wiring help...one more time

[puffy75]

Agree Agree Agree. I went through a couple of switches before I broke down and put in the relay. I run a set of 50watt x2 PIAs and large guage wire. You can use any cucuit that's hot after the ignition (black/white or black) Brown has a couple of open connectors on a lot of Hondas just for accessories. They are all fused at the box.

[donspicer1]

seems to have relays of some kind in the headlamp control box, (I think/suspect/want_to_believe).

wire it up without the relay, and observe what it does. I think you'll find a spark occurs inside the switch. it'll work, though.

I think we would all do our best to help you wire it up with a relay. Can somebody suggest an appropriate relay & socket he can easily buy, from advance auto parts or the like? I'd look now, but, I gotta work this job thing...

[FirstYearDeek]

AutoZone/O'rileys/NAPA/Pep Boys/Advance Auto all carry a standard Bosch relay and socket... you should be able to get the pair for less than $10.

PartExpress is a great site for that kind of stuf, too.

-Deek

[Cookie]

Here's nthe one I used on my Chang
.http://www.changjiangunlimited.com/tb2025.htm[/url]

[revjim]

okay...got it hooked up without the relay. No sparks etc. Going to see how this works...all the wiring is dedicated all by itself. I went straight to the battery..no tapping etc... we shall see...YOU GUYS ARE THE BOMB!!!!!

[sunnbobb]

Revjim. You can do whatever you like, but a simple 6 dollar relay will:

keep your wiring from overheating
keep your switch from arcing
Allow you to use a heavy duty wire to the lights for brighter lights
Allow you to use a small wire to your switch
Add insurance against overwhelming your stator

as i said, you can wire however you like, it takes about 20 minutes to wire the relay in, and hours to replace a stator or burnt wiring.

[puffy75]

Agreed I have one you can have

[Sidecar Bob]

The smart way to connect driving lights to a motorcycle

[rcmatt007]

makes a lot of sense on the aiming.... you still want to see the side of the road with an oncoming car, but not blind the other driver

unfortunatley the running lights on my HD are aimed a little too high and I cannot adjust them, and if I leave them on the oncoming car turns their brights on towards me

[puffy75]

Rodger we used to take a deep well socket and grind out one side so you could go in and adjust it from the front after removing the lens. I do not know if that will help. I think thier running lights have been the same for awhile.

[OhioBill]

Go to NAPA and get a complete driving light wiring kit. It has a fuse, relay, and a really cool LED control button for $22.00

[Brant]

You got it toyota. in the following diagram, you would run the "switched power" to your toggle and then back to the battery. This is the right way to wire a set of fog lights. The relay switches the heavy current to the fog lights with big wire, while the dashboard switch wiring can be very small. This keeps high current and large wires out from under the dash and in the engine compartment where they belong. A typical set of 55 watt lights will draw about 8 amps for the pair. The dash switch will pull only about 0.3 amps to operate the relay.





Why use a relay?

There once was a little man named Jon whose job it was to lift a weight of 50 lbs. He could do this all day long with no trouble. But, one day the boss came up and said that Jon now had to lift 200 lbs. But Jon knew he could not lift 200 lbs without eventually breaking his poor little back. So, he got his friend, Hercules to lift the 200 lbs each time that Jon tapped him on the shoulder. So Jon was able to lift the extra weight through Hercules' strength and Jon did not have to lift any weight at all.

This explanation, plus the illustration, is really good. That should go in the shop talk.

[Sidecar Bob]

Then throw the lighted button in the parts bin and connect them the way I described.

If you want to, buy a second relay and use one for each driving light so that you don't increase the drain on your headlight circuit significantly.

But don't run two 55W driving lights at the same time - 165W of headlights is just too much for a 300W alternator that has to also power instrument & running lights (about 25W) and the ignition (not to mention brake lights, turn signals, stereo &c) and still have some left to keep the battery charged.

Unless you do what I did:
I wired my (35W H3) driving lights to a DPDT switch so that in one position (night) they are connected as described in the link above and in the other position (day) they are in series across the low beam. In the day position they draw only 17.5W total.
Since my GoldWing's front signals don't have marker lights and I have LED bulb replacements in the tail lights, that means that the total is only about 5W more than the original lighting used.

35W driving lights, one lit at a time are quite adequate for me because I upgraded to a modern automotive headlight reflector unit (plain lens, beam shaped by the reflector, vs. the original parabolic lens, beam shaped by lens facets 25+ year old with scratched lens and tarnished reflector). The new headlight (with the same bulb that was in the old one) puts 2 or 3 times the light onto the road ahead.

[Sidecar Bob]

A typical set of 55 watt lights will draw about 8 amps for the pair.

P=ExI
I=P/E

55W/12V=9.16A

I don't dispute the use of relays to lessen the load on switches &c. I have relays on the lights on the front of the sidecar.

I do dispute the wisdom of running two 55W driving lights at the same time on a vehicle with a 300W alternator.

But then, mine still has it's original stator & I don't intend to ever drop the engine to change it because I ran too much lighting. Or to become stranded because there wasn't enough power left to keep the battery charged.

Besides, you don't need to run them both at the same time, particularly if you put in a headlight reflector unit that isn't a worn out antique.

[CYBORG]

i'm with sidcar on this one. if you need that much light to see where your going, you don't need to be driving at night. and the harm done to on-coming traffic is even more dangerous. i use a standard sealed beam from a two light car system. [has both high and low beam in one focased lens]. it has a wide narrow beam on low, and alittle wider on high. i can't out ride my light unless i'm going over 90mph. and i can replace it at any auto parts store, or walmart, in the country.