BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Hi,

Long story short, my Lamp warning has come on and the top front bulb (H11) no longer come on. The bottom H11 comes on when the full beam is on and my side running light is on all the time.

I have tested replacing the bulb with a new H11 bulb but it still did not work.

Where is the fuse box on the 2011 R1200R? Hopefully it is just the fuse.

Many thanks for your assistance.

There is no fuse box on a CANBus system. I'd recommend checking the connections very closely.

There is no fusebox on the R1200R; the fuse function is provided by the bike's body controller computer, which assesses and limits the electrical current provided to each consumer.

The lamp warning is displayed because a bulb, or a socket, or its connecting wiring, is defective. Because you know the lower bulb (the high beam) works, try putting the lower bulb in the upper socket. It is much much more likely that there's a bulb or wiring problem than that there is a flaw in the body controller computer.

Hey guys, thanks for getting back to me.

No fuse box, Grr that's a pain!

As recommended, I swapped the low/high beam bulbs around and neither worked in the low beam socket. Both bulbs worked in high beam. I confirmed there is 12V arriving at the high beam and running light sockets but 0.25V at the low beam socket. I have removed panels in an attempt to trace the wire back to battery or CANbus system, unfortunately my other half has insisted it's lunch time and we need food. I will continue investigating once food/beer has been consumed.

Do you have any suggestions or checks you would recommend for a CANbus system?

Should I disconnect the battery in an attempt to reset the on-board computer?

On a side note, I am much prefer the simpler approach to electrics... Am not sure what would happen in the Sahara desert if the computer went t**s up...

There is and old saying in the Cavalry, "Without a horse you are afoot." The same outcome applies to a Beemer with an electrical problem.

Did you start the motor while testing? The low beam does not work when the ignition is turned on; it only illuminates after the motor has been started. A few years ago, this gave me fits while addressing what I thought (erroneously) was a wiring or bulb failure.

Dbrick, you are absolutely spot on! That makes two of us to be had by the no low beam without motor running.

I could have been looking into this for hours!

Turns out one of the rear light bulbs failed and the warning sign relates to that! I wrongly assumed the front low beam was to blame. I did check the rear but the brake and running light were working. I think I saw somewhere that BMW regulate voltage to the brake light when the running light fails so I guess that's why I overlooked the rear light....

Dbrick there is a virtual beer on the way to you!

Brahman

ps: thanks to all that responded, much appreciated.

What a silly mistake.

Didn't seem that way when I did it, but you guys are silly.

MTBeemer wrote:What a silly mistake.

Didn't seem that way when I did it, but you guys are silly.

lol, definitely not one of my brightest moments (pardon the pun)! Had me and 2 others at the BMW dealership scratching our heads. In their defence they were only Motorad sales/admin guys and not mechanics....

Seriously though if I was going to try and shift the blame onto someone else, who came up with the failing rear light that doesn't show as failed??

Ah lamp warning is on, let's check which of the bulbs has gone.

Rear, ok.
Rear break, ok.
Running, ok.
High beam, ok.
Low beam, ah that's out, must get a new bulb before I get stopped by police.

3 days later:

brahman wrote:Turns out one of the rear light bulbs failed and the warning sign relates to that! I wrongly assumed the front low beam was to blame. I did check the rear but the brake and running light were working. I think I saw somewhere that BMW regulate voltage to the brake light when the running light fails so I guess that's why I overlooked the rear light....

The lamp warning also reflects ( <- pun ! ) the condition of the turn signal bulbs.

Dbrick there is a virtual beer on the way to you!

You're welcome, brahman. I'll hoist a real one for you this evening.

We have met technology and it is kicking our butts.

OT, but sort of related...

The power to the low beam can be used to trigger a relay (for accessories) so that the accessories will not be powered on during cranking, increasing the load.