HEADLIGHT AGAIN!

[timboaz]

Today it is the right front on my 2008 R1200RT. I know others have experienced headlight burn out, but this bike is much worse than my 96 and 04. Seems I only get about a year"s use out of each side. I never had regular bulbs burn out, but these H7's are horrible and I use the least bright one since they last much longer. I tried a new bulb today, but it would still not come on. Looked at both the new H7 and the old one and I can see no broken filaments, and neither one works. Any ideas? Just last month I replaced the left one with no problem, but it would go out for a while and then start working again for many weeks, then go out again,etc This went on for at least 6 weeks, so maybe there is a ground problem somewhere which I don't know how to fix or test. Not much room to work in either.

[dirtrider]

Morning Tim

 

Your headlights are controlled by the ZFE module (basically body computer).

 

Diagnosing a light out issue on the 1200RT (or intermittent light function) is not rocket science but you do need some electrical knowledge to track it very far into the bikes wire harness & connections.

 

So lets start with the basics-- When your Right headlight is not working do you have--

 

*high beam available? (not just dash light on but actual frontal lighting)

*is front marker light lit?

*Is L/H headlight bulb lit?

 

If so, then your basic headlight ASSEMBLY ground is intact.

 

So that probably leaves something wrong in the headlight assembly internal wiring, or something wrong with the R/H headlight bulb connector (socket), or something wrong with the R/H bulb itself--OR-- for some reason the ZFE computer is shutting that side down.

 

My next suggestion is to try a KNOWN GOOD bulb-- so either use the known good L/H bulb or buy a new known good bulb.

 

OR-- You can test your present R/H bulb with a 12v battery source & a couple of test leads but you MUST keep your oily fingers off the bulb glass while testing or that good bulb might quickly become a bad bulb.

 

If a new (known good) bulb doesn't help then you are going to have to go in & test the actual socket ground to chassis continuity & verify (IF) the ZFE is supplying 12v power to the bulb socket.

 

If by chance the light connector at the bulb isn't getting 12v power then look for a poor (or burnt) connection where the front lighting assembly plugs into the main wire harness.

 

 

[timboaz]

Thanks dirt rider. The high beam light works, as does the marker light snd the left, so I am off to get another bulb to test. The picture and drawing are a great help since I didn't know where the main plug is. Should know later what happens.

[timboaz]

Got it fixed with a new bulb. Don't know why other one didn't work since I see no broken filament. Became a hard task in the end because the black plastic holder for the connection broke from the heat probably, and the right is much harder to reach than the left and the middle. For me , I have to take off the top piece of the right fairing to get both hands to work in there. I think the cruise control stuff makes for a small work area.

 

Wonder if they sell the black plastic wire holder replacement?

[dirtrider]

Evening Tim

 

I usually do those 1200RT R/H low beams from the front by reaching in & up over the front fender. You sort of have to work by feel but it allows the use of your right hand (assuming right handed). The best part is it allows the bulb to be seated in the reflector more easily as you can look in through the front of the light & see the bulb seat properly.

 

BMW does sell a replacement connector with pig tail wires attached (very expensive). You might also try a BMW auto dealer as I believe some of their older models use the same plastic connector.

 

That plastic connector really isn't needed as once the terminals are plugged in they are kept separated & are under that large plastic cover.

 

[lkraus]

Wonder if they sell the black plastic wire holder replacement?

 

Google "H7 ceramic socket"

 

There are lots of options, generally much less than the BMW replacement and heat resistant as well.

[Skywagon]

If you have time and decide you want new wiring or connector you might try these guys.. http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/main.html

[Rougarou]

Got it fixed with a new bulb. Don't know why other one didn't work since I see no broken filament. Became a hard task in the end because the black plastic holder for the connection broke from the heat probably, and the right is much harder to reach than the left and the middle. For me , I have to take off the top piece of the right fairing to get both hands to work in there. I think the cruise control stuff makes for a small work area.

 

Wonder if they sell the black plastic wire holder replacement?

 

Time for HIDs,.....I switched to HIDs after going through a couple of bulbs in a year.

[JayJay]

Wonder if they sell the black plastic wire holder replacement?

 

Google "H7 ceramic socket"

 

There are lots of options, generally much less than the BMW replacement and heat resistant as well.

