6th Gen (2006 800A) Headligh help

I have a couple of questions relating to my low beam headlights. One low beam went out first then the second went out 2 or 3 weeks later. I am ready to replace them but I have a couple of questions.

1) The manual calls for low and high beams to be 12V, 55W but they look different to me. The low beam bulb is much bigger than the hi beam headlight. I can see that the low is a Philips H4 ED 12/60 55 W but I have no idea what the high beam bulb is. Anyway of knowing without taking the headlight apart. There is nothing I can read right now from the outside.

2) When running, the bike is putting 14.9V at the low beam socket and at the battery terminals. Is a 12V bulb suppose to take that kind of voltage ?

3) The bulbs has 3 terminals, 9 12 3 (the positions in a clock). The socket however is driving only 2 terminals (9 and 12). When I put an ohmeter between terminal 9 and 12 the bulb reads open while terminals 9 and 3 are shorted. Does this mean my filament is out or not ?

PS I am trying to figure if I need new bulbs without taking the whole thing apart first. I am already ripped and fuming by the fact that this Honda pricks have made what is a life threatening issue that should be simple enough to replace on the highway, a 2 hour job (I know it will take me probably more since I have never done it). I am absolutely disgusted.

 

High Beam is an H7 lamp. Honda did not wire the low beam connector for the second filament (high beam). When I had my 03 6th gen, I rewired low beam with new 3 wire sockets from NAPA and used relays to control them so I could get all 3 filaments on at the same time!

 

Thanks for the response. I bought a pair of Sylvannia 9003 bulbs today and connected one to the socket and it works, so luckily it was just the light bulbs. Now I have to do the job. If anyone knows of an easier way to do this other than the suggested in the maintenance manual let me know. If you have done this before, do you remember how long it took ?

 

Honda's are a pain in the ass to work on! Don't touch the glass part of the bulb-it will cause the bulb to burn out rather soon. 14.9 volts seems a bit high- I would suggest retesting it once you get the new bulbs in. Test both at idle and at around 5-6 thousand rpms. Report back your findings.

 

I don't think the new bulbs will make a difference as far as voltage is concerned. I read that voltage at the battery terminals and at the bulb sockets when the bike was running in idle. Yeah it will be interesting to read at 6K RPM. When I decide to change the lights I will report back, it might be a while. It is warm SC right now, I am riding the bike all the time and since I have the high beams still working and I am in no hurry of frustrating myself with this job I am pushing it out. It might be Nov before I decide to do it .

 

I am reading the directions to change the head lights. it says that I have to remove the lower cowl ???? Page 2.2 only refers to

rear, side, inner half, and upper cowls . There is no lower cowl picture. Does anyone know what they are referring to ?