I recently got a new Heritage and find that the aux. lights are automatically shut off when I go from low beam to high. I'd like to be able to keep them on to get better light for seeing deer when riding rural areas at night. Seems to me it would be pretty easy to remove the power wire from the toggle switch, insulate and anchor the end of the wire and run a new fused wire directly to the battery to power the toggle. I could then use the aux.'s whenever I want to. Anyone tried this?

 

Been done may times. Just remember to turn them off or you'll find yourself with a dead battery.

 

Zener,

I share your concerns about riding at night in rural areas. I live in BFE in central Texas.

I have "daymaker" LED lights which are much better than the normal bulbs but the brights are still not enough in the "pitch black" of a rural area. I find better lighting for night riding with the low beams and passing lamps on.

It also crossed my mind to modify the wiring to allow the passing lamps to remain on with the high beams. It shouldn't be too difficult to wire a " switched" hot directly to the auxiliary lights so they turn off when the ignition is shut off.

Boog

 

Wouldn't a Heritage passing light wiring be same as touring? If so, find the front harness & swap your ORG/RED & YLW wires & they'll stay on in hi/low.

 

Dont forget a 20A fuse in line.

You could also replace the switch with a 3 position switch and run another hot from the hot wire for the high beam then the passing lamps would be modal depending on which headlamp was on.

You might be able to splice into the running light circuit as well if you want them to turn off when the bike is off but I dont have a wiring diagram to see what the circuit is rated at...do you have halogen or stock bulbs?

Anyway as for light I just switched to a $28 HID H4 kit and its unbelievable for brightness and coverage and has the draw of a conventional lamp. I did have to add an on/off switch for the headlight (HID light should be off when starting) but the bike starts better with the lights off anyway. It was a great cheap mod.

 

Easy enough to change the wires around (see above) but the chances of killing a battery makes wiring direct a bad idea.

I went to the dual beam HID halogen headlight because of those dark spots in the hill country, and when switching to high beam actually have as good or better coverage as if the passing lamps were on...and not drawing as much power.

 

Whats the Org/Red wire? On my 05 Deluxe I have a hot coming right out of the Low beam lamp socket that goes to the switch and then the passing lamps.

just curious

 

Well, who'da thought. I just did some searching and, believe it or not, the MoCo has already thought about it and came through.

There is an HD part that is specifically designed to allow control of the auxiliary lamp independent of the low/high beams. It is a very easy install. It is called an "auxiliary lamp independent control wire harness".

’96-later FL Softail® and ’97-later Road King models: HD part 69200442
http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...1&default=none

’98-later Electra Glide®, Street Glide® and Trike models: HD part 69200442
http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...0&default=none

Consider it ordered !

 

Have the jumper on my ultra and works great. Wife just picked a 12 heritage and this was first upgrade. 10 minute job make sure you get the correct part as the softail is different than touring.

 

Thanks so much for this!


Oh yeah and Motown what happened to your sig pic of your bike? It always makes my day