| Author | Message | ||
     Midknyte |
This thread over at SBN revealed a truly inspired wiring setup http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/general-sportbikes/399733-35w-vs-50w-hids.html#post3734299 This cat's got a relay wired up in a self-latching circuit so that he powers up his HID after he starts his bike by just flashing his high beam. The low beam circuit keeps the relay on until the bike is shut of...   | ||
| Froggy |
Wow i miss read the title and thought it said cup. Anyway that relay looks like it will do the trick, but i am a noob with diagrams. | ||
| Strato9r |
That is really slick! I just received my headlight recall notice in the mail today, so as soon as the dealer is done installing the new parts, I know what I'll be doing! | ||
| Teddagreek |
You can do that with your regular lights too.. There was a badwebber that posted his here not to long ago.... My luck I'd forget to do it and get pulled over.. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
That is amazing! Now you just need to figure out how to make the system illuminate a red LED on the dash whenever the ignition is on and the low beam is not. That way you won't drive off and forget about starting your light. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Anyone know where one can buy this "latching relay" and diods? My HID kit is on the way, and I'd love to do this mod. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Just curious, Why don't you just turn the high beams on when starting the bike????? Ok I see the attraction now. This set up is automatic. Mike if your interested I can probably assist you in assembling this. it is no big deal. I work in electronics all day. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
In thinking about it, the only problem would be the possibility of the relay failing or overheating. The relay is in the energized state the entire time the bike is on. It was never meant to be on that long, we would have to look at the duty cycle rating of the latching relay. Just something to consider. I will work on part numbers and such. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
I'm thinking an A/C relay from a 70's Ford was what I used on my Pinto for the fog lights..it's complicated as to why I did that instead of just using the toggle switch. I could have them stand alone,go on only with the hi beams or go only on with the low beams. There was a horn relay and alternator diode in the mix there too. | ||
| Midknyte |
In thinking about it, the only problem would be the possibility of the relay failing or overheating. Wouldn't be any different than the relay activated straight to battery harness. In fact, one could mod one of those up to work this way? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Clever, and I think it would work fine. The timer is more idiot proof, so I am uniquely qualified to stick with that  | ||
| Midknyte |
I dig the simplicity of it... | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
I looked at it, it is a neat idea, but for all out geek points I still like Reep's circuit. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Ok Reepi I have burned up the search function and cannot find your circuit. I was looking at just buying a Delay-on relay, The sad part is I cannot find it for reasonable. So tell me about your circuit. Is it a simple R/C circuit or did you get creative with a 555. I have the set up coming and need to get the foot work done before it gets here. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Lost Reep's circuit is in this thread. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/249273.html?1167815874 | ||
| Bombardier |
Why? The high beam only comes on when you turn it on so why would you want another component in the circuit? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thats the one. There was a reason I didn't go with the 555... but I can't recall it specifically right now. I think I was going for miminum parts count and a circuit that would not need a voltage regulator. Still working perfectly... | ||
| Oldog |
Mike cautionary here you may want to add a momentary off, every once in a while some thing ( usualy the switch ) would disrupt the headlight and an off on cycle is needed at the balast to re-strike the lamp this has happened to me on several occasions. FYI .. the Diode is to clamp the reverse polarity spike produced by the relay coil, the total idea is very clever I would think one of Al's heavy duty relays would work here. | ||
| Oldog |
Why don't you just turn the high beams on when starting the bike????? the system voltage even with a healthy battery can drop off far enough that the HID lamps go out, the ballast does not sense this and restrike the lamp so this allows you to start the engine and then light the headlight(s) Hey Ohio can you draw up a red / green low voltage warning device that I could build cheaply and fit to my X1 ? | ||
| Midknyte |
once in a while some thing ( usualy the switch ) would disrupt the headlight and an off on cycle is needed at 'dog does this ever happen to you while riding? | ||
| B_bueller |
This one helps save your HID from multiple startups, and it can be used to trigger garage door openers with the flash to pass switch.http://www.autoswitch.com/2006/models/as5pg2/as5pg 2_index.shtml (Message edited by b_bueller on August 24, 2008) | ||
| B_bueller |
With nice LED reminders   | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
thanks corporate that is what I was looking for. I was wondering about the 555. Getting the voltage correct and stable was bigger than the actual timer circuit. You were talking simple. that circuit is very simple. bout 20 minutes to build it. So did you embed it epoxy or fiberglass after completing and testing it. It seems I owe reepi an adult beverage. (Message edited by lost_in_ohio on August 25, 2008) | ||
| Midknyte |