Larry, et al: Last time I changed bulbs both of the plastic wire holder sockets cracked. As DR mentions, you don't really need the plastic holders as the terminals press onto the bulb blades just fine without them, but I realized that if I needed to change out the bulb by the side of the road it would be a lot easier to just snap in the connector with both wires rather than mess with each individual wire. So I set out to find replacement connectors.

 

Long story made short - more difficult than you might think. The H-7 connector for the lamps has the wires coming out the sides of the connector at 90 degrees, not straight in. BMW's replacement connectors are that 90 degrees, but at $48 each I decided to look elsewhere. Most of the aftermarket connectors I found available go straight in. There was a set of what appeared to be 90 degree connectors I saw on Amazon, but reading the reviews showed that they were aluminum wire and aluminum terminals - not robust enough for me (I've had very bad experience with aluminum conductors).

 

So - three separate tries from three separate vendors, and I got three sets of straight-in connectors. Even one set shown in the website picture as 90 degree ended up being straight in. I'm going to see if they'll fit under the screw-in caps, and if they do I'll put a set in and let you all know. If not, not sure what I'll do.

 

JayJay

[sebjones906]

On my 07 RT, I have replaced headlight bulbs 4 or 5 times. First the left, then the right, then the left , then the right. I would get less than 6 months out or them, sometimes only 3. I tried BMW bulbs and the equivilent less expensive one. Lastly I tried Piaa and it has been over a year and a half since I've blown one.

 

Of course, how that I say that I am sure that the next time I ride the RT I'll blow another bulb.

[CoarsegoldKid]

BMW ought to give those connectors away for free. They're the cheapest, most often crumbled pieces of junk and your BMW dealer has never ever heard of one crumbling. But they have them to sell. My Subaru cars, 88K on one and 94K on the other are hard on H7 blubs too but far easier to replace. And I should mention the H7 connectors in the Subies are still intact. So clearly there's a heat issue on the BMW that causes the connectors to turn to dust. H7 bulbs are just plain weak I think.

[Guest Kakugo]

Well, as overpriced and crummy as BMW connectors are, at least they sell them... Honda doesn't, or at least it doesn't for the bike I had and which just happened to need a connector.

And as crummy as they are at least they they just fall to pieces instead of melting (common issue on many French cars).

 

It's also pretty curious finding 90° connectors is so hard your side of the Pond: here they are readily available... maybe I should consider starting a business.

[DiggerJim]

I'm going to see if they'll fit under the screw-in caps, and if they do I'll put a set in and let you all know. If not, not sure what I'll do.

If you have the old one cut out or in salvageable pieces, I can print up a new ABS plastic one (3D printer) that you can reinsert the terminals into.

[Nice n Easy Rider]

Got it fixed with a new bulb. Don't know why other one didn't work since I see no broken filament. Became a hard task in the end because the black plastic holder for the connection broke from the heat probably, and the right is much harder to reach than the left and the middle. For me , I have to take off the top piece of the right fairing to get both hands to work in there. I think the cruise control stuff makes for a small work area.

 

Wonder if they sell the black plastic wire holder replacement?

 

My connector was broken and I found that it would sometimes pop off and give me a "light out" warning. I made a temporary fix (until I'm ambitious enough to re-wire in some ceramic connectors) by putting a piece of velcro (both sides joined) on the inside of the screw cover cap. Thus the connector no longer had room to work itself loose.

[MJinCP]

Pardon my ignorance, but what causes these frequent h/l bulb failures? Considering a purchase on a 2006 RT, and just trying to get educated. On all the bikes I've owned, I don't think I've ever changed a h/l bulb. Thanks.

[Lmar]

In 4.5 years and 50,000 Kms I have had to replace 2 bulbs; one left and one right. It hasn't been an issue for me.

[racer7]

Bulbs most frequently blow on startup. Reason (for any bulb) is a current surge while the filament comes to steady operating temp (and resistance).

The RT turns its headlghts on after the motor starts. So the bulb sees a full voltage (typically 14.2 or so) immediately.

Even minor variations at voltages this high can impact filament bulb life substantially.

 

There are hobbyists (me included) who build extreme high power flashlights (some capable of actually starting a fire in the beam) who get around this "blow at startup" phenomen on by using a slow starter circuit that ramps up voltage to the filament over a second or so. Were bike makers to use this circuit, bulbs would last their full design life unless killed by some other force like vibration.

