Dead PIAA Lights

[Deltamark]

The PIAA accessory lights on my 99' R1100RT just died I'm not quite sure what to do. I replaced a bulb in one last week and they were working, but now both are dead. I have power to the switch. Took off the fairings, checked all the wires and everything looks normal. Any suggestions?

[Tony_K]

How do you have them powered? Are they fused or not? You say you have power to the switch but not out?... more details needed. You can always check the bulbs again.

[notacop]

Same thing happened to two riding friends. Piaa makes great bodies to hold the lamps the worst wiring to get power to them. Both got rewired by Piaa reps at rallies. You need to 'ring' out the wires from the power souece on back. I did sosme soldering on broken wires near the lamp bodies on their RS's. Just can't say enough about how cheesey the wiring is. Undersized and of dubious quality!

When they work they are really nice though!

[Deltamark]

Tony_K ... the lights are wired directly to the battery and it doesn't appear that there are any fuses in the wiring. The on/off switch has an LED (green=off; red=on ... that's the way it was when I bought the bike), so I see there is power to the switch.

 

notacop, thanks, I will try and ring out the wires. The wiring does appear to be quite thin and stretched in some spots.

 

Mark

[Stan Walker]

I have power to the switch.

 

What about out of the switch? If not, then bad switch.

 

Many (all?) of the PIAA harnesses have a fused relay if I recall correctly. But I believe the location and access to the fuse has changed down through the years.

 

Stan

[Deltamark]

Thanks Stan,

 

Not sure exactly how to test whether or not there is power going out of the switch, but I guess I could just replace the switch and see if that works.

 

MarI

[Stan Walker]

Not sure exactly how to test whether or not there is power going out of the switch, but I guess I could just replace the switch and see if that works.

 

My best suggestion would be find a friend that understands at least simple electricity and owns a voltmeter.

 

Short of that you could buy a cheap voltmeter at Radio Shack or your local hardware store and we could try to advise you over the internet.

 

I pretty much opposed to just replacing parts in the hopes of getting lucky. It gets expensive, is very frustrating, and often converts a simple single point failure into a complex mess with multiple broken parts.

 

Stan

[NoHeat]

The wiring diagram for my PIAA 1100x lights is at the bottom of this post.

 

Since you say that both lights are dead, I'd say that the problem is not in the wiring to the lamps, i.e., not in the lower third of the image.

 

There's a fuse near the battery. Also a relay. You won't get lights if your fuse blows or you don't apply a positive voltage to the relay's control input.

 

You didn't specify exactly which PIAA product you have, so I'm not sure if this is what you need. I have PIAA's "Powersports" version of their 1100x kit, which came in a box labeled PIAA product number 74150. If you don't have the same product, your harness might look different. I obtained the PDF version of the user manual for my product simply by emailing PIAA's USA office.

 

[Tony_K]

To do a test on the ultra cheap just bypass right past the switch with hot and ground. Lights light up you know it's the switch.

As Stan said if your not comfortable doing this kind of stuff get a friend that is.

It's not rocket science. I know, I asked my friend who is a real rocket scientist!

[Stan Walker]

It's not rocket science. I know, I asked my friend who is a real rocket scientist!

 

But, it's possible that a rocket scientist can't use a volt meter...... I've known many electrical engineers that didn't know which end of a soldering iron to hold......

[Tony_K]

So true. Knowing my friend that would be the case. I don't think he has ever held a tool in his dainty pale boney hand. Actually I would never even approach him with a real word mechanical question.

[Stan Walker]

To do a test on the ultra cheap just bypass right past the switch with hot and ground.

 

If when you do that some of the wiring gets hot, melts off the insulation, and lets the magic smoke out, you know you did it wrong...........

 

Meters are safer, give more information, and look cool on your workbench.

 

Stan

[Tony_K]

Again not a test for the mechanically challenged. Just the down and dirty way. Works for me.

[Deltamark]

Thanks Stan. I do have a friend with a volt meter and will ask him for assistance.

And thank you John. Great diagram! I'll go back and look for that fuse.

 

Wow, this list is really great! I've never failed to get good guidance on the numerous issues I've had with my bike. If it weren't for this list, I would've probably traded it in by now.

[awagnon]

I agree with all the posts above. My PIAA's did the same thing. I thought it was the relay because I could hear it clicking, but the lights wouldn't go on. The guys at CycleGadgets where I bought it thought the ground was bad. Sure enough, I re-attached the ground and it works fine now. Has been for over a year. I guess it made a little contact, but apparently has to be solid. So, is the ground good. How about the relay.