Kury Large Silver Bullet problems?

I bought the Large Silver Bullets for driving lights (come w/20W bulbs) and am having the same problem with a second light. Each time, I've hooked them up with the 20W bulbs, work fine for a while, then one light will go out without ever coming back on again. Each time, I've switched the bulbs to see if it's the bulb or the plug-in fixture and the bulbs are fine. So, each time, the problem has been with the plug-in fixture. I returned the first one to Kury, which was "easier to do" since I had wired them temporarily, but now after receiving the second unit, AND TESTING IT, I've soldered them in...and same freakin' thing. A basic driving light setup, with a Kury switch to a fuse block. All is fine with fuses and switch as the working left SB light is proof of that. Kury is a PITA! For what these things cost and as simple as they are, you'd think Kury would get these right by now. Really sucks! Yeah, they will replace the unit but who wants to tear the dam things apart again and have to re-ship back. Who has time for troubleshooting their poor workmanship. I have a day job like the rest of us. I think I'm done with Kury. I should have got the Lazer Star's or Rivco's I guess. Any ideas? Can I just replace the plug-in fixture myself? Are those sold separately anywhere? What a freakin' PITA! :banghead:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mr16+socket ;)

:dontknow: been having and running mine for six years now with no problems wired like this http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/foglites.html

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Originally Posted by vultimate04

I bought the Large Silver Bullets for driving lights (come w/20W bulbs) and am having the same problem with a second light. Each time, I've hooked them up with the 20W bulbs, work fine for a while, then one light will go out without ever coming back on again. Each time, I've switched the bulbs to see if it's the bulb or the plug-in fixture and the bulbs are fine. So, each time, the problem has been with the plug-in fixture. I returned the first one to Kury, which was "easier to do" since I had wired them temporarily, but now after receiving the second unit, AND TESTING IT, I've soldered them in...and same freakin' thing. A basic driving light setup, with a Kury switch to a fuse block. All is fine with fuses and switch as the working left SB light is proof of that. Kury is a PITA! For what these things cost and as simple as they are, you'd think Kury would get these right by now. Really sucks! Yeah, they will replace the unit but who wants to tear the dam things apart again and have to re-ship back. Who has time for troubleshooting their poor workmanship. I have a day job like the rest of us. I think I'm done with Kury. I should have got the Lazer Star's or Rivco's I guess. Any ideas? Can I just replace the plug-in fixture myself? Are those sold separately anywhere? What a freakin' PITA! :banghead:

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So what happens when you remove the light and test it on the work bench? Do these lights have a single wire going into the housing?

Don't these light get the -neg from the case? Could you be loosing the ground? Try running a wire from the neg post on the battery to the light to test.

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Originally Posted by Mick-S

Don't these light get the -neg from the case? Could you be loosing the ground? Try running a wire from the neg post on the battery to the light to test.

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I agree with testing the light away from the bike or as you suggest. The real problem with Kury is they do not warn the buyer to add a ground wire from the frame of the bike to the front fork assembly. Honda doesn't provide one and as such the current from single wire turn signals or spot lights has to travel through the steering bearings. 40W to 70W of power, in the case of road lights, will cause arcing and pitting of the rollers and premature failure.

Had to run out, finally back. The lights get their ground from the Kury fork mounts. The ground wire inside the housing is screwed into the inside back of the housing. I ran single power wires from housing of each light together and soldered to the yellow wire from the Kury switch (Switch 1 of 3). Then, as suggested by Soujourner in an earlier post last week, I ran a separate ground wire from a grounding block connected to the negative batt terminal to the forks, grounding the forks onto one of the bolts that secures the brake hoses to the forks. So, the forks are sufficiently grounded and so are the lights. I really don't think the problem is wiring. The switch works fine with the left light working properly. Given the wiring described above (two powers soldered to the yellow switch wire with forks grounded), how can one light work via the Switch and the other light not work...an it not be a bulb? That only leaves the plug-in socket in the bad light I guess. Anyone else experience this problem with the Kury bullets?

Before you completely rule out wiring. Get a Volt meter and check the voltage at the socket. Do not use a test light. (A test light will only test half the circuit)

Any workaround for not having a Volt Meter? Don't have one...could go get one at Wally World I guess. :roll:

What i said earlier is not quite true. You can use a test light (just not the way you normally woud) If you have one the sharp pointed end will go in one side of the socket but instead of clamping the ground lead to a bolt clamp it to a piece of wire and insert that piece of wire into the other side of the socket. That will test both the pos and neg sides of the circuit.

