No Headlights on My RT

[RoLoo]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Does this CAN bus system also have fuse protection somewhere in there ?

...nope...

[AntonLargiader]

Well, the part where you said "Yup, it looks like I'll have to take the 110mile run to ATL BMW" after people matched your symptoms with your bike's previously reported overvoltage condition made it sound like a wrap to me, especially since the bike is probably still in warranty. How definitive are you looking for?

And (as usual) this has nothing to do with the CAN-bus. ZFE yes, CAN-bus no.

But do check the battery connections. That's the low-hanging fruit.

[smddanny]

I'd replace the bulbs and monitor the voltage with a meter that has a peak hold function. How many volts does it take to fry a head light bulb? Lots I would think. I like the idea of a bad battery connection.

It's usually the simple things..

[bradzdotcom]

Originally Posted by Nail24

Tonight when I started the bike I was surrounded by piloce cruisers and two firetrucks with all their strobes running. I'm wondering if this is an induction overvoltage from the strobes.

i'm no electrical engineer, but are you saying that both bulbs went out while you were in there with the police and fire guys?

eons ago we were testing a cruise control for the honda gold wing and the biggest problem we were having was the interstate truckers running "hot boxed" cb radios that put out serious power. every time you were riding near one of those and the guy would key his mike, that damn gold wing would automatically either accelerate up about 15 mph, or cancel itself out.

don't know what your emergency equipment has on it, but it doesn't sound normal. seems more induced.

[JonyRR]

Establish that your battery is good with no dead cells. A bad batt CAN cause the charging system to overvoltage (happened on my 530I cage a while back..it was charging at 15.8V as a cell was dead). just because the batt is new doesn't mean it's good.
as has been said, make sure the batt leads are tight and definitely pull the ground cable and clean and tighten at the frame/engine terminal.
THEN, establish that it's NOT overcharging by using a good dvom; it should not charge over 14.7 VDC under any condition. If it IS and the batt condition has been established, suspect the regulator. IF the regulator is CONFIRMED to be good (kinda hard to do without replacement with a known good part) THEN look for intermitttent short-to-ground (not an open/broken wire,) a short to ground, which CAN produce an overvoltage condition under the right circumstances.
I'd examine the wiring harness in detail....all the runs for strain and yanking.
Do you have any enemies? Seriously, someone casually mucking about with any exposed wires...anytime I pass a kawasaki kopsikkle, I grin as I know how to disable one of those in less than a second as the ignition pickup wires are exposed briefly in an inconspicious but easily located place. one quik snip of the dykes and she's toast,
last, chill as I was trying to inject a bit of humor. the above comes from 35+years of wrenching on these things.

[AntonLargiader]

If it's under warranty with a suspected 19V overvoltage problem, I wouldn't even touch it. I would specifically not want to duplicate the problem if it's actually someone else's problem.

Loose battery leads OK, that's a reasonable cause. If nothing else is obvious, let the dealer document it all so that if some other modules fail down the road (even out of warranty) you'll have something to go back on. How certain are you that the suspected voltage spike only affected the headlight bulbs? I sure wouldn't be.

[Guest24]

Originally Posted by AntonLargiader

If it's under warranty with a suspected 19V overvoltage problem, I wouldn't even touch it. I would specifically not want to duplicate the problem if it's actually someone else's problem.

Loose battery leads OK, that's a reasonable cause. If nothing else is obvious, let the dealer document it all so that if some other modules fail down the road (even out of warranty) you'll have something to go back on. How certain are you that the suspected voltage spike only affected the headlight bulbs? I sure wouldn't be.

I'm going to take it to Atlanta Anton. There is to much at stake as you suggest if this is an overvotage situation due to an unregulated alternator spike. Have you heard of this problem occuring on CAN Bus equipped. Could the vibration from the onboard speakers cause the filiments to break as the bike switched from parking lights to main headlamps?

I'll post the results on this an other websites.

Thank guys this is the great input I was counting on to start with.

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by Nail24

I Could the vibration from the onboard speakers cause the filiments to break as the bike switched from parking lights to main headlamps?

