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[CVOwner]

I remember seeing it here. My buddy has a Road King he wants to wire the spots to stay on with the bright headlamp. I tried to search to no avail.

[jdracing]

I didn't retry your search, but I know Don (Twolane) has done this with a relay, also having the effect of ensuring the spots still work if the headlight fuse blows. He did a pretty detailed write up as I recall, and will likely be able to point you to the right thread.

[Twolanerider]

Choosing whether the spots are on with the bright or dim lights is a relatively simple chore.  Look at the headlight plug.  Three leads.  Low beam, high beam and ground (if it's a single bulb lamp).  The light currently triggering the spots will come from the low beam lead.  I don't have a wiring diagram handy where I am right now.  But tell your buddy to grab his service manual and take a look.  It's easy to see where the yellow lead to the spots jump from.  If he wants them to switch with the high beam just trigger off the other lead.  If he wants them on all the time trigger them from the lead to the fender tip light or other source that is on all the time.  Tell him to take note, however, of potential hazards if his state does a state mandated safety inspection.  Most that do require that auxiliary lights go off when the high beams are on.  The inspector might not notice or care.  But it's not an uncommon regulation.

When I changed mine a bit I wished to accomplish what Jeff mentioned though.  In stock form the spotlights and headlights will both go dark if you blow a headlight fuse.  That can be a bit disconerting (to put it mildly) on a moonless midnight out in the boonies in the middle of a turn.  You can change them, however, where losing power to the headllights will automatically and immediately turn on the spotlights.

You'll need to run power from a new fused source.  Take that power to a relay that opens when it's triggered rather than closes.  Take that power on to the spotlights.  Trigger that relay from the high beam if you want the spotlights on with the low beam headlights or vice versa.  Since the relay turns closes in the absence of power you've accomplished the spotlights coming on automatically if you ever lose power to the headlight.

[arcticdude]

You can also come off the feed for the spots switch and connect to the fender tip circuit, as others have done.  Since I'm unsure how the RoadKing lays out it's harness, I can't give you specifics; but on an Ultra there's a 12 pin connector that one of the corner pins (narrows it down to 4 choices) is an orange wire that feeds the spots.  Remove it from the opposite side of the connector that feeds to the switch, create a jumper to run from the fender tip connector (which is taped to the headlight harness on a CUSE and is unused) and plug it into the fender tip circuit (blue wire) and then the connector where you just removed the wire.  Now you have the spots on the fender light circuit, yet still controlled by the switch.

[Twolanerider]

 Now you have the spots on the fender light circuit, yet still controlled by the switch.

AD, that gets the powered separately.  And that's a good thing in and of itself.  But they still wouldn't come on automatically if you lost the headights.  I'd never worry about it if it hadn't ever happened to me one dark and twisty night.  But suddenly going completely blind at close to 60 with no moon and you know there's a curve coming soon; that kind of stays with you.

[CVOwner]

AD, that gets the powered separately.  And that's a good thing in and of itself.  But they still wouldn't come on automatically if you lost the headights.  I'd never worry about it if it hadn't ever happened to me one dark and twisty night.  But suddenly going completely blind at close to 60 with no moon and you know there's a curve coming soon; that kind of stays with you.

Obviuosly you know your sh*t when it comes to things of the electrical nature. I never even thought of that, both going out at the same time at night would definitely give you a good pucker! I told my buddy about it and he's going to stick with what he's got. I on the other hand am going to look into the new headlight from HD. Not the 500 dollar one, the clear lens one. Do you have any comments on that?

[Twolanerider]

Obviuosly you know your sh*t when it comes to things of the electrical nature. I never even thought of that, both going out at the same time at night would definitely give you a good pucker! I told my buddy about it and he's going to stick with what he's got. I on the other hand am going to look into the new headlight from HD. Not the 500 dollar one, the clear lens one. Do you have any comments on that?

You mean the one that was stock on the 06s Mike?  The two bulb version?  I put it on the red bike a long time ago for two reasons.  1) I won one as a door prize at a thing going on at the dealership and 2) after looking it over I liked the appearance better.

