High beams not working properly

[SisSasSus]

Hi guys, first time posting here; i'm from Finland and i have a puzzling problem in my scooter. I couldnt' find answers on finnish forums, so i figured that i could come seeking help from here. Now i'm gonna say right now that i don't know squat about fixing stuff. I know some very basics and i've opened the scooter up a few times. But i'm not an expert in these things. Also while i'm pretty good in english, there might be some problems regarding the names of some technical parts. Just a heads-up.

Okay, so the problem itself: i've had my Kymco Agility RS 50 4t for about a year now, with no malfuctions. Some girl owned it before i did, but she hardly drove it at all. But anyway, it's in good condition, with no former history in malfunctioning or breaking down.

But now i've noticed a rather severe problem; my high beam lights won't work properly. When i start up the engine, all of the lights work properly, altough dimly. However, when i pull the gas, all the lights become really bright (like they're supposed to be). The low-beam lights will work fine, but the high-beam ones won't; they get really bright, but then suddenly they go out. They are functioning for just about a second, and then they just shut off completely. Meanwhile, the low-beam ones still work, but the passing lights are also struck with a similar problem. Switching on the passing light, the light once again works for a moment, but then the high-beams shut off again. I noticed this problem when i was driving with my friends a week ago. (note that it was rainy that evening. It might have something to do with my problem)

We tried solving this problem with my dad a few days after the incident. But the morning that we started working on it, we noticed that the lights were all working again! All of the switches functioned properly, and no problems were spotted. We still opened the plastic headpiece and took a look at the wiring, but we didn't really do anything to them. It all seemed fine.

However, merely 3 days later (today), i was about to go try out my now functioning headlights. Instead, when i put the scooter on, i was shocked to find out that the lights had the same problem once again. I opened the scooter up a little bit  by myself to see if there was any water or something else that would cause a short circuit. But there was no water to be found. So, at the moment the scooter doesn't have functional high-beams, and we're nearing the darkest season in Finland, that will last for about 5 months. I should get those lights going ASAP.

I suspected at first that the problem is caused by some water that got into the wiring (which isn't properly protected in my opinion) and caused a short cicuit. But i dried the wires up with blown air, and the problem still persisted. So, at the moment, there are a few options on what might cause the problem. It could be a broken or sloppy wire, or it could be a broken voltage regulator, or a broken Lights-control module. It could even be a broken headlights control unit (i don't know if it's the same thing as the LCM  ).

So, all i'm asking here is; has anyone here had the same problem? I read from somewhere that this is a somewhat common problem with Kymco scooters. And if someone has had this problem and knows what's wrong, i'd appreciate it a lot if someone told me what to replace or fix. I'm pretty sure that i'm going to have to replace something to fix this, but the question is, what?

Any help is appreciated, i'm going to try to reply to any suggestions made. Cheers, and thanks in advance!

[blue]

Sounds like the starting of the bulb going bad.replace the bulb.remember to use elec.greese on the bulb to help with keep moisture away.If it keeps happening after new bulb.It might be a low battery in scoot.good luck.

[SisSasSus]

Ah, thanks for the tip. I'll buy some new bulbs and see if they do the trick.

[SisSasSus]

Alright, some new info on the problem:

We didn't change the bulbs yet, but we (me and my dad, again) decided to take a look at the bulbs anyway. We decided to try out what would happen if you disconnected either of the bulbs from the circuit. What we found was interesting; both of the bulbs have the same problem, even if the other bulb is disconnected. It's a bit hard to explain, but in short, the problem most likely does not lie in the bulbs, or then both of the bulbs are toasted. But again, the top bulb (which is the low-beam one) and the bottom one (the high-beam one) both have the same result; when you switch onto high-beam, they get brighter (the low-beam top one gets brighter, the high-beam on the bottom is completely off unless you're using the high-beam option) but again they shut off after about a second. It's unlikely that both of the bulbs are having the same problem at the exact same time.

The problem could be caused by a problem with the relay. I'm going to look more into that tomorrow, but for now it's likely that the bulbs are fine. We're going to try to look for a relay, or a light-control module. But at the moment, it's still not clear what would cause this kind of thing to happen. But thanks for the tips i've received so far, keep em' coming! 

