I've seen a bunch of posts on the forum about short lived low beam bulbs and this has always puzzled me. I have a 2014 with 40K miles on it and I'm still on the original bulbs.
An explanation occurred to me and I thought I'd share it with all. Bulb lifetime is very sensitive to operating voltage. This is why, on a car, if one headlight goes out and you don't notice and replace it fairly quickly, the other will often go shortly after. This is because the line loss through the headlight wiring when both headlights of a car are operating is significant, reducing the operating voltage. When one headlight burns out, the line loss is reduced and the remaining headlight gets a higher voltage (typically 1/2 a volt or more) and, as a result, is more likely to burn out.
For many years now, I have always ridden in daylight hours with my high beam on (I do not often ride at night, if it can be avoided). I do this to increase my visibility and make me more conspicuous to oncoming traffic - especially at intersections. I don't think the high beam will adversely affect the vision of oncoming drivers in the daytime and, from riding with other RTs and checking my mirrors, I know that it certainly makes the RT much more conspicuous from the front.
On a recent ride, I wondered about how much of a difference the line loss would be in the RT's headlight system with the high beam on and off. According to the dashboard voltmeter, at highway speeds the system voltage is 14.1V with the high bean off and 13.9V with it on. I'm pretty sure that the 0.2V does make a difference in bulb operating lifetime - and I think I'm safer with the high beam on in the daytime.
Seems like a beneficial and free thing to do...
An explanation occurred to me and I thought I'd share it with all. Bulb lifetime is very sensitive to operating voltage. This is why, on a car, if one headlight goes out and you don't notice and replace it fairly quickly, the other will often go shortly after. This is because the line loss through the headlight wiring when both headlights of a car are operating is significant, reducing the operating voltage. When one headlight burns out, the line loss is reduced and the remaining headlight gets a higher voltage (typically 1/2 a volt or more) and, as a result, is more likely to burn out.
For many years now, I have always ridden in daylight hours with my high beam on (I do not often ride at night, if it can be avoided). I do this to increase my visibility and make me more conspicuous to oncoming traffic - especially at intersections. I don't think the high beam will adversely affect the vision of oncoming drivers in the daytime and, from riding with other RTs and checking my mirrors, I know that it certainly makes the RT much more conspicuous from the front.
On a recent ride, I wondered about how much of a difference the line loss would be in the RT's headlight system with the high beam on and off. According to the dashboard voltmeter, at highway speeds the system voltage is 14.1V with the high bean off and 13.9V with it on. I'm pretty sure that the 0.2V does make a difference in bulb operating lifetime - and I think I'm safer with the high beam on in the daytime.
Seems like a beneficial and free thing to do...
