hello all.
I am in need of some help! My NC30 Low Beam isnt working. It is a 1994 Japanese Import bike as far as I know, (Grey) and it has 12v 60/35w Bulbs in it which were working perfectly upto about a week or two ago. I dont think the bike has any sort of relay in it for the UK Headlight bulbs, but even if it hasnt, there hasnt been a problem before with them not working?
I have just finished completely stripping the switchgear and cleaning it making it good. Everything was ok in there, just a little dirty and greasy so I cleaned the lot and re-assembled. The Switchgear is like brand new now, so its definetley not that. I cleaned all the connectors up for the switchgear on the left hand side of the bike, by the engine, and they appeared to be fine. So im pretty sure there isnt a problem there.
Ive checked the bulbs, they seem fine, and they do work if I hit the headlight unit, LOL, but Obviously I dont want to be doing this and I cant ride home from work at 1am trying to hit the headlights to make them work.
I have checked the fuses... all are fine as far as i can see. I have checked the Earthing point by the Side of the engine near the switchgear connections, all seems to be fine there, and Obviously the Negative terminal on the battery is fine and earthed.

So where could my problem be?
To me it seems like it is either another earth somwhere on the bike, perhaps around the headlight bracket somehwere as this was recently taken apart and re-fitted in a hurry one day, or its is a problem with the wiring loom where it goes down and underneath the petrol tank and to the right side of the bike?

What do you all think? What do you advise I do about it? I really need to get this sorted out this time, as I use my bike for work, and I sometimes finish quite late at night so need my Head lights to work! Also, the police are in my area at the moment doing a clamp down on speeders and defective vehicles and I really cant afford another 3 points on my Licence!!
Taking the bike to a garage is out of the question. For two reasons really... a.) I cant afford to, and b.) I can do everything most of the garages around here can do without charging myself! I just need the advice behind me and Im away! LOL

Right then.... Just refitted the Switchgear and it works fine, well everything apart from Low beam still. I managed to find some UK Spec headlights in my shed, funnily enough theres a whole bike in there too, LOL and when i tried the 12v 60/55w Bulbs in place of the current 12v 60/35w they worked fine on low beam. So Im guessing one of two things now..

1.) The bulbs were in fact knackered, even though they look ok?
2.) There is some sort of Relay on the bike that is faulty and therefore making it so that my 35w bulbs are not working where they previously were?

Hmmm.


Now, I have two solutions!

nmber one is I completely strip the lights out, and fit my UK spec ones in place as I dont want to modify the original japanese spec headlights to make the uk bulbs fit. (It could be a cold night in the shed)
Number two would be to strip the bike and find the faulty part with a bit of your help, namely where to find the relay, which i presume it is??



Any help at all guys, Like I said, I work late, am doing a shift tomorrow night, as I have done all week and I need my headlights to work so i can get home safely without dazzling everyone!!

Many thanks,

The Hamster

I really can't see a faulty relay being at fault, if it was no bulbs would work. Unless somehow it has a bad wire and when you changed the bulbs you knocked the wire.. in which case swap the bulbs back and see if your originals work.

Your old bulbs have probably just had it.

Worth a check but Is your charging system ok? Faulty reg/rec can easily start blowing bulbs. Other than that, probably just old-age.

Thanks Nesophisist. I think Ive found the problem now with a bit of help from my dad. LOL. (Give me an engine in nuts and bolts and Ill give it back working, give me some electrics and ill sit there and scratch my head. LOL)

We think, although not 100% sure, that the Bulbs have had it. I presume that they are still the bulbs that were in there from the previous owner before it got taken to the Showroom for three years, so they could be a number of years old now, which isnt so bad, i can expect to replace the odd bulb here and there in that space of time.
What has got us stumped though, is that all other bulbs work fine in it, any we tried worked fine. So it must be the bulbs?
When we put the old, presumably knackered bulbs in, they werent working, but tests on the connectors showed power was getting to the connections on Low and High beam. Sorted, its the bulbs then! but when we put the old bulbs back in, and gave them a little tap they worked fine. This is what led me to think it was something other than the bulbs, and hence spend the last few hours stripping the bikes electrics, cleaning connections and earths etc and trying to figure it out to be something else. LOL


Unfortunately now though, this does mean I need to find some bulbs. Not a problem you say, I can get them easily enough online. Yes indeed I can, but i need to get home from work tomorrow night either on my bike, or by means which I havent got! LOL I tried the local Halfrauds, but they dont do the 12v 60/35w H4's only the 55w ones which ive bene told will melt switches! I have to hope that the local bikeshops can cobble together two good bulbs for me before my shift tomorrow at 12 midday, Im already having a tyre fitted to the front by 10am!!! God Sake!! Ha Ha. And to top it all off, on refitting the panels to my bike I noticed the exhaust collars seemed a bit corroded, so i touched them and they fell off and broke into pieces on the floor! Sob Sob, New exhaust sytem now required aswell!!!

12/35w are not H4's... :)

Yeah the bulbs are shagged, sounds like the filmaments are loose if they work when tapped about...

Use some normal H4's for the time being....

http://webpages.charter.net/bpeloquin/H4mod.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look at 'The Old Way' and you'll see it's a doddle with a nail / coathanger

you need H4R and last ones I got were form my local small moto shop - worth asking a proper bike shop to get you some in.

H4 will do for emergency but as you found out already the switchgear doesn't like it!

So Glad the NC24 takes one H4 :) Osram Nightbreakers in mine.

Wemoto, lings and david silver spares all carry the JDM bulb. (34901KY2702)

£9.09 inc shipping http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/parts/part_22821/

£12.09 inc vat+shipping http://www.lings.com <- search for above partno.

£9.66 inc vat+shipping http://wemoto.com/bikes/Honda/VFR_400_R ... Headlight/

Lings are the quickest.. they'll send it out tday if you order before 3.30pm, then WEmoto, then DSS

Of course you might save a fortune if you have a local bike shop / honda dealer.. the part numbers at the top so ring around ;0

If J-spec NC30 running regular H4s and no low-beam relay, it will knacker the headlight switch. Just a matter of time.



The J-spec H4 uess the PX43t base, which is slightly different from the "regular" H4 base (the P43t). FYI, the other P43 is the US-spec 45w/45w bulb base.

Ciao,

JZH
London, UK/So.Cal., USA
http://www.vsource.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;