Burning out the bulbs
Moderator: Modern Buddy Staff
-
- Member
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 4:53 am
- Location: Santa Barbara
- Contact:
Burning out the bulbs
Buddy 125, has burned 3 headlight bulbs. Replaced the regulator twice with OEM parts. The last headlight bulb was an LED aftermarket - worked the longest, about one month of driving, but last night the bulb got dimmer, then very bright and then out. Multi meter shows 13.3 volts at idle, 14.2 revved, though there must have been a voltage burst for the light to get so bright and then burn. Any ideas? Could it be the battery? Or stator?
Ex-Scooter dealer, current scooter rider, scooter owner...
- Stanza
- Member
- Posts: 575
- Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:34 pm
- Location: Chicago
Hi Ootscoot,
The battery isn't involved in the headlight circuit, that's directly run off the Stator, and through the regulator/rectifier. If you are getting a consistent 14v at the headlight from the regulator, then I would think you may have something else going on. Two OEM regulators should not have failed without something else killing them. Have you tested output from the stator? If I remember correctly, the lighting wire is the yellow one coming out of the stator plug. Check to see what AC voltage you are getting out of that. Sidenote, that headlight socket is outputting AC. Was the LED headlight bulb a model that was compatible with AC current, or was it a DC only? If the latter, that may have been what cooked it regardless.
Barring that, it's possible that you have an intermittent short. The spot where the wiring harness pivots against the upper steering tube is the usual suspect. I'd strip back some of the sheathing and make sure you don't have a breakage.
The battery isn't involved in the headlight circuit, that's directly run off the Stator, and through the regulator/rectifier. If you are getting a consistent 14v at the headlight from the regulator, then I would think you may have something else going on. Two OEM regulators should not have failed without something else killing them. Have you tested output from the stator? If I remember correctly, the lighting wire is the yellow one coming out of the stator plug. Check to see what AC voltage you are getting out of that. Sidenote, that headlight socket is outputting AC. Was the LED headlight bulb a model that was compatible with AC current, or was it a DC only? If the latter, that may have been what cooked it regardless.
Barring that, it's possible that you have an intermittent short. The spot where the wiring harness pivots against the upper steering tube is the usual suspect. I'd strip back some of the sheathing and make sure you don't have a breakage.