New driving lights switch...

[deilenberger]

I saw this on an '08 GS-Adventure, and had to have it:



More details on it at: http://www.eilenberger.net/R1200R_Roads ... switch.htm

Wasn't cheap, but it works for me..

[Dauntless]

Cool! More stuff to buy for a bike I don't have yet.

[sandycruz]

Good eye Don,

Damn, That is one clean bit o' switch gear!

I'm going that way soon as I figure out what aux light setup I'm going with.

Very nice indeed.

Thanks for the heads up!

[ka5ysy]

Don:

You have a serious farkle infection! How much was the switch, and what part number?

[WildBlue]

Sexy!

[deilenberger]

Don:

You have a serious farkle infection! How much was the switch, and what part number?

Follow the link - it's all documented. And it's my wife driving me to the Farkles.. every time she buys some new trinket for the house I have to match something on the bike. I think I see a new custom seat in my future, she's talking MORE living room furniture..

[AllanCook]

Don:

You have a serious farkle infection! How much was the switch, and what part number?

Follow the link - it's all documented. And it's my wife driving me to the Farkles.. every time she buys some new trinket for the house I have to match something on the bike. I think I see a new custom seat in my future, she's talking MORE living room furniture..

That's it, Don. Blame the wife.

Looks good, even if a little pricey. Will it work with Motolights?

[deilenberger]

That's it, Don. Blame the wife.

Looks good, even if a little pricey. Will it work with Motolights?

It did for me. New lighting in the diring room = driving lights for the bike.

[celticus]

I'm a Don D wannabe. Super Sano Don. I have no extra lights but I may get the switch and figure out what to hook to it later.
Mark

[Graf]

hi Don,

Where did you plug in the other end?

Thx....alex

[deilenberger]

hi Don,

Where did you plug in the other end?

Thx....alex

Alex - that's a bit more complicated.. it went into the wiring I dreamed up for my auxillary-driving lights. And it was not a plug-in, more like slash and burn (hack and tape, cut and splice..)

[Graf]

.....i would assume you would cut the positive wire that goes to the lights and solder the switch wires there?......

[deilenberger]

.....i would assume you would cut the positive wire that goes to the lights and solder the switch wires there?......

No, bad assumption.

The lights draw enough current that a relay has to be used to switch the power to them. The switch in the circuit is used to switch the low current feed to the relay coil (which is powered off the bikes parking light, a handy ignition-switched source of power.)

The Hella lights I use come with a very nice wiring harness, complete with a fused relay assembly. Only problem - it's designed for a car, so wire lengths are way more than needed on a bike. I use the basics of this harness, and modify it for the bike (mostly shortening up wiring.) The harness does come with a switch, that I never found a decent spot to put on the R12R. The switch in the photo replaces that switch.

[Graf]

...got it.......thanx for the explanation Don....

I finally got around and installed the Centech box and wired it through the relay.....i took the power of the maintenance plug, which is right under a seat. Would I just be able to wire the lights to the Centech box....or does it need another relay and all that?

alex

[deilenberger]

...got it.......thanx for the explanation Don....

I finally got around and installed the Centech box and wired it through the relay.....i took the power of the maintenance plug, which is right under a seat. Would I just be able to wire the lights to the Centech box....or does it need another relay and all that?

alex

I have no idea what happened to my message above.. this forum has been acting wacky (tech-term) all morning. It doesn't seem to be showing (perhaps it will come out of hiding soon..)

I'm not sure I understand your question..

Do you mean simply wire the accessory lights directly to a switched fusebox? I guess you could, but it would certainly cause a problem for most people since you couldn't turn them off except by shutting the bike off.

I did connect the power feed for the switched side of the light relay to my Centech fusebox (unswitched) even though the relay has a fuse attached directly to the side of it (clever design, but in this case, redundent since I connected to a fused source.)

The switch itself doesn't appear (from the wire size) to be made for high-current use, it looks like control circuit wiring size, so I woudn't try using it to directly switch power to the lights, I would only use it in conjunction with a relay.

[deilenberger]

...got it.......thanx for the explanation Don....

I finally got around and installed the Centech box and wired it through the relay.....i took the power of the maintenance plug, which is right under a seat. Would I just be able to wire the lights to the Centech box....or does it need another relay and all that?

alex

One other clarification required.. when you say "i took the power of the maintenance plug" am I correct in assuming you mean the control (coil on the relay) circuit power? You do not want to take the power feeding the switched circuit (and Centech) from the maintenance plug for sure..

[Graf]

Don......I took the power of the Green/Blue wire that goes to the maintenance plug.....the round thingy that sits in the clip retainer under the seat......there are some photos at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15334 so you can see exactly what I am talking about. Why would this be a bad location for a source of switched power?.....I've seen other people doing this....on the GS though...but thay have the same plug that has the same wires......
alex

[OlyVR]

I use the same wire (just from the outlet, as opposed to the diag port) to power my Touratech Canbus Helper as recommended by the fine folks at Hyperlights.
I plan on using the same port to provide the low power input for my driving lights as i don't want a separate switch. Ignition on - lights on, Ignition off - lights off (yes I realize there's a small delay, but i don't think it'll be an issue).

[deilenberger]

I think there is some confusion here. In the photos of the Centech box - there are two large wires next to it - red and black. Is the other end of these wires connected to the battery?

The idea of a fuse box is to take battery power, fuse it, and make it available for accessory use. Simple. The way to do that is to connect some large leads (I prefer the positive one to be fused) to the power SUPPLY for the Centech fuse box. If the box has an associated relay - the positive feed goes to the switched contacts for the relay - and the output of the switched contact then goes to the box feed connection.

The coil of the relay needs to be activated to pull in the contacts and power up the fusebox. In this case - you could use the power available on the diagnostics connector since the coil of the relay is a low-current device, and the CANBUS won't turn the connection off due to excess current being drawn.

It's pretty simple wiring, but I do realize to a lot of people, electricity is smoke and mirrors or magical. It's good if you don't let the smoke out, if you do the magic goes away..

[Graf]

hi Don......yes....those thick wires go on one end to the fuse box and the other end to the battery with the relay in between.....the lead wire that goes to the battery has a 30amp inline fuse.....the only wire that is left goes from the fuse to the switched sercuit which in my case is the maintenance port wire....I took detailed pic's of the install....once i get them over to the computer, I will do a new tread on the Centech box install (detailed)....as far as i have seen nobody has done that to the detail that is nesessary for the person that has never done anything like this before.......

my question actualy was about the driving lights.....if I already have my setup with the fuse box and relay, can I just hook up the lights to the fuse box and then put a switch on the lead wire that goes from the box to the lights? or am i completely off base here and would need another relay, etc.....

thx....alex