kiltman
Site Supporter
AUX Lighting tied to High, or Low Beams?
- Thread starter jacMA
- Start date
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Just to clarify I, and I am pretty sure everyone else who suggested that they operate with the high beam, am referring to the motorcycle's high beam circuit operating a relay that turns the auxiliary lights on and off. That's all. The auxiliary lights have their own power supply, fuse and wiring independant of the high beams. A fault in the auxiliary lighting system won't affect the OEM lighting system.
A switch can be included so that they can be operated separately from the high beams as well if one so chooses.
First order is to know your state's lighting regulations. It can be daunting but once you start rooting around your states vehicle codes you can work it out.
Second order is to decide where you want or need extra light and get light fit for purpose. Your state may require that a given type of light be operated only with high beams or low beams.
If you choose to operate outside of the rule of law just be a big boy about it if "awarded" for your rogue-ness.
I would wire driving lights via relay to my high beams not low beams. There's no scenario were I'd need simultaneous High/Low lighting. So flipping to High beams to use driving lights works for me.
Passing lights are not supposed to blind or dazzle other riders/drivers same as low beams. So I'd wire them to the low beams also via relay.
A switch in each of the circuits to disable the AUX lights of either flavor could be handy if stuck in slow or stop n go traffic and maybe securing the extra lights helps out with the battery load a little. I wouldn't wire any lights to be used with either beams though.
A momentary push button wired to a flasher circuit could be used to "flash" the AUX lights for a momentary increase in conspicuity. And connected to driving lights then could then be connected to the horn to flash when you use the horn to warn. Or... Uh ok I guess that's enough for the moment.
I guess you can say I have all 3 options!
I have a set of 4x4 off-road driving lights mounted under my mirrors.
There is a switch in the right fairing pocket for On/Off.
They are also dual beam LEDs and tied through a relay to the bike's high beam circuit. When the bike is on Low beam they give a nice flood of light in front of the bike. When I flip to high beam ... they ignite and send quite a beam down the road!
There is a winding road near my former house that I would always run very slowly at night because the standard ST1300 headlights just didn't light up the road enough. The first time I ran that section with these things on high beam ... let's just say I was feeling comfortable and was well in excess of the posted limit.
Extra driving lights are great!
I have a set of 4x4 off-road driving lights mounted under my mirrors.
There is a switch in the right fairing pocket for On/Off.
They are also dual beam LEDs and tied through a relay to the bike's high beam circuit. When the bike is on Low beam they give a nice flood of light in front of the bike. When I flip to high beam ... they ignite and send quite a beam down the road!
There is a winding road near my former house that I would always run very slowly at night because the standard ST1300 headlights just didn't light up the road enough. The first time I ran that section with these things on high beam ... let's just say I was feeling comfortable and was well in excess of the posted limit.
Extra driving lights are great!