Dim headlight?

[liv2day]

Long story short, had one of the wires to the headlight plug snap (of course, during a night ride...lol) a while back. Fixed it as best as I could on the trail so I could actually see to keep riding.

Once back home, I pulled the plug and soldered the wire to the connection in the plug thinking that would resolve the issue - figured the trail-side job wasn't getting a solid enough connection.

It's still really dim; especially compared to our other 200. I've swapped bulbs and it doesn't do any good.

A buddy mentioned it might be the voltage regulator? How would I check that? Or could it be that the wire really needs to be in the clamp of the plug to make a solid connection?

Thanks for any input...the electrical stuff is definitely a weak area for me.

[Neil E.]

Follow the wire back to where it connects and rig up a jumper from your headlight connector to that point. This will bypass the questionable wire. If the headlight is now bright, it means that there are some broken strands near your original repair. The wires take a lot of flexing as you move the handlebars back and forth, so it is common for strands to break.

When a voltage regulator goes bad, you usually wind up with burnt out bulbs from excess voltage. I think your problem is more likely to be a poor connection somewhere. Also make sure the ground wire is good.

[Zman]

Have you checked your ground connections as well?

[liv2day]

Thanks for the tips guys, haven't had a chance to check yet, but plan on it this coming weekend (assuming I don't get sidelined again).

Neil - when you say make a jumper, do you mean splice a new wire where it connects and run that to the headlight plug? Or is there something else that I should do?

Zman - what color are the ground wires? I'm going off memory, but I believe there's a yellow wire and a green wire with a white stripe that go to the headlight plug. Should one of these go back to the frame somewhere as the ground?

Sorry if my questions are ignorant - don't know jack about electrical stuff.

[Neil E.]

Jumper = go from your solder joint back to where that wire joins the previous component/switch/wire junction. This tests to make sure there are no broken strands inside the wire that you repaired.

Ground = yellow/green wire at ALL places where it connects. You could have a poor ground at various locations. Easy way to check is to jumper from the yellow/green wire at your headlight to any bare chassis point. If your headlight is bright, you know it's a ground issue.

[bowhunter007]

If you have the 2k3 ignition, a good upgrade is the Trailtech X2 with hi/lo switch. I still have OE GG headlamp( just in case)...I'll never go back.

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by Neil E.

Jumper = go from your solder joint back to where that wire joins the previous component/switch/wire junction. This tests to make sure there are no broken strands inside the wire that you repaired.

This might sound dumb, but I soldered the wire to the plug as that's where it snapped. Should I run a wire from the plug to where the original wire hits the next junction?

I'll check the grounds too.

And thanks again

[Neil E.]

Yes, the jumper is just a way to bypass the original wire temporarily to make sure there are no broken strands somewhere else inside the original wire.

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by Neil E.

Yes, the jumper is just a way to bypass the original wire temporarily to make sure there are no broken strands somewhere else inside the original wire.

Ahh...thanks for the clarification

Hopefully, I'll have a chance to run through testing this weekend. Riding all day Saturday and won't be back in the garage until Sunday afternoon - might have to wait as I'm sure my boys will want to "help" if I"m in the garage

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by Neil E.

Jumper = go from your solder joint back to where that wire joins the previous component/switch/wire junction. This tests to make sure there are no broken strands inside the wire that you repaired.

Ground = yellow/green wire at ALL places where it connects. You could have a poor ground at various locations. Easy way to check is to jumper from the yellow/green wire at your headlight to any bare chassis point. If your headlight is bright, you know it's a ground issue.

Digging this back up as I'm finally getting around to trying to figure this out

I tested my headlight on our other bike and it's good. I used the plug from our other bike and when running that to my bike, the headlight is dim - does this mean that junction where the good plug connected isn't getting enough power through it? Or am I way off base?

Is there an easy way to test this stuff w/o starting the bike every time? Can I wire a 12v battery with hot and neg and use that to power the light at various points?

And another dumb question on making a jumper, is this splicing a wire in and cutting the old one? Or do I just run a wire "on top of" the existing wire?

I really suck at electrical stuff