Head Light Question

[RUOUTHERE]

For those of you owning a '14 RT Limited or otherwise.....have you noticed any issues with your headlights? Have you noticed people pulling over and letting you go by during the day while running your low beams?

The reason I ask is......while I followed my wife in her Grand Cherokee on my RT the other day she noticed what seemed to be my headlights dimming and in some cases going out. Then a day later while riding some backroads I had three cars pull over to let me bye. I stopped and asked the third person why? He said I seemed to be flashing my headlights at him so he assumed I was in a rush and wanted to get around him.

So I brought my scoot into my dealer, he tells me it's normal and other '14s do the same thing. It's the high beam/low beam shutter that when the scoot gets into a certain angle to the car in front the lens can cause it headlight to appear it's dimming or going out. Suggest from Can-Am as per the Owners Manual, run your high beam during the day.

So am I the only one experiencing this or is this common?

Signed, Confused in MA

[billybovine]

Common observation.
Your headlights are aimed slightly too high.
During the day run with your high beams on.

[sharp]

Or you could raise the back end by adding air to the rear shock

[rpatsh]

my 2012 does the same thing. I have even had a couple people think I was a cop with flashing lights.

[bluestratos]

I raise my rear shock air pressure through the day to lessen the problem but last fall I had a guy go ballistic and chase me with his car. When I realize he was following me I pulled over after pulling a fast U turn. He stop across the street the fingered me and started swearing like a lunatic. I got off the bike, helmut in hand in case he tried anything but he quickly rolled his window, called 911 and said I was attacking him! lol.. So I got back on the bike and a short while later I was pulled over by the police. He asked if I was involved in an altercation with another vehicle and I said no, but the other driver had tried to provoke me but I did not know why. They had the other driver stopped just down the street so they would ask him a question then compare my answer with his and this went on for about 10-15 minutes. They finally told me that he felt I was flashing my lights at him to piss him off. The officer laughed when I explained our head light system and said he believed me and they were going to give the other guy a stern warning for "road rage".

[jwulf74]

Even with the high beams on we get people pulling over occasionally. My wife just laughs and laughs when she sees them do it. Having been in front of her it does look funny when the shutter bounces a little and the odd thing is that the Spyder headlights do look to shift color in rearview mirrors so I can easily see how someone could mistake it for flashing cop lights. We have it seem to happen the most around dusk.

[otter28169]

What I was told when I first started experiencing this problem was that the low beams cause this problem. The low beams are made "low" by a shutter that drops down over the top of the head light. When you hit bumps this shutter actually shudders. That causes the flashing. If you need to adjust the headlights there are adjuster screws underneath each headlight you can adjust with a phillips head screwdriver.

Just sayin'............,

[Chupaca]

that they do. Both flashing and changing colors. Have been on group rides and when looking back in the evening darkness it looks like xmas lights. I ryde mostly back roads and passing can be limited and often wonder if folks let me by because of the flashing or they don't like tailgaters...always wave to them in appriciation...

[ARtraveler]

Add another vote to the "that's the way they are" category. All of mine have had the same issue. Looking in my rearview mirror on any ryde with akspyderlady, the lights seem to be flashing. A solution, seems to be run high beams, add air to rear shock, re-align headlights.

[SpyderAnn01]

I wish Scotty was here with his excellent explanation. But I will add this, you should ride with your bright lights on during the day do that you can be seen. If you have ever ridden with a group if Spyders or motorcycles, look behind you and you will see thud difference in visibility of hikes with the high beams on and those with low beams.

I am am the bright light police, if you ride with me you ride with your brights on!

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I run with high beams all the time, but also with a headlight modulator. Many times folks pull over because of the modulating lights. Don't know if they think I'm a cop, or if the modulating light irritates them so they let me by to get rid of the annoying light in their rearview mirror.

[RUOUTHERE]

ok so the consensus seems to be my "flashing" headlight is not unique to my scoot, that's the good news. The bad? That shouldn't happen! I would think Can-Am would have addressed this issue by now.

A couple of issues - a) what appears to be flashing headlights has and can lead to road rage and b) what appears to be flashing headlights could indicate to someone you're giving them the ok to turn in front of you. That's why I won't run a modulator.

Anyways thanks all for the input, I shared with my dealer so now they know too.

Kevin

[gonker]

I got one for you. Had been following a car for a few miles at night. It had been going slower as we drove along. Finally the road widened to four lanes and I got stopped at a light beside the car. The driver rolled down her window and thanked me for not being a UFO. She was all giddy and laughing saying how I had scared her and she thought I was going to fly up and over her car like they did in the "Close Encounter" movie. We both had a good laugh right there at the light. I got off the bike later and took a good look at the lights in the dark. With the fog lights, fender leds, accent leds by the headlights, all on together.... she was right. Now if I could only get the anti-gravity coil working....

[Bob Denman]

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

A couple of issues - a) what appears to be flashing headlights has and can lead to road rage

Possible, but I think very rarely. But your point is that other drivers become aware of your presence, and that is what it is all about.

and b) what appears to be flashing headlights could indicate to someone you're giving them the ok to turn in front of you.

In 8 years and 52,000 miles on my Goldwing my experience has been the exact opposite. I've seen a number of people start to pull out and then stop. One time in the evening when the ambient light had dropped enough to turn the modulator off, I had to flash from high to low about 5 times before some idiot decided he really should not pull out in front of me.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

The problem with the shutters, as I see it, is they are light weight, and are held in the low beam position by gravity. That's why they bounce. A solenoid pulls them up into high beam position and holds them there. The fail safe position, if the shutter solenoid loses power or doesn't work for some other reason, is for the shutters to drop down into the low beam position.