Motolight musing?

[Dick]

Hi y'all - gotta question for ya. On my run last week from KS to Boerne, I noticed one of my fork-mounted Motolights wuz toast. Worried that I might be riding into the Hill Country after dark, I dropped in to a Home Depot on the road and picked up a 35W, 15degree 'spot' beam replacement fixture. Wuzn't 'til I pulled the two-pin toasted fixture that I saw the new one had a lens over the fixture, whereas the old one didn't. And THEN, I noticed that I had picked up a halogen fixture!!! Those halogen thangs generate a lotta heat, and the Motolight unit niche has a glass lens up front - am I gonna singe or fry some wiring with this thang?

I did break the seal on the container, and since I realized all this stuff after dis-assembly, I went ahead and installed the new fixture and buttoned back up the unit - turned it on for a coupla seconds just to check that it functioned. It did, butt wuzn't on long enough to generate any heat. Luckily, I made it home before the sun went down, so didn't need to fire up the Motolights.

So - long story to ax: should I toss the halogen and then contact Tina for a replacement bulb. Or ??? Thanks all.

[black1200lt]

:D Dick,
The really good news is that Tina will send you FREE bulbs to replace your toasted one.
Tell her Coni said so. :D

[Dick]

Hi, Coni - yeppir, I know. BTDT coupla times over the 5 or 6 years I've had 'em. Tina and her crew gives great customer service. I just needed somethang sooner while on the road.

[Randy]

Wuzn't 'til I pulled the two-pin toasted fixture that I saw the new one had a lens over the fixture, whereas the old one didn't. And THEN, I noticed that I had picked up a halogen fixture!!! Those halogen thangs generate a lotta heat, and the Motolight unit niche has a glass lens up front - am I gonna singe or fry some wiring with this thang?Well Dick, I have some more good news for you. The MR-16 bulbs in MotoLights are Halogen - in fact I have never seen an MR-16 that wasn't (other than the new LED array replacements). Also the little lens over the lamp you got from the hardware store is a UV filter, required for indoor lighting because of the higher amount of UV from halogen bulbs. Many new MR-16 bulbs come with the filter built in. Older indoor fixtures had a separate UV filter.

So use it without worry other than the 15-degree beam spread being a lot broader than the 8-degree bulbs from MotoLight.

[Dick]

Dang - am I livin' right or what?!!! Thanks, Randy - that IS good newz.

While I wuz futzing over the units, I decided to install the new fixture on the right hand side of the bike (the toasted unit wuz the left sider), thinking I'd have a leetle more beam spread over there for lighting up the road shoulder. Haven't ridden after dark yet, butt am looking forward to seeing what I'll see.

Thanks again, Randy.