I had a weird one this week. Went to start up the bike to ride to work in the morning and the bike started fine and the charging system is working perfect but I had no headlight, none, no low beam or high beam but the high beam indicator was on when the headlight switch was on high or low. I would have expected if one burnt out the other would still work. What the hell!
Turns out the Walmart H6024 I just put in went bad in 20 miles. When I checked the resistance between all three terminals it was clear the ground had broken internally. The reason the high beam indicator was on is it was being backfed through the filaments and through the indicator bulb to ground. Anybody care to guess which Asian country the Sylvania bulb was manufactured in? I found an old US made GE H6024 in my old parts so at least I have a headlight, we’ll see how long this one lasts.
Well, I'm told that these old XS650s do vibrate a little..... Having said that, I haven't had much trouble with headlight or tail/signal or brake light bulbs, so you may just have gotten a bad one.
However, I DID have a ton of trouble with instrument illumination bulbs until I switched over to LEDs from Super Bright LEDs. (www.superbrightleds.com)
The old school incandescent bulbs seemed to last somewhere between an hour and a week - and then they always died. The LED replacements went in a month or so ago and are still lighting up my tach. I have at least one dead incandescent in the speedo so I will swap it over to LEDs on the weekend. Here is what I ordered for my 1976 XS650C (and NOTE - later bikes use different bulbs and I do not know when the switch occurred). I think it cost $18.65 CDN for a 10-pack of bulbs, which is enough for 2.5 bikes, as each instrument has two illumination sockets. A full set of LEDs for your instruments would require..about 7 bulbs I think.
For some unexplained reason, I have never burnt out or replaced one of the warning lights (high beam, brake light, neutral light etc.).
BA9s LED Bulb - 4 LED - BA9s Bulb Warm White 90 Degree 12VAC - 10 Pack
See what's included in this kit
Last edited: