Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jotjotde]

Hi Folks,
A few days ago I drove a few minutes through a light drizzle. When cleaning the bike I saw that inside the right side lamp water had condensed on the inside of the lens.
Tried already unsuccessfully to remove if by heating it with a hair dryer.
I would be thankful for any suggestions to tackle that problem.

Did anyone had the same problem? I searched the forum, but to no avail.

[jotjotde]

No one can help me? 

I suspect there is a 'breathing' opening clogged - the inner volume of the light has to be open to the ambiance to allow for changing volume due to temperature differences.
Before I start dismantling I would have liked to know where to look for that.


For anyone who is interested, i found the manufacturer of this lamp. It is an Italian company namec ECIE. You can see the company's logo on the lower half of the light.
https://www.ecie.it/en/home-en/

They have a manufacturing shop in Chengdu (CN). If you visit their website, you can find a double light which strikingly looks like the Ribelle's headlight. Has even the E3 European Conformity Number for Italy.
https://en.cevcd.com/Products/57.html

It appears that they also manufacture the front position light, the tail light and the licence plate light.

[wadejesu]

When My Fiat had that problem with a tail light, I would park it so the sun would hit it and after a few hours all clear.

[Richard230]

My recollection is that BMW has had problems like that in the past on their K-bike instrument displays. It was apparently due to poor venting. I think it was finally dealt with by redesigning the vent and using Gortex to keep the water out of the display.

[Specter]

Sometimes no matter what that will happen.  It's hot and humid,  then cools for the night.  that humid air gets sucked into the light as it cools down, then that humidity condenses.  Next day, it heats up and air expands but that little puddle of water doesn't quite go away.  It cools down the following night, more humid air gets sucked in, it cools and condenses a bit more.  Repeat and soon you got a lot of water in that lens and any time it's sunny out, it's trying to evaporate now,  but getting caught on the inner lens.

If you can find the vent hole,  turn the bulb so its hole down, tap so the water goes down there, get a vaccuum and suck on it to get it out.  Otherwise heat it to about 130 ish, and let it evaporate off / out of the thing.

That's a lot of water though, something is cracked somewhere I bet.  A welded seam is open or something letting water seep in there id bet.

Another  problem, that humidity in there WILL corrode the electronic parts and that will fail, and sadly it won't take very long either for that to happen I am betting.

Aaron

[jotjotde]

Thank you for your support so far. I hoped, someone already knew where the vent is located which would save me from dismantling the front.
Letting the bike sit for an hour with  the high beam switched on helped a tiny bit.


Off topic: I found out (again) that the bike shuts down automatically after a certain time (40 minutes or so).
Though it might seem a helpful feature, this is definitely not funny if you are involved in an accident and leave the bike on the road's side (to help injured persons) with hazard blinkers flashing to warn upcoming traffic (happened to me last year). When I came back the bike was completely dark. That's a severe safety issue if you ask me.

[SBK74]

I have opened one headlight out of curiosity (high beam fail), I couldn't find a vent. The ingress is probably due to sealing inconsistency or at the rubber seal for high beam, where the wires are entering the lamp.

(OFF TOPIC) Regarding the switch-off: My 20 year old BMW would leave the hazard lights blinking after switch off, to have the bike visible when stranded. Energica could have easily programmed such feature.

[jotjotde]

Thanks SBK for your input! Did you manage to get your high beam working again in the end?
I suspect the front sealing between glass and casing is the culprit because the ingress happened after riding through rain. When riding over wet streets, everything is OK, so it's rather water from the front and not splash water from below.
Your info that a vent couldn't be found makes me think the best way is letting the bike sit for some hours with high beam switched on, maybe pushing the temperature a bit with a hair dryer.
Afterwards I plan to apply some clear silicone to the front sealing which hopefully will make the lamp raintight again.


(OFF TOPIC): That is exactly what is standard with all cars I ever drove, but apparently that is not a necessity by law, I just checked the German regulations. How dumb is that 
I agree that the bike could have that feature eaily and I regard that as a serious omission by Energica wrt to safety.

[SBK74]

The silver part on the back is mounted with sealant and will probably break if loosened in order to to re-seal. On the front, the lens is sealed with an o-ring, that could also be a potential point of ingress. Four phillips screws at the back hold the black ring in the front against the lens. You could open that to vent and maybe apply some vaseline/petrol jelly, but this headlight is not designed to be repaired.  The high beam I got working again, but unreliable. I ordered a new unit, that comes with 2 LED drivers.

Maybe for common knowledge: Led drivers ordered from Energica cost about 90 euros/piece, if ordered without a headlight. I took a look at the Energica Led driver, and it appears to be a 'home made' device, by ECIE or whoever. It is a small 1200mA led driver poured in resin, in a generic box. I ordered a RECOM RCD-24-1.20/W for around 15 euros at Reichelt and it worked on the workbench, not tested on the motorcycle yet.

Another thing: the Led Drivers are sensitive to running without load, also per Energica service manual.

[jotjotde]

SBK, you're my hero  Thank you!
The sealing of the front is most probably the culprit. Seeing the picture gives me confidence to attempt the repair.

You mentioned, you ordered a new light unit. What are the cost? Did you already get it? To my understanding it is currently extremely difficult to get spare parts from Energica.


In the meantime I discovered that ALL front lamps, even the middle LED have moisture in them. WTF! See picture. That is exactly what you can expect from Chinese manufacturing.

[SBK74]

The headlight with 2 controllers cost me 255 Euro excl VAT. Bike is my daily driver. I ordered it in April already, so months ago. Parts is problematic indeed, best advice for now is not to break anything.....

[jotjotde]

So, you are waiting for 6 months now? As the situation currently is, you might never get a replacement. Maybe try to contact the manufacturer directly, maybe they are happy to sell something from their stock directly to you.

Thanks for the picture, that is very helpful!

What do you think about drilling a small hole (2 mm or so) into the silver part of the lights, to allow for future venting?
I would look for a position somewhere low and on the back of the lights where no direct water ingress is expected.

[Richard230]

So, you are waiting for 6 months now? As the situation currently is, you might never get a replacement. Maybe try to contact the manufacturer directly, maybe they are happy to sell something from their stock directly to you.

Thanks for the picture, that is very helpful!

What do you think about drilling a small hole (2 mm or so) into the silver part of the lights, to allow for future venting?
I would look for a position somewhere low and on the back of the lights where no direct water ingress is expected.

And you could cover the hole with a small piece of Gore-Tex or something similar.

[SBK74]

So, you are waiting for 6 months now?

No no, I got the headlight delivered in April already, so I could examine the bad one and take pics. Where to drill a hole, well I'm expert, somewhere low  and at least where no rain comes. I remember the EsseEsse9 headlight had a vent with a piece of fabric at the back. Also there I once had some ingress, but at least  that could evaporate.