High Beam Lights Up After a Delay

Has anyone seen this before? After switching on the High Beam, it seemed like there was a 4 second delay before the bulb lit up. On a few more tries, the delay was not consistent. Sometimes the delay was 10 seconds. The blue indicator light stays dark until the high beam actually lights up. I suppose the switch could have a problem... Does anyone know if there is a relay?

Sounds like you need to clean out the switch.

Watch for flying springs when you take it apart. Or just squirt some ACF-50 into it

This is probably the starter switch (push button). It is common for these to develop a problem.

Try squirting some contact cleaner or WD40 into the switch and then push the button a few times to "exercise" the contacts.

Let us know if it fixes the problem.

Seagrass

If it was the Starter Switch surely both High and Low Beam would be affected?

Though, it's a good idea to do both sides while you're at it.

There is a headlight relay and it's only function is to turn on the Hi Beams when the handlebar switch is in High. The relay should be called a "Hi Beam Relay" as it does nothing for low beam circuit. Also of note is that the Hi beam indicating light on the dash gets it power from the output contact of the "Hi Beam Relay," the same power that goes to the Hi beam bulb.

I agree that if it was the starter switch contact it should affect both Hi & Lo beams.

I'd suspect it is either the HI/LO Switch or the Headlight Relay. The relay is between the left saddlebag and rear tire.....somewhere in there with 3 other relays. Good luck.

As the high beam draws more current than the low beam the starter switch could be the problem if it is just starting to misbehave. I suggested this as the cause due to the fact that the high beams starts after a few seconds and this is a very quick fix to see if it resolves the problem.

If not then the relay or switch would be next on my list.

Seagrass

dnktng said:

There is a headlight relay and it's only function is to turn on the Hi Beams when the handlebar switch is in High. The relay should be called a "Hi Beam Relay" as it does nothing for low beam circuit. Also of note is that the Hi beam indicating light on the dash gets it power from the output contact of the "Hi Beam Relay," the same power that goes to the Hi beam bulb.

I agree that if it was the starter switch contact it should affect both Hi & Lo beams.



I'd suspect it is either the HI/LO Switch or the Headlight Relay. The relay is between the left saddlebag and rear tire.....somewhere in there with 3 other relays. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies. I bought this low mileage NT in September. I must have toggled the high beam switch just to see if it worked but in normal street riding at night, I didn't need to use it. But in my past experience, the high beam could be critical when diving into a curve on a mountain road at night or to alert a car driver who may not see me.
Now that I know there is a relay, I am more inclined to suspect that it is slow to react after receiving voltage from the high beam switch. I will look into this and post a result. Thanks.

seagrass said:

As the high beam draws more current than the low beam the starter switch could be the problem if it is just starting to misbehave. I suggested this as the cause due to the fact that the high beams starts after a few seconds and this is a very quick fix to see if it resolves the problem.

If not then the relay or switch would be next on my list.



Seagrass

Click to expand...

Both hi and lo beams use 55W H7 bulbs. My "guess" would be the switch having an intermittent contact. Relays don't usually behave this way.

Mike

couple years ago I had a problem with the headlight going off....usually occurred with in a couple minutes of starting the bike......scared the hell out of me when it played now you see me, now you don't on the "S" curves not far from home. I took it to the dealer...bike was still under warranty at the time...dealer couldn't find anything wrong....quite typical of sporadic electrical problems, they won't reveal themselves at your convenience...anyway, seems it fixed itself as I haven't had any trouble in a couple years now........so I guess I could say that it hasn't happened since the last time....I suspect the problem was in the starter switch. It would come right back on when I flicked the starter button....