Z1OwnersClub GB

Can you help please ? as electrical is my weakest area Dddrrrr ! My Kawa 900 headlight has always been poor ( = DIM ) despite it being a Cibie unit with a Tungsram H4 60/55 bulb .... but because I don't ride it at night, well I'd just forgotten about it but due to boredom here... I decided to have a look today & here's the findings that I guess are required to make some sort of evaluation ???
Battery is a quite new Yuasa and at rest (across the battery ) Ignition Off = 12.6 v with Ignition On & lights Off = 12.4 v and with light on = 11.6 v . Fired up ( across the battery @ 1500rpm with Lights off it's charging at 14.2 v and with Lights On = 13.5 v ) I'm running a 6 wire Wet Dream Rec / Rect too with positive 12v reference line hooked up with the back brake light switch feed supply wire ....& all seems OK there.
Heres where it all goes wrong ! Having checked ( googled ! ) that my wiring to the bulb spade connections are all sound and correct & there is some ambiguity there... but the general take is...mines wired correctly - so at the headlight bulb connector ...it's a 3 pin multi and looking straight on at the back side = 'connector spades' of the bulb itself = ( Horizontal spade at the top = Low beam ) ( R/H side Vertical = High beam ) (L/H side Vertical = Earth ) I measured the voltage at the Headlight bulb plug connector with the plug DISCONNECTED from the bulb... and get 11.6v on both beams .....BUT as soon as the plug connection is mated to the bulb itself the meter then drops & reads 8.7 v so I guess this why there both showing dim ! I then fire the motor up and it's then getting 9.7 v there at the CONNECTED live terminals . I did then try running in tandam another earth wire from a good ground at the engine ...to the bulbs earth spade & it made no difference.
Excuse the pun...but if any one can shed some light on this trickery ......I'd appreciate it ! Thanks from Little Johny at the back of the Class .

have you still got the ballast resistor connected?

Sounds like you have elements ,beam and dip in wired in series,bet you will find wires to the 3 pin plug are crossed before they get to the plug,swap them round.you have in effect two lives going to the lamp, the lamp casing is the return/earth/frame.if you look at the circuit you can see how it should be. Cheers Paul J

You have a high resistance somewhere maybe the ballast resistor or loom around the dim switch.

Im going with Paul

That makes it 2 each Keith,exciting eh?

KeithZ1R wrote:Im going with Paul

Are you "Coming out" Keith?

We tried to keep that secret!

z1bman wrote:have you still got the ballast resistor connected?

Thanks for the quick reply....much appreciated. You know I don't remember ! ddrrrr I built the bike 37 years ago .....I'll have a look but I don't think I have . I'll get back to you . Cheers Lee

if the ballast resistor is still in circuit disconnect it & join the two blue wires together that come out of the main harness

KeithZ1R wrote:Im going with Paul

Thanks Keith ........appreciate the feed back mate. Cheers Lee

ZedHead wrote:You have a high resistance somewhere maybe the ballast resistor or loom around the dim switch.

Will check to see if I still have the ballast resister still fitted & in line ...........if not- how to find the high resistance source ??????????drrrr??drrr. Thanks for the input appreciated . Cheers Lee

z1bman wrote:if the ballast resistor is still in circuit disconnect it & join the two blue wires together that come out of the main harness

AAAAah will do & I'll be sure to let you know . Cheers Lee

PAULJAC47 wrote:Sounds like you have elements ,beam and dip in wired in series,bet you will find wires to the 3 pin plug are crossed before they get to the plug,swap them round.you have in effect two lives going to the lamp, the lamp casing is the return/earth/frame.if you look at the circuit you can see how it should be. Cheers Paul J

Hi Paul, good to hear from you & thanks for responding ! I'm replying to you here for a second time... as the first reply (15 mins ago ) seems to somehow have got lost in Cyber Space !
Bear with me here Paul.......but i don't know how i could have wired in series 2 separate individual wires .......do you mean - through the ' internally within the bulb itself ' they have become in series ?? Headlight wiring to bulbs 3 spade's is all Std...... Red/ yellow trace = Dip ...... Red/black trace to High beam..... earth Std Black /Yellow trace . Do you mean switch the wiring to bulb spade configuration ? if so ...using the Pin / Spade layout above what do you propose there mate ? Thanks for your help . Lee

when did you fit the cibie headlight ? if the ballast resistor was not removed before it was fitted the cibie light would only be as bright as a candle like the original headlight was