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Author Topic: Electrical question - driving lights  (Read 1149 times)
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Posts: 27796


Maggie Valley, NC


« on: January 10, 2017, 11:20:05 AM »

I've bought a couple of LED driving lights to put on my 98.

I have a HID headlight with the transformer mounted to the right side of the frame below the steering head.

What wire can I splice into to power the driving lights?
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Blackduck
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Posts: 642


West Australia


« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2017, 02:51:53 PM »

Personally I would run a hot wire from the battery, complete with fuse or circuit breaker.
I have the relays for my driving lights in the headlight bucket. Relay switch wire is wired into the HI beam and then runs through a separate switch to give the option of HI without lights if needed.
Have the switch mounted under the lip of the fuel tank next to the petcock.
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2001 Standard, 78 Goldwing, VRCC 21411
Bigwolf
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Posts: 1501


Cookeville, TN


« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2017, 05:09:01 PM »

Just a thought.  I like the idea of connecting the headlight and the driving lights through completely different circuits so that if a fuse blows or some other electrical problem takes out one circuit, I still have some lights to at least get me safely off the road.  I neglected that when I rewired all my accessories a few months ago but plan to make that so on my bike very soon.  Also, I will be installing a circuit breaker instead of a fuse for the main headlight.
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MarkT
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VRCC #437 "Form follows Function"

Colorado Front Range - elevation 2.005 km


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« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2017, 05:37:18 PM »

Just a thought.  I like the idea of connecting the headlight and the driving lights through completely different circuits so that if a fuse blows or some other electrical problem takes out one circuit, I still have some lights to at least get me safely off the road.  I neglected that when I rewired all my accessories a few months ago but plan to make that so on my bike very soon.  Also, I will be installing a circuit breaker instead of a fuse for the main headlight.

If I was concerned with that, I'd install a 3-pos selector sw to select trigger for a relay, from the blue wire on one side, and the accy circuit (or running lights) on the other. Center post to the relay trigger. That design would power the spots with the high beam ( or you could use the blu/wh wire, which is power to the hi-lo sw to have them on always) so the lights would come on with the high beam, or any headlight with the blu/wh wire. The spots would go out with the starter just like the headlight, which is important especially if your battery is weak - that has been a problem for me several times over the years.  If you lose the headlight circuit, throw the sw and the spots are independent of the headlight circuit but wouldn't go off when hitting the starter. Center position on a 3-pos sw would be off.

I have not been concerned with losing the headlight circuit because that has never happened on my bikes.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 07:50:18 AM by MarkT » Logged


Vietnam-474 TFW Takhli 9-12/72 Linebckr II;307 SBW U-Tapao 05/73-4
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Member
*****
Posts: 27796


Maggie Valley, NC


« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2017, 06:20:43 PM »

Just a thought.  I like the idea of connecting the headlight and the driving lights through completely different circuits so that if a fuse blows or some other electrical problem takes out one circuit, I still have some lights to at least get me safely off the road.  I neglected that when I rewired all my accessories a few months ago but plan to make that so on my bike very soon.  Also, I will be installing a circuit breaker instead of a fuse for the main headlight.

I have my black top melting light bar lights on a separate circuit with switch. If my headlight fails I can use these as back up.

These driving lights aren't as eye melting.
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Savago
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Posts: 1994

Brentwood - CA


« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 11:14:15 PM »

Not sure if helpful, but my I/S fog lights (35W bulbs) are wired directly to the battery and there is a switch in the radiator pod. The wiring harness that come from Honda has a relay.

In my Vstrom, I installed Rigid Industries LED spotlights and also wired it directly to the battery (and each draws about only 20W). In this case I didn't use a relay (thought it was overkill), but used the wiring harness that Rigid includes in the kit (has a fuse).

Generally speaking, is never a good idea to splice the wire with power (as you may run the risk of overloading the circuit).
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Bigwolf
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Posts: 1501


Cookeville, TN


« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2017, 08:41:55 AM »

Just a thought.  I like the idea of connecting the headlight and the driving lights through completely different circuits so that if a fuse blows or some other electrical problem takes out one circuit, I still have some lights to at least get me safely off the road.  I neglected that when I rewired all my accessories a few months ago but plan to make that so on my bike very soon.  Also, I will be installing a circuit breaker instead of a fuse for the main headlight.

If I was concerned with that, I'd install a 3-pos selector sw to select trigger for a relay, from the blue wire on one side, and the accy circuit (or running lights) on the other. Center post to the relay trigger. That design would power the spots with the high beam ( or you could use the blu/wh wire, which is power to the hi-lo sw to have them on always) so the lights would come on with the high beam, or any headlight with the blu/wh wire. The spots would go out with the starter just like the headlight, which is important especially if your battery is weak - that has been a problem for me several times over the years.  If you lose the headlight circuit, throw the sw and the spots are independent of the headlight circuit but wouldn't go off when hitting the starter. Center position on a 3-pos sw would be off.

I have not been concerned with losing the headlight circuit because that has never happened on my bikes.
I installed my driving lights on a 3-pos switch when I put them on the bike.  I have also bypassed the original headlight circuit eliminating the starter switch/light cutout.  I wired my PC8 to shut off when the starter is engaged thereby eliminating all the unnecessary accessory circuits when starting.  Now I just want to put the main headlight on it's own separate relay with an automatic resetting circuit breaker just like the headlights on cages.
Never had the light go out on my fat lady but have had the headlights go out in cages that had fuses instead of auto resetting circuit breakers.  Not much fun on a narrow mountain road with almost vertical drop to river below.  I survived that but did not like it and sure don't want to experience it on 2 wheels.
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Posts: 27796


Maggie Valley, NC


« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2017, 09:10:27 AM »

Well slap me with a 4x 4 and call me dumb ass.

I have a PC8 fitted so I can wire the lights to that and then put an on/off switch in line.

I really am an electrical  uglystupid2
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