headlight bulb problem

bigjohn141

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i am runnimg sylvania silverstar bulbs in my busa and two have went out in less than a year. the last one i installed was in october and the bike sat most of the winter. on average i am guessing the are lasting around two months of normal use. the problem is in the filiment or my busa is putting too much power to it. has anyone else had this problem?? anything would help. thanks in advance.
 
How do you know there is too much power getting to it? I only ran the stock bulbs for a short while, then cheap aftermarket bulbs for about a month, then HID's.
 
just a guess. i am not touching the glass, so there are not any hot spots. the filiment is just burnt in half.
 
not really desgined for the higher vibration and jarring that MC subject the bulbs to.

by burning a little hotter (@65W for brightness)....the fillament is a little more subjectable to damage.
 
I've had my Silver Star in for 6 months now with no issues. Maybe you got a bad lot or something. The bad part is I don't think anyone will take back the blown bulb. You could contact the manufacture, they may be interested why their $30.00 (each) bulbs were blowing in a month....Even if installed in a bike. They may offer a replacement so they can study the old bulb.
 
30.00? damn...mine was 18.99....
wow.gif
 
I've had my Silver Star in for 6 months now with no issues.  Maybe you got a bad lot or something.  The bad part is I don't think anyone will take back the blown bulb.  You could contact the manufacture, they may be interested why their $30.00 (each) bulbs were blowing in a month....Even if installed in a bike.  They may offer a replacement so they can study the old bulb.
Walmart will sure as hell take 'em back. They take back anything. Give it a try and save some money.
 
Thirty bucks EACH?  I just bought a PAIR of them for $29.88 at Advance Auto Parts!

But I bought them because my low beam had burned out.  It was installed in August and like John's, my bike sat all winter.  Hopefully, the new ones will last longer.

Ed



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If i had to guess then the automotive bulbs are very similar to standard light bulbs... If you purchase cheap light bulbs for you house, lets say 60w 120v bulbs, and you are replacing them rather often then check the voltage. Almost every time the voltage coming out of the wall will be over the bulb rating, in the case of blown bulbs at home you may have 122v or 128v at the wall socket (use a multi-meter and check the voltage). If you purchase 135v bulbs for your home then in theory they will last much longer than bulbs that are under rated for your electricity, same theory sould apply to automotive bulbs. The question now is, are motorcycle bulbs available in multiple voltage ratings? If not you would have to use some sort of resistor to lower the power input.

It is a pain to take the front of the bike apart just to change a bulb out that should last years... the few bucks spent on the bulb is not the big deal to me, it is the time needed to work on it instead of riding.
 
"It is a pain to take the front of the bike apart just to change a bulb out that should last years... " Sully, you may be replacing your Busa's bulbs the hard way (from underneath). Instead, just remove the right upper filler panel between the fairing and the fuel tank - you can then reach right in and remove both low and high beam bulbs easily and quickly.

Ed
 
"It is a pain to take the front of the bike apart just to change a bulb out that should last years... "  Sully, you may be replacing your Busa's bulbs the hard way (from underneath).  Instead, just remove the right upper filler panel between the fairing and the fuel tank'; return true;" "window.status=''; return true;">fuel tank</a> - you can then reach right in and remove both low and high beam bulbs easily and quickly.

Ed
Good to know, i have never actually had to change mine. Still have the stock bulb, but have taken the front apart and removed the whole headlight assembly after a lady backed up and hit my bike in a parknig lot (spaced out people shouldn't drive big SUV's).  Main point i was making is that you shouldn't have to change the bulb except under very rare conditions (not monthly).  It does make sense that you could just remove the black inner fairing and reach the bulbs though, I usually find the hardest way to do things.



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if i were to buy the highbeam at the autoparts store what kind would it be..becuz today i went to pepboys and looked for the HB3 and couldnt find it.
 
I keep wanting to know about the HID kits. Everyone points me to Icemann but his link doesn't work. I mean is this a real kit and if it is how much is it?
 
Check the ground for the bulb. On my old bike (78 KZ100) the ground for the light got corroded and loose and it started eating bulbs. I've heard the gound for the generator can do this to by spikeing the voltage into the system.
 
02 silver and grey. Stock bulb lasted about 2 years and replaced with silverstar and it is going on it's second year with no problems. One thing to remeber with these bulbs they do not like numerous on and off cycles without proper time to cool down. I think thats how i lost my stock light when i was throttle syncing because the bike would get hot and i would shut her down for a few minutes and then fire her back up. After syncing noticed bulb was blown.
 
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