Blown out headlights

[Oberon]

I recently took my 710m out for a drive with my 4 yr. old son to run some errands in the evening. After stopping at the local home improvement store, I started the engine, turned on the lights (which I usually just leave on the Hi beam setting). When I put it in gear and gave it some gas to take off, the red rpm (4500 rpm) light lit up (even though the rpm's were very low, I'm guessing around 12-1500 rpm) and the headlights made a extremely bright flash and then burned out. When I put the lights on low-beam, they lit up fine until I gave it a little gas, then the same thing happened, and the headlights blew. We headed home with only the very dim "parking lights" which never blew regardless of how many rpm's I was running. I have noticed the red 4500 light blinking and fading at high rpm in the past, but nothing ever shorted out. I should also mention that both batteries are on the verge of being shot and are ready for replacement. Any ideas?

[Jim LaGuardia]

Check with volt meter, symptoms indicate high voltage(maybe bad regulator) also check wires at molex on engine and replace bad batteries.
Voltage should not exceed 28.8vdc