I just had a thought (amazing huh?) and am considering wiring a switch to the headlight. Would I just wire a switch to the power lead of the headlight? I am not one to compromise safety and such, but was just throwing some ideas around. There are times where a headlight is not necessary when the bike is running and these would be the only times when it was off.

 

Headlights draw a lot of current. If you wire a switch in line, you will likely burn it out and then have no headlight. You would need to wire in a relay. The relay would have an in and out for the headlight lead, and then the switch would attach to the relay. The switch would then just turn the relay on or off and the high voltage would be passed through the relay, not the switch.

 

It's not like it's 30 amps guys. There are plenty of swtiches out there that will take the current that the headlight outputs. Find a 10 amp rated switch that you can accept the looks of, and wire the low (earth, ground, common, chassis) through the switch. Leave the hot hard wired to the lamp. The only way your wiring will burn up is if you run more current that what the circuit is rated for. Given that the headlight has 12 guage wire running to it, you would have to overload the system, or short it and carry 20 amps to even get it smoking.

Good idea, post pics when you get it done!

 

Let me make sure I'm straight on this. I would splice the switch on the ground wire between the headlight and it's common ground? Might have to give it a shot and see what happens. Next thing is where to mount the switch?

 

You can do it that way or you can do it the right way, with a relay. One day you will be by yourself on a dark country road with only that single headlight...

 

So in that case it would be the hot lead, relay, switch and headlight in that order in series?

 

I'm a firm believe in relays... I wired the two passing lamps on my glide via relay (the relay itself is next to the fuse bank and the toggle for that relay is next to the odo reset on the speedo housing). Perhaps I should have wired up the headlight to that as well.

Jim aka kiltiemon

 

Take a look at http://www.r1200gs.info/howto/relay.html

You put the relay in the hot lead going to the headlight. One line in, the other out on the high amperage side(s) of the relay. The relay has a common ground and a 12v switch lead. You run 12vpower to a switch and then from the other pole of the switch to the swiched lead. When power flows to the relay, it flows power through the other, high power terminals.

Note that if you want the switch to shut off both low and high beam, it would need to go in line before the headlight relay. Remember, if you do this after the headlight switch, you will be either on the high or low beam side.

 

also make sure it's legal to run without the headlight. in Texas we have to have it on:

TRC §547.801.

(d) A motorcycle may not be operated at any time unless at least one headlamp on the motorcycle is illuminated. This subsection does not apply to a motorcycle manufactured before the model year 1975.

 

Honestly, for the time and hassle involved, I don't see any reason for it.

How often do you run your bike, but not to ride it? I'm not being smart, just don't think you are going to save much bulb-life unless you just let your bike run in the driveway for long periods of time.