Apex XTX No Headlights

[biffdotorg]

So we stuffed the Apex and Viper in deep ditches tonight. I pulled my tow tope out that I keep in the nose cone bag up front. That bag has never been removed.

After I pulled the viper out, I noticed I had no headlights. All other lights working and no codes. Just no headlights. Since I was just under the hood, I thought maybe I pulled something loose on the rectifier. But I can only assume I would have lost more than just headlights.

I am going to check fuses,and my ballasts, as I have Rocks HID kit installed. But if I had lost a ballast, I would have only lost one light, rather than both. The sled is stuffed full of snow and ice as we were riding in a horrible blizzard. It needs to thaw out tonight in the garage.

I may also have to swap my first Apex belt, as I may have burnt it up while trying to pull out the Viper. What a night. Just glad to be home.

Any suggestions on the best steps to troubleshoot would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Snorunner]

At least we have snow! Got a foot at my house and still snowing! Sorry about your troubles.

 

[dylanjen9]

The ecu is in the nose could have loose connection

 

[hibshman25]

There are relays in left foot well. If sled was stuffed with snow you may have gotten moisture in relay and it froze. These relays only energize after sled starts.

 

[biffdotorg]

So after thawing all the snow out, yes, the nose was full of snow. And I assumed I had pulled a connector loose when I pulled the nose bag out. I would have been surprised that only the lights would have gone out. It's still drying up there. I may get some heat up there to help it along. pull apart all connectors and dry them and add some dielectric grease.

I also topped the battery, as some said low battery may cause HID's to not fire up. I have Rocks kit installed now. Is there one fuse for the lights? I am digging through my service manual now.

Should relays be swapped to test? or can they be dried out? I'm sure that was packed with snow as well. It was a rough night.

THanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming.

 

[biffdotorg]

So that was fun. Honestly of the five four stoke Yamahas I have owned, I have never had to swap a fuse or relay. I knew the location of the relay and I had a spare (dry) relay in my bag. But that one is the 5 prong relay, and the others are the 4 prong.

But once I pulled covers off, it wreaked of electrical fire. I pulled all the panels and the light pod to find one of the connectors on the back of the HID’s had fried and busted right open. And this was not the ballast, although, there are plenty of electrical components on the connector. So I pulled all that out and HID lamps and put the stock ones back in for now. I will get with Rock to see how best to replace this kit. I’m not sure what is all bad, so I may have to just have rock test it and I pay for the parts that are shot. I cannot live without his HID kit!!!

Then for the life of me looking at the parts diagram, I was thinking I saw fuses down next to the battery. I thought, what a crappy place to put these, but by that tie I had already had the air box off. It was good as the filter needed cleaning anyway. Once I realized the majority of the fuses were above he brake caliper, life was good. The 20a light fuse was popped from the burn out.

I wrapped her back up and all worked fine. Phew! Since I probably put a nice burn spot in my belt towing the viper out of the drift I swapped that too. Sleds don’t like to burn that belt not he primary side. That belt owed me nothing. 7500 miles on the original was pretty damn good if you ask me. That’s also 7500 miles on Rocks HID kit. I took the animal out to break in that new belt properly and all is well with the Trail Tank.

Thanks for all your help guys. I truly appreciate advice from the family here.

 

[steiner]

I see you let the magic smoke out.

 

[biffdotorg]

No #*$&@. Now I have a long weekend of riding on stocker headlights. I think I will truly appreciate HIDs after this.

I must say though, my headlights seemed dim just before failing. Maybe it was the blizzard we were riding in. Visibility sucked

 

[Snorunner]

No #*$&@. Now I have a long weekend of riding on stocker headlights. I think I will truly appreciate HIDs after this.

I must say though, my headlights seemed dim just before failing. Maybe it was the blizzard we were riding in. Visibility sucked

Glad you got it working! All I had to deal with was 2 Oil changes and grease the suspensions. Ready to go just need grooming. Took mine out for a shakedown and I must amidt it's not so easy to side hill a Yamaha 4 stroke. LOL! But the XTX did not let me down.

 

[biffdotorg]

Rock reached out to me nearly right away after an email. He walked me through the pinouts on the quick connector so that I could bench test the setup.

I happened to have the big deep cycle batteries in my garage from the boat lift, so I was set. I created a Positive/Ground jump wires to connect to the quick connect and started tested what I thought was good.

First test, the right side, Ballast, quick connect and HID lamp. All tested good and lit right up.
Second test, I swapped out the HID Lamp, she lit up good.
Third Test, I swapped out the ballast and used the second lamp in case the ballast was bad, she lit up as well.

So from my tests the quick connect failed. In my tests, I did notice a slight hum to the lamp. So I am going to order a replacement Quick connect and Ballast from Rock. That ballast may be going, so for the price, it makes sense to replace it.

Rock was cool to work with as he offered to test and replace whatever was needed, or showed me how to bench test myself. After this many miles and the quality of the service, I see no reason to ever use anyone else's products for HID lights.