Several months ago, I noticed that one of my headlights was out. No biggee right? There are two of them. Several days later, the other went out. Ok, time to replace the bulbs. As I had come to find out, it was not that simple. The plastic housing that the 3 bulb prongs went into was melted beyond repair and brittle to boot. The solution took a little patience, around $15, a soldering iron, and some shrink tube.

Tools and Materials: voltmeter, bulb socket (2), bulbs (2), soldering iron, solder, and electrical tape

Motorcycle: 2005 GSX 600; Suzuki Katana

Before starting, make extra effort to ensure that you mark the location of each wire on your bulb socket. The wiring harness plugs directly into the plastic headlight socket with very little slack. The wires were melted so bad that they had to be cut. Because the wires are so short, they cannot be reconnected to the new bulb inside the fairing, unless you are willing to disassemble the unit. I had to find new headlight sockets and purchase new bulbs. The socket was the most challenging aspect of the repair, as I had to find the correct sized 3 pronged hardware. This is what I came up with.

The bulb prongs have to be bent ever so slightly inward to be placed into this socket. The right way to reconnect the socket to the wiring harness was to solder the remainder of the harness to the new socket wires.

IMPORTANT: Before soldering place a 2″ piece of shrink tube on the wire so that it will slide over your soldered connection.

I would not worry about getting the correct wires soldered in the right spot, as you can take out the wires from the socket. Once you have soldered the wires together and placed the shrink tube ofunctioningver your soldered connection, go ahead and wrap some electrical tape over the shrink tube for good measure. Next, put your bulb in the housing and clamp it down. If you did this correctly, you marked the wires according to the previous location on your socket. If not, use your voltmeter to determine which connector is for the regular lamp setting, brights, and ground and do a bit of trial and error. Before inserting the bulbs, I gently placed the wiring harness on my fairing and determined if my wiring was correct. Otherwise, you will have to take it apart again!

The result was an extended wiring harness with about 6 inches of slack wire and functioning headlamps.

Trillium and salmonberry in bloom on 5March2010

An equally addicted coffee drinker at my employer brought me a coffee roaster and beans to play with over the weekend. The roaster is a Zach and Dan’s model. Apparently, they changed the name to Nesco… Here is the company link to learn more and purchase one if you are so inclined.

I left work today at 11am and decided to take a motorcycle ride out past Hoodsport, WA. It was a nice ride, even though it was slow. The cool thing is that I found Cushman No. 1 Dam and some great views. After seeing this hidden gem, I wonder how many other old and hidden dams there are. It kind of reminded me of that hidden dam in X-Men where Wolverine was modified with metal bones.

As a Grants Pass, OR native, oftentimes I read the local rag the Grants Pass Daily Courier. Until now, you could read the paper online, page by page, as a .pdf. This morning I noticed that reading the rag online will cost you. All content but the front page requires that you pay a fee based on the length of time you want that content. For instance, if you want 1 day of access, it will cost you $0.99. Here is the breakdown. Well, it had to happen sooner or later.

Local internet based media is definitely catching on. I know that Olympia has at least two major internet media sites that I visit (e.g. http://olgblog.net and http://www.everydayolympia.com/). Inaccuracies in the media will still occur, but it is the people that must remain objective when writing in these local posts, rather than the paid reporters.

If you are a local Grants Pass Resident reading this – Hey!

I just love capturing pictures of the sky in the evening.

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