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View Full Version : does lo-beam turn off when switching to hi-beam



Nick
06-25-2016, 10:31 PM
hi guys, just going through some checks on the new sx and noticed that when switching from lo-beam to hi-beam, the lo-beam actually switches off rather than just adding the extra beam. When in lo-beam mode, flashing the hi-beam via the passing switch, the lo-beam stays illuminated and adds the hi-beam, which i'm thinking is normal, however selecting hi-beam via the lo-hi switch cancels out the lo-beam. i'm tipping this is not normal and hoping someone can confirm what their bike does, thanks and also just to be sure is your hi-beam the lower portion of your headlight or the upper.

d_adams
06-26-2016, 08:54 AM
It's normal.

Mike
06-26-2016, 12:41 PM
Like Dean says...yes.

To me...the high beam stinks, not worth the design effort.
I swapped my lights, raised the low beam way up and dropped the hi beam down a little. So the low beam is actually the high beam, and the low beam is the daylight light...
My RX is my daily driver (84 miles a day). I leave the house at 4:30am, and I need to see well. Having "both on" would be cool, but since I'm a Mechanical Engineer...not an Electrical Engineer, I have no clue how to go about doing that change.
Pretty happy overall with the low beam being up as it is. With its wide spill and now higher...farther out spill, all is good.

Mike

Hughlysses
06-26-2016, 02:47 PM
Having "both on" would be cool, but since I'm a Mechanical Engineer...not an Electrical Engineer, I have no clue how to go about doing that change.
Pretty happy overall with the low beam being up as it is. With its wide spill and now higher...farther out spill, all is good.

Mike

I'd guess you could do the mod just like what a lot of riders have done for Buells. With Buells, you can actually get both beams to stay on by getting the high/low switch in just the right spot between high and low. If you don't want to fool with that, it's a pretty simple matter to open up the switch housing and solder a jumper wire. Here's a thread on Badweb on how to do it. I'll bet the EBR is very similar, if not identical.

http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/329497.html?1200110631

Nick
06-26-2016, 09:07 PM
i see what your saying. i'm an electrical contractor on construction so even though not an auto-elec, a circuit is a circuit to me so i'll look into the wiring diagram as soon as i can get one and see how to go about it. i'll need to confirm where the relay is in the circuit and check the wiring size etc, to make sure its safe to run both together for prolonged periods. At a guess i'll say it won't be an issue but i'd rather check it out first to be sure.

Mike
06-27-2016, 08:23 PM
Hmm, interesting, thanks Hugh.
Nick, with the LED's using such low power, this change should not be a problem with the rest of the system. That is as long as you use the same gauge jumper as the factory wires... Larger is also better, smaller...not so much.

Mike

Nick
06-28-2016, 10:21 AM
i just lost everything i wrote, i hate that. must have been too much bs that i typed.
Anyway, thanks Mike, i'm a electrician by trade for 25+. Wiring diagram should show me all the wiring,switching,control and protection. That will give me a few options before i pull anything apart. I'll order the service manual soon, well, as soon as i determine if i need another sprocket size or any other bits'n'pieces. Have you changed your sprocket and if so are you happy with it? thanks nick.

mbfj40
06-28-2016, 11:58 AM
Things to consider for this and other LED Hi/Lo replacement modules like the H4, 9004 etc.. Is that, while they do not radiate as much raw heat as a conventional or an HID bulbs, they are chips on a circuit board and the heat they do produce will burn them up if proper heat sinking is not utilized. So if you burn both high and low at the same time you need to be sure that the heat sinks are sized for both on at once or an early failure is likely.
Concern number two is that it's very likely that both the high and low beam is using the same circuit board trace for the ground wire, very common on the replacement hi/lo combo replacement "bulbs". Circuit board traces are not commonly "over-engineered" and are most likely sized to accommodate the amperage requirements of either the Hi or the Lo individually but not both at the same time. Not an issue for the positive wires as each beam has it's own wire, but for H4, 9004 etc types it could lead to premature failure because with both on at once the amperage is doubled on a wire or circuit trace that was only designed for one on at a time.
On our bikes I haven't taken anything apart yet, but clearly it has two different emitters in separate locations, so they may not be on the same PCB and we only need to look at heat sink capacity and not shared circuit wiring capacity.
An other concern is that a bare LED chip (depending on color and efficiency among other things) operate well below the 12-14 volts of the bike (or car) So that means that somewhere in the design is a mini voltage regulator on a chip that drops our 12 volts down to the (lets say 3 volts) that the LED chip requires. That little guy has to be stout enough to run both Hi and Lo at the same time or it will burn out, killing the whole system. Since on our bikes we can flash the Hi beam and the Lo stays on, the little LED voltage regulator on our bikes is either big enough for both on at the same time (maybe for only short duration) or each LED element has its own regulation (preferred).
In addition to the possibility of a simple re-wire to run Hi/Lo at the same time by, as an example, running the tail light power to the low beam so it's on all the time, I'd like to be able to add a head light modulator to mine, but the on board LED regulation circuitry most likely would have to be revamped.
mike

Mike
06-28-2016, 09:31 PM
mbf -

As far as the heat sinks...each LED has it's own heat sink. To do ANY...good, the heat sink for "each" LED has to be in direct contact or VERY close to dissipate any heat. They are too far away from each other to even be close to having to share a heat sink.

I don't pretend to know a lot about the circuit boards, but again...too far apart to share I'd bet. Especially the low beam pair. BUT...even if they did, it would be no different than just running that pair...all the time... I'd be willing to bet that the low and high beams are fully divorced and would have no problem being on at the same time.

This long weekend is fully spoken for, or I'd be doing some soldering.

Mike

mbfj40
06-28-2016, 09:34 PM
I like it!