I am much more of a wrencher than an electrician. I am getting ready to mount a set of Motolights and will need to tap into a switched circuit. Anyone give me some guidance on where to tap in for the positive side??? And -- imagine you are writing the book:"BMW Electrical For Dummies"
Thanks

Did your motolights come with a wiring harness?
If I recall correctly, mine did.
You should not power the lights by tapping into the bike's wiring, you risk over loading the bike's wiring and melting wires.
The light should be powered by a fused (+) wire and a ground wire running from the battery.
The power from the battery feeds a relay which can be switched by the bike's wiring (which maybe what you were talking about in the first place).
A simple way to do it is to slave the motolight relay to either the bike's high or low beam wiring. That way the Motolights will come on automatically with either high beam or low beam depending on how you chose to wire it.
If you don't want to slave the motolights to the bike's lights, there are wires under the front cowl that are switched by the ignition switch allowing you to activivate the relay with the ignition key.


HTH

I will tap into the bike's high beam . Yes, there is a harness. I assume I will be pulling the side fairings and move the stingray out of the way, just to route wires--but can I access the high beam circuit without getting into more fairing removal?

Charlie,
I just went to your website. What a great resource for your community. We have a home in Bayfield, Wiscinsin, on Lake Superior.

We have some great neighbors:

http://www.brcland.org/nourse-sugarb...ural-area.html

We consider ourselves very lucky to be close to such time-honored artisians.

If the relay is wired to the high beam + circuit, will it be possible to have them on with the low beams?

I would not think so....but I defer to a member who is more knowledgeable than me. However, I tend to run on high beams during the day, just to get other motorists' attention. And-- could always kick off the lights via the in-line switch provided in the harness from Motolight.

Instructions should have come with them. If not look at the wiring diagram from the website.

http://www.motolight.com/files/19537...structions.pdf

5.3 Tap the relay power lead (marked “+SW”) into an ignition-key-switched power source.
· Locate a running lamp, tail lamp or accessory circuit for this connection.
· Do not use engine control, ABS, brake or other critical circuits.
· BMWs (including CANbus models) generally have small parking
lamp bulbs in the headlight assembly that are “on” with the ignition.
Do not use tail light circuits on CANbus BMWs.
· Some Hondas (and other makes) have a switched accessory lead behind the side cover.
· The circuit must provide 12 volts when the ignition switch is “on”, and zero volts with the ignition switch
“off”.
· Use the ScotchlokTM electrical tap to connect the “+SW” wire to the
ignition-switched bike circuit. The ScotchlokTM is provided for convenience.
Other secure connection methods (ie: solder and shrink tubing) may be
used if preferred.
· If in doubt, confer with your dealer for an appropriate location.
The Motolight® relay coil draws very little current during operation

1) Do not slave the MotoLights relay to the high beam, you want to have them on all of the time for conspicuity. MLs do not provide a whole lot of meaningful light, but the triangle of light they create makes you that much more visible, day or night.

2) Invest $25 or so in a BlueSea Systems (or similar) marine grade fuse block. Check Amazon for free shipping, no tax, and good prices (Click Here For Example Item). Connect the fuse block directly to your battery, with the positive terminal being fed from the battery through a power relay that is controlled by the seat heater circuit.

This turn off everything connected to the aux. bus when the ignition is switched off, so no worrying about whether your turned off all of your accessories. Also, this will be controlled upstream by the LT's load shed relay, which means that when the bike switches all non engine-related items during start, your accessories will also be isolated.

The added benefit of using an aux fuse block is that when you add additional accessories, you have an easy access point to power them from.

If you decide to go this route and need more detailed instructions on connecting the relay described above, just post here and further instruction will be provided.

The reason that I asked about wiring to the high beams is because I had Moto lights and kept them on all the time for safety. Never felt the need to ever not have them on.

I also had a headlight "flicker" but can't remember if it was on my high beam or low beam! It hasn't been that long and I'm really not sure how it was wired! My K1600 has the fog lights on a separate circuit and I keep them on all the time.

I'd like to think that Moto lights help, but what i have found to really make a difference in the way of safety is the long vertical amber light chain on both sides of the front fender that are on all of the time. They also serve as turn signals.

I have had motorist pull 1/2 way into an intersection and stop. They really seem to get attention. I wonder if amber Moto lights would be get more attention?

Like you had, Dan, I, too, have the headlamp modulator on my '05. It is on the high beam so as to leave the low circuit alone. Plugs right in between the bulb and the factory harness. It took longer to zip-tie the wire for the photocell than it did to do the install.

I also put a modulator on my MotoLights so they also "vibrate," which increases my visibility. Now all that I need to do is put read and blue lenses on the MLs and it will be like old times!

It is possible to access the wiring up under the front cowl if you don't mind standing on your head...

I was able to "fish" wires under the tank without removing the tank. I routed the wires along with the metal lines that cross over the engine and under the tank on the right side. Later when I had the tank off for service, I further secured the wiring.

I will tap into the seat heater circuit. Just went to the Amazon site thru the link you provided, and ordered the fuse block. Thanks for the guidance. That fuse block is a dangerous thing... I see all kinds of possibilities for mucho lights. I may have a Delta pilot think he is following me in on final before it is all over.

Better a Delta driver than AA these days!

Ain't that the truth. Tough times to be walking.

Reach out to me if you need help with relay wiring.

I have a couple spare relays and connectors. If you email me (PM for address) a pre-paid USPS.com Priority Mail shipping label as a PDF (flat rate envelope, just under $5) I will send you a relay with a pre-labeled harness that you just need to attach to battery, seat wire, and fuse block. If you have a relay and wire, happy to post instructions for you if you cannot find them already here on the site.