I've had a headlight modulator on my 2004 R1150R for about 8 years now and until now never had a problem. Recently, I noticed that sometimes it would flash, sometimes it would not. Then yesterday, I noticed that the high beam was not working at all. I took the headlamp assembly apart to diagnose the problem. Eventually, I removed the headlight modulator and plugged the bulb into the OEM socket. Both the "low" and the "high" beam filaments of the bulb worked at that point. Solution #1 - Replace the headlight modulator After celebrating this small win while not once getting angry or yelling at the dogs, I rested the bulb inside the headlight bucket, which is metal. One of the "prongs" of the bulb touched the edge of the metal bucket and *poof*, no light at all. Also, the intrument lights no longer work. I'm assuming I blew a fuse but looked at all the fuses and they were all ok. I know there is a lighting relay and wonder if that could've been damaged somehow. Solution #2 - Any wisdom from the inmates? I realize the R1150R headlamp is different from that on the GS (Single H4 bulb with two filaments on the R, and dual bulbs on the GS) but was hoping someone here may have some advice.
I don't know about the R1150R but on the R1100R the headlight is not fused :eek1. So you may have had a very expensive poof!
I've continued to research and learned that the 1150R headlight is not fused . I don't know why they'd design it like that. Don't they know guys like me do their own maintenance? I also checked the bulb to see if by some chance the filaments had melted but no luck I'll check all the fuses with a meter. Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully, I can find a solution soon that doesn't cost $$$. I just replaced the clutch and was looking forward to some long distance rides before winter
I've made some progress but still don't understand what's going on. While checking the fuses, I plugged in an accessory fuse block that has 2 fuses in it. I couldn't remember what they were for. When I plugged it back into the fuse box, the headlight came on and my hella driving lights also turned on. So that explains the purpose for the two fuses. One goes to an Autoswitch, that allows me to turn on and off the Hellas with the turn signal cancel button. I can't for the life of me figure out why the other fuse, added by me at some point many years ago would have anything to do with the headlight. This finding does not at all correlate with the *poof! no light* experience from yesterday. There's more going on here that I don't understand. That said, I'm happy that the light has power but now the "bright" filament does not light up. I'm wondering if the headlight relay is bad (I ordered one today), if the small yellow wire that powers the bright filament has been melted or if the headlight switch on the left grip is somehow damaged. I'll continue trying to figure this out by trial and error with my meter and keep updating the thread...