I have a test light, so I'll give that a try...that is, with the key turned on and juice to the socket. :idea:

Dang, my light tester fuse/light cell is shot...filament in two pieces. I'll need to replace it. At any rate, this still puzzles me cause another way to do the same test is to swap bulbs with a known good bulb and it should work. If not, then problem from socket backwards. I did that and no light.

I agree, problem is from socket backward. Does the socket physically look ok? I have worked with the MR16 lamps and sockets quite a bit.These lamps get hot. Very hot. The only time I've ever seen a socket go bad was due to heat and you could tell by looking that it was burnt. (Up until about 5years ago I was an electrician for over 20 years) I'm not saying that you don't have a bad socket but I think it would be obvious if it were. That means you either don't have a hot or ground getting to the socket. You need a test light or meter to find which.

Someone chime in if I'm missing the obvious.

I think you're right Mick. The socket looks fine comparatively to the other side. No obvious signs of wire melt or socket burn out. I tried to go to Homedepot and Adv Auto to see if I could get a replacement bulb for my light tester but no go. They want you to buy the whole unit. At HD, everything's digit so poney up ya know. So, I'm gonna tear the dam thing down, which involves unwrapping the vacuum hose and tape that I've neatly tucked wires into and check the soldered connection of the two power leads and yellow hot from the switch to make sure no bad connection. I doubt it tho. I may need to just go with the additional relay like others have suggested in between the lights, Kury Switch and power lead to eliminate the chance I'm getting to much heat through the power distribution block and relay #1. One thought to eliminate is: I grounded the forks with a wire from grounding block (from neg batt term) to the brake line mount bracket under the forks below the headlight. Maybe that's not a good place to connect to. (?) Maybe I should connect directly to the headlight mounting bolt instead. Any thoughts?

Try running a wire from the neg side of the battery to the light and see if it lights up. This will tell you if you have a grounding problem. Just string it over the bars and touch it to the grounding point on the light. Make sure the key is on + any switches it takes.

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Originally Posted by vultimate04

Had to run out, finally back. The lights get their ground from the Kury fork mounts. The ground wire inside the housing is screwed into the inside back of the housing. I ran single power wires from housing of each light together and soldered to the yellow wire from the Kury switch (Switch 1 of 3). Then, as suggested by Soujourner in an earlier post last week, I ran a separate ground wire from a grounding block connected to the negative batt terminal to the forks, grounding the forks onto one of the bolts that secures the brake hoses to the forks. So, the forks are sufficiently grounded and so are the lights. I really don't think the problem is wiring. The switch works fine with the left light working properly. Given the wiring described above (two powers soldered to the yellow switch wire with forks grounded), how can one light work via the Switch and the other light not work...an it not be a bulb? That only leaves the plug-in socket in the bad light I guess. Anyone else experience this problem with the Kury bullets?

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The way the negative side of the socket is fixed to the housing requires some investigation. Mick-S is spot on with his troubleshooting and I would go further by taking the jumper wire you are testing with and open the light so you can touch the connection point of that short wire from the socket.

Got it! It was a bad ground. I did exactly as you and Mick said to do. I ran a separate ground wire from the headlight bolt under the light on the forks to the ground screw in the back of the SB light housing. The light started working properly with switch control and all with a direct ground. So, the "self grounding" in the light itself was not effective and the other separate ground I ran from the ground block to the forks perhaps grounded the forks, but were not effective in grounding the light itself. Now why the other light worked without a separate ground (that is, being self grounded thru the fork mount), I haven't a clue. So the morey of the storal is: the SB's self ground through the fork mounts only work 50% of the time. Which light will work is a coin toss. :( I appreciate your help Sojouner and Mick. Thanks for hangin' in there with me. Been a long day of cat-n-mouse troubleshooting. :banghead:

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Originally Posted by vultimate04

Got it! It was a bad ground. I did exactly as you and Mick said to do. I ran a separate ground wire from the headlight bolt under the light on the forks to the ground screw in the back of the SB light housing. The light started working properly with switch control and all with a direct ground. So, the "self grounding" in the light itself was not effective and the other separate ground I ran from the ground block to the forks perhaps grounded the forks, but were not effective in grounding the light itself. Now why the other light worked without a separate ground (that is, being self grounded thru the fork mount), I haven't a clue. So the morey of the storal is: the SB's self ground through the fork mounts only work 50% of the time. Which light will work is a coin toss. :( I appreciate your help Sojouner and Mick. Thanks for hangin' in there with me. Been a long day of cat-n-mouse troubleshooting. :banghead:

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Good news, now you can have a cold one and relax. Cheers.