General headlamp bulb question

[ARNIE R]

Having just replaced my 4th headlight bulb in 3-1/2 years at 44K miles, I was curious as to what might primarily contribute to bulb failures as a whole.

1 - Cheap bulbs
2 - Total hours of bulb life (whether riding or performing work on the bike)
3 - Total miles ridden (as opposed to idling in your driveway while doing work)
4 - Amount of start/stop procedures on the electrical system in general

I am proud to say that I have the procedure down to about 15-20 minutes now from my original 90 minutes...........;)

[Peter Aawen]

That's a good question Arnie; it really makes a fella think! :thumbup:

So, given that the headlights are on all the time the engine is running, I think that total hours of globe use is probably going to be a pretty big part of this 'globe life' thing, altho I suspect the frequency & number of on/off cycles plays a significant part in overall globe life too.... :dontknow:

Often, you'll be able to find an 'average' or 'expected' globe life in hours hidden somewhere in the specs for most reasonable/good quality globes; not quite so often for the cheaper offerings - and there is very likely an identifiable & measurable link between the number of miles you do on your Spyder to the number of hours your headlights are actually on.... only that link is probably going to be a little different for different riders. Someone who rides in a way that gives them a 'total ride time average speed' of saaay, 70 mph will probably get a better 'miles between headlight globe failures' than someone who rides in a way that makes their total ride time average speed come in closer to saaay 30 mph; simply because the faster average speed means that rider will probably cover more miles in the same sorta time that the slower rider will need to cover less miles, and the globes do have an expected life that's normally measured in hours of operation, even if that is also varied/impacted by how often you turn them on/off! :rolleyes:

So really, and recognising that there's a risk some may feel I'm being just a little facetious (and I'd really hate for this reply to be seen as being completely facetious... :p ) I think the correct answer to your question with it's 5 choices is most likely gonna be - YES! Absolutey!


But then, I generally just try to Ryde More, Worry Less! ..... and change the light globes whenever they fail! :ohyea: :thumbup:

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

For Mtc's. in general, the Halogen ie. filament type bulbs take a beating. Not just from rough roads, mtc's have more vibration than auto's. ( and your V-twin shakes more than the 1330 ) .... consider getting heavy duty halogen ( for Mtc. ) bulbs .... or switching to an LED type bulb that will .... A- provide better light, and B- last longer ..... think about switching............... If you already have LED headlights , then I think something is wrong..... I have a 14 RT with 4 years on my LED headlights ...... Mike :thumbup:

[Mikey]

:agree:x2 And if your using halogens use gloves to install then and don't get any kind of oil or grease on them, but of course you knew that anyway!! Good luck!

[JayBros]

I agree with Mike and Mikey. Where are you getting your bulbs? If you're getting them from a BRP dealership those bulbs come in an unsealed box that a greasy fingered parts guy can contaminate unless you diligently clean the bulbs with alcohol before installing. Get them from an auto parts store where they come sealed and are lower priced than from a dealership. I switched to LEDs and prefer them.

[billybovine]

If you buy the higher performance bulbs. At double or triple the price of a standard bulb. Available from any parts store, from several different brands. The light output is dramatically better. But the lifespan is a lot shorter. If you want longer life. Buy a good brand name, less expensive standard bulb. It is commonly confused by folks when they walk into the parts store that the more expensive bulb will last longer. Actually the opposite. So pick what is more important to you.

As mentioned above. Rough roads and other vibrations can shorten the bulb life.

[ARtraveler]

I replaced two bulbs in two years on my 2014 RT. Had tri-cled LED's installed and the 14 is still going strong four years after the last incident.

[ARNIE R]

So far, everything has been replaced by generic Sylvania 9003 Extra Visions (one step about their lower bulbs).

I may try LED's on the next go round.

Thanks for all the comments. :clap:

[Lew L]

I put in TricLED 360* LED and never looked back. Really brightens thing up looking forward too.