Melted Headlight Plug

[lidflipper]

Auto zone, Advanced, all the auto part stores carry heavy duty H4 connectors. 2 pack about $10.00. Cut the cheap little plug off and sloder and heat shrink the new heavy duty one. A little bit of D grease and good to go

 

[cromedome]

As jimharvey1 noted, solder and heat shrinks are MUCH better than butt splices.

 

[03ultra45385]

The connectors ( all 3 ) inside the plug that attach to the Lamp must be a. clean, b. both mechanically and electrically tight. Oil and sweat from your fingers can cause problems with an electrical connection by creating an increase in the resistance of the connection. The plug being dry and or corroded can be difficult to remove from the lamp. It would be normal to wiggle the plug when trying to unplug it in. This can distort and weaken the connectors in the plug also. Any increase in resistance will cause an increase of heat which will weaken the spring tension of the connectors which will cause more heat. As it gets hotter the plastic begins to melt the problem just gets worse. A thin coating of good dielectric grease on the (clean ) lamp terminals can reduce the possibility of contamination and corrosion and make it easier to remove the plug from the lamp as well as reinstalling it. This will help reduce any distortion or weakening of the connectors in the plug which will keep the resistance of each connection low. The more you ride and the longer you ride the more important this becomes. Replacing the plug with a new one is a good but be careful if using butt splices. Crimping to tightly or to close to the open end of the barrel where the wire is inserted can mash the strands of the wire enough to weaken or actually cut them. Tinning/soldering the end of the stripped wire before inserting it into the buttsplice or a new spade connector is a more reliable connection. As is simply soldering and heat shrinking the connections of a replacement plug/socket. Either way do it right and it shouldn't ever be a problem again.

 

[jimharvey1]

I only used the Silverstar 55/60 light bulbs.

Has anyone on here ever replaced the stock headlight bulb with a brighter, higher wattage bulb. Maybe an 80/100w? If so, how'd that work for you? I've been considering it cause I just can't see coughing up the coin that HD wants for those Daymaker LED lights... but I don't care to set my fairing on fire, either.

 

[btsom]

NAPA sells an 80/100 watt H4 bulb for around $12. I have been running those long enough I don't even remember what the stock bulb beam even looks like. The headlight circuit is protected by a 15 amp fuse which means that the wiring should be able to handle a bit more than that (or else the wires would be the fuses). The high beam works out to about 7.7 amps (100 watts divided by 13 volts), well below the capacity for the fuse and circuit. By most state laws, the 80/100 bulb is legal for SINGLE light use (motorcycles) but illegal for two light installations (typical automobile).

That is using the standard formula for power: P=IE. Power (watts) = amps times electromotive force (volts). Solving for "I" gives P divided by E and I chose 13 volts as a typical running voltage for a 12 volt system. If you choose to use 14 volts, the the amperage is even less.

Again using the formula for power, we have a 15 amp fuse so that circuit should support up to a 195 watt load (13 volts times 15 amps.)

 

[gefhd]

wixtech has ceramic headlight connetors, can't melt bought mine at the local indy