Hi there, My bike (2003 R1150GS Adv) is still in disarray as I wait for parts to arrive from around the world Today I wired in my Autoswitch and got all the wiring ready to connect to my driving lights for when the new mounts turn up. I fitted Dip & Main Beam HIDs (Les Wassall) a couple of weeks ago. The bike has not been used since they were fitted (no fuel tank). I tried them during the week and they were fine. Today, after I'd done the wiring work, I noticed that the dipped beam was out. Thinking I'd knocked a connection loose, I checked them all and they are sound. The main beam HID and the sidelight LED work as normal. I do not know whether the light was working before I started work today. Going back to basics, I took the two pin plug off the side of the dipped headlamp rear 'bayonet' cover. With the ignition on, I am not getting power to this plug (my bike has no headlamp switch, so dipped beam should be on all the time that the ignition is on). This explains why the headlamp is not working - but it's not a fused circuit and the wires just disappear into the main loom, so I'm a little unsure of what my next step should be - any suggestions? By the way - to cover ground already trodden at UKGSer - I replaced the ignition loom with a new one as a precaution earlier this week and did a successful functionality check afterwards. I have tried disconnecting each set of handlebar switchgear in turn with no effect. Mike
Is it possible that your battery is not fully charged and there's not enough juice to get the HID igniter to fire up?
Sir, As the autoswitch seems to be the last one you worked on after everything was in order, it could be wise to start there. How exactly did you wire the autoswitch in?
The battery is new (1 month) and yhe bike has been on an Optimate; there's enough power to fire the main beam HID; there is no power to the dipped connector... Mike
The only connection I made yesterday was to connect the purple wire (the one to the positive side of the relay switching circuit) to the fog lamp loom - all the other connections had been made previously and the headlamp functioned normally. I will disconnect this to see if it makes any difference. In fact I can disconnect the entire fog lamp loom to see if that cures it - will report back... Mike
OK - stuff I've now tested: Connected power and earth directly to the headlamp socket - HID firews up as expected, so its definitely a power supply problem. Disconnected the only Autoswitch connection I made before noticing the failure (purple Autoswitch wire to the 'Power On' connection of the BMW fog lamp loom) - this had no effect (as expected). I'm a bit flummoxed as to what to do next. The problem doesnt seem to be in any of the areas I have done work and the light was working perfectly a week or so ago when Peter & I fitted it. The two cables disappear into the loom ahead of the headstock... Anybody got any ideas? Mike
Fuse 8 - marked as 'Spare' in my Owner's Manual - actually powers the ABS, dipped headlamp and instrument lights. Since I have removed the Servo & ABS from my bike, I got no warning from the ABS light to tell me there had been a failure. I am going to open up the rear of each of the headlamps to double insulate all the connectors to the HIDs, as I suspect that this may have been the source of the fuse failure... Cheers, Mike
<BR>Hey there Mike, I hope the fuse turns out to be the solution. In case it isn't, it might be a flex-to-break problem in the wire loom located at the bending point where the wire loom traverses between the triple clamp and steering head. (If you can even call them that on a telelever. ) I know, why is the dipped beam wiring going to the throttle perch? If I remember right the power supply lead for the headlights first travels to the right side throttle perch. Inside the perch the power supply lead splits into two leads, one each for the main and dipped beam. The low beam wiring runs up to the handlebar perch because Europe bikes have a 'headlight off' switch for use in well-lit urban areas. (That's what the low-wattage position lamp in the main beam reflector is for.) The US bikes don't have the headlight off switch, but the wiring is there, and there's a jumper plug in place of the switch to route to power to the two headlamps. Anyway, that steering head flex point is a common cause of shorts and open circuits in the wire loom. I don't know what additional wiring you installed for the HID lamps, but a innocently-placed zip tie could have been the last straw for that steering head bending point. p.s.: Ordinarily I'm all for that the solution is most often the simplest one, ala Occam's razor. But it looks like you tried all of the simple ones so far. <BR>
Hi Poolside, It was indeed the fuse I'm going to open up the rear of both headlamps to re-insulate everything in there, as I have a feeling that, with all the extra connections fitted into that small space, it may be that the original connectors have been pushed towards one another and this is perhaps what caused the original short. My bike (2003) was one of the first UK bikes without a headlamp switch. It doesn't look like the wiring goes to the handlebar switch (it may have in early models) - here's what Ian Hartley found when he was going well above and beyond the call of duty trying to track down the cause of my failure: And then later... Needless to say, I owe Ian a few beers... Mike
<BR>It takes a village sometimes doesn't it? Thanks for the information Ian, it helps all of us! <BR>
