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Tips for installing auxiliary LED light

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Old 01-29-2018, 09:24 AM
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Default Tips for installing auxiliary LED light

Hi all. I'm installing a 6" LED flood pattern light bar upfront on my 2012. Need help hashing out the pros and cons of where to power in.

Either option it's going to run off a separate switch. NOT going to function with high/low.

Option 1
Run a separate line to battery. Problem I see here is I risk leaving the light on when I turn the bike off and draining battery. Right? The good is that if my headlight blows I'll have the LED as a back up since it's on a separate line.

Option 2
I tap into the headlight line somewhere. If headlight fuse blows at night, I'm screwed....but I don't have to worry about having a hot LED when ignition off.

Again, I don't think I want the light to function with the low or high. I think I want the control to power on/off as I please.

Thoughts? Tips? Advice?

Thanks!
 
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Old 01-29-2018, 09:46 AM
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You should have an open connector under your seat that you can plug into for power. It's called the B+ connector. That is what is used for the HD aux light kit. Problem is it is 100% on. HD solves that by using a relay and the yellow wire in the headlight bucket to trip the relay. Unfortunately it seems the low beam goes off when the high beam goes on so the aux lights do not stay on when the high beam is on. My aux lights are so bright it does not matter as I cannot even tell the headlight is on.

One solution I have been looking at is finding a wire that is always on when the key is on and using that to trip the relay, most likely one of the wires powering the running lights/turn signals.

Here is a link to the Harley installation instructions from their website
 
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Old 01-29-2018, 02:46 PM
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If you have an accessory circuit look at using that. Here in the UK we have an additional 'side light' inside the headlight reflector, which H-D obligingly wires off the accessory circuit/fuse, giving us a great source of switched power - I use it for my gps.
 
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Old 01-29-2018, 07:54 PM
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https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00GNWCN...4FS8S5U7&psc=1
This is the switch I found on amazon because I want to run some fog lights on my 48. I was just gona run the wire from the lights to the switch then wire it to a line I already have from a plug I ran from the battery just under the tank.
 
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Old 01-30-2018, 07:44 AM
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Maybe this will help( I've done this on a couple of Road Kings). Find the wires going back to your brake/turn signals, if there is a orange wire with a white stripe, that will be a switched wire. Tap into that and then ground to the frame....
 
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Old 01-30-2018, 10:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Hammerhead Pat
Maybe this will help( I've done this on a couple of Road Kings). Find the wires going back to your brake/turn signals, if there is a orange wire with a white stripe, that will be a switched wire. Tap into that and then ground to the frame....
Thanks Pat. I think I'll give this option a go.
 
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Old 02-02-2018, 03:32 PM
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This may not be for everybody but this is what I did on my old Honda with some cheap Autozone lights. I ran a relay with a single pole double throw center off switch. Position one on the switch came straight from the battery, that allowed me to turn the lights on whenever I pleased regardless of if the bike was on or not. The center or position 2 was off. The third position was tied into the high beam wire. That means that if the high beams were on so were the aux lights. It also meant that if I turned the bike off the six lights turned off too. It is actually really easy to do. Pin 30 on the relay goes straight to the battery. Pin 87 goes out to the aux lights. Follow instructions for wiring up the switch and have the output from the switch go to pin 85 on the relay. Pin 86 of the relay is grounded to the frame. It takes a bit longer but having the freedoms it allowed was second to none. I plan to do the same with a small led light bar on my dyna.
 
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