Hi/Lo beam went out.

[whitestroke]

I have a 98 Standard and I did the Relay Mod a year prior to the lights not working today.
I always drive on low beam and also have 2 small halogens that are always on.
I'm driving down the road and smell something burning, I pull over and realize I must of turned on the Hi beams by accident. Turned Highs off and rode home, no more smell.
I go to ride today and Hi indicator light is on, switching HI/LI switch on and off does nothing, indicator light stays on but there is no light from headlight only 2 halogens are lit.

Seems odd that the Hi/Lo indicator light is lit? 
Where should I look first?

[John Schmidt]

I can't tell for sure, but from your explanation it sounds like you have your halogens running through the same circuit as the headlight. NEVER do that. Always have the extra driving lights on a totally separate circuit, the headlight circuit and switches aren't built to take the extra amps. I'd check the integrity of the Hi/Lo switch by removing the halogens from the circuit, then pull the headlight and the plug on the back of it. Using a voltmeter, test the presence of voltage at both hi and lo. If you have voltage and the point of voltage moves from pin to pin by moving the hi/lo switch, then it sounds like a bad bulb. The burning smell might be from a simple overload of the circuit, hard to tell without more info. Is your headlight bulb a stock wattage or is it higher? If higher, that may well have finally caught up to you. Again, it overloads the circuit, expecially the connector on the back of the headlight. Keep us posted.

[whitestroke]

Thanks for the quick help John.
Headlight connector is the culprit (burnt). Who has the best replacement connector? Honda? Napa? Internet?




Here's my birdsnest. The red wire (coming from relay) in my hand that's connected to the blue wire and the black sleeve, blue is the halogens and black sleeve is the headlight (lower right).
I'm a rookie here so maybe you can explain how something is being overloaded? I thought the relay took care of that?
Relay is triggered by the blue/white wire from the starter switch.
12v. from battery to relay is a dedicated wire via a fuse.




Wired like this without the switch

[John Schmidt]

Are you using a higher wattage headlight bulb? That has a lot to do with the connector burning up. Go looking for a ceramic connector, I've seen them online....just have to look. As for the extra lights, I still advise a totally separate circuit from the headlight circuit. Having two high amp circuits running together is never advisable. You have no need to run the halogens all the time with the headlight, they should be optional on a separate switch. You have one relay operating both the halogens and the headlight together, and it appears the relay is activated/deactivated by the start switch if I'm reading the schematic right.

[salty1]

Whitestroke, I would say you have your driving lights wired just fine if you followed Chet's circuit diagram as shown in your post.    I'm assuming the headlight is part of the OEM wiring and your only using the blue/white striped wire for the relay trigger. I'm also assuming that your driving lights are switched.? Why did your connector burn? ???

[R J]

I have Chet's suggested wiring diagram on MGM.
                             BUT
I have a separate power wire to my spots.

Reason for that is just like your problem, if the headlight went out, I still had lights to get home on.     Didn't have a hi/lo, but at least I could get home.    Honda's wiring in the headlight is not designed to handle much more than 5 amps.   Spots pull a lot more than that.

While you are repairing your current problem add another relay and another power source to the spots.

Rest my case.

[Valkpilot]

I have Chet's suggested wiring diagram on MGM.
                            BUT
I have a separate power wire to my spots.

Reason for that is just like your problem, if the headlight went out, I still had lights to get home on.     Didn't have a hi/lo, but at least I could get home.    Honda's wiring in the headlight is not designed to handle much more than 5 amps.   Spots pull a lot more than that.

While you are repairing your current problem add another relay and another power source to the spots.

Rest my case.

It looks like the main headlight circuit is not also protected with a relay, which usually shows up as a start switch burnout. Just re-read the original post.

Chet's schematics tweaked to protect both the headlight and power driving lights:

Headlight / Driving Light Dual Relay

[whitestroke]

Whitestroke, I would say you have your driving lights wired just fine if you followed Chet's circuit diagram as shown in your post.    I'm assuming the headlight is part of the OEM wiring and your only using the blue/white striped wire for the relay trigger. I'm also assuming that your driving lights are switched.? Why did your connector burn? ???

It's wired exactly as shown above with the headlight and halogens both powered off the same relay terminal, except there is no switch. Does all this juice run through the Hi/Lo switch?? Answering my own question only the Hi or Lo runs through the Hi/Lo switch.
In So. Ca. I need all the visability I can get. I want the 3 lights on always. Blue/white wire is for trigger only.
Headlight is a higher wattage bulb 90/100 watts (hence the burnt plug), I got a Napa #LS6235 bakelight headlight plug, hopefully it will hold up to the higher watts. The wires that go into plug sure are thin.
I realize having head and halogens on the same circuit could leave me in the dark, but I rarely drive at night unless I'm on a group ride.  I always have at least one flashlight with me.

[salty1]

I'm sorry, but why would you use the driving light relay for the headlight also? Why not use the OEM wiring setup that came with the bike for the headlight? That way there isolated.

The circuit for the driving lights really should have a switch, a simple toggle would do the job.

JMO

[whitestroke]

I'm sorry, but why would you use the driving light relay for the headlight also? Why not use the OEM wiring setup that came with the bike for the headlight? That way there isolated.

The circuit for the driving lights really should have a switch, a simple toggle would do the job.

JMO

The OEM wiring setup goes through the starter switch, a weak spot on valkyries.  

And why do I need a switch if I want my halogens on all the time?

2 isolated circuits would be nice, but also more confusing for me.      
Keep it simple

Thanks to all who helped!