1984 Honda Aero - Headlights question

[blake05]

I need some help for a non electrically-minded. My Aero's headlight won't light up. All the other lights work - blinkers, tail, dashboard turn, oil, etc. I know the battery is pretty much dead as the horn barely blows and the starter doesn't get enough juice. Also, when I turn on the right turn signal, the oil light will blink alternating with the turn signal light. My understanding was that when the scooter was running the headlight should light up because it doesn't run off of battery power.

Any help? Will a new battery possibly fix this? Is it a short somewhere that could cause it? I have the manual and see the diagrams, but it doesn't mean a lot to me right now

[Meatball]

Try hooking up jumper cables to a car battery while the car is NOT RUNNING. Then turn the key to the "ON" position of your scoot but also leave it NOT running. Taillight will light up to indicate you have power. Then you can check your blinkers, horn, etc to see if you have some wires crossed. The oil light blinking with your turn signal is not typical but Ive seen the system do some strange things when running a dead battery and entirely off the scoot's charging system.

To check your headlight I would pull your head plastic off (very simple) and check to see if theres anything visually wrong. Looking for frayed/cooked wires or maybe it just shook loose and its unplugged. If nothing is obvious and it looks normal you should test the headlight itself by unplugging it from the scoot and putting 12v power to the wires to see if its a bad bulb.

If the bulb is deemed good, connect a multimeter to the headlight wires of the scoot and start it up...see if you're getting power to the wires. If you're not, trace the wires all the way back until you find the disconnection. Re-test headlight wires with a multimeter for a reading before re-installing headlight.

Note: whenever connecting jumper cables up to your scoot, be sure the host vehicle is NOT running. You do not want your scoot to be connected to the 14.4 volts your vehicle's charging system will provide.

[blake05]

Should the headlight light up if the scooter is not running? I've read something about the headlight not running off battery power but of the alternator?

[Meatball]

The headlight only lights up when the scooter is running. It is powered by the charging system of the bike.