Hopped on this morning in the dark, fired up, did my last minute check, etc, and started to go, right about the same time the motion lights went off.....
What the heck, it was DARK, yikes.
No headlight, dang.
Didn't have time to even look at it, I just got my truck keys, drive to the ferry with my rain gear on, last one to get on, whew.

Came home and thought I would look at the bulb.
It looked good.
Golly, it's a replacement bulb, I lost the high beam on the stock one.
I put it back in, turned on the key, it lit up, both beams.
Tried again after getting it all together, nothing....
What the heck.
Pulled it apart again, took the bulb inside to look at replacement ones online.
Went back out tried the flashers, turn indicators, etc.
Speedo lights up, high beam indicator lights up...
Everything seems fine.
Put the bulb back in, it works...
Started it up, light went off to start, then comes back in dimly and goes out, stays out, and it's hot to touch.

What kinda gremlin do I have    
Anybody got a guess?
Just buy a new bulb?

Thanks!

Check all the ground and battery connections.

Ruttly wrote on 03/14/17 at 19:21:24:


Do you know where the ground is for the headlight?

raydawg wrote on 03/14/17 at 19:59:30:


about 3' under?

raydawg wrote on 03/14/17 at 17:36:51:


power goes to the headlight thru the starter switch... surprise.
2pole double thru, 1 turns on the other goes off... too FN simple.

1st, check the connectors for the handlebar controls.
I'd take them apart, clean with contact cleaner, then apply di-electric grease.
still the same BS?
I'd look for a short, check where the wires go into the housing.
pull the bulb and check with an ohm meter at the HL connector.
high beam to ground, then low to ground.  both should be open

Everything ok but you still got BS?
tear apart the starter switch.

If the turn signals, horn and headlight all have issues simultaneously, then the power supply to the left handlebar control is the place to start looking.....the connector on the left side of the frame under the fuel tank.  Check that connector.  The wire that takes the power up to the handlebar control is orange.

Wiggle the harness from the fuel tank to the handlebar...and the portion that goes to the headlight and see if you can make the lights come on/off.

There have been several members who had a wire broken in the harness to the headlight, as Verslagen has indicated.  This normally only affects one of the high/low beam wires at a time...unless it is the ground wire that is broken.  If you take the two screws out of the control and pull the two halves apart.....look for the orange wire and test it to see if it has power.  The yellow wire is the high beam - the white wire is the low beam.  

Check the under tank connectors on both sides.  I had my light go out like that before and it turned out to be the right side connector under the tank.  It just has to be a little loose so push them together well and see if the problem goes away.