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Blubs blowing
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:56 am
by mrapriliafalco
My rear brake light bulb keeps blowing any ideas as to why
Its only the back light element that's goes, never the brake light part Its the near side IM just a little worried about my M O T as not to sure if it will fail as the other side is fine
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:23 pm
by FlyingKiwi
Blubs blowing
*regains composure*
ummm, my Guzzi was forever blowing bulbs, It was the vibrations that did it.
Haven't had a problem with the Falco though
saying that, I have a tinted lens and LED bulbs now

not very helpful I know but it gave me a break from gutting the ensuite

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:24 pm
by Fausto
I suggest you look and see if the bulbs are a little loose in their holders. Mine were and it caused problems with the LED bulbs I use with my smoked lens

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:17 pm
by tommy
My 2 cents. Had same problem with headlight bulb on my old 125 (i had to start somewhere!) To fix it i stuck a wheel balancing weight on the bulb fitting. This was suggested by an old boy on a 250 superdream with a dog in his tail pack

Anyway, I was sceptical at first, but after i stuck it on, it never happed again. Apparantly it changed the frequency etc of the vibations. Or could have been coincidence.
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:12 pm
by Thumper
Don't worry I kept a box of them used loads over the last seven years gave up in the end, its the vibes maybe you ride to hard

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:26 am
by sabestian
mrapriliafalco wrote:Blubs blowing

Oh, that's funny.
Another useful post by me.
Blubs Blowing
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:51 pm
by tightlinessteve
My tail lights blow so much I've got 3 spare lamps wrapped up under my seat and 2 in my jacket pocket. I won't have to change 1 for weeks then go through 3 in a day! Then my dip beam joined the party. As mentioned before it's the vibes but mostly the loose/poor fittings. I'll get round to renewing them 1 day, but maybe still end up with the same quality;)
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:22 pm
by Aladinsaneuk
if they blow that reguarly, you must have a frayed lead/faulty earth down under the rear seat/cowl
welcome btw
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:43 pm
by snapdragon
not 'prila - but my cagiva did the same - I eventually changed for an LED set up cos it was getting me down
constantly cleaning contacts & checking earth > Boooooring
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:21 pm
by Pierre
I'm with Snappy ^^^ , balls to checking stuff, just stick some LEDs in - sorted .
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:03 pm
by mrapriliafalco
NOT a another one blown

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:18 pm
by HowardQ
Are they actually blowing ????
Sounds like a silly question but it may not be.
My bike has one of the dark smoked rear lenses so I converted to red LED bulbs.
Fitted the first lot, worked OK, went out for a run and one was "blown".
Put original clear bulbs back in to test and worked fine.
Got another one replaced and went again on the same side.
Bought a completely different lot of red LEDs, same again.
Didn't want to give up on the smoked lens so bought a third lot, they were also a type that I had originally wanted but could not get, with rear facing and side LEDs that light up the reflector as well, which are much better.
Fitted them and all was fine.
Couple of weeks later went out with a mate who stopped me after a few miles to tell me my back light was flashing on and off at both sides! Doh!
Then it dawned on me, all the LEDs bulbs and some ordinary bulbs I have as spares, don't seem to have terminals anything like as big as the standard bulbs, in that they don't stick out as far and keep losing their connection, so they may work when they feel like it or it may cause them to blow.
Bent the arms in the light holder slightly and the latest set of LEDs plus all the others worked fine.
Why didn't I check that earlier .
Have still had problems since in that they work loose again, so have added a bit more solder to the connections and seems OK for now.
You'll probably reply saying all your bulbs had actually blow I suppose, but if you do use LEDs watch out, as you can't tell by looking at them.
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:50 pm
by D-Rider
LEDs are VERY reliable - very few will fail in normal use - certainly repeated failures would be a great surprise. If the LED circuit is designed poorly and the current-limit resistor is of too little resistance, then you might have a problem - but otherwise they should go on and on and on and ..... well, you get the idea ...
Of course, they are a polarised device and will only conduct in one direction - so will not work if wired back to front.
I've never used any LED bulb-replacement modules so I don't know how they are configured but I guess they'd have sorted out those potential problems.
I've a set of the (out of production) Nooj LED tail light units. They are excellent.
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:52 pm
by HowardQ
Mine are obviously just the plug in bulb type replacements.
The only bulb I've actually had blow on mine in 20 odd thou miles is one H7 headlight unit.
Thought there would have been more with the engine vibration.
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:23 pm
by Kwackerz
Clearly they blow thru overuse.
Stop using the brakes.
Job sorted.