I didn't expect any appreciably greater volume or brightness of light out of it though; and wasn't disappointed.  It's ok, but nothing spectacular so far as better visibility at night is concerned.  I did, however, take Fr8trn's advice and change to an H9 bulb for both bulbs and that made a nice bit of difference for very very little expense.

[arcticdude]

AD, that gets the powered separately.  And that's a good thing in and of itself.  But they still wouldn't come on automatically if you lost the headights.  I'd never worry about it if it hadn't ever happened to me one dark and twisty night.  But suddenly going completely blind at close to 60 with no moon and you know there's a curve coming soon; that kind of stays with you.

While that's true, the spots wouldn't come on if you lost the headlights.  But then they'd probably already be on, because that was the point in the first place, to be able to run them 24/7.  So since they're drawing from a different fuse than the headlights, they would still be on if the headlight fuse blew.  More importantly, you've now also taken the spots load off the headlight fuse, so the chances of it blowing are greatly reduced!

[Twolanerider]

While that's true, the spots wouldn't come on if you lost the headlights.  

You can accomplish that.  Need a relay that works backwards from what you expect.  Trigger the relay from the headlights as normal.  But use a relay that opens rather than closes when energized.  If the trigger comes, for example, from the high beam lamps than your spots would be shining if the headlamp was on low beam (no power to the relay's trigger).  If there's suddenly no power to the headlight at all (as in a blown fuse) the spotlights come on immediately and without user intervention without regard to any high beam/low beam switch setting.

[arcticdude]

2ln,
My point was if the spots are wired to be on in any position anyway, they were probably wired that way because the rider intends on leaving them on.  They never get turned off.  So is a relay needed?  ONLY if you intend on occassionally running with the spots off.  Otherwise, you don't need it.  The spots are on no matter what the headlight or headlight circuit does.

[Twolanerider]

2ln,
My point was if the spots are wired to be on in any position anyway,

Pardon John, I misunderstood thinking your point was that the spots couldn't be rigged to come on automatically if you lost power to headlights:

While that's true, the spots wouldn't come on if you lost the headlights.

But all of the options (always on, on with high or low beam or the ability to make them come if you lost the headlights) had fallen within the thread.  So, as always here, it had all run together a bit.

You're obviously correct that if they're wired to be always on, on their own source, then the other relay and small change becomes unnecessary.  What had also been mentioned though was that in some states that won't pass state inspection.  Auxiliary lights have to go out when the high beam light comes on.  So, if you must leave them that way (or just choose to) but wanted the slight side benefit of an automatic-on the alteration described here was but one of the alternatives discussed.

[Midnight Rider]

Let me make sure I'm following this in it's simplest form...if I wired the spots to the two wires taped to the headlight assembly, which on a regular Ultra go to the fender lights, the spots will obviously be on all the time, be on a different fuse circuit which will handle the increased load, and if the high beam circuit blows, I would at least still have the spots to keep me from finding the edge of the road when I don't want to?  And, they (the spots) would not necessarily be dependent upon the switch on the console? [smiley=nixweiss.gif]

We don't have any kind of inspections here in Alabamdama

[Garznhogs]

Great info. I didn't realize the spots were wired into the headlight circuit (never looked). Don's description of losing light at night on a twisty... wow, pucker time! [smiley=vrolijk27.gif]  So, I'll find that unused fendertip power wire and hook 'em up there.  Wife's RK will get the same treatment. But we'll still have the toggle switch to shut 'em off manually. I don't know what the law is here, and I'll ask for forgiveness if I am in fact busting a law.

CVOwner, wife and I both have the dual-bulb headlight (not the HID $500 one), and we like 'em, although I, too, don't know if they are THAT much better at night; look good, though!  Gonna do a search on the H9 bulb thread, since I think Don means they fit that dual-bulb ($162) headlamp.

Man, this forum has so much information that I can barely get my work done!  [smiley=whip.gif]

Garz

[Twolanerider]

Gonna do a search on the H9 bulb thread, since I think Don means they fit that dual-bulb ($162) headlamp.

