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Driving Light Wiring

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  BlauBeeMr 
#1 ·
As a novice at all thing electrical I'm loking for some guidance regarding the wiring of my PIAA driving lamps on my K1200lt. I'm planning to connect these by wiring the supplied relay via the high beam headlight rather than using the supplied switch.
Question is do I connect the to the live feed at the headlamp or tap into the high beam switch cable from the handlebar. Using the the feed from behind the headlamp would be easier but will this be too much for the driving lamp relay?

Also what colours are the respective leads?

:confused:
 
#2 ·
First you have to determine how you will be using your driving lights.
You can have then slaved to the high beam so they only come on when you switch to high beam, or you can have them slaved to the low beam, in which case they will always be on when the ignition is on.
Regardless you should still install the switch to have the option to turn the PIAAs off when/if needed (when doing maintenance for instance). Also the switch is part of the harness that comes with your light and it works quite well.
I'll try to post pictures of my switch later this morning... I'll look for the wiring diagram but that involves going through boxes in my garage.
I powered the relay using the low beam wiring by the headlight itself. Don't try to mess with the wiring from the light switch at the handlebar... more trouble than it is worth.
Also what year is your LT?
 
#3 · (Edited)
Buz1500 said:
As a novice at all thing electrical I'm loking for some guidance regarding the wiring of my PIAA driving lamps on my K1200lt. I'm planning to connect these by wiring the supplied relay via the high beam headlight rather than using the supplied switch.
Question is do I connect the to the live feed at the headlamp or tap into the high beam switch cable from the handlebar. Using the the feed from behind the headlamp would be easier but will this be too much for the driving lamp relay?

Also what colours are the respective leads?

:confused:
Easiest to run a jumper from the headlight connection to the relay.
High beam is a white wire.
No problem running the relay off the OEM headlight wiring. You just don't want to add addn'l lighting directing to OEM wiring. Run wires from battery to the relay for light's power, with a fuse close to the battery in the (+) wire. HTH

Addendum: I agree with zippy, if you slave to the low beam, I'd add a switch. However, if you slave to the highbeam, the PIAAs will only be on with the highbeam, and if you really want to defeat them, you can always pull the fuse.
 
#5 ·
Buz1500 said:
..... I'm now happy to proceed without fear of setting my bike on fire....
The essential ingredent in all electrical circuits is smoke. I know that because when ever I let the smoke out, things don't work anymore. :histerica

A term I learned back when I was building amateur radios and amplifiers was the "smoke test". That was the test you did after you visually double checked all circuits and then tested with a VOM; lastly you plugged it in and turned it on, i.e. Smoke Test.
No smoke = good.
 
#6 ·
As promised, pictures of the PIAA switch. I placed mine on the right hand side but it could just as well go on the left.

 

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#7 ·
I went with the Autoswitch , and am really happy with how it worked out. The PIAA relay, fuse block, and the Autoswitch are under the seat, and the turn signal cancel switch operates the PIAAs. Search for PIAA and Autoswitch, I found everything I needed to know on this site. The only tough choice is whether to tap the Autoswitch into the high beam hot wire to comply with local driving light regulations. I didn't, so I can turn them on even if the high beams are off, but it's almost certainly not legal.
 
#8 ·
+1 to Zippy's technique....

Mine is linked to the low beam....always on unless I press the button. Previously, the button was lower and it always hit my tank bag and would turn off the switch.....placed it in the same location as the pictures below and....wallaa.....
 
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