Headlight Shutter on RT bouncing??

[Purple Guy]

I just put a set of the 10th anniversary headlights on my 2014 RT.
Riding this morning I noticed that the low beam / hi beam shutter is moving when I hit dips in the road.
Does anyone know if the shutter can be tighten down a bit???

[KX5062]

Honestly I prefer running the high beams during the daytime. I know it may be technically illegal, but the shutter movements cause a flickering appearance which is what I believe your noticing. The flickering goes away on high beam mode. Then when it starts to get dark, I just lower the beams which don't appear to flicker at night.

[Purple Guy]

Yes the flickering of the shutter is what I'd like to eliminate.
Riding in the dark is my concern as I don't want to appear that I'm flashing my "brights" to oncoming traffic.
I had this problem on my 2012 RT but no problem with my current 2014 RT with the OEM lamps...
As for riding with the hi beams on, I have LED bulbs which are quite bright and prefer not to subject oncoming drivers to them...

[ARtraveler]

Two separate issues--IMO. On low beams, the shutter tends to bounce on uneven roads--giving the appearance of flashing lights.

When I had my LED's installed, the mechanic over tightened the right hand side and made that shutter stick in the "high beam" mode. Since I drive with high beams in the daylight, not an issue. No night driving here during riding season--I don't care for three AM rides.

The fix for me was for them to loosen the right side. Now--back to normal. I have both high and low beams.

[bmarkel]

Two separate issues--IMO. On low beams, the shutter tends to bounce on uneven roads--giving the appearance of flashing lights.

When I had my LED's installed, the mechanic over tightened the right hand side and made that shutter stick in the "high beam" mode. Since I drive with high beams in the daylight, not an issue. No night driving here during riding season--I don't care for three AM rides. ......

I have just finished installing Lamonster LED headlights in my wife's 2018 RT. When checking the lights I noticed the shutter on the right light is not working. It may not have been earlier, I don't know. Anyway, what can be over tightened? What should I check for? I hear the solenoid in the left light and not the right.
You have to stuff a bunch of wiring under the dust cap. Could I have the mechanism jammed?

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

You have to stuff a bunch of wiring under the dust cap. Could I have the mechanism jammed?

Yes. It's tight in there.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Two separate issues--IMO. On low beams, the shutter tends to bounce on uneven roads--giving the appearance of flashing lights.

When I had my LED's installed, the mechanic over tightened the right hand side and made that shutter stick in the "high beam" mode. Since I drive with high beams in the daylight, not an issue. No night driving here during riding season--I don't care for three AM rides.

I have just finished installing Lamonster LED headlights in my wife's 2018 RT. When checking the lights I noticed the shutter on the right light is not working. It may not have been earlier, I don't know. Anyway, what can be over tightened? What should I check for? I hear the solenoid in the left light and not the right.
You have to stuff a bunch of wiring under the dust cap. Could I have the mechanism jammed?

" Over tightened " ….. I don't think that's possible from the way the mechanism is constructed...… Because of the ADDED wire, it is more likely that is causing the shutter to be jammed - ie it can't move …… been there done that ……. Mike

[KX5062]

Yes the flickering of the shutter is what I'd like to eliminate.
Riding in the dark is my concern as I don't want to appear that I'm flashing my "brights" to oncoming traffic.
I had this problem on my 2012 RT but no problem with my current 2014 RT with the OEM lamps...
As for riding with the hi beams on, I have LED bulbs which are quite bright and prefer not to subject oncoming drivers to them...

For whatever reason(s) the shutter bounce is not visible at night. The lights appear perfectly normal on low beam at night.

I ride consistently in front (lead rider) of a Spyder under different lighting conditions and these are my direct observations.

[Purple Guy]

For whatever reason(s) the shutter bounce is not visible at night. The lights appear perfectly normal on low beam at night.

I ride consistently in front (lead rider) of a Spyder under different lighting conditions and these are my direct observations.

I can notice it quite clearly, street signs ect...

