Low Beam Light is out.......AGAIN???

[Rob Nowell]

On my 2016 RT with 45k miles, I will be doing the third replacement of the low-beam bulb (second time in six months).  Am I worrying about nothing?  This just seems odd...

[Bernie]

It’s normal every 15-20k miles. That is why I switched to Cyclops LED’s. They sell also a low beam bulb kit. 

[Stiggy]

I lost my first a month ago at 13,000 miles.

[Bruno From Québec]

Brighter halogen bulbs (ULTRA, XTRA and such) will burn out a lot quicker.

 

The original bulb on my 2018 RT lasted almost 4 years. A replacement Sylvania XtraVision lasted just over a year!

[realshelby]

Replaced the weak incandescent low beam bulb with an LED many years and miles ago. Have not touched it since. Better light and no fighting the tight area to replace it.....

[dirtrider]

18 hours ago, Rob Nowell said:

On my 2016 RT with 45k miles, I will be doing the third replacement of the low-beam bulb (second time in six months).  Am I worrying about nothing?  This just seems odd...

Morning Rob

 

I presume that you re-installing a standard H-7 bulb? If so those have a rather tightly wound filament so the failure rate is high, especially if the H-7 bulb is on all the time, or if the cold H-7 comes on "right" after engine starting. 

 

It isn't a total cure but if you are tired of changing H-7 bulbs regularly then you might  look into an H-7 LL (long life). Those are more expensive up front but do typically last longer. 

 

During the H-7 period in automobiles some of the manufactures specified H-7 LL bulbs due to premature failure (some even came with them from the factory).

[RTinNC]

On 10/7/2023 at 9:46 AM, dirtrider said:

Morning Rob

 

I presume that you re-installing a standard H-7 bulb? If so those have a rather tightly wound filament so the failure rate is high, especially if the H-7 bulb is on all the time, or if the cold H-7 comes on "right" after engine starting. 

 

It isn't a total cure but if you are tired of changing H-7 bulbs regularly then you might  look into an H-7 LL (long life). Those are more expensive up front but do typically last longer. 

 

During the H-7 period in automobiles some of the manufactures specified H-7 LL bulbs due to premature failure (some even came with them from the factory).

I had the low beam replaced on my 2016 RT twice .... once at Max BMW at about 20K miles and then this past June at Motorcycles of Greensboro and both times they use a BMW part H7 Long Life bulb.  I have been pretty happy with the results as they have lasted about 4 years or 30K miles. 

[Stiggy]

6 hours ago, RTinNC said:

I had the low beam replaced on my 2016 RT twice .... once at Max BMW at about 20K miles and then this past June at Motorcycles of Greensboro and both times they use a BMW part H7 Long Life bulb.  I have been pretty happy with the results as they have lasted about 4 years or 30K miles. 

Given that the Sylvania "Basic" H-7 I bought at Aotozone cost me nearly $21.00, hw much did they charge for a "BMW" bulb?

[RTinNC]

41 minutes ago, Stiggy said:

Given that the Sylvania "Basic" H-7 I bought at Aotozone cost me nearly $21.00, hw much did they charge for a "BMW" bulb?

About $16 both times 

 

UPDATE:  I checked my records and in 2019 at Max BMW it was $15.54 and this past June at Motorcycles of Greensboro it was $16.62

[Rougarou]

I put HIDs in the 06rt and have been happy......had a couple of ballast hiccups, but no bulbs needed replacing.  Dunno how car light bulbs can last something like forever, yet bulbs in these bikes are short lived.

[Red]

15 hours ago, RTinNC said:

I had the low beam replaced on my 2016 RT twice .... once at Max BMW at about 20K miles and then this past June at Motorcycles of Greensboro and both times they use a BMW part H7 Long Life bulb.  I have been pretty happy with the results as they have lasted about 4 years or 30K miles. 

It would appear the term "long life" is somewhat relative.  I've had many lights in my autos go 130,000 miles over more than 10 years in vehicles where lights are on at all times when the auto is in use.

[dirtrider]

12 hours ago, Rougarou said:

I put HIDs in the 06rt and have been happy......had a couple of ballast hiccups, but no bulbs needed replacing.  Dunno how car light bulbs can last something like forever, yet bulbs in these bikes are short lived.