mumble, grumble, groan. This trick is of little use... If you are running of an aux harness to the battery, once it is lit it will never go off because your line (to the battery) is independent and not killed when you turn off the bike. If you are powering your HID off the low line, it's real trick. And that was the intent of this thead, cuz if you are running straight off the low line, it will work like a charm - but I gots news for you's: Yer probably going to burn up your harness. See my other thread here... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/389397.html?1219632841 | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Midnyte. Most people are not powering their HID's off the factory harness. Much like myself, they are using the factory low beam as a relay for a direct battery connection. That is the way most aftermarket HID kits are set up. Hence I just flip to high beam (killing my HID) during startup or shut down. Reep has stated before he only did his circuit because he could (geek factor). BTW if you are running a direct line without some sort of relay you are unnecessarily putting massive strain on your ballast. Once the ignitors fire up the arc light, the ballast will try it best to maintain the arc. If you put a large amp pull on the battery (like when starting) the ballast attempts to compensate. It really shortens the ballasts life. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Yep LostinOhio, I think that was it. I realized I could build an entire analog delay with fewer parts then just the VR for the 555. Same problem with an op amp to make a comparator, all my op amps in the "parts bucket" would blow above 12V. I like that mounting position for the LED. Thatd be another cool place to put that single LED volts monitor. Jim, is that what you were looking for? That would be pretty easy to slap together, but there is a pretty nice one already available that uses a PIC and tells an awful lot from a single LED. That being said, you could make a good "go / no go" light with just a few parts. My $15 wal mart "trolling motor battery monitor", which has a bar graph and LCD, is still working great. It's awkward to repackage though. | ||
| Oldog |
Midknyte Yes it has happened several times usualy after hitting a bump I replaced the switch in the tail ( thats where I put it ) no problem, once in a while the starter load drops battery voltage down far enough to put it out Reepi xcatly! a go / nogo light for battery voltage probably in the dash VS the bar switch ring, depending on size on HID operation has any body got any sizable fiber optic cable that I could get 1 foot of I wanted to do a light pipe up to the dash for daylight ops so I can see if the lamp is lit or not (Message edited by oldog on August 25, 2008) | ||
| Reepicheep |
LOL! I thought that same thing Jim, I even scored some raw fiber optic cable from one of the network guys after their last install. Unfortunately, it was WAY too thin to make a decent light pipe. Probably better off scavanging something from one of those carnival toy spinny battery operated things. Scary how many of my motorcycle projects involve first raiding the kids toy box  The go / no go thing will be interesting. All the "easy" designs would depend on the base <-> emmitter junction in an NPN transitor. I seem to recall those junctions being a bit temperature sensitive, so you might get up to .1V of noise... though maybe thats not enough to really matter for this application. I'll play with it. Feel free to remind me if I get distracted. The KLR-250 did something I thought it would never do today when I ran out for lunch to get some parts for the Saab... It did an accidental wheelie with stock gearing! Whoda thunk!?!?! I think that head in the bike when I bought it had "issues" long before I put it out of its misery starving it of oil limping to Franklin. Those 1mm shims under the cam caps were definitely NOT stock, and the spec for the head says a maximum of 1mm play before the head is toast, so there was no way it was right... The network guy that gave me the fiberoptic cable pointed out another great use of it. If you have some on the bike, and ever get lost in a remote area (like Antartica) it can be a lifesaver. 1) remove it from the bike. 2) Bury it about a foot deep. 3) ***Quickly*** step away. 4) Within 30 seconds or so, a backhoe operator will appear out of nowhere, and quickly break the cable into two pieces. 5) You can then ask the backhoe operator for directions. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Question to you electrical guru's... Is there some sort of capacitor that I could put in line with my HID's to keep them running in the event of an ultra quick cut in power? Like Oldog is talking about hitting bumps or switching from low to high beam can ofter cut the power for just long enough to shut down the beam (we're talking fractions of a second here). BTW, the reason I just can't switch to high beam to kill the HID during startup is because I have a Cyclone with a single headlight bulb. | ||
| Reepicheep |
The rub will be that a capacitor just won't store enough power. They make pretty lousy batteries. I tried making a battery replacement out of capacitors for my KLR-250 this weekend... its kick start, so it doesn't need much. I took a pile of old caps I had laying around (1500 uF... big ones) and wired them in parallel. Ended up with a capacitor the size of your fist. It runs the headlight and tail light for about .25 seconds after I kill the motor. So it might be possible, but it will take a lot of capacitor, and won't keep things alive very long at all (some fraction of a second). Its possible to back into it, and convert farads to volt amps which can be derived from watts (if you knew the watts of the steady state HID, which I am guessing is maybe 20 watts). | ||
| Azxb9r |
If you were only using it to ensure that the relay windings stayed energized during a momentary loss of power, it would not require much current. There is a possibility that it could work, but it may end up being too big to be practical. |
