Dimming headlight while riding

[masterblaster]

Doing my night ride loop around Miami up through Ft Lauderdale I notice my headlight dims slightly every now and then, have not noticed a pattern just 3 or 4 times over 120 mile ride. Thought the battery might be low for some reason but smart tender turned green immediately after hooking up.What could be causing this?

 

[dadofthree]

Why ask why ? You guys kill me.

Check the charging circuit, battery connections, etc. Check the connection on the lamp, Replace the lamp and lastly Grip It and Rip It


Have you made any changes lately, any electrical mods on the bike ...........

 

[masterblaster]

True , I am prob worrying too much, it is a strange one though it dims for suddenly then builds up to normal power over 5 mins or so then dims again a while later. Nothing added, checked battery conns, all good. You're right I am probably overthinking it but never seen this on any other bike I owned.

 

[dadofthree]

Check the connections on the lamp. I just replaced my lo beam a few weeks ago. It takes 5 minutes. The lamp cost me $13 at advance auto

 

[dadofthree]

I don't know if you're riding a Gen I or II, Gen I had issues with melted connectors on the rectifier, Gen IIs had a recall on the rectifiers. I don't know if the normal troubleshooting would detect an intermittent issue.

 

[masterblaster]

Its a 12 gen 2 thanks for the advice.

 

[E Zurcher]

Could it be your cooling fan turning on and off?

 

[Jacobs]

Could it be your cooling fan turning on and off?

That's exactly what I was thinking. The fan coming on would put load on the electrical system for a short time causing the headlight to dim slightly

 

[jphilipson]

Could it be your cooling fan turning on and off?

That's what I was thinking. That mofo draws about 60 watts,even more when it kicks on, and it will dim your lights if RPM's are not up.

 

[dadofthree]

See, I try to stay in at dark, and have never noticed this, surprised the fan / fans would dim the head lamp.

 

[masterblaster]

The fan is a logical culprit, why didnt I think of that? Will check it out tonight, thanks all.

 

[jphilipson]

surprised the fan / fans would dim the head lamp.

Motors pull a lot of current. Runs at about 5 AMPs, and pulls probably around 7 when it fires up. That's a good chunk out of a 30 amp system

 

[dadofthree]

Yall are gonna make me run the bike in the garage while watching the headlamp. Maybe after my next ride and she's nice and warm. See what happens at idle on my 5 year old battery when the fan comes on

Someone mentioned 60 watts on the fan. If I used the correct formula that's less than a quarter amp at 14 VDC

 

[lil charlie]

It doesn’t sound like the fan to me. If it were it would dim when the fan kicked in and then instantly go back to normal brightness the second the fan turned off and the load on the electrical system was gone. It would be like a light switch..dim then bright. He explains that it goes dim but takes a while to slowly come back to full brightness. That to me says it’s not the fan.

 

[AV8R_Murf]

Someone mentioned 60 watts on the fan. If I used the correct formula that's less than a quarter amp at 14 VDC

P=I*V
60/14 = 4 amps (approximately)

 

[jphilipson]

P=I*V
60/14 = 4 amps (approximately)

Yeah - AMPs = Watts/Volts. Suzuki claims 60 watts for the fan. I plugged it into to an actual ammeter and it pulls more like 5 AMPs.

 

[AV8R_Murf]

I've actually thought about putting an LED in that circuit and mounting it somewhere I can see it while I'm riding just out of curiosity. I wanted to see what reading on the temp gauge that they turned on and off. Now I'm even more curious. I might just have to put an ammeter on it instead.

 

[masterblaster]

Yeah charlie, it dims then I stare at it so it could be just dimming then back to full power, I just really noticed the dimming part so it could be what you describe.

It doesn’t sound like the fan to me. If it were it would dim when the fan kicked in and then instantly go back to normal brightness the second the fan turned off and the load on the electrical system was gone. It would be like a light switch..dim then bright. He explains that it goes dim but takes a while to slowly come back to full brightness. That to me says it’s not the fan.

 

[dadofthree]

Yall are gonna make me run the bike in the garage while watching the headlamp. Maybe after my next ride and she's nice and warm. See what happens at idle on my 5 year old battery when the fan comes on

Someone mentioned 60 watts on the fan. If I used the correct formula that's less than a quarter amp at 14 VDC

Oops 4 1/4 amps

 

[dadofthree]

P=I*V
60/14 = 4 amps (approximately)

Yeah - AMPs = Watts/Volts. Suzuki claims 60 watts for the fan. I plugged it into to an actual ammeter and it pulls more like 5 AMPs.

I screwed up 4.28 maybe in my mind , which has left me