Dual headlight mod writeup.

[Fred]

I promised that I would do this a while back. And then I didn't. Sorry about that.

This is how to set up an FZ6 with true dual headlights. That is, two high beams, two low beams, and both headlights run through relays.

Why do it this way?

You get the best beam pattern, and the most visibility, especially when you flash your lights since both lights are blinking high/low. And you just feel better about yourself when both headlights have two filaments. I gained two inches in height and my cholesterol dropped to 65 after I did this mod.

Let's compare the existing headlight modifications to see their advantages and disadvantages.

1. Biker_Dude43's headlight mod.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-tos/1663-bd43s-07-headlight-mod-part-1-a.html
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-tos/1666-bd43s-07-headlight-mod-part-2-a.html

Pros: The cleanest headlight mod by far. One wire plugged into an existing connector to bring the right side low beam into operation.
No increase in current usage over stock high beams.
No increase in current through the headlight switch.

Cons: The left hand bulb is still an H7 (single filament).
Making the pin for the factory connector is a pain in the butt. (But Biker_Dude43 did produce a run of wiring harnesses that you could just plug in. I don't know if he still makes them.)


2. Cashcrzzy's H4 bulb modification.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-...cation-making-h4-bulb-fit-into-h7-socket.html

Pros: Allows you to fit a dual filament H4 bulb in the left side headlight.

Cons: You need a grinder or good tin snips to modify the bulb.
You need to make a spacer to sit between the bulb and the spring clamp that holds it in place.
Depending on how it's wired, it can have all four filaments on at once. This doubles the current draw, and the FZ6 charging system is not all that powerful.
Even if wired so that the lows shut off when the highs are on and vice versa, this modification doubles the amount of current passing through the high/low switch on the handlebars. This could shorten the life of the switch due to heat buildup and faster corrosion. The fact is, nobody but Yamaha knows how much current that switch is meant to handle.

I should mention that my bike is wired this way. While I have not burned up my headlight switch, I do intend to switch it over to a relay setup in the future.



Both methods have good points and bad points. So the plan with my guinea pig motorcycle (AKA Hellgate's FZ6) was to combine the two methods and add relays to protect the stock wiring and switches from excess current.

Part 2 coming up in another post in this thread.

 

[Fred]

For Hellgate's bike we're combining the modifications.

Biker_Dude's harness makes the right side headlight work the way you'd want it to. High beam when the switch is on high, and low beam when the switch is on low. So step 1 is to do his modification and get switched power to the area of the right front headlight.

Step 2 is to modify an H4 bulb by Cashcrzzy's method to fit the right hand headlight.

Now we need to get the relays together.

You need a pair of 12 volt, 30 amp relays. These are oversized for the purpose, but they're also very common. Any auto parts store or electronics store will have them. That makes it easy to replace a failed relay on the road.

We also picked up some relay sockets. These are hard to find unless you look online. I know that Fry's Electronics sells them, but I haven't seen them anywhere else. The sockets aren't necessary. You can just put spade connectors on the ends of your wires. But this can make changing out a relay a real pain, as you have a hairball of wires and you can't remember which one goes where in the middle of the night on the side of a road.

Rather than go into lengthy and wordy detail about the wiring, here's the wiring diagram I drew up for this install. I've tried to label everything. If you're not used to reading a wiring diagram, here's the key points. Anything in a purple box is one component. When two wires cross, if there is a dot, they connect. If there is no dot, they do not connect and are crossing on the diagram simply because they had to in order to draw the diagram.

 

[bertmoog]

Ok, +1 on this mod as I have done both, but I dont understand about the relays. I never put a relay in my setup and it works fine. Is this a stupid question?

 

[bertmoog]

Ok, +1 on this mod as I have done both, but I dont understand about the relays. I never put a relay in my setup and it works fine. Is this a stupid question?

Nevermind, I didnt read all the way down.

 

[Fred]

A couple of notes about the parts list. I listed three headlight sockets.

You will want at least one for the left hand headlight.

You'll want a second one for the right hand headlight, since you'll be cutting the old one away.

You may want a third one. With the third one, you cut copper to the shape of spade terminals and solder them into place in the socket. Now your female headlamp socket is a male, and will plug into the existing right side headlight socket. (The one I said you'd be cutting away in the last paragraph.) The advantage to doing it this way is that you're not altering your stock wiring harness at all. You just plug into your right socket that's already got Biker_Dude's mod on it.