 

[dirtrider]

Pardon my ignorance, but what causes these frequent h/l bulb failures? Considering a purchase on a 2006 RT, and just trying to get educated. On all the bikes I've owned, I don't think I've ever changed a h/l bulb. Thanks.

 

Morning Mike

 

Almost all H7 bulbs have a short life. Unfortunately some shorter than others.

 

Some automobiles eat H7's about as fast as the BMW 1200's do.

 

One of the reasons for short H7 bulb life is due to the very tightly wound H7 filament. If you look closely you can see very little air gap between the heavy filament windings.

 

The other reason is, on a lot of vehicles (like the BMW 1200RT), the H7's run at full power all the time, even during the daylight hours. General Motors & some other manufactures run the H7's at partial power during daylight so the H7 life is actually fairly decent on those.

 

Obviously, as mentioned above, BMW 1200's having the H7 bulbs come on at full voltage right after start up sure doesn't help their life either.

On older BMW models the headlights would also come on at full power right after start up but they would also come on at first key on, prior to engine starting, at a reduced battery voltage (alternator not charging yet). That initial lower voltage "warm up" would prevent the bulbs from coming on at full charging voltage cold.

 

Lots of cars & trucks have had past problems with the H7 bulb life & Subaru had so many issues that they requested & now use LL (long Life) H7 bulbs. (they cost a little more but seem to be doing the trick on the Subaru's.

 

I have been trying some LL (long Life H7 bulbs) in a friends 1200RT for about 8 months now & so far they have been plugging right along (before he would only get 3-4 months on other H7 bulbs). Unfortunately my trial & testing has been put on hold until spring as he has his bike put up for the winter.

 

In any case if someone else wants to try them they are Osram/Sylvania 64210L H7LL - (not cheap though)

 

 

Added: I should add (in case anybody wonders) the Osram/Sylvania 64210L do have UF filtering so they won't yellow your headlight lens like some other H7's do.

[Motech]

FWIW, my experience with H7 lamps has been that they do have shorter lifespans than most others, and I have found that any Asian built replacement H7 lamp is worse by far.

 

I like to upgrade brightness, and used Sylvania SilverStar for a while, never more than a year-or-so on my own and my customers' bikes. I started using Wagner TruBrite instead and have had very good results the last two years. Dozens of them in cars and bikes and none have failed yet, knock wood.

 

In fact, I am very happy with Wagner lighting brand across all applications. They have become the only brand I will sell and use myself, from tiny IC lamps all the way up to the big ones.

[mwood7800]

In my opinion just like my last hd the headlight reflector vibrates. I go through 2 bulbs a yr, my 05rt has used bulbs sense new. I have tried different bulb brands and it makes no difference.

[Dave_in_TX]

In my opinion just like my last hd the headlight reflector vibrates. I go through 2 bulbs a yr, my 05rt has used bulbs sense new. I have tried different bulb brands and it makes no difference.

 

It has to be more than just vibration. In 180k miles between my 2007 RT and my current 2011 RT, I've never had a high beam bulb burn out but I replace low beam bulbs about every 18k.

[DiverRay]

I was also going through H7 bulbs. I now have HID in the low beams, and 100W H7 high beam. I've been almost a year with NO PROBLEMS! for the $45, the HID is a bargain in my book. I only wish I would have gone a little lower on the scale, to a 4K maybe. I still have a little blue in the lights, and my old eyes like the yellow better...

[racer7]

The nominal design life of a stock H-7 is 500 hours though individuals will vary greatly. That 18K miles interval is pretty close to 500 hours so is approx the design life...

 

FWIW, the nominal on HIDs is about 2000 hours so approx 80K miles....

[timboaz]

In the years between 1984 and 2008, I had lots of BMW and other bikes but only one burned out bulb on my headlight. Beginning with the H7 era, I have replaced each low beam headlight at least once per year. This is progress? What a joke!

[racer7]

The original H-1 is no better than the H-7 but for a different reason. H-2s weren't used in bikes. H-3 is tough as nails re vibration but tranverse filament puts out a crappy pattern on many reflectors so loses output. The H-4 dual is still in use on some.

The H-7 has a very compact filament which is why it gets killed on start up so easily. Its "improvement" is the dual connection spades rather than the single on an H-1.

