Lost my headlight - low first now high as well

[Moespeeds]

Hey guys. I've been having intermittent problems with my low beam for about 2 weeks. I thought it was a bad connection, but when I fired it up today I have no high beam either. The problem is intermittent, sometimes I can get the high to work, sometimes low. I took off the tank and wiggled the wires, unplugged then re-plugged both headlight connections and the EHC plug. Up at the plug I've got 10 volts at one connector, 5 volts at the other? Can't be sure about that because I'm having a hell of a time holding everything and the volt meter, I'll get some help later. If I run 12v from the battery through a switch, to the headlight, can I get this sucker running? I'll play with it some more tonight then post later.

 

[Moespeeds]

BTW, I am not running any front signals, and recently put those little joker blinkers on the back. Took off the front signals last summer, and no problems.

 

[awags]

i had the same problem,that started w/ the low beam, then high, then both or neither. very intermittent. i traced it back to the ehc. the dealer figured the same. its on back order so obviously a problem that year. also the most expensive @ around $500. i just ordered it last week so no results yet. sounds like you've already checked all the obvious connections but @ $500 i'd double check to be sure.

 

[carolina dawg keeper]

i had the ame problem with my 2004 ridgeback had to replace ech 500.00 also. but works fine now

 

[Moespeeds]

Yeah for now I'm running the headlight off the switch for my bling bling LED's. When I got a tester on there, came up with 10.5 v going to the low, and 5.2v going to the high. Wiggled the harness, etc...

 

[CCRainman]

Moe sorry to say it but sounds like your EHC is starting to go south.

 

[Moespeeds]

Yeah, it figures I've had some really shit luck since I changed the primary. Anyway, my options are go to Big Dog for a new EHC, or what else? I'm planning on tearing this bike down this fall and rebuilding it on a new frame anyway, so every Big Dog part I eliminate will be one less thing I gotta buy in the fall...

 

[lee]

if you're tearing the whole thing down why not replace the entire harness - maybe a wire plus or something like that

 

[CCRainman]

Moe, you can do what I did with the Thunderheart. The only problem is that you need to get new bars and controls. I'm not sure if the crank sensors or any of the electronics on the 04 and up work from the EHC. Mine controls all the turm signals, stop light, horn, power to ignition, head lights hi-low and the kill switch on the bars. The rest of the bikes electronics was seperate.

 

[Moespeeds]

I'm not opposed to that Rain, but with Myrtle coming up I'm under the gun. If I remember correctly from the ignition install the tach runs back to the EHC. Right now I've got a headlight running off a switch, but do these things fail progressively, or you think I've lost my headlights and the rest will continue to function ok? I'll find out today what the lead time is on a new computer. I'm assuming the need for new bars comes from the damn chips up there in the controls? Scooters sells some nice harnesses, each wire is silkscreened every 3" for function!

 

[denver0511]

I had some problems with my headlight, While I was riding, my high beam would come on and then I would get no light at all, when I pulled my seat off I traced the GROUND wire back to under the seat and It had came apart from ther connector. But it really sounds like your having a ehc prob, sorry buddy.

 

[Moespeeds]

I tested the ground up at the bucket, and it's good.

 

[Gas Man]

I would revert bk to the stock turns/tails. Ray will tell you that those things will cause problems with the EHC.

Also, did you check the connection in the headlight bucket. Those are known to fail and melt.

 

[Moespeeds]

Checked all connections Gas, they looked good. The voltage is the wierd thing, how do I have 10.5v on the low, and 5.2v on the high? I checked this like 10 times. Pressing the high or low buttons get no lights on the EHC, shouldn't I see some indication there? My low beam was on the fritz before I put the rear signals on, besides, the rear signal mod is permanent, had to cut the signal mounts off the struts. Doesn't the EHC have a load EQ in there anyway?

 

[Gas Man]

I can't help you much on EHC inner workings....

 

[awags]

before mine started acting up i replaced my headlight w/ an aftermarket w/ two bulbs. looked stupid with only one bulb on at a time so i wired it that both would be on at all times. the housing cracked so i put stock one back on. wasn't too long after that my headlight/ehc problems started. so maybe ehc's that year are meant to remain pretty much stock,seeing as how we messed around w/ lights first. any thoughts? you guys seem to know your way around these bikes better than me.

 

[awags]

btw moe, my headlight problem has been intermittent for a few months now, getting worse, but bike runs great. so i would think your wiring through other switch would be ok. but now that i said that it'll probably die tomorrow.

 

[Raywood]

Checked all connections Gas, they looked good. The voltage is the wierd thing, how do I have 10.5v on the low, and 5.2v on the high? I checked this like 10 times. Pressing the high or low buttons get no lights on the EHC, shouldn't I see some indication there? My low beam was on the fritz before I put the rear signals on, besides, the rear signal mod is permanent, had to cut the signal mounts off the struts. Doesn't the EHC have a load EQ in there anyway?

Moe, do you have a manual? If so then in the electrical section on page 6-22 it states that all inputs are low voltage (ground), which means that for each input the EHC is looking for the curcuit input to be grounded. When the EHC controller sees a ground on an input it will make a corresponding output to happen.

It says that all wires are at 5 volts except the neutral switch and ignition switch that run at 11 volts.
It says all function work in the same manner.

The EHC sees two inputs; momentary and constant.

Constant are key switch, horn, starter, neutral and brake switch.
Momentary are turn signals, hi lo beam, Run, and Off buttoms.

It goes on for a couple pages.......

If you are going to be troubleshooting this then you need to have the service manual that shows you all the circuits and what they do.

For all others;
Bottom line is you can't be f*cking with this EHC and voltage inputs from changes like turn signals, horns, headlight and such unless you are real sure they are the proper voltage.
It could be just a bad EHC but........

Not to rant,
Ray

 

[Moespeeds]

I understand all that Ray but an H4 bulb is an H4 bulb and requires 12v to light up, no matter what Big Dog or the EHC wants. If I'm not getting 12v from the EHC at the bulb plug, something is wrong. The low voltage is just from the hand controls to the EHC, it tells it to open a connection. The other issue is load equalization, but when I took my front blinkers off last year, there were no issues, so the EHC must have a load EQ built in. Big Dog will always tell us not to screw with it. I'm curious to know how many guys changed lights and blinkers and what type of problems they had? If the EHC can't handle the load changes then I need to look hard at getting the Big Dog horseshit outa here and find another harness.

 

[Raywood]

I understand Moe. The manual states that the 04 EHC is similar to the 05 other than I have two plugs and you have one.
On the LED board do you have fault lights lit on ciruits 5-10? Maybe not 7 & 8 due to the new rear lights!

Looking at the scematic in the manual then I would say your EHC is at fault. But you should have fault lights 9 & 10 lit up on the LED board for hi and lo beam. Do you have these fault lights lit???

Good luck,
Ray