The new Stelvio NTX comes standard with halogen Hella Micro DE auxiliary lamps mounted on the crash bars and many of them have a problem that can leave a rider stranded.

The internal wiring of the lamps can short-out and cause the entire charging circuit to shut-down. Once you run the charge out of your battery, you are stranded.

The problem is simple and the fix is not difficult.

A single power wire and a ground enters the metal lamp body from the rear through a slip-on rubber boot. This wire should have its excess coiled up inside the rubber boot and NOT stuffed inside the metal lamp housing as is usually the case.



The instructions from Hella clearly indicate this. See page 5 of the installation instructions here:

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/ ... de-series/

Even though the internal lamp power wire is protected by a substantial conduit shield, vibration WILL wear through the conduit and the wire insulation and the wire will short to the lamp housing if the lamps are powered on.



Apparently, Guzzi has these aux lamps wired directly into the main power circuit and NOT separately fused. When the lamps short-out, they pull-down the entire charging circuit and this will blow the main 30 amp charging circuit fuse designed to protect the main circuit. This will break the circuit from the alternator to the battery. The battery will no longer receive a charge and, as soon as it is depleted, you are dead on the side of the road.

The fix is simple. In an emergency situation, just turn off or disconnect the aux lamps. Replace the blown fuse and get home to fix the lamp short if you cannot work where you are stranded.

The relevant fuse is NOT this one under the seat-


The main charging system fuse that you want to check is behind this cover held in place by three screws on the right side of the bike-


This is the main charging fuse and a spare is provided in the holder-


To fix a shorted lamp or to PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING, remove the rubber boot from the rear of the lamps. Pull out the wiring and repair any chafed insulation. Splice together any wire breaks or worn conductor and make sure the wires have good shielding around them.

Slipping rubber material or tape up inside the metal lamp body may provide extra protection against chafing the wires. Coil the excess wiring inside the rubber boot and not inside the metal housing, as the Hella instructions indicate, as you push the rubber cap boot back in place.

You can make an emergency repair on the road but later, better attention to this issue will prevent repeat problems.

I plan to install a separate fuse in the aux lamp circuit, maybe individual fuses on each lamp, to prevent a problem here from taking out the entire charging circuit.

More pics to come.

Leafman, here's one way to skin that cat:

It's easier to work on the problem if you take off the side panels by the gas tank. Then you can clearly see the connection from wiring harness to aux light:

This is with the left panel removed. Note that the harness has two color coded wires, blue is the ground. The aux wires are both black . I spliced into the positive lead on the aux lamp side (this is the one that goes to the yellow wire) and inserted a fuze holder.

The aux lamp comes with a very long connection wire so there is lots of room for this splice. In fact, there is so much wire that this is a good time to make sure the wire is secured well away from stuff like the exhaust. That's particularly important on the right side, where the exhaust is closer to the frame tubes that are used to secure the wire.
I wrapped the splice even though all the connections were water proof marine grade shrink wrapped.

I put 7.5A fuzes in each. Everything works!

Well Guys,
I guess it was inevitable. Now that I'm settled in at my friend Pete's for a couple of weeks and with him having a nice brand new clean garage and me having a nice, brand new battery, (whew, is that a mouthful? ) I thought I would get down to a bit of body and windshield alignment. Dropping one of the bolts into the skid plate I said, damn and resigned myself to removing a couple of the plate bolts to get at it. That's when I noticed this:

And then this:

And this:

Interest peaked, I checked the right side and found this:

Now burned out wires in that one, yet.
On the left side light you can actually see it burned right thru the housing.
I will be heading up to Tuscon for a full service when I leave here in a couple of weeks and will be inquiring if this is yet another warranty issue.
Toad.

Bugger ! Good job you spotted that in the comfort of a garage rather than at the roadside... I lost confidence in my O/E lamps and fitted some LED's, hopefully no more bulbs to change.

_________________
This week I have mostly been saying - Bollocks !

When this tread started I checked mine and found nothing at that point, making a mental note to deal with the badly crammed wiring harness at a more convenient date. That was several thousand miles ago and I guess I put it out of my mind. I don't really wanna touch anything until a certified dealership sees it so I'll just do a little taping up till that point. Don't really ride at night so as far as I am concerned a total disconnect is in the cards.

Toad,

Been there, done that over and over.....Broken wires, broken brackets, blown fuses, arc welded inners, dead generator becuase of the fuses....list goes own

Best fix is a replacement. Installed Denali's on mine and never looked back...........

I assume the internal wiring in the housing chaffs due to vibration. Is a liberal glob of silicone caulking enough to hold those wires and protect them from movement? Heat will not bother the silicone. The wiring cannot chaff and as long as the stuff is not tooled down you should be able to open the housing.

Broken brackets are another fix.

Phil

I think the problem is there is way too much wire in there, crammed and bent over that way. But even with shortened wire the broken mounts show just how much vibration there is.

While riding last week I noticed a lack of left side reflection in the car in front of me, so I turned the aux lamps off. When I stopped I checked the lamp and found a burn mark on the insulation. Does the "warranty fix" just splice the wire to allow it to happen again? Or do they actually fix it? I'm just curious if it's worth the effort to file a claim, only to keep having the problem.

On a side note I changed the turn signals out and I am totally happy with it. Pictures do not do it justice. The fairing signals are sweet.

Dealer will probably just try to fix it but no guarantee that it will not happen again. Just get rid of them before they leave you stranded. Others have installed a fuse in line to prevent it from blowing the generator fuse but the original problem is still there. They cannot withstand the vibrations on the bars. Eventually the brackets will break and the lights will short out again (at least that was my experience and a few others).

Just replace them. I went with Denali's, others have found other options.