 

You can use the 65W Osram if you want long life- its got a longer H-9 type filament and isn't susceptible to start up problems. Also 40% more light than stock. It should go 20K miles or more.

 

FWIW, 100W H-7 is a bad idea. Less output than the 65W Osram and it won't deliver its full rated output on stock wiring because stock wiring is too thin- needs its own relay harness to perform at its best but still won't match the better 65W bulb that will run fine on stock wiring.

 

You want 100K miles better try HID. No LED headlight bulbs for the bike that are any good yet...

[dirtrider]

clip--

 

You can use the 65W Osram if you want long life- its got a longer H-9 type filament and isn't susceptible to start up problems. Also 40% more light than stock. It should go 20K miles or more.

 

--clip..

 

Morning

 

I haven't seen longer life on the 65w Osram H-7 bulbs. In fact on the 2 bikes that we have tried them on (one mine & one my friends) the life of one side was shorter.

 

They 65w (Osram) did seem slightly brighter but no better down road beam pattern.

 

This is courtesy of Candlepower---

 

Standard OEM H7 : 55w, 1400 lumen, 3200K, 300 - 450 hours

 

Osram Rallye H7+ : 65w, 2100 lumen, 3200K, 300 - 400 hours

 

 

 

[racer7]

Yes, the deign spec for hours is much like stock. But I blew 55W stock stuff every 5K miles or less and never an Osram 65 while using them (though I did kill a lot of the Japanese IPF 65W bulbs that have standard size H-7 filament)- the Osrams at least on my RT are apparently more resistant to STARTUP (only) issues. If I could gt the stockers through startup I expect they would last as long. But I've since gone HID so its moot. I did change a set of Osrams at about 20-25K miles IIRC due to the normal aging of halogen filaments picked up on an inspection of the bulb.

 

As you know, the RT hits a bulb with a full 14.2 the instant it switches on unlike most machines. Be interesting to use a high speed camera to watch that filament in the instant it first sees current- I would not be surprised if it squirms all over the place as it heat up for at least a few milliseconds- and those coils are real close in the stock design.

 

High beam bulbs like the H-9 filament are meant to withstand more frequent switching - probably why the coils are spaced more widely- otherwsie they could have simply used an IPF style 65W H-7 filament which has the same output but no where close to the same life in my hands.

[toddlamp]

I was having a problem with the right bulb in my 2011 R1200RT. In the one year of owning it I had gone through 3 bulbs. The only difference between the left bulb and right was that the right plug fell apart (much like everyone else's) so I set out to find a replacement. I refused to pay for BMW's repair plug so I purchase a few cheap ones off of Amazon and I hit the jackpot. This plus us a direct replacement for the crumbling black surround on my 2011 RT. I just popped out the stock wires (and the wires that came with the new connector) and slide the stock wires back into the now empty plug. Boom. Done.

 

http://amzn.com/B001M9YJB4

[The Rocketman]

Here's a 23 cent solution. I found just the black plastic plug end without the wire. Read on....

http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=82834&Number=915255#Post915255

 

Here's the link for the actual part:

Part Link

[lkchris]

 

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-Osram-Ultra-Life-12V-55W-Bulb-OSULTH7.html

[aggieengineer]

Here is a link for a U.S. supplier. http://store.candlepower.com/h7longlife.html

 

I've gone through several bulbs on my 2008 model. I replace both when one goes. Of the Sylvania range, the less-expensive bulbs, while less bright, promise a longer life. I haven't been pleased with the lifespan of any of them. I'll try the Osram Ultra Life next.

[1two]

nothing nicer than loosing the spring clip on the GS that holds bulb inn housing

[OoPEZoO]

My GS absolutely chewed through bulbs......to the tune of about one every 2500 miles, regardless of the bulb quality/manufacturer. The last one was on the PA turnpike at 10pm when returning from the UN in Colorado. I felt bad blinding everything coming and going with my high beam and auxiliary lighting, but I didn't have much choice. That was the last straw. I ordered an HID kit for the low beam as soon as I got home. 10K miles later and all is well.

 

I had an HID kit in my RT as well and it survived 130k miles. I'm done with halogens

[The Rocketman]

Nothing better than a solution to the lost spring clip problem

http://www.beemerboneyard.com/r12h7bulbclip.html

[w2ge]

you gotta love $17.50! for that clip... Sheesh...

[The Rocketman]

Better than $700 for a new headlight I guess.....