Lets Talk About the Stupid Lights

[Gary in NJ]

This subject comes up a lot on the forum....too often. And yet, I'm going to add another thread to the topic.

By way of background I have naked conversion with dual 4" round lights on the front of my bike. Both my high and low beams are on all of the time (including the high beam indicator). I believe that I have them wired (I will dig into the harness after there is consensus on the subject) as per the drawing attached. It is my understanding that the Black/Yellow wire is the low beam and it always has power after the engine starts. Switching from high to low beam should have no effect on the power of the Black/Yellow wire.

The Black/Green wire is the high beam and is switched via the control on the left handlebar control.

So based on the drawing below, I should have one element (low beam) on all of the time and the high beam should be switchable. I'm using LED lights and have no issue with both elements being on when in high beam. I'm just having trouble understanding why all elements are on all of the time. Any ideas?

 

[trepetti]

The easiest answer would be a short in either bulb from the low to the high beam terminal. That would put 12v on both high beam terminals.

 

[Andz]

Have you measured to check if the voltage changes from 12V to 0V on the high beam line when you toggle the bar switch?

 

[Gary in NJ]

I’m quite sure that I’ve miswired this, that’s why I posted this; to confirm my assumption that only the low beam should be working in the low beam position.

I’m looking forward to seeing how I f’ed-up this simple task.

 

[Ohendo]

Just some info, may not apply to you. But I recently replaced my LED headlights. Nothing wrong with my existing lights, but the new ones were supposedly brighter.
Anyway, I was running a low beam jumper from the H7 to the H4 to have both on at the same time.

Swapped in the new bulbs, went for a ride. Noticed that the high beam indicator was on. Switching LO/HI did nothing. High beams now stuck on. What wiring did I mess up?
Went home, put the old bulbs back in, problem gone. Was not a wiring issue, instead it was a bulb issue. Somehow there is a short in my new bulbs, feeding the 12V through the high beam circuit, even lighting up the dash high beam light.

It may not be your wiring. It may be a 'feature' of cheap LED lights.

 

[Gary in NJ]

It may not be your wiring. It may be a 'feature' of cheap LED lights.

I never thought of that. I could swap in a few halogen bulbs that I have sitting around to see of the problem clears. That's easier than deconstructing the forward part of the wiring harness.

 

[Motogiro]

Black with green tracer is the lo beam. Black with yellow tracer is the high beam.... There is is a misprint in the 2006 service manual that reversed and misidentified the hi and lo beam.

Number 61 should be identified as the low beam but it is incorrectly identified as the hi beam.

Number 62 should be identified as the hi beam but it is incorrectly identified as the lo beam.

This may be why your hi and lo beam wire are reversed.

Also: https://www.600riders.com/threads/n...and-high-beam-functionality.59556/post-644324

 

[Gary in NJ]

There is is a miss print in the 2006 service manual that reversed and misidentified the hi and lo beam.

I have probably read that here several times, but for some reason it didn't sink in. I'm 100% sure that when I modified my wiring harness I used the FSM as the guide.

But it still doesn't explain why both circuits are active regardless of switch position.

 

[Motogiro]

Make sure you plug and lamp configuration agree with this.
https://www.600riders.com/threads/n...and-high-beam-functionality.59556/post-644324

Also, the low beam does not shut off in the stock wiring unless you've modified for proper H4 switching.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Yeah, I'll take apart the harness this weekend. At least I know what I'm looking for now.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Well this couldn't have been any easier to fix. Here is how the headlights should be wired:



The connector for the headlight was...right below behind the headlight (I was thinking ahead). I removed the tape and revealed that it was in fact wired backwards. I have the Black/Yellow connected to the Yellow from the H4 connector. See the photo below:



Like I said...I was thinking ahead - All I had to do was swap the spade connectors. Problem solved. It's been taped back up and put away for the winter (although I am thinking about SS brake lines this winter...). Thanks Clif for pointing out the error in the FSM.