully watched both videos before posting. I quoted Scorpion so it should have been clear my reply was to him. Without fully watching the 7:30 mins of  video, it appeared that he was the one who suggested the link between the failure and my product.

 

Apologizes ScorpionT16, I missed that you were simply referring to Far&Further's comment. 
 

Even though my product is not installed on your bike, it is now linked to failed headlights because that's how the internet seems to work.  If your bike had our part installed and experienced a headlight failure, then yes, this could be something to consider and debate.

 

I know so people will read this and think I'm being overly-sensitive about it, I don't disagree. You come up with an idea, create it, test it, manufacture it and send it off into the world. Then it gets "wrongly accused" (hyperbole). Their sales pay my mortgage so I will defend them aggressively when I need to. 

Will the brace cause headlight failures? 

 

LEDs by their nature are vibration resistant. Old school incandescent bulbs have a thin metal filament that is very fragile. Headlights on bikes that used those bulbs weren't rubber mounted to keep the bulbs intact so why does the T7's need to be? Pre LED and HID, they were using incandescent bulbs in everything including rough service applications (military, construction, offroad racing etc). I've never seen an auxiliary motorcycle LED that has rubber mount... even the $3 ones off AliExpress are hard mounted and seem to last.

 

I'm not going to post links here as it could look appear that I'm cherry picking data so if anyone whats to do some reading on the topic, Google something to the effect of, "Are LED lights affected by vibration", " Are LED light vibration resistant" etc.

 

[johnnygolucky]

3 hours ago, Camel ADV said:

Even though my product is not installed on your bike, it is now linked to failed headlights because that's how the internet seems to work.  

I ordered your fender high mount the day you released it, and I dont even know exactly when my pre-ordered 700 is going to hit Washington. 

I'll be buying the bobble head in a week, and that skid plate as your skid pate is by the far the best design I've seen to date. Now if you can make me a set of wide rally pegs for my Shrek feet, like the KTM Rally Pegs I had for my 690, I'd buy a pair in a heart beat as nobody has anything yet. T7Rally.com has them, and look exactly what I want but I dont trust Id ever get them if I placed an order based on never hearing back from multiple emails and other people on the web saying best of luck with that company. Oh, and your high pipe mount mod. Make it happen brother!!!

 

All this said, you make great stuff man, keep making T700 stuff and I'll keep buying.  

Edited May 15, 2020 by johnnygolucky

[FAR&FURTHER]

13 hours ago, Camel ADV said:

Even though my product is not installed on your bike, it is now linked to failed headlights because that's how the internet seems to work.  If your bike had our part installed and experienced a headlight failure, then yes, this could be something to consider and debate.

I really hope that the link between failure of my headlight and your bracket is not there, there should not be one.

Hopefully if we can put he information here, people will decide for themselves and not trust everything written on the internet.

My only intention was to put out information about the failure I have.

 

Quote

Why will the brace cause headlight failures? 

 

LEDs by their nature are vibration resistant. Old school incandescent bulbs have a thin metal filament that is very fragile. Headlights on bikes that used those bulbs weren't rubber mounted to keep the bulbs intact so why does the T7's need to be? Pre LED and HID, they were using incandescent bulbs in everything including rough service applications (military, construction, offroad racing etc). I've never seen an auxiliary motorcycle LED that has rubber mount... even the $3 ones off AliExpress are hard mounted and seem to last.

 

I'm puzzled about the design of the headlight mount. On Honda I had LED conversion in a headlight which was not rubber mounted and it worked perfectly for 80k km, even with normal bulbs vibration was not really the issue. So, why to rubber mount it so much.

 

I don't think the LEDs in the headlight are the weak point, as you mention the LED chips don't really care about the vibration. In the second episode I demonstrate that when you tap the headlight something moves and the light stops working. There must be a loose cable or solder in the electronics as the whole light goes off, not just a one out of 6 LEDs there.

 

Unfortunately Yamaha wants the old unit back, so I can't open and investigate.

 

I think that, I have faulty headlight unit to start with, I drop bike too much and the vibration from how the headlight is mounted (have been doing loads off-road lately) didn't really help it.

 

I think my headlight was about to fail no matter what. I also think minimizing the movement/vibration somehow, is a good thing.

 

Maybe we will see 2021 model changing the design of the headlight mount, seems this is 2nd failure.

[FAR&FURTHER]

Hi @Camel ADV, I've published new video summarizing the problems I have with T7 and solutions to those problems. You and your products are appearing in the video as a solution to some.
 

 

[Camel ADV]

1 hour ago, FAR&FURTHER said:

Hi @Camel ADV, I've published new video summarizing the problems I have with T7 and solutions to those problems. You and your products are appearing in the video as a solution to some.
 

 

That was above and beyond, I do appreciate it Pavel.

[ScorpionT16]

On the opposite end, though today my brake light stopped working  - Light comes on, just no brake light on either front or rear activation, EDIT: Fixed. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by ScorpionT16

[Whitey66]

Hmmmm. I hope the electricals in the bike were made in Japan and not in France. The French have had a bad history of unreliable car electricals (in cars anyway). Hopefully these issues aren't too common, how many KMs on yours ScorpionT16 ?

Edited June 4, 2020 by Whitey66
Added an s

[ScorpionT16]

I checked the connections and all, everything seems fine, so am clueless what it could be, esp since neither front or rear brake activate it. 

 

I just have 750kms, was going to schedule the 1k service end of the week, or early next week. Will try and go sooner cause riding without a brake light, well, we all know that's no good

 

EDIT: So after I installed the pivot pegz, I adjusted the rear brake, and it appears the brake light was stuck in the on position, oops. Anyone know how to how to adjust just the light? I had to bring the brake pedal back to the stock position which is fairly high

Edited June 4, 2020 by ScorpionT16

[Whitey66]

6 hours ago, ScorpionT16 said:

 Anyone know how to how to adjust just the light? I had to bring the brake pedal back to the stock position which is fairly high

The brake light switch has a thread on it to adjust it in and out. Remove the foot peg alloy bracket to reveal the switch and make adjustments.

[tenerecanada]

Picked up my bike from the dealership today, with a brand new headlight installed. Word was the ballast had failed, warranty replacement. This happened before my first oil change on my first real day of offroading. Managed over 7000km with only auxiliary lighting, definitely looking forward to a better riding season this time around.

[tom_k]

Have same problem with my headlamp after attempted install of Denali with Datadim. 
I will be disconnecting the headlamp today and testing.

A little different than your scenario:
• The low beam works until the bike is started and then neither H/L works. 
• Bright switch on dash is not ignited when engaged. 

I will have pics on this thread later today when I dig in.