Morning  Rougarou

 

A number of cars that used H-7 bulbs didn't last therefore the H-7 LL (Long Life) bulb requirement. 

 

But there are other reasons, a number of H-7 vehicles ran the H-7 at partial voltage during the day as DRL, the BMW motorcycles runs the H-7 at full power for DLR lights.

 

A number of vehicles brought the H-7 headlights on before engine starting (at lower system voltage) for one reason or another so this kind of pre-warmed the filaments.  The BMW motorcycle brings the "cold" H-7 on at full (or almost full) "charging voltage" after engine starting. 

 

Plus, motorcycles tend to introduce more shock & vibration into the headlight area. 

 

The H-7 bulb was a poor choice for the BMW boxer bike as the filament is short & very tightly wound, I still run the old Osram (H-9 bulb on the H-7 base) & those last a long time. Problem is, unfortunately they are not available from Osram any longer (for quite a while now). There is a replacement H-9 on an H-7 base   (I don't remember who supplies them) but they are extremely expensive & I have no idea on how durable those are. 

[RTinNC]

5 hours ago, Red said:

It would appear the term "long life" is somewhat relative.  I've had many lights in my autos go 130,000 miles over more than 10 years in vehicles where lights are on at all times when the auto is in use.

Yes it is a relative term.  They should probably called "longer than some".   But suspect it is like batteries where some will last 2 or 3 years and others 5 or 6 years.   

[lkraus]

48 minutes ago, dirtrider said:

A number of vehicles brought the H-7 headlights on before engine starting (at lower system voltage) for one reason or another so this kind of pre-warmed the filaments.  The BMW motorcycle brings the "cold" H-7 on at full (or almost full) "charging voltage" after engine starting. 

 

Actually, my '06 RT does (very briefly) flash the lights when the ignition is turned on, and my theory is that this is what causes the short life of H7 bulbs.

 

Since I converted my low beams to HID with ballasts I have noticed that they flash briefly as soon as the ignition is turned on. Once in a while, particularly if the battery is low, I see a front bulb out warning, before hitting the starter button. (It goes away after a re-start.) This makes me think the ZFE does, very briefly, apply voltage to check the bulb status as soon as the ignition turns on.

 

So the cold filament gets a brief thermal shock (expanding), cools (contraction) while the bike continues its boot routine, then gets hit again (expanding) once the engine starts.  The rapid expansion/contraction basically causes the filament to break from fatigue, like bending a paperclip back and forth.  

 

I did not notice this flash with the H7 bulbs, maybe they did not have time to get bright enough to reflect on my garage walls. Maybe a scope or analog VOM could detect the bulb check voltage, but I'm not curious enough to take my bike apart to check. 

 

 

 

 

[dirtrider]

11 minutes ago, lkraus said:

 

Actually, my '06 RT does (very briefly) flash the lights when the ignition is turned on, and my theory is that this is what causes the short life of H7 bulbs.

 

Since I converted my low beams to HID with ballasts I have noticed that they flash briefly as soon as the ignition is turned on. Once in a while, particularly if the battery is low, I see a front bulb out warning, before hitting the starter button. (It goes away after a re-start.) This makes me think the ZFE does, very briefly, apply voltage to check the bulb status as soon as the ignition turns on.

 

So the cold filament gets a brief thermal shock (expanding), cools (contraction) while the bike continues its boot routine, then gets hit again (expanding) once the engine starts.  The rapid expansion/contraction basically causes the filament to break from fatigue, like bending a paperclip back and forth.  

 

I did not notice this flash with the H7 bulbs, maybe they did not have time to get bright enough to reflect on my garage walls. Maybe a scope or analog VOM could detect the bulb check voltage, but I'm not curious enough to take my bike apart to check. 

 

 

 

 

Morning Larry

 

That key-on flash would be desired but I haven't seen it with the H-7 bulbs in place. Actually I would like to see the H-7 bulbs come on at key-on then only go off during actual engine cranking.

 

You would really like the initial key-on to pre-warm the filament a little as that would be done at a lower "pre-starting" system voltage not charging voltage. 

 

The filaments don't get hit at full charging output after engine fire off but it is way higher than key-on system pull-down voltage. 

