Headlights

[Scouse]

Hi all am new here and have a 2020 Z900 and the main beam on one side is not working is there a replacement bulb or do I have to replace the whole unit? Many thanks

[RideWithStyles]

lets put it this way your gonna have to bite the "for the life of the bike BS" its not a bulb so its not cheap.

If its LED you have to but the head light unit sometimes separate and sometimes both....

[Scouse]

37 minutes ago, RideWithStyles said:

lets put it this way your gonna have to bite the "for the life of the bike BS" its not a bulb so its not cheap.

If its LED you have to but the head light unit sometimes separate and sometimes both....

It’s  a 2020 model so it’s led don’t know if I can replace the bulb or the whole unit which is just over £200

[Old-codger]

Not sure of your exact model but have a look on here it may give you an idea. Kawasaki Original Parts | Genuine Kawasaki Parts Dealer

[Simon Davey]

At the risk of me looking like a right eejit, I see so many bikes with only one side working, I thought it was to do with whichever light was switched on. 

i.e. Side light, low beam, high beam etc?????

[Old-codger]

Did your bike come with an owners handbook or whatever the modern version is these days. After the new year take a trip to your local kwaka dealer and have a friendly word with them. 

[M620]

A few years ago I had a Honda VFR 750 and only one of the two headlight bulbs would be illuminated at a time, dip or main beam.
Lots of people changed the wiring so both bulbs lit when you switched to main beam effectively a permanent headlight flash. 
Personally I was not too sure it wouldn’t harm the wiring, even if it did dramatically improve the light output on unlit roads 

[Simon Davey]

32 minutes ago, M620 said:

A few years ago I had a Honda VFR 750 and only one of the two headlight bulbs would be illuminated at a time, dip or main beam.
Lots of people changed the wiring so both bulbs lit when you switched to main beam effectively a permanent headlight flash. 
Personally I was not too sure it wouldn’t harm the wiring, even if it did dramatically improve the light output on unlit roads 

 

This was my line of thought.

[Nick the wanderer]

Yeah as above, maybe find out what it should be doing 1st, that maybe the way it works..

[Gerontious]

Google informs me that this bike has an LED array in its headlamp and for an entire side to stop working - sounds more like an ordinary electrical fault rather than the LED array being broken. Usually as LEDs wear out they will stop working individually and the MOT allows for a certain %. But this shouldn’t be happening to a 3 year old bike and even if it does, would be more likely for the ‘always on’ dip side. But how to fix it? I wouldn’t rush to full replacement I would be heading to a dealership and have the fault traced. Fuse perhaps or a broken solder join/wire - loose connection come apart, maybe. Faulty switch on the handlebar could be the cause too.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Gerontious

[RideWithStyles]

when did you suddenly decide to trust google?

as a work site that has many of them plus many electric engineers that say the same.

to put a actual truth to this depending on how many units leds are linked into a unit, quality and use case.

units can go at any time and to what grade goes or degrades. While sections or partially is as about as accurate as "whats the length of a piece of string" they die at anytime and its tough sh1t...

 

[Gerontious]

1 hour ago, RideWithStyles said:

when did you suddenly decide to trust google?

 

 

When it lead me to a review on these bikes that answered the question I was asking. "Does the 2020 Z900 have LED lights?"

 

I asked that and one of the top results was from MCN.  And one can usually trust what MCN has to say about specifications. especially when multiple other sources are saying the exact same thing.

 

This is where google comes in handy. 

 

 

I own a bike with LED lights and I know that if an entire array stops working then the problem is much more likely to be a general electrical problem than a fault in the array itself. 9/10 it will be the switch at the handlebar. And as the cost of a new headlamp is somewhat prohibitive, its generally a good idea to rule out the simple causes first rather than jump straight to a full replacement. You are going to seem a bit dumb if you buy a brand new headlamp and that doesn't work either because the problem is actually a faulty switch.

 

 

[RideWithStyles]

Or to flip it a bit silly buying a switch when the unit is fooked.....lol

 

the only way to confirm to a certain degree is to continuity test the unit is its individual leds....

Edited December 28, 2023 by RideWithStyles