[JayAre]

Test your voltage at the lights & see how much it varies from idle to run speed. DC system shouldn't go over 14-14.5 volts. It may drop below 12 volts at idle which would be why your lights are dimming. Clean all the connections bulbs switches plugs... a pencil eraser works good on switch contacts, & like blue said put a little electrical grease on them. Good luck!

[SisSasSus]

Alright, i'll try that out. Thanks for the hint again! I'll open stuff up again tomorrow, i've got a few high school exams so i don't have too much extra time to mess with my scooter. Just wanted to quickly post to say that i read the reply.

[SisSasSus]

Ok, i think we found the problem:

The problem really was in the voltage regulator. When we used a tool to measure the amount of voltage with the high beams on, we noticed that it would drop all the way down to 3V all the sudden, with the normal voltage amount being about 14V. So it is clear that the problem lies in the voltage regulator, that can't keep up the high voltage for the high beam lights. We also located the voltage regulator after hours of puzzling with the plastic cover parts.

We ordered a new Voltage regulator, it's probably going to arrive this week. If the problem is gone after that, i'll most likely come here to close the thread. But thanks for the help i've received so far; this has been a learning experience.

[JayAre]

Hopefully it's the regulator/rectifier & not the alternator. You could check resistance from the lead to ground. On my 2013 the lighting coil lead is the yellow wire .1~1ohm resistance cold 20C. Or plug the new part in & see.

[SisSasSus]

Well, i'll be damned.

We ordered a new voltage regulator from a finnish motorcycle store that we trusted. The new regulator arrived, and it was approximately the same size and shape as the old one, just a teeny-tiny bit smaller. But we noticed right off the bat that the wires were in different order in the new regulator, and we got a little worried. We decided to try it out anyway, but right when we connected it to the scooter, it was clear that it wouldn't work; all the lights went on immediately when you replaced the regulator, and switching the power on and off had virtually no effect on the scooter whatsoever. We called the company and asked for a refund, but they said that they can't give us our 25€ back since "you already connected into the scooter" and "you probably broke it by yourselves". Even though we didn't even start the scooter up with the new regulator, we apparently broke it somehow. Yeah right.

Hopeless and in despair, we decided to look for any other solutions. We measured the voltages again. The wire that goes into the high beams would again start off at 13v when you switched them on, but would quickly drop down to 1v. We looked more at the wiring, and we saw that there were several wires of different colours. I don't remember them exactly right now, but i think they were green, white, red, blue and perhaps brown. I shook them and squeezed them from different spots to see if the voltage would change, but it had no effect. The wires went through the regulator and into the lights, as we had expected.

However, we also noticed that the wires go inside another electric component. It looked a lot like a ignition CDI at first, but further examination proved it to be something else. It had a code TYC-D401 on it. After a quick googling spree, i found the exact same part on a german website (here's the link to the picture i stumbled upon http://scootergrisen.dk/scooterhjemmeside/billeder/billed0854.jpg). The site claimed it to be a "Lys kontrol boks", and even with my rusty german skills, it's easy to tell that it's a light control module/unit.

So we have it under closer inspection right now, and we are pondering if the source for the problem is right there. But i really want to hear it from you guys: is this the light control unit? Could it be the reason why my high-beams won't work? Is it easily replaceable? If that box costs less than a 50€, we could just order one to try it out. But seems like we can't find any of them being sold. Seriously, it's really god-damn hard to find any of these things being sold anywhere on the internet.

This is really giving me grey hairs right now, any help is appreciated.

[SisSasSus]

Alright everyone, problem solved!

My dad's a genie/genius, when it comes to motors, and he got a weird idea; instead of buying a 140€ lights-control unit, we bought a traditional 6€ light relay. All he had to do was to take the plastic clip off the wires, and peel them for a bit and then connect them to the relay. I was worried of this ham-fisted repairment, but i was genuinely happier than in weeks, when it actually worked!

Yep, the high beam lights now work 100% with no delay or problems. This problem is most likely solved at this point. It was a tough one, but we were on the right track right from the beginning, which is pretty cool to think about. But anyway, thanks to everyone who replied to this thread and gave me their advice. Keep up the good work, guys! I'm going to close this thread in a few days or so.

[JayAre]

Good job tracking that down! Seems a little over engineered (light control module) with 35 watt light you'd draw 3-4 amps a the relay is all you need. My American Agility 50 uses a simple relay. And when it comes to electronic parts, the regulator, once you've installed it you bought it regardless.