.

You running a big amp and Subwoofers on that thing Nail??? No wonder there were police and firetrucks around you that night.

[Guest24]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

You running a big amp and Subwoofers on that thing Nail??? No wonder there were police and firetrucks around you that night.

It is pretty loud Bill. I've never owned a bike that played rock music before. The faster I go the louder it gets. I am going to check the voltage at the lamp plugs.

[jduke]

Damn Bubba, I thought you were more of a Lawrence Welk / easy listening type of guy.....

[Guest24]

I checked the voltage on all three sockets engine running and they read 14.4 volts. I re-lamped the bugger, that right lowbeam ain't easy to get to, and they are running normally. I'm going to take it to Atlanta and let them see whats stored as a fault in the puter. This is very perplexing.

[AZ-Twin]

Probably a bad fuse. Try this.

[JonyRR]

If it's under warranty, time to get 'er checked out by a (hopefully) competent wrench.
On the 259 oilhead, ignition/feuling is handled by a motronic box and charging is 'conventional' with a solid-state regulator/rectifier. the concept and execution is a century or so old technology, even if the bits use an IC instead of mechanical bits.
On a CANBUS bike, something to inquire about is whether charging is controlled by BMW-K.
IF you got a 19VDC voltage spike, I'd be very, very concerned.

[JonyRR]

Rob, that's funny. Looks like my EPG friends have be edumacting ya.

[RBMann]

Originally Posted by AZ-Twin

Probably a bad fuse. Try this.

Excellent Rob, I will add them to my tool kit of spares.

RB

[Guest24]

Originally Posted by RBMann

Excellent Rob, I will add them to my tool kit of spares.

RB

I used to use cigarette wrapper foil. It was a good 20 amp fuse in my '53 Ford.

[jpalamaro]

Obviously Bubba and I were in contact during this fiasco. I relate this part of the story only for the non-believers AND believers.

At around the 200 mile ODOMETER reading on the RT my port bulb failed. I installed a new one, and it failed also LAMPF error as I best remember. I brought the bike into BMW Daytona and to this day I can only speculate on what I physically saw. The battery was removed and voltage tested at between 18VDC and 19VDC on two separate, decent quality digital VOM's. How can that be? The laws of chemistry, physics, dissimilar metals, says it cannot happen. But, being a chemistry major in undergrad (never did a thing in chem afterwards) I speculated that perhaps fusing of either cathode(s) or anode(s) could have changed the serie/parallel relationship. I.e., the only way to multiply voltages is to go from parallel to series?

Anyhow, a new battery was installed and the problem disappeared up to and including the time I sold the bike to Bubba >7000 miles and a very long trip out West this summer.

Strange, but true.

[jpalamaro]

Originally Posted by AZ-Twin

Probably a bad fuse. Try this.

This is hilarious! One of the best I've seen!!!!!

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by jpalamaro

Obviously Bubba and I were in contact during this fiasco. I relate this part of the story only for the non-believers AND believers.

At around the 200 mile ODOMETER reading on the RT my port bulb failed. I installed a new one, and it failed also LAMPF error as I best remember. I brought the bike into BMW Daytona and to this day I can only speculate on what I physically saw. The battery was removed and voltage tested at between 18VDC and 19VDC on two separate, decent quality digital VOM's. How can that be? The laws of chemistry, physics, dissimilar metals, says it cannot happen. But, being a chemistry major in undergrad (never did a thing in chem afterwards) I speculated that perhaps fusing of either cathode(s) or anode(s) could have changed the serie/parallel relationship. I.e., the only way to multiply voltages is to go from parallel to series?

Anyhow, a new battery was installed and the problem disappeared up to and including the time I sold the bike to Bubba >7000 miles and a very long trip out West this summer.

Strange, but true.

When the batteries that run volt meters (double AA or 9 volt) get weak the meter will give high voltage readings. I am constantly changing the 9 volt battery in my Snap-On meter. Perhaps it had been awhile since the batteries were changed in both of the meters used.

[Guest24]

Das eis very interesting.