Low-beam went out for just a while, help?

[luoyuejia]

Hey guys,

Just got a quick question (hopefully easily answered). While I was riding on the freeway at night today, I'm guessing I hit a pothole or a ditch of some sort. The next thing I knew, my mirrors were all out of place and all that, which I can understand. However, my low-beam seemed to have went out. So I pulled off the freeway and restarted the ninjette, and the low-beam was working just fine. Is this a normal thing? Or should there be something I need to check on?

Thanks!

[Alex]

That is a strange one. No useful advice other than I wonder if there is a newly loose connection?

/moved to the Tech section, may get better answers there rather than in Farkles

[luoyuejia]

Yeah, I was just as confused when I restarted the ninjette. The first thing that came to mind was when a car hits a ditch, the CD will jump or stop momentarily, which I understand because CDs use a laser to read it. But when it comes to lightning, I'm just lost.

What I don't understand is that if a wire was loose, then how did the light turn back on when I restarted it? To be honest, I had let the bike sit outside in the so-Cal rain for a few hours in the past week, but I quickly threw a cover on it as soon as I could. Could the water have messed with my low-beam by any chance or anything?

[kkim]

check for a loose connector, possibly in the headlight relay area. once it lost (momentary) power, the relay went back to it's "off" (de-energized) position. when you restarted the bike, you re-energized the relay to the "on" position and the headlight worked again.

it could also be an intermittent low beam headlight bulb that has a small fracture in the bulb element.

[luoyuejia]

Thanks kkim, always appreciate your comments!

[kobachi]

Originally Posted by luoyuejia

Yeah, I was just as confused when I restarted the ninjette. The first thing that came to mind was when a car hits a ditch, the CD will jump or stop momentarily, which I understand because CDs use a laser to read it. But when it comes to lightning, I'm just lost.

What I don't understand is that if a wire was loose, then how did the light turn back on when I restarted it? To be honest, I had let the bike sit outside in the so-Cal rain for a few hours in the past week, but I quickly threw a cover on it as soon as I could. Could the water have messed with my low-beam by any chance or anything?

I've been dealing with this problem for a year now. And I have this problem nearly every time I go over a reasonable bump, dry or wet. Still haven't figured it out -- I just ordered a new HID kit to try and isolate the problem. I've taken my whole bike apart and never found any loose connections or bared wires. Most curious thing is that I once rode my bike home after the light had died, and when I tested the leads with a voltometer, it showed 12V!

What I can tell you is that one can quickly get used to pulling the clutch, killing the engine, waiting five seconds, and restarting the engine at 70mph. I've noticed the trick is to wait until the battery light turns on before attempting to restart the engine. I hold the starter until the light turns on, whether or not the engine starts, since the inertia at that speed will easily start the engine provided that you are delicate with the clutch and give it some gas.

[Choter]

the bulb may be going bad, the filament could be broken but still making contact. Mine did this for about 2 months before it finally burnt all the way and I put the new bulb in.