Headlight Bulb Life?

[Groo]

Oooooh, free stuff. Can't wait to see if I get some free stuff with mine. The web site had some other bulbs listed which were on a 2 for 1 special so maybe they have a promo going. Either that or they fell in the box while they were packing your order. :blink:

Reply to an email I sent to Power bulbs...

The Philips W5W side lights are a free gift at the moment

Kind regards,

Customer Services

Power Bulbs Ltd

 

[RadioHowie]

33K on my '04 when the left highbeam went out.

And as many on the forum will attest to, there seems to be some bizarre, mutant correlation between one side going out, then the other within a short time. Don't believe me? Do a search!

I pull into the garage Monday night a week ago and notice reflected in a tool cabinet that the left highbeam is out. Both lowbeams work. I have a spare, good H4 at the office when I switched out the stock H4 on my ZRX for a Silverstar, so I put off replacing the dead left high one day 'til I pick up the spare at work.

Next night...24 hours later...I pull in to the garage with the spare H4 in my pocket to replace the dead left highbeam...and...you guessed it, the right highbeam is out! ****!

So, in goes the spare H4 in the left, and when I get around to it, I'll replace the right. At least both lowbeams work and are extremely efficient, and the single highbeam is fine for putzing around town.

I plan on doing an HID lowbeam/HID Auxiliary install this summer so I may NEVER get around to replacing the burned out right H4.

 

[Geezer]

Just got two sets of the Osram H4 bulbs. I was able to install both lamps in my FJR with no tools and without removing the plastic. This was in my garage with planty of light. It would be a whole different story trying to do it on the side of the road at night.

EDIT: I changed the procedure below per Groo's notes from his post below. Thanks Groo for the corrections and additions.

1) Gently pull the cable connector from the back of the old light. You have to wiggle it a bit to get it loose without damaging the connector on the lamp or the wire clamp that holds the lamp into the housing.

2) Pull the rubber seal off the back of the lamp. This is a big black rubber gasket that has a couple of tabs sticking out the back that make good handles to pull in off. I had to work my fingers around the edge of the gasket to get it loose before it woud come off.

3) There is a spring type wire holding the lamp into the housing. On one side is a folded over piece that serves as a handle. It has to be pushed towards the front of the bike, and then rotated counter-clockwise. After doing this, the wire spring assembly rotates out of the way (to the left) to give access to the bulb. Be careful, the bulbs don't have anything holding them in at this point, and can fall out/down from the housing.

4) Note the orientation of the lamp in the housing. You'll want to put the new one in the same way. The lamp will then pull straight out of the housing. Don't touch the glass part of the lamp with your fingers.

5) Put the new lamp in. There are three tabs on the base of the lamp and they aling with three notches in the back of the housing. You can see this from the front, through the lense. You can tell if you have it oriented correctly if the connector on the wire aligns with the connectors on the lamp without twisting or bending the wires, but don't press it on yet. You need to keep the wire out of the way for a couple more steps. The 3 tabs on the back of the bulb, when inserted into the housing sit on the left, top, and right sides. There is no tab on the bottom when properly oriented.

6) Reverse the process above to reattach the wire retainer. How to do this is fairly obvious once you've undone it in step 3.

7) Work the rubber gasket on and press it in all the way around, making sure that the connectors are exposed in the center of the rubber gasket.

8) Plug the wire connector back on securely.

I found the right side to be more difficult because there was less room to work so I did the left first to get the hang of it.

Then I put the second set of Osram's on my daughter's SV650S. Pretty much the same procedure there, except a little more room to work.

 

[Groo]

Thanks Geezer... I was planning on installing mine this weekend... now I have a walkthrough...

 

[Groo]

Well, I just put my Osrams in, and I have a couple personal updates to Geezers list above...

3) The spring wire that holds the lamps in the housing... the folded over piece on my bike had to be pushed not in towards the center of the lamp, but pushed towards the front of the bike, and then rotated counter-clockwise (05, not sure if Geezer's is the same year config.). After doing this, the wire spring assembly rotates out of the way (to the left) to give access to the bulb. Be careful, the bulbs don't have anything holding them in at this point, and can fall out/down from the housing(not a big problem if it's a busted bulb... more important if you are just replacing working stock bulbs.)

5) The 3 tabs on the back of the bulb, when inserted into the housing sit on the left, top, and right sides. There is no tab on the bottom when properly oriented.

6) Reverse the process above to reattach the wire retainer. How to do this is fairly obvious once you've undone it in step 3.

I also found the left side to be easier to do (not intefered with due to the location of the battery) and did that one first. I also found that turning the bars TOWARDS the light you're changing gives you the most working room, if you're not removing the fairing pieces. Even then, you're still working mostly by feel on the right side lamp.

I'd also consider this a "do in your garage the first time" activity, because I sure wouldn't want to try and figure this out on the side of the road at night if I hadn't done it once already...

 

[Geezer]

Thanks Groo. I updated my procedure above with your comments and corrections.

 

[Waaane]

As always thanks for the help all of you. I changed my lightbulbs today and the above thread was much more help then the manual. One thing not mentioned that I found helpful on the right side (battery side) was the use of a small mirror and a flashlight. I used them to check the placement and seating of the headlight bulb cover. Its not easy to tell if you have all 3 of the prongs on the bulb through the center hole by feel. The mirror lets you do a good visual check prior to seating the cover then lets you see that the cover is on smoothly all the way around its mating piece.

Radio Howie talked about his bulbs burning out almost simultaneously. I had the same experience but the time frame was even more compressed. At least I think it was. Friday morning both low beams were working. I know this because I checked all the lights as the bike warmed up prior to a 140 mile ride across the CA central valley. The bike wasn't ridden again til I rode it home this morning. When I started it up this morning the right side low was out. I rode home and got out the manual to look at replacement procedure and soon realised that the right side was a PITA to reach so I practiced on the left. I pulled the connector and the bulb cover and the spring and replaced. Hit the starter switch and no light on either side. I thought I had done something wrong so I pulled the whole thing apart again. I looked at the bulb and the forward filament was toast. I pulled the right side apart and the same filament was gone on that bulb too.

I could see light reflected on cars in front of me on the ride home from my left side bulb so that bulb had to have burned out right in my garage as I was working on it. Its hard for me to believe thats normal. Maybe they get real fragile after they have spent a year and a half in the bike and can't stand to be moved? Just curious.

 

[weekend rider]

Most everyone is paying to much for their bulbs whether phillips or osram or silver stars.

Get to know an electrician or some one in a electrical store and bulbs can be had for $6 or less.

As far as the silver on the silver tip it is useless and a sales gimmick they take your money and run

paid less than 6 for mine on my connie h-4 phillips

When is it time to change them----??? when they go out when ever that is week end rider

 

[cota95]

First bulb on my 04 went at 18k and the second at 19.5k

 

[OC_Ed]

Thanks to everyone's comments, especially Geezer's & Groo's, I was able to change the bulbs on my 2006.

Here's my comments:

The left side wasn't bad. Do the left side first because it will give you practice for the right side. It definitely was a much harder task on the right side, even with Panels A & C removed.

The rubber seal (COVER, SOCKET) on the right side was also much harder to remove than the one on the left side. Something seemed to be pressing against it that was holding it in place. It may have been the Headlight Adjustment Cable (WIRE ASSY). There also was an electrical part (relay?) mounted along the top of the opening that got in the way.

I don't think I could have done the right side without removing the Panels.

Hope this helps.