Mysterious Brake/Tail Light Failure

[Rich]

The other night I pulled into the driveway and discovered my brake and and tail lights were both out. These are two 1157-equivalent bulbs, with two filaments per bulb. At first I figured it had to be a problem with the wiring, since I believe these were all working the last time I drove after dark (yes, I confess I do not check all my lights every time I drive). But it turned out that it was all 4 filaments in the bulbs that somehow mysteriously blew out. Easy and cheap enough to replace, but it's a mystery. If they blew at the same time (unknown), one would think it was some kind of voltage surge event. But I've lost no other bulbs in the 11 months I've owned the bike.

New bulbs are working fine so far.

As it happens I've got a Hyperlight module mounted on my top box. This still worked, with no apparent problem, so I actually never totally lost brake and tail light function. Of course, the Hyperlight is fed from an electronic module which taps into the brake and tail light circuits right near these bulbs. I wonder if there's any possibility that the module caused some kind of voltage spikes in these circuits that blew the bulbs.

Keeping a closer eye on it, though checking that BOTH brake lights are working is a bit of work.

 

[Herb]

I had to replace both of my tail lights- not at the same time but pretty close in time. Easy fix but seemed odd that it would happen so soon.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I did that too. Early in the bike's life. Wonder if Honda uses cheap bulbs. Haven't had to do it in quite a while now -- maybe over a year.

 

[tawilke46]

Now you guys have me thinking............I need to go check mine right now................hope they were working on my ride today.

 

[tommyr]

Keeping a closer eye on it, though checking that BOTH brake lights are working is a bit of work.

What I usually do is put one of my gloves over the brake lever and the handgrip, then go around back and check them.

 

[Rich]

What I usually do is put one of my gloves over the brake lever and the handgrip, then go around back and check them.

Correct. Something like this is necessary to ensure BOTH brake lights still work.

 

[Rmcapozzi]

Hmmm. That is strange. If it was just that both running lights were out, I could see you not noticing 1 running light out until they both went out. But it is odd that all 4 elements in both bulbs were blown. The likely hood of that being just the lights dieing normally, seems like a bit of a long shot to me. Not sure I can provide any additional theory to what might have caused the problem.

 

[axamax]

Quote Originally Posted by tommyr View Post
What I usually do is put one of my gloves over the brake lever and the handgrip, then go around back and check them.
Correct. Something like this is necessary to ensure BOTH brake lights still work.

Or park in front of a shop window?

 

[DirtFlier]

Both of my taillight bulbs failed last year and within a short time of each other.

 

[Warren]

Are these the standard 1157 bulbs that you can get in an auto store ? I think I might pick up a couple of spares.

 

[Bab]

I have no experience with bulbs blowing on bikes, but I remember as a kid, my uncle lost almost all of his clearance lights within a 2 day span on a gravel truck as the first anniversary of purchasing it new aproached. Other owner operators I have spoke with have complained of similar circumstances. I believe bulbs do have very similar livfe spans.

 

[vc_slim]

Had one burn out recently so replaced both and put the other original in my repair kit.

 

[XmarkF]

I would be looking for a poor earth (-) connection as this is the common for just about everything.
I had an XL250 which was 6v and I replaced 3 maybe 4 headlight globes before I worked out that was the problem. The last one actually had a perfect hole melted through the glass about 2.5mm across.