LIGHT BAR QUESTION

[STRAYDOGG]

if i just want my light bar to work on low beam do i still use the blue and white wire? also where did you ground the relay in the head light bucket? thanks for the help not real sharp on wiring.

[MarkT]

The blue/white wire supplies input power to the OEM Hi-Lo headlight switch, after being modulated by the state of the starter button - if activated, it is off.  So I used it to supply power to the 3-pos selector switch, end terminal. (You could instead use the white wire between the hi/lo headlight switch and the headlight, this is the lo beam power)  The other end terminal of that switch, power came from the blue wire - which is the output of the hi/lo switch, high beam.  The center then goes to the trigger of the relay that you use to power your light bar.  (Power switched by the relay is from the battery via fuse, or a fuse panel)  The result of this scheme is, you have a 3-position toggle switch that controls when the spots come on - down position has the light bar come on with ignition (if you use the white wire, on with lo beam); up position, comes on with high beam selector, and in the middle, light bar is off.  In either up or down position, the light bar will go off when you hit the starter.  That leaves all the juice for starting the bike, and can also be used to flash your light bar off & back on, if you want to signal about a radar trap.

On grounding in the headlight bucket - I just grounded to the screws of the mounting plate at the bottom.  Some will say, bad idea, then the juice may be going through the head bearings.  Well if it does, it's insignificant, not enough to hurt the bearings in my opinion and experience.  I've run mine this way for 15 years and I'm running my 130/90 headlight relays through that ground.

Check Chet Walter's site on how to wire spots, he did the same way I did : http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/foglites.html

[hubcapsc]

I wired mine up using a diagram from Rivco as a guide.

I wanted mine to come on only with high-beam. When highbeam is on,
the blue wire (if I remember correctly) that goes into the headlight plug
in the headlight bucket is hot.

I ran a wire in a loom from near the battery up to the headlight bucket,
and hooked a spade shaped connector on to it... the spade securely jambed
into the highbeam plug at the blue wire without modifying or otherwise fouling
the OEM wiring.

With the one wire, I was done in the headlight bucket. I used the one
wire as the relay trigger. I grounded the whole thing with a studly wire
bolted right onto the motor. I forget which bolt, there's a bunch of them
sprinkled all over around the transmission and clutch...



-Mike

[STRAYDOGG]

thanks for the help.