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

This is interesting .... quite awhile back , I had this same conversation with Billy Bovine .....and I'm 99.999% sure He said the Shutter is locked at Low setting AND High setting.....So there cannot be ANY bounce .....I wasn't convinced ..... Mike ......................MAYBE He will chime in on this

[Bfromla]

Honestly I prefer running the high beams during the daytime. I know it may be technically illegal, but the shutter movements cause a flickering appearance which is what I believe your noticing. The flickering goes away on high beam mode. Then when it starts to get dark, I just lower the beams which don't appear to flicker at night.

Technically it's still a bit of debate. Minimally simple headlight is required, high beam in daylight is recommended & only illegal at & after dusk, at certain distances in front or behind another vehicle or oncoming traffic. & some states have gaps including the grassy medians where oncoming traffic is not directly effected. Point being know the laws of your State & use as basis when traveling (disclaimer: no legal representation intended , just experience & intruction from authorities )

[Joel The Biker]

It might not be the shutter bouncing. You must remember they are projector headlights and have a sharp light cut-off line. A lot of vehicle these days also have projector headlights and you will notice as they approach you that it looks like they are flashing their lights. But they are not. This is most likely what you are seeing.

[canamjhb]

It might not be the shutter bouncing. You must remember they are projector headlights and have a sharp light cut-off line. A lot of vehicle these days also have projector headlights and you will notice as they approach you that it looks like they are flashing their lights. But they are not. This is most likely what you are seeing.

The light has a very definitive horizontal line. When your vehicle hits a bump, that line will bounce up and down. I had the same lights on my Can Am Commander. When running off road I had to always warn anyone ahead of me that the bumps would make it look like I was flashing my lights. Just the way they are..... Jim

[woods]

Low's on my 18 rtlt appear to bounce up and down like a horny jack rabbit. Hate em!

[Marc]

Firstly, I'm down under in Australia, I recently purchased my first Spyder being a 2014 SE6 RT. On any of the Spyders here there is no Fog lamp switch, and I've noticed that when running "down here at least" our low beam is always on, our low beams are actually the lower pair of lights which as stated in previous posts have a very destinct cut off line. If I switch to high beam, the low beams are switched off and the upper pair of lights come on. I have no idea if our lights here have a shutter which moves or not. I love the spread of the low beams, but high beam doesnt have as good a spread and is more like a spot. I would love when switching on high beam for the low beam to stay on as well. I havent attempted yet but when I replace my current bulbs with LED's I've ordered am going to find the wires which powers the low and high respectivly and bridge with a diode from the high beam wire to the low so that when I switch on high beam the low stays on but when on low beam the diode will prevent high beam from energizing, I have done this diode trick on other bikes i've owned in the past and it certainly made night riding better with much more light to see with. I've also have noticed the little spots where parker lights would be are empty so thinking while I have the housings out see if I can rig up parker lights. I'm hoping that the more experienced here can throw any suggestions or advice my way. Attached picture shows the empty spots where I assume parker lights would be.

Many thanks in advance

Marc

20210616_140225.jpg

[Peter Aawen]

Marc, our Australian Spyders don't have the shutter arrangement that North American Spyders do, but rather have the lo-beam lights where their fog lights are; and our Hi-beams are single filament globes in the large upper light housings, as you've already noticed. If you want to keep all four lights on with high beam, check out Pogo's 4-Eyes light conversion on OzSpyderRyders.com

[Marc]

Cheers mate, will check it out, but was hoping the diode idea may work without tripping the CANBUS

[Marc]

Marc, our Australian Spyders don't have the shutter arrangement that North American Spyders do, but rather have the lo-beam lights where their fog lights are; and our Hi-beams are single filament globes in the large upper light housings, as you've already noticed. If you want to keep all four lights on with high beam, check out Pogo's 4-Eyes light conversion on OzSpyderRyders.com

Looks like pogo-electronics is dead in the water, and not selling anything any more, So hope others on here may have some suggestions to my original post...

[Peter Aawen]

Ahh well, all good things....

Still, if you're reasonably OK with getting the tupperware off & stripping/soldering wire (or comfortable using those cheapie crimp connectors! ) then it's not really all that hard to wire the headlights up to work as 4-eyes - the plugs that we get here in Oz on the back of the hi-beam lights are actually the same as those on your 2-filament hi-lo car headlights, just minus the lo-beam terminal & feeding the single filament hi-beam globe that's factory installed for Oz/EU spec Spyders. You can buy the terminals to fit in that vacant spot, and then add the necessary wiring to energise all 4 lights on hi-beam without worrying about those diodes - effectively, you're just replacing the terminal & wire that BRP deleted in order to make the hi & lo beam lights work in isolation.

