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dog812

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Hey i just purchased a ds80 for my gf, it has lights and everything looks like it is wired up properly. But neither light works, i replaced the bulbs.
I have a multimeter.. How do i test the wiring?
I tried setting my multi to 20vdc, and touching the wires in the headlight socket, but i couldnt get anything that said 6volts. what should it be reading?
Any help would be great.
She is just learning to ride, and i figure it would be nice if she had lights so people see her.
 
hey, welcome to Miniriders,

don't forget to drop by and say g'day in our Introduce Yourself thread too.

usually motorcycle Headlights are run on AC voltage
i will get some more details for you later


cheers, craig.
 
That would make sense why i wasnt getting any good readings. But the bulbs are both 6v bulbs.. so there should be 6volts showing on the multi though correct?
The other thing, my headlight bulb is burnt, do both bulbs need to be working, installed, for the lights to work? Or are they wired individually?
 
yeah, but AC voltage not DC like in automotive.
so set your meter to AC before testing it.

05_testing_page_001_1.jpg


if you look at your headlight switch there will be 2 wires running off that, down the bars and into the rubber boot/loom end behind the headlight.
unplug the 2 wires from the headlight switch in the boot, and test both of them for 6V-7V AC when the engine is running
you will only get power from one wire.
the other lead is the power feed that goes to the headlight bulb


while you have your meter out,
you can test the actual headlight switch,
grab the 2x wires that come from the switch
set your meter to 200 Ohms again put one lead to one terminal, and the other to the other terminal.
turn your switch to on, and you should get a reading on your meter.
if you get a 1 come up, then there is a problem in the switch.
there are a couple of brass contacts inside the switch, if they are corroded, or dirty then that could cause a bad contact.
spray them with wd40 etc, and give them a wipe off, and put the switch back together and retest it.


and, no both lights are both powered off the same circuit,
a blackend bulb shows that there's been too much voltage run through it.
most of the time if one globe blows it will spike the power and blow the other.


you can check your bulbs with your multimeter, set it to 200 Ohms,
your meter should read 1, now touch your leads together and it should read .1 or 2 (or close)
this shows you that there is a good circuit there, if it stays at 1, then you have a broken cicuit
if you get a 1 reading when testing a bulb, then it is usually the filament that has broken.


so place one lead to a terminal contact point on the bulb, and the other lead to the the bulb bases' metal housing.
you should get a reading say .8 or around that if the bulb is ok,
or it won't change, and will show a 1 if there is a broken filament


try the above tests out, and if you can't get a voltage reading from one of the wires coming from the switch, i'll let you know the Ohms reading that you can test for, from the Lighting coil in the stator
there is also another connector for the stator to the main wiring loom
it is located up above the carby, usually strapped to the frame
 
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Thanks for all info , so i was able to find out my switch is good, and multimeter when set to 200 ACV gives me a reading between 18 and 24.0?? not sure what that means? this is the multimeter i have.
DMR-1000.JPG


And when i pull out the tailight bulb, and test in the housing i get no reading.. so i am guessing the wires are disconnected somewhere..
 
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there are a couple of plugs/sockets up under the seat, where the tail lights' wiring joins into the main loom


the DS80 doesn't have a voltage regulator, so whatever voltage comes out of the lighting coil in the stator when the engine is running, goes straight through to the lights.


on the back of the headlight globe retianing socket you will see 3 wires,
try swapping the grey, and the yellow w/red striped wires around in the sockets on the loom
and see if you headlight works then ?


if it does, start the bike again, with the headlight wiring still connected and turned on.
turn your meter to AC volts,
then slip your meter's red probe into the yellow w/red striped plug/socket
and the black probe from the meter to an earth point,
quickly measure what voltage is going through it

then take the probe off the yellow w/red striped wire, and put it into the plug/socket of the grey wire
and measure what voltage is there.

the voltage will most likely drop down when the light bulb is working due to the load
so what i'm trying to work out is how much voltage the lighting coil in the stator is putting out.
 
i am wainting for a headlight bulb in the mail.. i figured out the taillight wiring, but as soon as i put the bulb in it blew, i guess too much voltage without the headlight.. oh well.. now its the waiting game.
 
in the post above yours, i wrote how to swap the wires around for the headlight bulb
the DS80 uses a twin filament bulb, but only use 1 filament, either the high or low beam
so if you swap them around the bulb may still work if the other filament is still good.
 
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yeah one of the filaments is still good.. ill give that a shot.. thanks man.
 
the other thing with older bikes running a 6V lighting system, is at sustained higher rpms
they can put out more voltage than the usual rpms, so that can shorten the life of the bulbs

what i do is to use a slightly brighter bulb, a 35 watt, instead of the standard 25 watt.
so that helps to keep the voltage down if you like riding in the higher rpm range.
they seem to last way longer too
i use a 35w/35w bulb, and buy them from a guy in UK, he sells a pack of 10 for just over $18 AU including delivery

4 of my bikes use this bulb, so at that price, it's cheap to have some spares




also, have you checked out my DS80 build thread yet?
the link is below in my signature, click on it to view.
 
Yeah i have checked it out, looks new. nice work..
Well i am guessing that is why my bulbs are burnt.. the one i pulled out is 15/15w... and that is what i ordered in ... dammit.
Oh well.. maybe ill give up on the lighting for this little guy.
 
I would see how the bulb in it atm goes.
But you need a tail globe to stop the headlight bulb from burning out.

If they keep blowing, then you' ll need to either replace/rewind your lighting coil,
or you could add in a 6 volt regulator, it wouldn'be too hard to wire up.
 
Hi. Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the DS80? Thanks in advance.
 

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