Headlight Replacement

[BlueBeast K9]

On my 2006 K9, I have replace the OEM bulb (60/55W) candlepower 4720 with a LED bulb (Headwinds) that uses less watts and has the bright white light. After about 20 minutes of riding, the high beam comes on and will not default back to low beam. Could this be because of the more heat a LED produces compared to OEM and this confuses the EHC? I put on OEM bulb back in and the problem goes away. I did the same swap on my 2006 Mastiff and had no problems. Has anyone else done a LED upgrade to their Big Dog?

 

[Mikeinjersey]

On my 2006 K9, I have replace the OEM bulb (60/55W) candlepower 4720 with a LED bulb (Headwinds) that uses less watts and has the bright white light. After about 20 minutes of riding, the high beam comes on and will not default back to low beam. Could this be because of the more heat a LED produces compared to OEM and this confuses the EHC? I put on OEM bulb back in and the problem goes away. I did the same swap on my 2006 Mastiff and had no problems. Has anyone else done a LED upgrade to their Big Dog?

The low beam on your new bulb is probably failing which will automatically cause the high beam to be powered by the EHC. When both low and high beam fail the high beam indicator will blink because the EHC is trying to find a good circuit for the headlight. It will switch back and forth until the issue is resolved. The reason your original bulb works is because both filaments are good and the EHC is working fine. Go to page 8-9 for a full explanation.

Dropbox

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[BlueBeast K9]

Plastic plug is good. Mike, so your saying that the Headwinds bulb low bean filament is failing once HOT because for the first 20 minutes or so, it works fine. TreeGuru, do you recall the brand LED you used with no problems? This is the second Headwinds bulb I've used with the same failure.

 

[Mikeinjersey]

Plastic plug is good. Mike, so your saying that the Headwinds bulb low bean filament is failing once HOT because for the first 20 minutes or so, it works fine. TreeGuru, do you recall the brand LED you used with no problems? This is the second Headwinds bulb I've used with the same failure.

BlueBeast, I can't speak specifically to the Headwinds bulb only to the way the EHC handles filament failures. You had success with your Mastiff so a good way to troubleshoot would be to swap the bulbs between the Mastiff and the K9. If the problem moves to the Mastiff it's the bulb. If the problem stays with the K9 start suspecting the connector or wiring to the headlight as TreeGuru suggested. You can also check for a fault indicator light on the EHC when you have the failure. The low beam fault led will be lit if you have a short, open or over current condition. When the bulb cools off and works again the fault light will go out until it heats up and fails again.

 

[BlueBeast K9]

Blue Beast, what I have read on this web site others have had this same problem. On the original EHC does not recognize the low beam LED due to low voltage draw, it defaults to High Beam as a safety feature. Read comments, type in search ISSUE WITH LED HEADLIGHT. Let Curtis know what bulb you are using and if you have an original EHC he may make recommendations.

In case anyone else has the same issue, used a superbrightleds.com H4 Connection load resistor and now it works fine. FYI