Hey, if you really want to, you could even convert/revert your upper hi-beams to hi-lo headlights by adding that wire & terminal and installing twin filament globes in the upper position, and that way, you can either choose to keep the lo-beam lights as is/where is; or you can add the BRP Fog light switch to the bridging wire & turn them back into Fog lights!



Btw, you can buy (or you could?!? ) an OE 'Accent light' kit to fit into those little spots up in the top corners of the upper light fittings; the wiring & assy's are plug & play. The only hard part about fitting those accent lights is actually removing each of the upper light assy's to get at the back of them, then finding the correct sized hole saw and drilling out the blanking placcy 'fake lens' - if you don't get the drill/hole saw in EXACTLY the right spot it'll make the accent lights look reeeeaaallly ugly & mess up all the shiny placcy reflector inside your headlights!! . But get it right, and those upper accent lights look pretty good. While you're at it, you may notice that there's similar looking little 'fake lenses' in the lo-beam/fog light assy's too - don't be fooled, they ARE fake, and fitting anything into them is a right pain for no real gain - and bloody hard to get at too!

[Marc]

Ahh well, all good things....

Still, if you're reasonably OK with getting the tupperware off & stripping/soldering wire (or comfortable using those cheapie crimp connectors! ) then it's not really all that hard to wire the headlights up to work as 4-eyes - the plugs that we get here in Oz on the back of the hi-beam lights are actually the same as those on your 2-filament hi-lo car headlights, just minus the lo-beam terminal & feeding the single filament hi-beam globe that's factory installed for Oz/EU spec Spyders. You can buy the terminals to fit in that vacant spot, and then add the necessary wiring to energise all 4 lights on hi-beam without worrying about those diodes - effectively, you're just replacing the terminal & wire that BRP deleted in order to make the hi & lo beam lights work in isolation.

Hey, if you really want to, you could even convert/revert your upper hi-beams to hi-lo headlights by adding that wire & terminal and installing twin filament globes in the upper position, and that way, you can either choose to keep the lo-beam lights as is/where is; or you can add the BRP Fog light switch to the bridging wire & turn them back into Fog lights!



Btw, you can buy (or you could?!? ) an OE 'Accent light' kit to fit into those little spots up in the top corners of the upper light fittings; the wiring & assy's are plug & play. The only hard part about fitting those accent lights is actually removing each of the upper light assy's to get at the back of them, then finding the correct sized hole saw and drilling out the blanking placcy 'fake lens' - if you don't get the drill/hole saw in EXACTLY the right spot it'll make the accent lights look reeeeaaallly ugly & mess up all the shiny placcy reflector inside your headlights!! . But get it right, and those upper accent lights look pretty good. While you're at it, you may notice that there's similar looking little 'fake lenses' in the lo-beam/fog light assy's too - don't be fooled, they ARE fake, and fitting anything into them is a right pain for no real gain - and bloody hard to get at too!

I understand what your saying, to get all 4 running on high beam, but without using a diode cant understand how the high beam wont be getting energized when using just low beam????

[Peter Aawen]

I understand what your saying, to get all 4 running on high beam, but without using a diode cant understand how the high beam wont be getting energized when using just low beam????

Just the same as it doesn't get energised on most cars when you select low beam.

There are 2 separate circuits, one for low beam, one for high beam; the only common thing between them is that they use the same earth wire. When you select low beam, only the low beam circuit gets energised, so only the low beam globe &/or filament in the globe gets power - the high beam circuit and globe/filaments are completely separate and have no power being fed to them while you have low beam selected. However, when you select high beam, you can choose to activate & therefore energise ONLY the high beam circuit (as currently occurs) so that only the high beam globes/filaments will light up; or you can power BOTH circuits and by doing that, you'll provide power to all 4 globes/filaments, high and low. But they are still completely separate circuits, albeit sharing a common earth.

Make sense??

[Marc]

Just the same as it doesn't get energised on most cars when you select low beam.

