FAST URGENT HELP NEEDED! (No Low Beam? NC30)

[The Hamster]

I have No Low beam on my NC30? Need HELP ASAP as im at work this evening and will need to come home at night. (I can do it on high beam and put a bit of tape over the lights I guess that would work for now....)

I have taken all the connections apart other than the Switchgear. I have sprayed the entire bike (pretty much) liberally with WD40 and checked connections etc and cannot find a fault?

I had a problem on the weekend, riding back from the dyno day, the 15amp Fuse for the Meters and Idiot lights kept on blowing and so i installed a 30amp fuse to ge tme home.

I had bene riding it around previously with a blown bulb in the rear light. I have replaced the bulbs at the back, and changed the bulbs on the dash so they all work fine.

The headlights seem to work fine when tested, High or Low beam, so i know its not them. Also, Im a bit dubious wether it is the switchgear internals as when i seem to wiggle the wires under the speedo the low beam will occasionally work?


Any ideas guys? I need help asap on this...


Much appreciated in advance..


The hamster

[CMSMJ1]

Have you got std jap bulbs or 55/65 jobbies?

The smart cash is on your switchgear being fooked - you should get a click when switching to high beam and if so your relay is OK.

Going to have to to strip it a bit mate...bugger!

Main beam tonight will be OK - bikes are not as bad as cars for blinding people!

good luck

[The Hamster]

Checked switchgear, it seems fine. high beam works ok and the Relay does click as you say it should?
bike is now completely back together with the lights taped over as I need to leave for work in 40 minutes. Grrrrr.

I honestly cannot see what the problem might be now, other than dodgy wiring around the relay as I havent yet taken that panel off and inspected it.

All the wiring around the clocks appears fine, the switchgear appears fine, the bulbs do work fine, the fuses are all fine?? WHAT COULD IT BE!!!

I will have to check it again towards the end of the week now as i am busy at work at least until thursday.

What a bugger! LOL

[CMSMJ1]

Inside the switch gear will be buggered mate..if you haven't looked in it I would get in there and see what the damage is.

If not, then must be a loose wire? But where!

[Neosophist]

If you don't have an aditional relay installed for the low beam it's more than likely that the switch has burnt out, prob the wires into the switch with a multimeter for voltage and then check out of the switch.

If you have voltage in but not out its the switch.

[CRM]

strip the tank and panels off, clean each connector on the loom and make sure both earth points are clean and tight.
I think you have an earth issue or poor connection. if you are popping the 15amp then that sounds like an earth

[The Hamster]

Ok heres a quick update:

The Switchgear is fine, im getting quite an expert at dismantling them to clean up and rebuild and I did this before i went to work and it was fine, yet the lights still not working on Low beam.

As for Additional Relays, Why would I need one? Ive ridden the bike for the last year with no problem exactly as it is, why would it need another Relay6 all of a sudden?

The Bulbs are fine.
All Connectors have been cleaned up, sprayed with WD40, wiped with tissue as best i cna and reconnected and the lights still not working?

The relay is clicking for high beam, and high beam is working fine?

Battery is nicely charged, R/R is not that old, only about 6 months and not giving me any problems.

I rode the bike to work, and it was daylight so didnt need the lights, although i would of prefered to use them..
On returning to the bike in darkness after my shift, the One Low Beam is working (Left Side if that makes a difference?) and the other obviously isnt still. (High Beam fine throughout?). I rode the bike roughly 2 miles to my mates to say hello before going home, and when i got back to the bike the lights again were not working, and no matter how I wiggle the wires around under the clocks/switchgear/loom etc they will not work?

It could be a bad earth, although looking at them they appear to be fine, and it wasnt too long ago I cleaned the connections up and made them good again.
Or,
It could be a dodgy loom, or a place where the wire has got trapped/worn in the loom etc? Unfortunately I just dont have the time to check the loom bit by bit to find any problems!

I guess i will just have to make do as best I can, and make time in my calender for a strip down and electrical clean up!!

Meanwhile, if you have any other recommendations i would be delighted to hear them!!


Many Thanks guys,


The Hamster

[Neosophist]

Ok heres a quick update:

The Switchgear is fine, im getting quite an expert at dismantling them to clean up and rebuild and I did this before i went to work and it was fine, yet the lights still not working on Low beam.

As for Additional Relays, Why would I need one? Ive ridden the bike for the last year with no problem exactly as it is, why would it need another Relay6 all of a sudden?

Because over time the extra wattage drawn by using H4 as opposed to using the 35watt Japanese bulbs burns the switchgear out, it doesn't happen all of a sudden, you'll just find one day it has gone. Hence the reason so many people were initially saying it's probably the switchgear.

It's a well known problem and i'm pretty sure the UK model came with a relay to handle the extra load of H4 bulbs. (somebody correct me if i'm wrong there)

So thats why you'd probably need one 'all of a sudden' if your switch gear had burnt out (as its a slow process)

All I can say without seeing the bike is to get a copy of the wiring diagram and using a multimeter follow the voltage from the battery to the bulbs and see where it stops. I'm pretty sure it goes straight from the battery -> switch -> bulbs without an adition relay so it shouldn't be too hard to see where you have no power.

I think CRM is probably onto somethign with a loose / broken earth connection if your blowing fuses. (either that or you have a short!.) The dash clocks etc are all on the same earth if its similar to the NC24.

[fastdruid]

Also wrt to the failing switchgear the way it seems to fail is that hi beam works but you get nothing when you switch to lo, internally it seems that the plastic heats up and over time melts/burns, severely accelerated by 55/60 H4 bulbs (I personally think it's just a bad design full stop). The switch then fails to stop at the correct place (and so doesn't work) for lo beam but still moves to the correct place (and so works) for hi beam.
Neosophist is correct in that UK bikes had two relays, one for Low beam and one for High beam.

The way to 'fix' this is to shave the switch with a razor where the plastic has melted/burnt over and then put in a relay so it doesn't do it again, this relay is essentially replicating the UK bikes setup.

It could be that you have a different issue but as you are having identical symptoms to everyone else who has had the switchgear fail we all say make sure the switchgear is working properly first!

Druid

[rich1988]

question on stripping the switch gear, I have it apart but I am wondering how you get the white headlight switch out I have undone the visible screws and its still nto budging is there a clip or some nack to taking it out?