Put in standard headlight bulb... and a little smoke?

[tzzzel]

Hi everyone,

So, I bought my GS500f pre-owned. Came with an HID kit. I had to unplug the kit because it was drawing too much energy and killed my regulator twice (also, the PO replaced the fuse with a circuit breaker...).

So to pass safety, I decided to put back in a standard wattage bulb. Took a look at this forum and found a 55/60 watt bulb was recommended. I took a SilverStar by Sylvania at my local Oreillys.

Well, I got it installed, and it works, both regular and bright, but the odd part was that I could see a tad bit of smoke + the smell of something burning coming from the bulb. It wasn't big, plus the engine wasn't on, but it's not a good sign.

Now, this was done after it started getting dark, so I couldnt' see for sure what was happening, but I'm definitely worried. Smoking = something is wrong. Don't want to go riding and have my bulb burst on me or something. Will check again in the morning but wanted to see if anyone might have similar experiences.

Any ideas what the issue may be?

[Atesz792]

I thought HID kits draw less current than stock? Like they have a wattage about 30? There may be some trouble with your electrical system. I'd start with putting a standard fuse in 'er.

[tzzzel]

I'm not sure about the electric specs at all, but I'm pretty sure HID kits draw more power. Standard bulb can just be plugged in. Meanwhile, the HID kit came with a pack (a ballast to regulate current).

Anyway, I do have a fuse in now, now that I've unplugged the HID bulb part of it (it does have a regular, bright bulb). We'll see why it'd be smoking.

[GS4me]

Did you happen to touch the bulb with your fingers when you installed it?  (Halogen bulbs will burn up if you touch them - the oil from your hands burns on the surface and can really burn up the bulb pretty bad).  You would see a black spot starting to form on the bulb if that was the case.

Whenever I install a Halogen bulb, I always wipe it down with alcohol and dry it after it's installed.  (You never know when someone may have opened the box in the store, took out the bulb / held it to see if it matched their bulb, and then returned it to the box and put it back on the shelf..

Most likely not your problem, but something to check if you think you touched the bulb.