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Headlight wiring - heavy duty for H4 lamps

nserdar9119, I don't know if you've replaced the plug yet. In case you haven't (and even if you have) check for a thread here explaining how to use a relay/solenoid and better wires from your battery to your headlight. You won't have any similar troubles again and your lights will be improved

I posted stuff on the one I made some time back. I planned to make and sell but have since decided I will post instructions on Dms full instructions on what materials are needed and step by step instructions on how to put it together.

This will be soon, unfortunately work gets in the way of things sometimes.

Like SussexDuke wrote in a PM to me, should be a good little winter project for those of you who have to hibernate their bikes.

Richard

 

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Richard, on of my friends has a 900 like yours. He used a solenoid like you did and he's more than happy with the results.

I'll do mine when I get the chance

Hang off for a couple of days and I will post the instructions. It is quite easy to do. All you need are the cables and connectors from an electronics store or auto electrician and something to sleeve the bunch of cables.

Tools - wire cutters, knife to trim back insulation and a good crimping tool. If you don't want to buy one (ratchet type cost me about AUD$45), then you can prep the cables and take them to an electrician or auto electrician and get them to crimp them. This takes about 5 minutes, so should not cost the earth.

I also used heatshrink and a hot air gun to sleeve and hence neaten and protect the cables. You could wrap with insulating tape or use the spiral cable tidy sleeves. the latter 2 work, but look a bit crappy if you can be bothered to look at them.

 

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Headlight wiring and lumens lost

Richard, on of my friends has a 900 like yours. He used a solenoid like you did and he's more than happy with the results.

I'll do mine when I get the chance

I finally put together some info after posting this elsewhere last night.

The attachment shows the wiring for a slave relay and decent cables to get almost full battery voltage to the bulb/bulbs.

It also shows the approximate lumens output vs voltage at the bulb for an H4 bulb. It may not be exactly the same for other bulb types, but serves to demonstrate how much light output is lost due to resistance in small wiring, lots of connectors and switches.

E.g 14 V at the bulb is about 1350 lumens. If you have 2 V loss like I used to have between the battery and the bulb, then the bulb is getting 12 V, so only 800 lumens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a yellow output.

This wiring also means you can use a higher wattage bulb if the headlamp can take the extra heat.

In Australia we can buy replacement H4 connectors with 3 short wires or the "blank" plastic housing and loose terminals. If you wire into the second option, be careful about the cable run to it, as it can be a bit stiff due to the larger cables. The short wire version allows you to connect the larger cables to these wires, which provides some cable flexibility when you plug it onto the back of the bulb. There will be a very small voltage drop due to the short wires and the connectors, but nothing dramatic.

To tap into 12V that is powered after the ignition is on, I removed the fuse box, cut the fused side of the headlamp wire, then crimped these two ends into a large bullet connector. This means the existing wiring still works, but I can now plug in the larger red wire that goes to pin 30 of the slave relay as per the attachment.

My slave relay is under the tank over the battery. The two reds and black run along the frame to the new H4 connector at the lamp. The small cables for the relay coil run from the stock (disconnected) H4 connector back to the relay coil. I.e. when you press the high beam button, power goes to the stock H4 connector high beam terminal, which feeds back to the relay to energise the coil and switch the voltage from pin 87A to pin 87. Make sure you buy a changeover relay as there are relays that look the same but internally switch differently.

Check this link http://www.eurekaboy.com/f250/relay101.htm and look at the SPDT relay which is what you need.

The simplicity of this "design" means you can simply unplug the new H4 connector and reconnect the stock one and you are back to stock(crap) wiring.

Richard

 

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Headlight wiring upgrade - added more info

This now has more info and the second page shows which pins on the H4 connector to use. I.e. to get the high beam signal from the stock connector and where to connect the heavier wires to the new H4 connector.

On the small "pilot" bulb question. It is standard and should be available from auto shops. If you do my upgrade, it will make the pilot bulb look very yellow. You can buy "white" LED versions which look much better, although the one I have has a blue tinge.

Richard

 

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materials and instructions

This now has more info and the second page shows which pins on the H4 connector to use. I.e. to get the high beam signal from the stock connector and where to connect the heavier wires to the new H4 connector.

On the small "pilot" bulb question. It is standard and should be available from auto shops. If you do my upgrade, it will make the pilot bulb look very yellow. You can buy "white" LED versions which look much better, although the one I have has a blue tinge.

Richard

The attachment shows all materials and instructions.

The lengths are from my 900SSie but the principle applies to other bikes.

Richard

 

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The attachment shows all materials and instructions.

The lengths are from my 900SSie but the principle applies to other bikes.

Richard

Use this in conjunction with my previous post with the wiring/circuit diagram.