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Posted by John Hopkins
- July 21, 2013, 04:27:32 AMQuote from: Gerhardberger on July 20, 2013, 14:35:07 PMIf you have followed the circuit everything will be fine, the relay only draws a few milliamps when working so it won't create any measurable heat, the only heat will be generated by the headlight bulb and if that hasn't already melted wires it is unlikely that it will do so in the future.Job done, and works fine !!!! I left the relais inside the Light housing. Does the relais heat itself ? I use high beam very sparely, but my worry is that if it heats it could melt other cables in contact with the relais. Thank you all for the support and diagrams. I've done it exactly like the diagramm here posted.
Obviously you have used cable to and from the relay contacts that can carry the current, using thin speaker wire would cause overheating.
John.
Posted by greenbarn
- July 20, 2013, 18:11:54 PMA relay should not get warm enough to melt anything, unless it is overloaded - which yours shouldnt' be.
Posted by Gerhardberger
- July 20, 2013, 14:35:07 PMJob done, and works fine !!!! I left the relais inside the Light housing. Does the relais heat itself ? I use high beam very sparely, but my worry is that if it heats it could melt other cables in contact with the relais. Thank you all for the support and diagrams. I've done it exactly like the diagramm here posted.
Posted by John Hopkins
- July 16, 2013, 08:13:16 AMSome people leave them inside the headlight housing, some leave them near the battery, but just look for the best fit, whereever you leave it I would put it in a plastic bag to prevent the terminals touching ground/earth and a small piece of paper with a diagram in case you sell the bike so the new owner will know exactly what it is..
John.
Posted by Gerhardberger
- July 16, 2013, 06:22:37 AMOne last question before staring with the rebuild of the aux lights circuits:
Where would you leave (physically) leave the rele?...Inside the front Headlight, or have you found a better place elsewere?....best regards
Posted by kw-retrorider
- July 15, 2013, 06:12:54 AMThis is a timely discussion and just to confuse the issue more.....
Along the lines of GB's comments, I finally wired a set of spotlights from a 1500, installed on my 800. The spots were factory, with the switch on the bar. The wiring ended in half a fuse holder (because that is the logical place to disconnect when dismantling). I found the blue and white accessory wire in the harness, which was hot even with the ignition switch off. I did not fully test the yellow and black accessory wire, but it was dead with the ignition switch off, so went with the blue and white wire.
Using that as the power source for the spots, I cut off the half a fuse holder I could not match on the spot light side and wired a 14 gauge, 10 amp fuse holder in line. I installed the 10 amp fuse, hit the spotlight switch and they both came on.
Without load calcs, ran the bike at idle with everything on for 15 minutes, adjusted the light beams per the kawasaki dwg and went to bed happy with myself....the 10 amp fuse did not blow and wires were not warm.
Got up this morning in darkness, started the machine with no problem and went out for an hour ride. No issues.
So similar to GB, if I had read this first, I probaby would have considered a relay installation from the low beam. I have to remember to turn the spots off, but am satisfied that they are on their own circuit, protected by a low amp fuse that has not blown. (The blue and white accessory wire is the smallest wire gauge in the circuit - maybe 16 gauge - so should be able to handle 10 amps) .
Nice to have some more light in the dark.
Posted by greenbarn
- July 14, 2013, 21:49:45 PMIn my time doing car repairs, I've seen lots of cases of wires being over-loaded, and either the wire, or the connection, or the switch or SOMETHING ends up melted. A lot of these instances are even factory wired stuff (how may ford F-150 headlight switches have melted...).
I don't think "don't use it very much" is EVER a satisfactory answer - I prefer to fix something good enough to use it as much as you want or need to.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure the PO of my 800 wired the driving lights like yours are, and I've not seen any indications of overloading. I wanted to re-wire, using a relay, just to "do it right", but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Posted by John Hopkins
- July 14, 2013, 19:02:12 PMQuote from: Gerhardberger on July 14, 2013, 07:36:47 AMwas at my local garage and that's the solution I've got: they checked with Kawa Spain and the solution of the seperate rele for the additional headlights is't optimal. They told my mechanic that he should fix the cable again to the high beam without an additional cable, substituing the 10W rele with an 15W rele, and I should use high beam as less as possible.
What do you thing about it ? The reason is that on a bike with the years of mine, the electrical sysistem will not have an easy work supporting the extra consumption of the aux lights. Therefore its the same to put them on an extra cable or use existing wire of high beam.
It sounds strange, isn it ?
If you are saying what I think you are saying then you have two choices, take advice from your garage who think the existing cable will be strong enough to take the extra load or take our advice and fit a relay and new wiring..
If you take the garage's advice and the wiring loom overheats who will pay for the repair..
John.
Posted by Troll
- July 14, 2013, 07:59:12 AMThat sounds more than just strange. I just checked the output of my charging system, and, with the mp3 player and the spot lights on, it has 14.3 V at the battery with the engine idling. The idea of removing the spot lights from the bike's original electrical system and putting it on it's own circuits is to protect the original wiring and switches from possible overload and heat damage.
Posted by Gerhardberger
- July 14, 2013, 07:36:47 AMwas at my local garage and that's the solution I've got: they checked with Kawa Spain and the solution of the seperate rele for the additional headlights is't optimal. They told my mechanic that he should fix the cable again to the high beam without an additional cable, substituing the 10W rele with an 15W rele, and I should use high beam as less as possible.
What do you thing about it ? The reason is that on a bike with the years of mine, the electrical sysistem will not have an easy work supporting the extra consumption of the aux lights. Therefore its the same to put them on an extra cable or use existing wire of high beam.
It sounds strange, isn it ?
Posted by Gerhardberger
- July 08, 2013, 06:09:54 AMThank you very much for the useful and interesting information....Will keep u informed !
Posted by John Hopkins
- July 01, 2013, 13:32:59 PMQuote from: Gerhardberger on July 01, 2013, 09:13:07 AMBecause you are not in the USA you need to buy a 12v to 15v dc N/O relay with 20amp contacts that is a relay where the contacts are open until you connect 12v dc across the coil and then they close..The trigger wire is the wire that gives the 12v + voltage to the coil, as long as you follow the diagram you will have no problems..but if you are not sure how to do it take the relay and lights to a local bike shop and show them these posts...Thank you very much for the diagramm, but in spain, its illegal to drive with three low beams, therefore i had them linked to the high beams of my Drifter. What changes should i make to the diagramm you've sent ?
the reason I stated 12v to 15v is because the voltage on your bike can rise to 14.8v dc and 15v relays will generally switch at 12v so you have a safety margin..
John.
Posted by Troll
- July 01, 2013, 09:53:41 AMJust switch the trigger wire to the high beam circuit.
Posted by Gerhardberger
- July 01, 2013, 09:13:07 AMThank you very much for the diagramm, but in spain, its illegal to drive with three low beams, therefore i had them linked to the high beams of my Drifter. What changes should i make to the diagramm you've sent ?
Posted by Troll
- July 01, 2013, 07:58:21 AMHere's a simple diagram of the circuit. By using the low beam as the trigger, you are 1, making sure it won't stay on when the ign. is off, 2. won't come on before the engine is running, and 3. you are in compliance with federal laws about aux. lighting.