Bandit 600 Headlight

Bear with me i am a biff at electrics. If the Dipped bulb blows is it normal for full beam to only work on flash? I have put a meter across the dipped wiring and i can see 12v or thereabouts being supplied as i switch the lights on/off, but a meter across the bulb shows a cct, no resistance, correct for a faulty bulb? The main beam only works on flash, not via the constant switch on the left bar. Cheers for assistance before i go spunk £20 on a not needed bulb,

Mitch

Hi There,
Not trying to sound too clever, but have you checked the fuse
Unless you (or somebody else) have been playing then normally only 1 thing goes wrong, could it be the bulb which has gone, blowing the fuse?
Have you tried putting 12v across the bulb and seeing if it works?

Otherwise sorry I don't understand how the high beam works only on the flash.

Regards
Chris

If main works on flash it should work on the switch. Take your lamp out and use a bit of wire across the battery to test it. £20 you can get a new one for a fiver.

Ok it's not the fuses, i checked those first. I get 12v at the bulb end with a meter, so it points to the bulb. I went and got a new bulb and it doesn't work either (£8 from Halfrauds), main beam works but only on flash. Is it worth having the switches on the bars apart? Bit daunted by that to be honest.

If it's not working either filament from the switch, then the switch is at fault. Get hold of a wiring diagram, and you'll be able to see from that where the fault "could" lie - and it'll be that switch, or a wire into or out of it. Open the switches, give them a clean with WD40, and put them back together.

Dead easy, but couple of things to be careful of a) if the throttle cables are in that same housing careful you put it back together right and b) get the locating pin in the bar right, or you may break it, c) don't tug too hard between the top and bottom halves, or you can break the kill switch wiring.

I've actually found a dead spider on one of the contacts, that had stopped the switch working, before.

Have you maybe had / put a high-wattage bulb in the front? If so, this can cause the switch to actually melt as the bandit (probably?) doesn't have a headlight relay but passes all the current through the switch. You'll soon see once you open it. As long as you don't unscrew the kill switch from the switch housing, there are no ping-fukkits to worry about.

Originally Posted by a_morti

If it's not working from the switch, then the switch is at fault. Open the switches, give them a clean with WD40, and put them back together.

Better to use contact cleaner than that WD40 stuff.

Originally Posted by a_morti

Have you maybe had / put a high-wattage bulb in the front? If so, this can cause the switch to actually melt. You'll soon see once you open it. As long as you don't unscrew the kill switch from the switch housing, there are no ping-fukkits to worry about.

Good point - and that could bugger almost anything in the circuit if the switch still seems OK.

It's a 600s so has 2 seperate bulbs, will split the controls and see what else i can break. What is puzzling me most is iam getting 12v to the bulb, but it isn't lighting it?
Cheers
Mitch

Originally Posted by Mitch99

It's a 600s so has 2 seperate bulbs, will split the controls and see what else i can break. What is puzzling me most is iam getting 12v to the bulb, but it isn't lighting it?

It's not earthing the circuit?

Originally Posted by Voyager

It's not earthing the circuit?

Is the correct answer

I assume you're using a meter and getting 12 from the lampholder contact to another part of the bike? If you try the Neg probe of the meter against the inner metal shell of the lampholder and don't get 12v this means that it's lost it's earth somewhere.

On some Suzuki lampholders the earth wire is just bared back and trapped between the metal shell of the holder and the plastic doobry it's pushed into - this connection corrodes over time. You can push the metal bit out with a bit of force and a squirt of WD

another way to test if you're getting power to the bulb is to open the h/lamp, unplug the bulb and put that all to one side .....

grab a single filament bulb (indicator bulb) and a bit of wire stuff one into the headlamp connector in either the blue or white wire (think those are the correct colours for dip and main), hold the other end to the body of your test bulb and earth the grey centre pin to the chassis to see if it lights (switch from dip to main whilst testing), then repeat with the other colour ....

if the bulb lights, then as said before you have an earthing problem ....

if however it doesn't light still you have a feed problem, which may not be in the dip/main switch it could be in the off/on switch or any connector in between ....

i had a similar problem the other day on a CB900dohc which took about 20 mins to track down, it turned out the owner had taken the switches to pieces and not re-assembled them correctly so the dip/main wasn't connecting across the contacts, 15 mins later and much name calling i had them working again

Originally Posted by fastfitter

Is the correct answer

I assume you're using a meter and getting 12 from the lampholder contact to another part of the bike? If you try the Neg probe of the meter against the inner metal shell of the lampholder and don't get 12v this means that it's lost it's earth somewhere.

On some Suzuki lampholders the earth wire is just bared back and trapped between the metal shell of the holder and the plastic doobry it's pushed into - this connection corrodes over time. You can push the metal bit out with a bit of force and a squirt of WD

FF, i have a probe in both lampholder contacts i get 12v on switching on the lights, i am not earthing to the bike. It may be a problem in the left dip/main switch as i was flicking that on and off most of the way home yesterday, until it died at some point near home. I'll update tomorrow afternoon as that is the next chance i'll have to work on it.

Ah, one of those 'put your finger over the end' testers?

You need a multi-meter or bulb with two wires to check the earthing really, but if you're getting a result on your probe with the lights switched to 'On' there's not a lot else it can be.

I was a bit confused when you said the Pass light worked but switching to main doesn't - they both use the same earth so that would point to the supply from the normal On switch is dicky but the supply from the Pass switch is ok.

But if you're getting volts from either switch ....

Originally Posted by fastfitter

Ah, one of those 'put your finger over the end' testers?

You need a multi-meter or bulb with two wires to check the earthing really, but if you're getting a result on your probe with the lights switched to 'On' there's not a lot else it can be.

I was a bit confused when you said the Pass light worked but switching to main doesn't - they both use the same earth so that would point to the supply from the normal On switch is dicky but the supply from the Pass switch is ok.

But if you're getting volts from either switch ....

It's a Beckmann industrial multimeter, proper gear that i forgot to hand back in my last job! I put it to 20v DC and both probes in the light fitting, switch lights on and i get 12v Dc. As it's a 600sk1 i have 2 bulbs, only the main beam bulb works on flash, nothing on dipped or main beam using the switch on the left control. Confused! :-(

But he's getting a reading on the m/m with the light's on, that's what's throwing me as well.

I've got a Haynes that covers 96 - 01 and it shows a passing switch on the single headlamp models but not on the twin light ones. The Pass light looks to be fed off the ignition fuse while the Main light is fed off it's own fuse.

Originally Posted by fastfitter

But he's getting a reading on the m/m with the light's on, that's what's throwing me as well.

Problem with the headlight connector perhaps?