I have replaced the tail lamp today (MTS1200S). The brake light was still working, but the tail lamp failed at about 13,000 miles/ 18 months. Since it is LED, there is no simple replacement of a bulb - the whole unit has to be replaced, and list price is £112 + vat. Once the new unit was fitted and working OK, I decided to open up the old one and take a look. It is a sealed unit, not designed to be opened or repaired at all, but it is not all that hard to remove the clear red cover. Inside is an elaborate white printed circuit board with about 10 LEDiodes and a lot of electronic components. I found that the main central tail lamp LED had disintegrated entirely, turning into white powder which had coated the whole interior of the unit, including the brake light LEDs. If a filament bulb blows, it is pretty cheap and simple to replace; and to carry or buy a spare bulb. The LEDs are supposed to last indefinitely, hence no need to carry spares - but if they are going to fail soon, that could be a real problem and an expense. Anybody else had an LED lamp fail yet?
2 so far, first was broken fillament (on strip wasnt working) and one mounting side has vibrated itself broken, second was misted up. At 10k and 15k
Satisfy the pedant in me Pete....post some decent pics of the disassembled light unit please ;-) 2 years+ but only 13000 miles and mine's still ok to date. The number plate light (Festoon bulb) has blown though and I'm buggered if I can fit the replacement bulb!
My 400/4 used to go through 21/5w bulbs, solved by upgrading to one of the new LED dual bulbs, obviously not an option here... Do they just stop working, or get worse until they do?? :frown:
Oh yes, that is a complete pain to fit... I swapped it for an LED replacement (the original hadn't blown, but I wanted to change anyway) ...it does go in, but you need at least 3 hands! I managed with a little jiggery pokery, and using a very small screwdriver to act as a "third hand".
If you wrap a piece of tape round the lamp body you can then maneuver the lamp into position still a pain but it works (or turn the bike upside down)
I have attached some phone pictures of the tail lamp, dismantled, as requested; sorry, photos are of rather patchy quality. To replace the lamp unit, first undo the four allen screws in the tool compartment (under the pillion seat), so the whole tail piece can be lowered, and unplug the two connectors (tail lamp and indicators). With the tail piece on a bench, undo the three allen screws holding the two halves together and separate them. Finally undo the two allen screws holding the tail lamp unit to the tail piece. To reassemble, first transfer the two metal clip-on captive nuts from the old lamp unit to the new one and attach it to the tail piece with the two screws. Reassemble the tail piece with the three screws. Plug in the two connectors, and hold them together with a rubber tie-wrap. Finally reattach the tail piece to the bike with the four screws, not forgetting to use plenty of washers - without them the tail piece would flop about. If it's hard to get the four short screws into position, use long screws first and then replace each one with its short screw. While the whole thing is apart, you can easily get at the number plate festoon bulb as well. You don't need three hands at all, it's quite easy single-handed. Hope this helps somebody.
You can get an LED replacement for the number plate bulb see :- Philips Vision LED C5W Festoon 4000K (Single Bulb) | PowerBulbs Replaced mine over 18 months ago after blowing 2 standard C5W bulbs in quick succession, the LED C5W is still going strong.
If the LED's are identifiable you should be able to get replacements from somewhere like RS and solder/crimp? new ones in must be cheaper than replacing the light assy.
Yes, I didn't pay this much, or get it from here...It was a car lamp specialist...it was around the £5-6 mark... I can't find the email or link though.
I have asked my dealer to look at my rear light today whilst it's in for suspension ECU and belts. It works ok, but I noticed it has a milky look to it, as opposed to the clear ones on the showroom bikes. I guess it is coated in dust? 15,000 miles and 2.5 years old.
I guess yours is getting coated with white dust internally (if it is the same as mine was), from the tail lamp LED. That presumably means it will fail before too long. Better get a replacement on order.
yes cloudy/white look means that its 'gone' - ie foggy - needs replacing as a whole unit...I would recommend the dealers replaces it for you...(in my case the dealer sent me one in the post and - although not impossible - it was a bit of a pain to remove the arse end of the bike and re-fit it (lots of wires etc...)) and then of course post the old one back... bugs
