| Author | Message | ||
     Beatnick_fly |
On the rear of the headlight housing, enclosed in a small gray connector, there's a female plug, a positive and negative side, there's also a 10 amp fuse for that plug. Does anyone know what it's for?? It plugs into an empty hole in the headlight housing. I temporarily ran two small foglights, 50 watts each, off the positive lead, it seems to work. It looks like a small female blade connector, but needs a + and - line to it. Any ideas?? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
If you are talking about the one between the high and low beam housings, it's a city light that comes on when you switch it to accessory. It takes a 194 bulb. I'm gonna add a blue one one of these days. | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
Thanks, Ft bstrd, that's the one. I was going to hook up two (50watts each) fog lights to that outlet. Did a temporary check first, no fuses blown. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I don't know that I'd use it for 100 watts. Even with a larger fuse, you're likely to fry the harness. What I would suggest is a direct wire to battery instead and use that plug or another to run a relay switch. That way you can verify that the harness is rated to run 100W of power. You REALLY don't want to be running down gremlins in a previously fried harness. This coming from a guy who drove a VW Beetle with a harness that caught on fire. | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
The circuit's got a 10 amp fuse, would'nt the fuse blow before the harness fried up?? | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
I was trying to avoid running a wire back to the battery from behind the screen. Is'nt there a hot lead in there I could tap into?? | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
Just got back from an hour or so ride, had no problem with the lights, fuse or frying the harness. Looks like that little light socket runs off the accessory plug which can be used for the Buell Heated Hand grips. I don't have the heated grips, nor would I recommend anyone use them WITH accessory lighting off the same lead. Anyway, everything seems to be fine. Now about that Drummer exhaust?? | ||
| Treadmarks |
I don't know that I'd use it for 100 watts. Even with a larger fuse, you're likely to fry the harness. +1 Take the time to run a nice flexible fat wire to support all your lighting and accessory needs. Thats a pretty small wire for 100w. Not only is it safer, but your lights will be brighter as well. Remember that the switches are also carrying the load. From Rally lights dot com. Note that wire sizes for lighting is more critical than for other applications — The rated output of a lamp is figured at 13.8 Volts, not 12V. So with a 0.5 Volt drop you are at 13.3 volts. And at 95% of the rated voltage, you are only putting out 80% of the rated luminous intensity - for a 100 watt lamp that’s only 80 watts!! Get what you pay for and figure to the high side when you are sizing wire for lighting. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I have seen wiring fry with a fuse intact. The current load was at maximum of fuse limit but not over. The harness was also carrying maximum load. The problem was that the maximum load heated the harness and eventually deteriorated the insulation causing failure. The fuse is best for short spike protection rather than as a maximum determinate of line load capacity. None of the rest of the harness is being run at maximum capacity. As Teeps posted, resistance in the line results in heat. That resistance decreases light output. It's like running both a spotlight and heating blanket on the same line. Remove the heating blanket and the lights brighten. Add it back in, and the lights dim. I have run a dedicated line in for my HID conversion. It is really no big deal. There is a large bundle of wires tha you can follow and bundle your wire with right into the front faring. Search for HID Conversion, and I'll bet my thread comes up. Teeps and others also have some great write-ups. | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
I don't understand, isn't the accessory line rated for heated grips? How much power do they draw? The only thing I have running off that line are the fog lights, at @ 100 watts for both. If I can't tap into that line, and I understand it's probably too small to handle the power the lights draw, there must be a line I can use inside the windscreen housing so the fog lights are on when the headlights are on. I don't want to use a separate switch. Thanks for all the help, BTW, this forum stuff is the best thing since pnuematic tires. | ||
| Reepicheep |
100 watts is about 9 amps. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I would prefer a dedicated line rated for 15-20Amps with the lowest possible resistance. I also wouldn't wire anything directly into the factory harness. I always use a relay. My relay runs off the accessory plug. When it is live, the relay switch closes allowing power to my heated grips and HIDs. Because it's just a relay, the draw on the accessory plug is minimal. I have full or near full capacity at the plug. I have a 15A fuse on the live line so that if there is a spike IT will blow not the stock harness. Can you run it off the accessory plug? Sure. The problem is that it's the only line of defense. You are relying only on the fuse to blow to save everything else. For engineering folks, single points of failure are less desirable than redundant systems. You can design a single point system, but with a little more work, you can create a system with several fail safes. Just something to think about. I'm sure better qualified folks will chime in soon. I'm by no means an expert. I just seem to have more time on my hands. BTW, welcome to BW. | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
When you say your relay "runs off the accessory plug", are you referring to the plug to the left of the speedo on the dash?? Do you have a male side plug into that, then to a "relay", (on/off switch??) with an inline fuse? Is there a separate switch mounted somewhere on the crossbar?? And even if there's a 12 amp spike for example, would'nt it bypass the 15 amp fuse and still blow the 10 amp fuse in the fuse block under the seat?? What if I installed a 15 amp fuse between the accessory line and the fog lights?? wouldn't that be the same?? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for all the help! | ||
| Beatnick_fly |
Originally I was going to run a separate line from the battery to a switch, then to the lights, with a fuse in between of course. But I did'nt see how to neatly conceal the line or make concessions for turning the bars.. Plus I did'nt want a lot of wiring all over the place for the switch (relay??), the dedicated line, and the line to the lights. | ||
| Joe_solo |
Any one know how to change the accessory plug on the dash from switched to always powered? Using a GPS and want it to stay powered when I stop the ULY. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Beatnick, The Relay is nothing more than a switch triggered by power. When the power is off, the relay is open (no current). When the power is on, the relay closes (current on). All it does is to allow one power source to determine when another is powered. The benefit of this is that you can't accidentally leave your heated gear, lights, accessories, etc. on and drain the batteries. The relay I have came with my HID kit and is a cube that is about 1" cubed. It's under my front fly screen. My HID's are set to be always on, so there's no separate switch. I could have mounted one. You might want to for your driving lights. Maybe not. The fuse is on the dedicated hot lead from the battery. The fuse on the accessory plug should only fail in the event of a relay failure. It doesn't happen very often. ChadHargis had a relay fail that kept blowing fuses. I have both my Heated grips and my HIDs on the same relay. Again, the relay draws nearly no power from the accessory plug. It's simply a switch triggered by the flow of power on another circuit. My line and fuse are rated at 20A which should be more than enough for the grips and HIDs. I have a small switch located on the left side of the front fairing above the ignition switch. It's the only part of the set-up you can see. You can also see a small portion of the dedicated lead from the battery that is attached to the main wiring harness on the left side of the frame leading into the front fairing. Beyond that, everything else is in the front fairing behind the flyscreen. I hope that makes sense. | ||
| Luftkoph |
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Relays.asp hey beatnick fly maybe this will help you see what these guys are trying to explaine.see a little toggle switch cannot handle those kind of loads without deteriation in the power they carry 100w divided by 13.8 volts =7.2 amps 100w divded by 12 volts = 8.3 amps it changes quick please play it safe dont fry your bike | ||
| Xbimmer |
Hey Beatnick there's plenty of room under the screen for light switching stuff and connections. You'd be amazed at what some guys have stuffed under there! Running a big fat power lead (fused at the battery end) past the rear shock and following the stock harness forward is easy. Wiring in an Autoswitch to activate the relay and lights is easy too although getting used to flashing the high beam to turn the lights on/off takes a little bit of time. Better to be safe than stranded in Timbuktu with fried wiring. |
