Auxiliary Lights - Question

[Wee Jack]

Having been well impressed with Austin's auxiliary lights , as they lit up my rear view mirrors at the recent Scottish borders meet , I decide to fit a set to the Alp. However I have a problem .........

I fitted a set of Ring Micro cruise lights 2 x 55w and wired them in with the ring wiring kit. I followed the instructions to the letter ..... almost.

Power from battery ...... through a fuse and optional switch..... to the relay ..... from the relay to the lights and the trigger circuit from the "position" light ( the small 5w light inside the headlight that remains on regardless of hi-lo beam).

My auxiliary lights are not working.

I changed the relay and switch and tried it without the switch.
All my earths seem OK ( showing 12v between battery +ve and earth screw )

I suspect that the 5 watt position light circuit is not sufficient to trip the relay ????? and it really needed the 55 watts from the headlight circuit, would I be correct in assuming this ?

I don't want to go hacking the connections out if this is not the problem.

Any advice out there ? ........... THANKS !!

[Austin]

Jack,

your wiring sounds exactly like mine. I am defintely not an electricity expert, but from many years egtting it wrong....

1. Have you got the in's/out's of the relay right. Does it click when you switch the lights on?

2. All earths good?

3. After that I am stumped and would be staring again.

I have my fairing off at the moment so could check which way round my relay is wired. You have about 5 mins to get me before I really do get a beer

[Dee Duble Yuh]

Make sure your relay is connected like this:

Terminal No: Description:
30............. Fused positive direct from battery
85............. Ground to negative on battery or frame
86............. Switched positive from fuse box
87............. 12v positive when ignition is on
87a............ Toggle relay only: 12v positive when ignition is off

(Info taken from the Wiki.)

[Wee Jack]

Thanks Austin and Dee Dub, I'll check the relay tonight and let you know.

If the Relay is wired wrongly the instructions in the ring wiring kit are wrong.

feedback later ..........cheers.

[Austin]

Thanks Austin and Dee Dub, I'll check the relay tonight and let you know.

If the Relay is wired wrongly the instructions in the ring wiring kit are wrong.

feedback later ..........cheers.

I followed the kit's instructions to the letter and it worked OK. Did have trouble getting good earths though. Main power is striaght from the battery(also runs heated grips) and switched live is from one of the dash lights - same as yours. Check earth.

[Wee Jack]

Well It turned out to be the relay "trigger" feed that I initially took from the position light. I changed that to the tail light and it worked fine.

Wow they are bright !!!.

Austin another question , we have effectively trebled the power consumption on the headlights (now 3 x 55 w).

Have you ever had any issues with the battery or alternator when running all this and the heated grips ?

I don't need the auxiliary lights to "see" - I want them to "be seen" so I may reduce the wattage of the bulbs. All I need is for the car driver at the junction to say " WTF is this - oh! it's a motorbike" - hopefully !!

[lowflyer]

Hi Jack, ( I bet you wish you had a pound for everyone who said that )

Any chance of a couple of photos ??
Thinking about fitting a pair to the @

Thanks

[icenian]

Hi Jack, ( I bet you wish you had a pound for everyone who said that )

Any chance of a couple of photos ??
Thinking about fitting a pair to the @

Thanks

in the interim, rent the DVD of Close Encounters of the Third Kind

[Austin]

Austin another question , we have effectively trebled the power consumption on the headlights (now 3 x 55 w).

Have you ever had any issues with the battery or alternator when running all this and the heated grips ?

I don't need the auxiliary lights to "see" - I want them to "be seen" so I may reduce the wattage of the bulbs. All I need is for the car driver at the junction to say " WTF is this - oh! it's a motorbike" - hopefully !!

I keep mine on all the time and have had no problems so far with battery. Only thing I do notice is that the heated grips aren't as hot as they used to be - need to be on max now to get a decent warmth coming through the gloves, or it could be that my super-duper Held gloves insulate the heat to effectively. In an effort to save electricity I have replaced the side light and clock lights with LEDS, but I don't think it is really necessary. I also tried an LED tail light bulb but it wasn't bright enough. Two for sale if anyone wants them.

On being seen, I think they are fantastic - lots of vehicles move out the way and at junctions you often get "what the fvck is that" look as you go past.

An unexpected downside is riding at night on wet roads and on light coloured surfaces. With mine being mounted low I get a lot of glare reflected back, enough to make lighting generally better without them on. If they were mounted higher I don't think this would be a problem, nor would it be if they were "driving lamps" rather than fog lamps.

[icenian]

With mine being mounted low I get a lot of glare reflected back, enough to make lighting generally better without them on. If they were mounted higher I don't think this would be a problem, nor would it be if they were "driving lamps" rather than fog lamps.

If the beam pattern throws too much light straight down, maybe you could fix it by masking off the bottom of the lens (or top of the reflector if you're feeling clever?) I'm assuming you're not trying to use them to illuminate the road surface directly in front of you.

A low mounted light ought to be good at reducing glare; is as much as it has any effect, moving the light down ought to reduce the angle at which the light strike the road and in turn the angle at which it reflects back up.