 

The  BMW 1200 H-7 bulbs typically fail, right after engine starting.  

 

It seems to mainly be an H-7 thing as my H-9's on the H-7 base seem to last forever. (better designed filament in the H-9 bulb)

[RTinNC]

19 minutes ago, dirtrider said:

Morning Larry

 

That key-on flash would be desired but I haven't seen it with the H-7 bulbs in place. Actually I would like to see the H-7 bulbs come on at key-on then only go off during actual engine cranking.

 

You would really like the initial key-on to pre-warm the filament a little as that would be done at a lower "pre-starting" system voltage not charging voltage. 

 

The filaments don't get hit at full charging output after engine fire off but it is way higher than key-on system pull-down voltage. 

 

The  BMW 1200 H-7 bulbs typically fail, right after engine starting.  

 

It seems to mainly be an H-7 thing as my H-9's on the H-7 base seem to last forever. (better designed filament in the H-9 bulb)

I have had 3 h7 bulb failures since 2008 and over 2 RT's and over a total of about 80,000 miles.    Had one replacement on my '06 RT and now 2 on my '16 RT.  So I guess my average  replacement stats are a replacement every 26.5K miles or a replacement every 5 years.   At a bulb cost of about $15 I'm not really complaining.  

 

And every time they failed it was when riding down the road.   Ironically 2 times it was on my way to Lake George for Americade.  So if I further extrapolate I suspect it must be the unique air pressure or air make up in lower NY State.   

[dirtrider]

6 hours ago, Red said:

It would appear the term "long life" is somewhat relative.  I've had many lights in my autos go 130,000 miles over more than 10 years in vehicles where lights are on at all times when the auto is in use.

Morning Red

 

Just keep in mind that most automobiles only run the headlights at part brightness during the daylight (DRL).  They might be on all the time but only run at full brightness when it gets dark out. 

 

 

[Skywagon]

My 1150 never burned a bulb in 50k miles. My 1200 burned at 12k. DR told me about a better bulb, no longer made, that has been in since 12k and now has 30k.  
 

The person who invented those clips should be shot. They should just fit in a device that would lock in place with a 1/4 turn. 

[dirtrider]

14 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

My 1150 never burned a bulb in 50k miles. My 1200 burned at 12k. DR told me about a better bulb, no longer made, that has been in since 12k and now has 30k.  
 

The person who invented those clips should be shot. They should just fit in a device that would lock in place with a 1/4 turn. 

Morning David 

 

Those were the  Osram 64217 Rallye 65w H-7 bulbs, unfortunately that 65 watt is about the max that BMW wiring & circuitry can handle without damage or burning up the plastic connectors.  

 

There is another company now making them (or similar) but I don't have any data on IF they are UV safe to protect the headlight housing, if they draw any more current than the original  Osram 64217 Rallye 65w H-7 bulbs  do, & if they live anywhere near as long as the old  (original) Osram 64217 Rallye 65w H-7 bulbs. Plus I believe they are around, or over, $50.00 each.  

 

 

[LAF]

Just do LED.  It was said above but it really is the way to go. 

 

I did a friends 650 Vulcan and it was literally night and day. 

 

My 15 RT blew two in 26K.  It is not the price of the bulb, it is replacing along the road in Bum F___ Egypt!  IMPOSSIBLE to do!  I had to pay @half hour labor for the second one after fussing with it for hours.  My hands were bloody.  I refused to mess up those clips, so while I could not do it with my big hands and Dyslexia, I gave up bloodied and all.  The tech did it in less then five mins, even cleaning the bulb and putting on his plastic glove!  At that time I was running a German LL Brand with higher wattage no longer made.

 

This is the best 60 Something dollars you can do for your bike and yourself.  https://www.cyclopsadventuresports.com/48-Platinum-H7-LED-Headlight-Bulb_p_86.html

[LAF]

I got a few PM's about install of the Cyclops light.  Here are the install directions from Cyclops.

 

RT H7 LED Install

[simskid]

4 hours ago, LAF said:

I got a few PM's about install of the Cyclops light.  Here are the install directions from Cyclops.

 

RT H7 LED Install

Thanks Lee!!

[old_farmer]

2017 RT: I got about 16K out of the original H7, and about 10K out of the Wal-Mart replacement. I don't mind replacement too much except that one of the clips seems to be bent so it's tricky sometimes.

