HID and LED lighting issues - both due to low input voltage??

[turtle]

I have noticed that the high beam (main beam) of my HID headlight only flashes when I turn it on (never goes to a steady beam).  The low (dip) beam seems to work fine.  The headlight unit is from HID50, which appears to have gone out of business. 

I also have Denali LED driving lights, and I've noticed that those flicker. 

The internet tells me that both of these issues are probably being caused by low input voltage.  I did make a change a while back, where I took the high beam trigger wire of the Denali lights off of a separate switch.  I wired it directly to the bike's high beam trigger wire, so that when I switch to high beam, the Denali's also go to high beam without having to actuate the separate switch.  These flashing/flickering issues seem related to that change, time wise, although I don't understand why it would cause these issues.  I have not undone this change to see if the issue disappears.  That will be kind of a hassle, and I am leaving for a 2000+ mile trip in less than a week, so I am not in the mood to start taking the bike apart    .  I will dig in once home.

Bike is a 2011 Tiger 1050 SE with 43k miles.  My battery is a new-ish (~1 yr) Yuasa 14 series.  The bike starts fine even after sitting without being on a tender.  I don't notice any other electrical symptoms.

I am not great with electrical issues, especially trouble shooting, so I am looking forward to hearing what feedback you all have.  One thing I need to try (just occurred to me as I am typing) is to turn off the LEDs and see if that helps the headlight issue.  Maybe I can also pull the headlight fuse and see if that has an impact on the LEDs. 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Sidewinder]

Ballast has failed most likely.

[sax_000]

You say "trigger wire".  Does that mean you are using a relay to provide 12v directly from the battery to the light, switched by your trigger wire?
If you are NOT using a relay, you should.

[Dusty ST]

Sounds like low voltage, the HIDs on my Sprint flicker when the engine isn't running and the battery needs replacing.
Try putting a volt meter across the main beam connector, you should see 12-13V.
I guess you should also try disconnecting the Denali trigger wire for to see if that's the problem.

[turtle]

The Denali circuit has a full control box with relay.  The trigger wire is just a trigger for the high beam setting on the LEDs.  It does not power the lights.

I charged the battery fully before I started messing with things.  The bike has been sitting for close to a week, and it took maybe 10 minutes on a maintainer for the light to turn green, indicating full charge.  I'm pretty sure the battery is fine.

I got the high beam to work.  I turned off the LEDs and gave the engine some mild rpm for a few minutes, and the high beam did light off properly.  Does a ballast either work or fail?  I assume there is no in-between if it is on its way to failure?

When I pulled the headlight fuse, the bike would not turn over.  I assume there's some logic there so you can't start it and drive off with no headlight.  Does make me wonder what happens if the fuse blows while underway.   Regardless, the LEDs are on the headlight circuit, so that's not going to tell me anything anyway.

I do need to try disconnecting the Denali trigger wire to see what that does. 

[Dusty ST]

Originally Posted by turtle

I got the high beam to work.  I turned off the LEDs and gave the engine some mild rpm for a few minutes, and the high beam did light off properly.  Does a ballast either work or fail?  I assume there is no in-between if it is on its way to failure?

Really need to check the voltage at the headlamp connector, it's sounding like it's low.
Try swapping the ballast units to check if it's failed - I'd guess it either works or doesn't.
Disconnecting the Denali trigger will discount it from the potential problem list.

Originally Posted by turtle

Does make me wonder what happens if the fuse blows while underway.

Pull the fuse while running and find out!
I suspect its just the starter that won't work with out the headlamp fuse.
There's a relay that switches power from headlights to starter solenoid activation, so I think that supply comes through the headlamp fuse.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Dusty ST

Really need to check the voltage at the headlamp connector, it's sounding like it's low.
Try swapping the ballast units to check if it's failed - I'd guess it either works or doesn't.
Disconnecting the Denali trigger will discount it from the potential problem list.

Pull the fuse while running and find out!
I suspect its just the starter that won't work with out the headlamp fuse.
There's a relay that switches power from headlights to starter solenoid activation, so I think that supply comes through the headlamp fuse.

  thanks. All these are on my to do list!