I have a CBR600F1. I noticed a week or so back that i've been having to wiggle the connector the get my headlight to work upon starting up my bike. upon further inspection yesterday i removed the connector on the back of the headlight and the plastic had begun melting.. I thought this was just due to the light corrosion on the contacts of the bulb, but tonight I tried touching the actual connector after noticing a burning plastic smell and OUCH it was hot!
So i'm coming here for some help, what are the possible causes of this?

about 2 weeks ago the tumbler on my ignition fell out, leaving the bike stuck in the on position, i wired a simple toggle switch between the hot wire on the relay and the actual connector for the ignition. I know the headlight and the ignition are on two seperate circuts, but is it possible this has anything to do with the extreme heat coming of my connector and melting it?

 

Do you have a stock wattage bulb? If it's been replaced with a higher wattage you might need to upgrade the headlight harness to a thicker gauge wire. Also if the connection to the bulb was corroded it can build up enough resistance and heat to melt the wires & connector.

I would suggest replacing the headlight bulb & connector, and any melted or corroded sections of the wiring also if needed. Using some dielectric grease on the connector when putting it back on the bulb should prevent any corrosion from happening again later.

 

Yep, exactly.

Although I'm a cheap bastard, so I'd probably try and clean/save the connector if possible.

 

Not sure on the wattage, it's the same light that I bought the bike with!
I am heading out to buy a new socket and light bulb today though


Yeah, as much as I would like to try to salvage the connector, it has seen better days.. time to replace



Thank you guys for the prompt response!

 

UPDATE!
So I went out to my local autoparts store and bought a new connector and bulb. my light shine brighter than ever now!

here is the old connector




It looks like this could have gotten really ugly really fast if I were to have left it

 

Yeah, that connector & wiring was definitely toast Glad to hear you got it sorted out & it works better now.

 

When I got my bike, it looked like that. Not sure if the PO was using a higher wattage bulb to compensate for the lack of light these put down.

The interesting thing is I bought a new H4 connector, and wired it as per the wiring diagram below. You see the middle prong is green (ground). In OPs pic, its the left. I'd later learn (when I was installing my HID kit and it didn't work) is the wiring diagram shows it in the 4656 configuration, not the H4 configuration.

Even more interesting is the halogen bulb still worked in this configuration (albiet not alot of light output, highbeam light was always ON a bit, but it got brighter when highbeams were selected).