Headlight Fuse is Melting, not breaking but MELTING!

[willmckeand]

Have to absolutely agree with Fazerider,
I am assuming when you measured 10A current the fuse was removed and your meter was across the fuse contacts?
10A is about right for a good loom with 2 off 55w bulbs, not sure how you measured 70 ohms tho??? 2 bulb filiments should measure about 0.7 ohms!!!
sounds like you were measuring the additional resistance of poor contacts between the fuse and fuse holder which as Fazerider says is responsible for the volt drop and excessive heat across the fuse.
only other cause is that the fuse itself has excessivly fatigued and has built up its own internal resistance (rare but can happen)

 

The 10A was measured across the fuse contacts with the fuse removed, i thought that sounded about right too. I measured the resistance across the fuse contacts also, but I was a bit unsure of which setting to have the multimeter on (200, 20 etc)


I've replaced my H4 bulb and the fuse doesn't seem to be heating up as quickly as before, just gets slightly warm and stays there, but I'll check properly on my commute tomorrow.




@unfazed, I usually have a wire running from the live feed to my H1 bulb to the upper live contact on my H4, so that both lights are on when I have my lights on dipped beam and the second filiment of the H4 comes on when I switch to full beam.


I've gone through several fuses in the past couple of days because I don't want to use ones which look damaged or melted when I'm testing the circuit for problems.




So again thanks everyone for taking such an interest it's really appreciated and I'll see how it goes with the new H4 bulb tomorrow! 

[unfazed]

 I have seen dual filament bulbs blow and the blown filament fall across the legs supplying the filaments and create a short circuit but still appear to work. If changing the bulb does not solve the problem then you need to visually check the wiring loom and all connections from the headlight back to the fuse including the internals of the switches for short circuits to earth.
this is a check you could do. With the ignition off remove the fuse,  set the meter to Ohms, Check the resistance between the supply to the switches (non live side) and earth with the left hand switch set to dims and the on/off light switch (right hand switch) Set to off:  resistance should be in at least in 100KOhms range or higher (keep your fingers away from the probes as for infinity your fingers will effect the reading.
Set to park centre position: resistance should be less than 4 ohms. You are checking the resistance of the parking light bulbs (Front and rear) and meter light bulbs in parallel.
Set to fully left position:  resistance should be slightly less as your including the dims in the check
Switch dims to heads and see what the readings are should remain around the same
If readings are less than 1 to 2 Ohms you have a short circuit somewhere.
If readings are very low disconnect the headlights one by one and see if the readings increase. Now remove the parking light bulbs front and taillight bulbs rear the readings should increase again as it is only the meter bulbs are being measured.
These readings are not exact as I do not have the 00/01 Fazer to check them.
If anybody has a 00/01 Fazer and a meter they could do the checks above and list the readings for you.
Let us know how you get on.

[Fazerider]

Will, I really wouldn't recommend wiring the r/h main beam that way.
It's much better to do the mod as detailed in the "Articles" section rather than having both main and dipped filaments lit simultaneously. The extra heat risks cooking the coating off the reflector.

[willmckeand]

Did my half hour commute today with the lights on with no problems thanks to a new H4 bulb! A couple of months ago I noticed that there was a wire bridging the H1 and the H4 but one end had been disconnected, so I re-connected this dodgy headlight mod, which as Fazerider points out is not a good as the proper one.


I've had it like this for over two months I think what must've happened was that over time the extra heat from having both filaments lit simultaneously has deteriorated the bulb, somehow increasing it's resistance thus melting my fuses.


Lesson learnt, and a set of Osram Nightbreaker Plus H1 and H4 on the way to hopefully improve the terrible headlights of our dear FZS600's.


Thanks again everyone for your input, I'll be sure to return the favour on here if I can one day!


Will

[andybesy]

Let us know how the new bulbs works out.

[JZS 600]

Great!


Question though, if you are travelling at 70 MPH with your head lights on, what is the speed of the light coming out of the head lamps?   

[Motorbreath]

Great!


Question though, if you are travelling at 70 MPH with your head lights on, what is the speed of the light coming out of the head lamps?   

  If it's a Fazer, Warp factor 1

[limax2]

Great!


Question though, if you are travelling at 70 MPH with your head lights on, what is the speed of the light coming out of the head lamps?   

At 70 in the dark with the square eye'd Fazer it feels like you have already overtaken the light beam  .

[Fazerider]

Great!


Question though, if you are travelling at 70 MPH with your head lights on, what is the speed of the light coming out of the head lamps?   

At 70 in the dark with the square eye'd Fazer it feels like you have already overtaken the light beam  .

[willmckeand]

3x10⁸ms^-1   cannot wait for my new headlight bulbs! Also waiting on some crash protector bars and maybe one of these:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyramid-Fenda-Extenda-Yamaha-FZS1000/dp/B001I6EBMI/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1352245253&sr=1-3


should keep some of the crap off of my downpipes!