 

For what it's worth, I had a Subaru that seemed to eat low beam H7's. They (basic H7's) just don't seem to last, as other commenters have noted.

[Stiggy]

Googling the sturdier H-9, I can only find that in a high beam only, (?)

[Stiggy]

I just received this email from LedPerf, a light distributor out of France. I have purchased my 'Cree' running light kit from them previously (right after I bought my bike last year,) and those have performed flawlessly (and at a great price.)

 

They now have self contained plug and play LED bulbs for wethead low beam halogen installations where nothing but the self contained bulb is needed. literally plug and play. I wrote them concerning warning lights on my dash  and whether they'll fit under the screw in cap on the bike as well. They replied that the bulbs were equipped to avoid warnings (No OBD error,) and that physical fitment will not be an issue. And they are guaranteed for 5 years. (They come in two's for automobiles so I may have another extra on the shelf for awhile.)

I don't see why I shouldn't try a set(?)

 

https://www.ledperf.eu/led-conversion-kit-bulbs-for-bmw-motorrad-r-1200-rt-2014-2017-mini-size-p-21115.html

 

[dirtrider]

On 10/20/2023 at 7:07 PM, Stiggy said:

Googling the sturdier H-9, I can only find that in a high beam only, (?)

Afternoon Stiggy

 

If you Google an H-9 you will find H-9. What you are looking for is an H-9 bulb on an H-7 bulb base. Those are out there but most are too high of a wattage to work in the BMW without problems.

 

What you need is a 65 watt H-9 on the 55 watt H-7 base. Osram used to make that combination but not currently making it. Osram does have (I believe) an 80 watt H-9 on an H-7 base but that draws too much current for BMW motorcycle usage.  

[Stiggy]

Another LED satisfied convert! I bought my running light LED's from these folks at their Black Friday sale last year so I took the dive and went with their self contained LED "mini's" low beam bulb, which when the housing is removed for installation, can fit under the weatherproof screw on cap. (Utilize the space around the low beam housing for the excess wire.)

About $60 retail (and 20% off Black Friday,) and comes with a 5 year warranty. (Before and after pic below.)

 

https://www.ledperf.us/

 

 

[92Merc]

The ADVMonster site I bought mine previously at is now gone!  Domain up for sale.

[CoarsegoldKid]

I thought I'd add that my former 2005 Subaru has killed many many H7 Low beam bulbs in 105K miles.  My 2005 RT probably just a hand full in 126K miles.  H7 suck.  BMW LED headlight systems on the later models aren't cheap.

[RTinNC]

2 hours ago, CoarsegoldKid said:

I thought I'd add that my former 2005 Subaru has killed many many H7 Low beam bulbs in 105K miles.  My 2005 RT probably just a hand full in 126K miles.  H7 suck.  BMW LED headlight systems on the later models aren't cheap.

The only vehicle that seemed to eat H7’s was our 2001 Saab convertible.  But I got pretty good at changing them .

[craydds]

On 12/3/2023 at 6:10 AM, CoarsegoldKid said:

I thought I'd add that my former 2005 Subaru has killed many many H7 Low beam bulbs in 105K miles.  My 2005 RT probably just a hand full in 126K miles.  H7 suck.  BMW LED headlight systems on the later models aren't cheap.

I've replaced my H7's on my 2019 R1250RT numerous times; getting really good at bulb replacement.  Only 36K miles on the odometer.  LOVE my bike but might consider a new model if it has the LED lights. Heard that some of the new models are supposed to have LED's, but production bikes still have incandescent bulbs.  Some kind of a supply shortage.

[Oldrider51]

This video from Grumpy Goat over on the RSWasserboxer forum might interest you. It is about him installing some LED bulbs in his 2016 RS, the Auxito bulbs.

Link: 

 

[Stiggy]

There are no OBD alerts on my console using these LED's (and I am certain that there are many other brands out there that offer the same,)

Just be certain that they tell you if their LED bulbs will / will not throw a code. (No OBC error.)

 

https://www.ledperf.us/led-conversion-kit-bulbs-for-bmw-motorrad-r-1200-rt-2014-2017-mini-size-p-21115.html