| Author | Message | ||
     Towpro |
What do you guys think? Since I will be putting relays in to power my HID's anyway, the addition of $2.00 worth of diodes is cheaper them pulling apart the switch to solder it  Instead of soldering my switch, I plan on doing mine like this. the diode between the high and low feeds from the factory switch will conduct when high is turned on, causing the low relay to stay on at the same time. Since the switch actually turns on both lights for an instant when switching from High to Low, the low relay will never turn off. I just need to test that the headlight switch does not ground the lead when switching from high to low. the other 2 diodes are to help with the voltage spike when the relays are turned off.  | ||
| Ronmold |
If you are going 35w HID's you don't need the relays. I agree that soldering inside the left cluster is a bit drastic although it does work. I tapped into the blue wire (on the bike harness side of the connector) that feeds the H/L switch as my low-always-on wire instead of the org/wht wire, really much simpler than diodes or taking your switch apart. This will keep the lights on the "lighting" fuse and they will shut down while starting. I did use a relay to make a circuit that keeps the headlights off if you turn on the key with the switch in the H-beam position. Switching to L-beam latches the relay & the lights operate normally, this is handy when working on the bike. I'll post the circuit if interested. (Message edited by ronmold on October 14, 2009) | ||
| Rwven |
Is there a big advantage to having the low beam turn off on startup? I have a 35W HID in my low beam with the citylight mod and it stays lit during startup with no ill effect so far. | ||
| Ronmold |
Other than giving your starter circuit a bit more juice, which it would only need if the Batt was low, it may actually be better for the HIDs if they stay on whilst cranking. My HIDs shut off and they have been fine also. I've brought up the fact that your L-beam now is powered through the key-switch contacts which may lead to early switch failure but I see no real evidence on this forum to that effect. The downside to the citylight wire is you can't pull the lighting fuse and kill the lights when doing mods/adjustments, those times when frequently starting/stopping the engine. (Message edited by ronmold on October 14, 2009) | ||
| Towpro |
Ron, I would like to see your circuit. I put the 194 bulb into the front euro circuit. I figure if I break down along the side of the road it would be nice to have a little light on the front side also. I do want the headlights to go off during crank. My BMW K100 has a "load shed" relay to remove load for cranking. I am running 2 HID's, so I want to leave the low beam on to prevent that "sudden darkness" of starting a cold HID bulb when I switch from high to low beam. they are 35w HID. I checked the load on a meter on the bench. After around 15 seconds they were around 3.5 amp (still might have been warming up?). They are running now without relays, but I was afraid running both would push the capacities of the circuit. Will | ||
| Mikef5000 |
If you are going 35w HID's you don't need the relays. There have been multiple pictures of melted headlight connectors posted on here. It is a VERY bad idea not to run a relay. Is there a big advantage to having the low beam turn off on startup? You don't want it to 'turn off while cranking', you want it to not turn on until the bike is running. If it lights up with the key, then the power will be cut to the headlight when you hit the starter. Every time you cut power to an HID ballast your shortening it's life significantly. I really like the diodes tho! (Message edited by Mikef5000 on October 14, 2009) | ||
| Ronmold |
You don't need the relays to prevent the melted connector, just cut it out of the circuit & splice the wires to the ballast connectors directly. My Ninja has the lights off until the engine starts using a relay fed by the alternator AC side. That would be the best way to fire up the HID's. This circuit can manually do the same. Leave switch in H-beam mode until bike starts, then switch to low.  | ||
| Towpro |
Thanks Ron. I need to see if I can "tap" into the blue wire inside the front housing. I guess I could also use the parking light feed in place of the blue wire, but then the load for High Beam is moved to the AUX fuse. The Logic works! If you start the bike with high beams turned on, you will have not have any headlights. (this allows you to run without headlights like when your tuning bike), but if you have the 194 bulb in the euro light socket, it will still light the head lights (dim). Once I switch from High to low, the Low beam wire feed will cause the relay coil to close and turn on relay. Once relay turns on, the lower 1/2 of the DPDT applies the parking light power (or blue wire) to the relay coil, through the diode, which will keep the relay latched (and low beam turned on) even if the low beam feed is turned off. The diode in the low beam feed keeps the system from back feeding if the head light fuse was to pop. This will not affect the Euro lights if you are running the 194 bulb in the front. thanks, I think I will build it. |