We didn't do this on Hellgate's bike, but you may want to. If any part of this mod fails on the road, you'd be able to unplug the whole thing and be back on the road with the stock setup in minutes.

For this same reason, we also replaced the left side connector instead of reusing it. The existing left side connector is zip tied out of the way. At any time you can install your old H7 bulb and plug it in and have the left headlight back to stock.

So given all that, you get to start soldering together a wiring harness. First plan where you're going to locate the relays. Here's where we put them on Hellgate's bike.

You can see that the wires get a bit messy underneath with all the solder joints, then they clean up again as they go to four main bundles. One to the left headlight, one to the right, one to the old headlight wires, and one to the battery terminals.

 

[Fred]

That's about it. Sorry there aren't more pictures. We were working pretty hard and even with two of us it took six hours to do everything.

If you have a specific question, ask away and I'll answer. A lot of this is covered in threads on the other two mods. The only unique thing here is the relays and the way the two mods are brought together.

 

[mellofelow]

Very cool. Do you see any configuration changes should I convert the low (left - riding position) to HID? I plan to replace the H7 with HID and the H4 with PIAA Super white halogens.

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA - Shop Products PIAA H-4 Platinum White Bulb

 

[Fred]

HID is a single filament bulb, right? That is, there's no high or low in one bulb, it's just on or off.

If you convert the left to HID, then you don't need to get this fancy. Wire in the HID per instructions. Then on the right you could just do Biker_Dude's mod. No need for the relays or extra wiring harness.

I will say that I haven't seen any gain with any of the super white bulbs. When I worked at AutoZone I took advantage of a slow day to test the brightness of regular, white, super white and other fancy bulbs by hooking them up to a car battery. I couldn't tell a difference, and the filament itself seems identical on all the bulbs. Same filament = same light output.

That said, NAPA sells some bulbs that do look quite hefty. The filament is thicker wire with a different number of turns to it. I suspect that those would draw more power and produce more light. But you'd definitely want to relay them, as the extra draw might overload the stock headlight switch.

 

[mellofelow]

Thanks again. The purpose for changing the H4 bulb is to better match the color of HID I want to get. Once I do the BD mod, I don't want the white and yellow look That's all. And again, I may have one bright and one dim output.

 

[coursonap]

The H4 hid bulb as the silverstar or the piaa have 2 filaments.

 

[brad81987]

Very cool Fred but I have one question:
Why not use only one relay and utilize the normally closed and normally open terminals, for simplicity purposes?

BD43 high beam mod serves as the power to the relay coil, other side of coil goes to ground.

Connect high beams to N/O side of relay, connect low beams to N/C side of relay. When headlight switch is in low position, BD43 harness has no voltage, so relay is open and low beams are on. When headlight switch is in the high position, relay is energized and switches to high beams.

This would also allow the low beams to continue to function in the event of a relay failure to energize.

 

[Fred]

VERY good question! We considered doing exactly that, and you can make it work that way. unfortunately you still need a second relay.

The five pin relay is not as easily found as the ones we used. An auto parts store will likely have it, but Radio Shack won't.

With the single relay, the normally closed terminal will be providing power to the lights when the relay's coil is not energized. Since we're getting our power directly from the battery terminals, the low beams will be switched on all the time, even when the bike is turned off.

To fix that, a second relay would be needed between the battery and the 5 pin relay. This second relay would cut all power to the first relay when the ignition switch is off.

There are advantages to doing it that way, though. Your second relay could also be switching on power to other accessories like a radar detector. So it could be worthwhile.

 

[brad81987]

VERY good question! We considered doing exactly that, and you can make it work that way. unfortunately you still need a second relay.

The five pin relay is not as easily found as the ones we used. An auto parts store will likely have it, but Radio Shack won't.

With the single relay, the normally closed terminal will be providing power to the lights when the relay's coil is not energized. Since we're getting our power directly from the battery terminals, the low beams will be switched on all the time, even when the bike is turned off.

To fix that, a second relay would be needed between the battery and the 5 pin relay. This second relay would cut all power to the first relay when the ignition switch is off.