There are 2 separate circuits, one for low beam, one for high beam; the only common thing between them is that they use the same earth wire. When you select low beam, only the low beam circuit gets energised, so only the low beam globe &/or filament in the globe gets power - the high beam circuit and globe/filaments are completely separate and have no power being fed to them while you have low beam selected. However, when you select high beam, you can choose to activate & therefore energise ONLY the high beam circuit (as currently occurs) so that only the high beam globes/filaments will light up; or you can power BOTH circuits and by doing that, you'll provide power to all 4 globes/filaments, high and low. But they are still completely separate circuits, albeit sharing a common earth.

Make sense??

The bit I was getting at is on high beam having the lower set of lights lit also.

[Peter Aawen]

The bit I was getting at is on high beam having the lower set of lights lit also.

Yeah, understood that. But since your Hi beam & Lo beam lights each have individual circuits, that's not an issue - if you wire the switching to power all four lights (ie, both hi & lo beams) when you've selected hi beam, then just like in most cars (that generally DON'T have diodes installed ) you've simply got both circuits activated. And when you switch back to lo beams only, you've only got power going to the lo beam lights so they're the only lights shining. No power to the hi beam globes/filaments, No hi beam lights.... .

But if you know & are more comfortable with adding diodes &/or anything else, then do it that way - after all, it's your Spyder.

[Marc]

Ahh well, all good things....

Still, if you're reasonably OK with getting the tupperware off & stripping/soldering wire (or comfortable using those cheapie crimp connectors! ) then it's not really all that hard to wire the headlights up to work as 4-eyes - the plugs that we get here in Oz on the back of the hi-beam lights are actually the same as those on your 2-filament hi-lo car headlights, just minus the lo-beam terminal & feeding the single filament hi-beam globe that's factory installed for Oz/EU spec Spyders. You can buy the terminals to fit in that vacant spot, and then add the necessary wiring to energise all 4 lights on hi-beam without worrying about those diodes - effectively, you're just replacing the terminal & wire that BRP deleted in order to make the hi & lo beam lights work in isolation.

Hey, if you really want to, you could even convert/revert your upper hi-beams to hi-lo headlights by adding that wire & terminal and installing twin filament globes in the upper position, and that way, you can either choose to keep the lo-beam lights as is/where is; or you can add the BRP Fog light switch to the bridging wire & turn them back into Fog lights!



Btw, you can buy (or you could?!? ) an OE 'Accent light' kit to fit into those little spots up in the top corners of the upper light fittings; the wiring & assy's are plug & play. The only hard part about fitting those accent lights is actually removing each of the upper light assy's to get at the back of them, then finding the correct sized hole saw and drilling out the blanking placcy 'fake lens' - if you don't get the drill/hole saw in EXACTLY the right spot it'll make the accent lights look reeeeaaallly ugly & mess up all the shiny placcy reflector inside your headlights!! . But get it right, and those upper accent lights look pretty good. While you're at it, you may notice that there's similar looking little 'fake lenses' in the lo-beam/fog light assy's too - don't be fooled, they ARE fake, and fitting anything into them is a right pain for no real gain - and bloody hard to get at too!

Ok LedS arrived and installed, however while I had the high beams out can not see anyway a h4 bulb would fit. I used a fuse splitter from the high beam sides of things and using a diode bridge to the trigger pole on the low beam relay, So nowe have all 4 lights going when switched to high beam. When I eventually get a workshop manual am thinking of trying to wire up the "push to talk" button as a high beam flash switch as is what i'm used to on nearly all my past bikes. I love your h4 idea and would love to figure out how to do it...

[Peter Aawen]

Check out the plugs on the back of your Hi-beam lights - they are identical 3 pin plugs to those on many twin filament globes in car headlights. The light assy's themselves are Projector lights that will take a twin filament globe (if necessary, modded appropriately to take an H4, or an HB5, an H7, an H11, an H13, or even a D2S, or..... whatever, there's probably more) and as such they'll work with the emitted beam to project a Hi OR a Lo beam light, if that's what you want to do. Or you could use the Hi beam light to trigger a relay to supply power to the Lo beam lights at the same time, giving you all Four lights....