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[lampshade]

I have a 2017 SR.  I've been riding for about 20 years now, owned a dozen different bikes and I've always ridden with my brights on during the day for safety.  My Zero dealer pointed out yesterday that my headlight is melted!  Anyone else seen this?

No, it has not been hot in the last month, high of 75.  I don't ride for more than about 20 miles at a time.

[Richard230]

Some owners of the BMW F800-series bikes have reported a similar issue in the past.  If the bikes were still under warranty, the expensive headlight assembly was replaced.  You really don't want to put a more powerful standard H4 or similar headlight bulb in some modern bikes as their plastic lenses can't take a lot of heat.  I can't recall anyone mentioning that this had happened to a Zero, though. 

[Erasmo]

Wait, bights as in high beam?

[MrDude_1]

by anychance do you park outside in the sun?

[hubert]

You may check if there isn't an odd cabling of the lamp wire harness which causes both filaments of Hi and Lo beam being ON at the same time. Just my stupid idea of the night!

[heroto]

1. Just plain bizarre that Zero does not spec LEDs on electric motos.
2.Turn off your F-in brights. I mean it. Right now.
Yes there are voices on the web claiming you are safer running hi-beams during daylight, but if you read the fine print this recommendation applies to older motos with old school incandescent flood light headlights, NOT repeat NOT halogens, LED etc on modern motos. Modern headlights like the halogens on Zeros can temporarily impair the vision of a significant portion oncoming cagers who are sensitive to glare. Even on a sunny day.
Most drivers do  not have this sensitivity so you may not believe this, but this is real. Deniers on the web will provide analogies to photographic equipment implying that vision impairment caused by oncoming traffic with hi beams is not possible, but trust me it is. The human visual apparatus is not a camera.

So: Hi beams = many oncoming cager's vision is temporarily impaired. Cagers driving towards you in 2 or 3 ton vehicles.
Does that sound safer?
Not to mention they piss off oncoming drivers who are not blinded. Those other motorcyclists who might appear to be waving are actually giving you the finger for blinding them, too.

[KrazyEd]

When lighting was not very good, we used to upgrade to higher watt bulbs. 65/100 I believe. Headlights back then were glass so we didn't have THIS problem. but, we did notice burning of the wires at the connector.

[clockfort]

Just plain bizarre that Zero does not spec LEDs on electric motos.

The efficiency gain isn't too crazy in terms of how much energy is used for the motor.
And, not sure if this is a thing for the zero, but I know people who have my EV car have seen way too many LED lights that have way too much RF and power line noise to become a problem for close-by canbus lines, so presumably they'd at least have to be careful on sourcing such a part.

[Булгаков]

I had a melted headlight as well on my zero.
Got a new lens replaced under warranty, but I have not yet replaced the incandescent bulb with an LED, but that is the plan.
And no, I don't normally run with the brights on.

[Richard230]

1. Just plain bizarre that Zero does not spec LEDs on electric motos.
2.Turn off your F-in brights. I mean it. Right now.
Yes there are voices on the web claiming you are safer running hi-beams during daylight, but if you read the fine print this recommendation applies to older motos with old school incandescent flood light headlights, NOT repeat NOT halogens, LED etc on modern motos. Modern headlights like the halogens on Zeros can temporarily impair the vision of a significant portion oncoming cagers who are sensitive to glare. Even on a sunny day.
Most drivers do  not have this sensitivity so you may not believe this, but this is real. Deniers on the web will provide analogies to photographic equipment implying that vision impairment caused by oncoming traffic with hi beams is not possible, but trust me it is. The human visual apparatus is not a camera.

So: Hi beams = many oncoming cager's vision is temporarily impaired. Cagers driving towards you in 2 or 3 ton vehicles.
Does that sound safer?
Not to mention the piss off oncoming traffic issue. Those other motorcyclists who might appear to be waving are actually giving you the finger for blinding them, too.

I concur with these comments about not riding (or driving) with high beams on during daytime.  When a rider comes toward me with his high beams on I get a lot of glare, which is not only irritating, but I can not tell how far away the rider is and that makes it unsafe should I want to make a left turn across the rider's path. So I assume that the situation is similar to other vehicle drivers on the road. And they may not take the same level of care that I do before turning across the oncoming rider's path of travel.

[hubert]

Hi beam is only 5W more than Lo Beam (in an H4 bulb), assuming both filaments are not simultaneously on. It should not melt the projector, even when permanently ignited. However I agree that it is unfair to other road users to ride/drive with high beam. Traffic laws in every country I believe prohibit using hi beam when other users are in the light field (whatever their moving direction). Hi beam is only for where there is nobody. It is also a matter of respect, including cyclists and pedestrians, not to torture their eyes.

[NEW2elec]

Yeah don't use the high beam.
There was at least one other guy years ago that had his melt.  His problem was he left it on and just let it sit so no wind to cool it off.

[Burton]

I have an Jw Speaker light and if I leave the bike on in the garage while charging it will overheat and start intermittent blinking :/

But it wont melt given it isn't plastic

That said I do point a fan at it now when I do this so it won't harm anything long term with the light.

[DPsSRnSD]

My lens also melted when my bike was new because I'd sit in the driveway and play with the settings. I probably had the high beam on and off then too. It was replaced under warranty.
I prefer to flash the high beam (now replaced with an LED) when approaching intersections or when about go between cars (I live in CA) that look like they're not paying attention. This seems to be very effective at getting other drivers to come to a complete stop. If they don't stop I tap the horn a few times. I'm especially sensitive to controlling cars getting ready to turn left because the former owner of my motorcycle dealership was killed by a police car that turned in front of him a couple of miles from my home.

[hubert]

Surprise... After carefull checking I discovered my reflector to be sort of "grainy". Not really melted but maybe somewhat heated up. The light beams are still OK, but maybe it has been hot. I remember, some time ago I let the Zero ON with High beam just to reduce a little bit the battery level (go figure why?), and after an hour or less I found the light was switched OFF, with contact being still ON. Cycling the contact made the lamp light again. Is there a timeout which automatically switches OFF the hi and maybe also lo beam when the bike is standing still?