Man, this forum has so much information that I can barely get my work done!  [smiley=whip.gif]

Garz

Yeah they did Garz.  But with only a tiny modification.  Low beam or high beam, and I don't remember which, just plugs in; no problem.  The other needs a bit of plastic removed though.  When you get them in hand and compare them against either the sockets or the bulbs that come out it is immediately obvious what needs to be done to allow it to plug in.  Was a simple 10 or 15 seconds work with a Dremel and it was good to go.

Fr8trn's thread on the lights was in the Ultra section if you wish to find his more detailed description.  Searching by H9 should bring it right up as I don't remember those bulbs coming up in any other conversation.

[hd-dude]

Here's a simple wiring diagram for those that want to switch the lights....

[Eqcons]

While that's true, the spots wouldn't come on if you lost the headlights.  But then they'd probably already be on, because that was the point in the first place, to be able to run them 24/7.  So since they're drawing from a different fuse than the headlights, they would still be on if the headlight fuse blew.  More importantly, you've now also taken the spots load off the headlight fuse, so the chances of it blowing are greatly reduced!

I did mine this way, feeding them off the fender tip light lead, but they still go out if the lighting fuse blows, they are on the same one!  (Don't ask how I know...)  Luckily I have the HID headlamp, so low beam stays on on that.

Jim

[Ferromet]

There is an easier way... I didn't come up with this but found it on one of these forums last year and did it on my '09 CVO Ultra...

Here goes:


You might want to try this. It's a trick I've used on the last 4 Ultras I've owned giving better night riding visability and it allows your passing lamps to stay on in both high and low beam mode.

One important thing for those who use their garage door opener. This method will cause you to lose the use of your opener. So if you use this method and still want to use your opener you will need to take off your front fairing and reroute the garage door opener lead into one of the dash toggle switches. The easiest method is to reroute into the horn button from the dimmer switch. Just means you will give a short honk every time you open or close the garage door.     


HEADLIGHT TRICK

Open the left handlebar switchbox, and free the dimmer switch. There are three wires going to it: blue, yellow, and white. Cut the yellow wire about 3/4" from the switch, and tape or heat-shrink this stub. Now, simply splice the yellow wire onto the blue wire, insulate it, and put it all back together. Be careful not to pinch any wires when you tighten up the switchbox screws. Now when you switch to highbeam both high and low beams will stay on giving you better visability and as long your dash spot switch is turned on your passing lamps will also stay on with either low and high beam too.

[Twolanerider]

HEADLIGHT TRICK

Open the left handlebar switchbox, and free the dimmer switch. There are three wires going to it: blue, yellow, and white. Cut the yellow wire about 3/4" from the switch, and tape or heat-shrink this stub. Now, simply splice the yellow wire onto the blue wire, insulate it, and put it all back together. Be careful not to pinch any wires when you tighten up the switchbox screws. Now when you switch to highbeam both high and low beams will stay on giving you better visability and as long your dash spot switch is turned on your passing lamps will also stay on with either low and high beam too.

More than one way to rewire the lights; in fact there are several.  Just for me though I'd much rather quickly take the fairing off and have easy access than noodle around inside the handlebar switch housing.  Need my glasses to work in there and that's annoying (and too easy to crimp something).

[mrmagloo]

Here's a simple wiring diagram for those that want to switch the lights....

This is a great diagram, but where do you find these connections? Anyone have any photos? TIA!

[Ferromet]

More than one way to rewire the lights; in fact there are several.  Just for me though I'd much rather quickly take the fairing off and have easy access than noodle around inside the handlebar switch housing.  Need my glasses to work in there and that's annoying (and too easy to crimp something).

Just thought I'd throw this method out there.  The entire thing in the switch housing took about 5 minutes.

[mrmagloo]

Just thought I'd throw this method out there.  The entire thing in the switch housing took about 5 minutes.

Thanks - I read that, but can't do without my garage door opener. I'd like to learn the other route in the illustration.