There are advantages to doing it that way, though. Your second relay could also be switching on power to other accessories like a radar detector. So it could be worthwhile.

oh duh, I don't know how I overlooked that............. lights on ALL the time definitley would not be good.

 

[fz6alain]

VERY good question! We considered doing exactly that, and you can make it work that way. unfortunately you still need a second relay.

The five pin relay is not as easily found as the ones we used. An auto parts store will likely have it, but Radio Shack won't.

With the single relay, the normally closed terminal will be providing power to the lights when the relay's coil is not energized. Since we're getting our power directly from the battery terminals, the low beams will be switched on all the time, even when the bike is turned off.

To fix that, a second relay would be needed between the battery and the 5 pin relay. This second relay would cut all power to the first relay when the ignition switch is off.

There are advantages to doing it that way, though. Your second relay could also be switching on power to other accessories like a radar detector. So it could be worthwhile.

Why not use 1 relay and run the power from the key swich?

 

[Fred]

That should work just fine. It means tapping into the harness in another location. It's a hard to reach one. The key switch's connector is inside the left frame rail below the tank.

But the key switch carries power for all of the bike's electrical systems, so it would certaintly be able to handle the current.

If you tap in right at the switch, it wouldn't be difficult. Just make sure that you weatherproof your connection and make sure you haven't damaged the stock wires.

Tapping in at the connector is a little more foolproof, but it's harder to get to.

Electrically, it's a very good solution. Your lights will come on the moment you turn the key on instead of when you start the bike. That's the only difference can forsee with this method.

 

[Fred]

Hey all, I thought I'd resurrect this thread. Interactive3 sent me a PM with a very handy link in it.

Motorcycle Relay Kits, Headlight Modulators, Parts, Powerlet, Centech, Posi-Lock, and More!

They sell relays, relay sockets and all sorts of gadgets for motorcycles. And even better, they have this item.

Motorcycle H4 Relay Kits, cheap Worldwide Shipping

Look at the last item on the page, the H4 Dual Headlight Relay Kit.

This is EXACTLY the setup that Hellgate and I put on his bike, but it's in a premade, ready to go harness. And you see those tabs on the coupler? They plug into the stock right hand headlight socket. So you don't have to cut or solder any wires. Just plug it in and go.

If you want true dual headlights, and you want them relayed, this kit is the business. Buy this, buy a Biker_Dude43 headlight mod, do cashcrzzy's bulb mod, and you're done!

If you get this kit, be sure to rep Interactive3. This is his find, and it's pure gold.

Fred

 

[interactive3]

Hey all, I thought I'd resurrect this thread. Interactive3 sent me a PM with a very handy link in it.

Motorcycle Relay Kits, Headlight Modulators, Parts, Powerlet, Centech, Posi-Lock, and More!

They sell relays, relay sockets and all sorts of gadgets for motorcycles. And even better, they have this item.

Motorcycle H4 Relay Kits, cheap Worldwide Shipping

Look at the last item on the page, the H4 Dual Headlight Relay Kit.

This is EXACTLY the setup that Hellgate and I put on his bike, but it's in a premade, ready to go harness. And you see those tabs on the coupler? They plug into the stock right hand headlight socket. So you don't have to cut or solder any wires. Just plug it in and go.

If you want true dual headlights, and you want them relayed, this kit is the business. Buy this, buy a Biker_Dude43 headlight mod, do cashcrzzy's bulb mod, and you're done!

If you get this kit, be sure to rep Interactive3. This is his find, and it's pure gold.

Fred

Thanks again for your information on the dual headlight mod. I see that you've already added the links I sent you from easternbeaver.com. (strange name, but the headlight mod kits and parts are just what are needed).

Also, I made some of the brass pins that Biker_Dude43 used in his "bd43's 07 Headlight Mod Part 1". I have a couple of extra ones. If anyone is interested in one I'll sent it to the first and second people who respond (in the USA).

 

[mellofelow]

I have a couple of extra ones. If anyone is interested in one I'll sent it to the first and second people who respond (in the USA).

Oh... me, me, me! Thanks!

 

[cashcrzzy]

Very nice post Fred
Thank You
Greg A.

 

[arcata2]

Fred,
What gauge wire did you use? The wiring harness looks like 14 but your photo looks like 12.
Why did you use the relays? Do you think the light switch is inadequate to handle the increased wattage?
Barry