Sticking main beam switch!

[racingt]

Guys, main beam switch sticks on in the main beam position.
Can I fix this or is it a new switch?
Where can you buy them from?
Thanks

[Cammo]

It's usually caused by a build up of grease and muck. Opening and cleaning it, applying new grease should have it good again.

[speedy231278]

Or, it's buggered and one of the next times it sticks, you'll lose dipped beam because the contacts have melted into the slider inside the switch.

Are you running 60/55 H4 lights or 60/35 H4Rs? If you've got 60/55 in there and haven't put a relay in the loom, the switch is guaranteed to die. I should know, I stubbornly wrecked about four of the bloody things before forking out for Japanese spec ones, ignorantly thinking that if I didn't use high beam much or at all, everything would be OK. However, it's not, because the high beam is relayed anyway.

The good news is that if your switch can't be fixed, you can get a new one. The bad news is that supply seems to be a little erratic. Some years ago, you could get them from DSS for about £45. Last time I checked with DSS they had several in stock, but they were pattern ones, and somewhere getting on for a ton. Now they're obviously sold all those and are listing as a 3-week lead time from Honda at a mighty £112.86 plus VAT (so around £140 delivered!!). 35200-MR8-900

Check eBay, they come up from time to time, but of course you take the risk of it being on it's way out anyway.

[NGneer]

It's usually caused by a build up of grease and muck. Opening and cleaning it, applying new grease should have it good again.

Another one here for opening it up and giving it a bloody good clean out before going any further.

[Neosophist]

Guys, main beam switch sticks on in the main beam position.
Can I fix this or is it a new switch?
Where can you buy them from?
Thanks

Or, it's buggered and one of the next times it sticks, you'll lose dipped beam because the contacts have melted into the slider inside the switch.

Are you running 60/55 H4 lights or 60/35 H4Rs? If you've got 60/55 in there and haven't put a relay in the loom, the switch is guaranteed to die. I should know, I stubbornly wrecked about four of the bloody things before forking out for Japanese spec ones, ignorantly thinking that if I didn't use high beam much or at all, everything would be OK. However, it's not, because the high beam is relayed anyway.

The good news is that if your switch can't be fixed, you can get a new one. The bad news is that supply seems to be a little erratic. Some years ago, you could get them from DSS for about £45. Last time I checked with DSS they had several in stock, but they were pattern ones, and somewhere getting on for a ton. Now they're obviously sold all those and are listing as a 3-week lead time from Honda at a mighty £112.86 plus VAT (so around £140 delivered!!). 35200-MR8-900

Check eBay, they come up from time to time, but of course you take the risk of it being on it's way out anyway.

Main beam switch isn't affected by running either types of bulbs.

I think Cammo will be right on the money, the switch is seldom used on a lot of bikes so crap makes its way into there and gums it up.

Take it apart and a good spraying of contact cleaner and a brush should get it up to new again.

[speedy231278]

Main beam switch isn't affected by running either types of bulbs.

I respectfully beg to differ. The load for lo and high beams goes through the switch, even though the lo beam isn't switched by the switch. Running 55W lo as opposed to 35W lo puts 50% extra load through the lo side of the switch, causing it to overheat at it's not built to take the extra current. The plastic slider stats to go soft as the lo beam contacts get hot, and when you switch to hi beam, the contacts melt their way into the slider. The hi beam contacts which is built to take the load do not heat up, so the softened slider now cools down, and the contacts cannot spring back onto the track when you switch back to lo beam, and everything goes dark. The fore-runner of darkness is that the switch stops popping about when you take the latch off.

Yes, it might just be crap in the switch, but it might not be, which is why I asked about the headlights. Also, if running H4 rather than H4R wasn't a problem, why the 'how to' on putting a relay on the lo beam circuit to avoid damaging the switch when running 60/55s?

As I said before, I used to run H4. I've had the sticky switch several times. Each time it's been a melted switch, not crap in it, and I've had to replace it. I now run H4R. The switch has never had this issue since. On average, I managed about 18 months between having to dig the contacts out or buying a new switch, and the last one that died was a less than a year old brand new out the packet genuine part. Current one is 20 months (and only £49+ vat according to the invoice, H4Rs were £14 apiece), so I suppose if it blows up in the next year I'll come back and happily say I'm currenty talking rubbish!

GT - if/when you take it apart, make sure you inspect the contacts to make sure the white plastic bit they sit in isn't distorted. If it is, the switch is showing signs of overheating. This shouldn't happen with the right spec headlamps. Also, be bloody careful, and if you can, take it apart (and put back together) in a bag. The spring in the hi/lo switch is a total bastard for going ping and never being seen again!

[Neosophist]

I didn't say that running H4's wont give you a problem, it is well known that it will, I have wrote about it for many years on how to fix issues like that.

I mean in this case, it seems to me that it most likely isnt what type of bulbs you are running but crap in the switch.

Either way when cleaning it out you will soon see.

Perhaps Cammo has come across it before from his post, but I've come across it on the NC24 and NC30 (NC24 runs H4 as standard too) but the switch gets crapped up.

In cases where regular H4's are run without a low-beam relay on JDM bikes I've always seen the slider go first as this is used the most.

I wrote a revised guide not so long ago about a different way to put the relay on the bike.





Take it apart and see anyway. For me it sounds like crap in the switch.

[speedy231278]

Silly question time again.... would there be any point in the relay as belt and braces protection for the switch when running H4Rs? I did get all the bits, but when I looked at the connectors on my 35, the colours seemed to differ from the Haynes manual's wiring diagram, and also what was in one of the guides I read about doing the mod. At which point, I decided I'd rather be killing switches than blowing something up. At a three week wait if you can't find one on eBay, I'd be very interested in making sure there's no chance of the switch doing funny other than filling with crap. Would it be worthwhile doing or not, in my case, if I can trace the right wires to do it?

Edit: I take it that from the fuseholder in the pics above, your method takes a feed direct from the battery, rather than splice the loom before the switch?

Extra edit: love the landing page on your url...

[Neosophist]

If you are only going to run H4R's then I wouldn't bother.

Yes, I use 2.00mm SQ cable (200watt maximum) and run it directly from the battery with an inline fuse.

The quality of light output (use best bulbs you can buy) is excellent.

I read a study somewhere saying that using slightly over-sized cable can give a slight performance output on light output over stock cable, especially if it deteriorates.

[speedy231278]

I read that too, although I suspect that it may be you whose post I read. I would figure that new cable the same size as 20 year old cable that's shipped in a little corrosion over the years would do better, and it stands to reason that a larger size would offer less resistance and therefore might possibly help further if the output was resistance limited. Perhaps the same would apply to the earth side of things too?