1977 xs650b burning bulbs

[wildshipe]

Hello. I took this 77 xs650b home striped her naked and started from scratch. Wired in a voltage/reg, ungrounded the brushes with nylon screws. charging system seems to be working perfectly. In 500 miles of testing i have burnt out my new gauge lights and 3 tail/break lights. When running bike at 3k i get 14.5 volts to the bat, but im also getting the same "14.5v" at the light terminals. pleas help!

[pamcopete]

wildshipe,

Well, vibration and the quality of the bulbs is also a factor. The stock speedo / tach has at least a bit of rubber insulation, as does the tail light. If you removed that protection, that could be an issue.

Lamp quality is also hard to find these days as well. Try Sylvania bulbs, if you can find them.

[ShakerNorm]

Wilde - 14.5 volts is actually pretty usual voltage on a "12 volt" system. The 12 volts only refers to the battery voltage, and the system voltage must be higher than that to keep the battery charged. Getting the same voltage at the battery and at the bulbs just means your system is probably in pretty good shape with very few bad connections.

Pete's probably right about the vibrations killing your bulbs. I put all new LED lights in mine, and they've all been shaken to pieces (Literally ).... and that's with all the stock rubber mounts in place!

[wildshipe]

Thanx for the replies. I put a led in the tail/break light went for 130 mil ride and its still working. ;D The led is rated to 13.8v though. we will see what happens.

[xsleo]

I might check the grounds on the lights. Bad grounds can blow bulbs. Oh, by the way, if your bike is a 77 it's a D model not a B model. The B was a 75.