Not really sure where to place this thread since its not really a repair or troubleshooting..
I have a light bar on my Drifter, although it only stays on with the regular beam. If I turn on my high beam, the light bar turns off. How can I have it stay on all the time?
Quote from: pan2sa on January 31, 2017, 15:40:19 PM
Not really sure where to place this thread since its not really a repair or troubleshooting..
I have a light bar on my Drifter, although it only stays on with the regular beam. If I turn on my high beam, the light bar turns off. How can I have it stay on all the time?
It's working correctly the way it is now. If you nave a safety inspection in you're state I'd leave it as it is. If you change it, it could cause you to fail.
Like OD said, it was most likely wired that way for a reason, not sure of state laws in TX, but it is a simple wiring issue. I know I have mine on all the time. But in my province it is allowed, and touch wood so far I have never been stopped for it........
Pan, you would need to follow the wiring from the driving lights to wherever they go (most likely into the headlight bucket) to see how it is wired. They can be wired direct, but it is widely recommended to wire them up through a relay, so as to not draw the full amount of current through the headlight wire. Both of mine were wired directly from the low beam of the headlight - but I installed a relay in the bucket on each one, so now the "trigger" on the relay comes from the low beam - but the power to the light comes through a dedicated fused circuit. If you want them to be on all the time (high and low beam) then you need to provide a separate hot wire to the relay through your driving light on/off switch, to activate the relay.
I've read more than once that US DOT regs allow the driving lights to be on when the low beam is on, but not the high. You can decide if you want to follow that or go with them on all the time. I don't see much difference in that and some of the newer bikes with multiple headlights.
This post has a diagram for wiring a relay:
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=38137.msg83436#msg83436