Headlight Rewire with Relays

[Guest bshpilot]

you said theyd have to be made of billet to stay together....so i suspected

you hadnt actually seen 'em in person. (fwiw the caliper mount is

billet, and the light housing is cast alum….again extremely high

quality workmanship, fit & finish)

 

i had mine mounted on the forks for about 10k miles maybe a bit

more & for at least 20-25k now ive had 'em mounted on the

calipers...personally i prefer the fork mounts....cause i think they

stick out a little more (and in my twisted mind i some how think this

gives it a wider light pattern)....but the fact is i cant tell a bit

of difference.

 

i cant say that ive ever seen 'em on a "chopper" myself and if

you check their PHOTO GALLERY youll see

just about everything BUT a chopper

 

talk to others that own 'em, im confident youll get a similar endorsement

 

you may also want to review their WARRENTY as well

[Guest Neronut]

On the Pegaso, I had the lights clamped to the bottom of the USD fork tubes. Not on the sliders where you are supposed to place them because the sliders were so short that the lights would hit the bikes bodywork when the forks were turned to the stops. I took the risk of mounting them to the tubes after carefully checking that I never came close to bottoming out the frontend. I seldom got off-rode.

 

That said, they were in place for around 10,000 miles without having any problems. The lights are very lite weight and because they are not a spinning unsprung part, I never felt a problem with the front suspension. I know from when I raced bicycles that unbelievablely small amounts of weight on such things as the spinning wheels can have a big effect in handling and ride. The more stationary the weight the better.

 

The very personal touch I have gotten from the person on the phone at Motolight and the quality of product I have already used from them, not to mention the warranty that I have yet to use, makes me feel comfortable recommending the lights to my friends.

 

Then there is (IMHO) the safety factor of having more than one light for others who view the bike at night. It helps them to judge your speed and distance as you approach them. It is also nice to have the steerable lights to complement the fixed headlight.

[al_roethlisberger]

Well, I got my headlight all rewired with new relays, a dedicated hot lead, and augmented ground(added another)... and the headlight is definitely brighter

 

One note, for LeMans owners, the wiring color coding and connectors are much different than the Sport/Naked, and we have 4 wires for the headlight, instead of 3 for the Sport:

 

LeMans:

 

Brown - High Beam

Green - Low Beam

Yellow - "city" light, "marker" light inside headlight

Black - Ground

 

My installation was a bit more complicated by the inclusion of my hard-wired Kisan headlight modulator, but it was still a relatively simple install.

 

However, since neither end of the LeMans harness is the type of standard connector one would find down at the local auto-supply house(as *is* used on the Sport ), one would either have to do some searching for said connectors(the 4-plex molex?? connector at the headlight end would be the easier to find, versus the application specific AMP at the harness end) to make a clean connection into the harness, or do as I did and do some cutting and splicing.

 

In any case, bottom line, it's a bit more cumbersome to do on the LeMans due to the extra and odd wiring harness connectors, but still an evening's job if you have all the parts ready.

 

BTW, I ended up using "mini" relays as opposed to our "micro" relays that the bike comes with, and is illustrated in Gary's diagram. These are the more common relays one finds coming with horn/lighting kits, a bit larger, and probably more durabe in the long term. I picked up a dual socketed version at Summit Racing(VIA-80238) that is prewired, and worked like a charm for the purpose.

 

Although the color coding for the lighting, and the Summit relays were different than that described in Gary's diagram, a few minutes writing down the x-reference of which terminal does what, and which colored wire transposes.... made the final assembly quick and without error.

 

It actually worked the first time

 

Anyway, hope that helps any LeMans owners that embark upon this experiment

 

al

[rossojoj]

Probably a stupid question  but does the headlight-relay rewire benefit all Guzzi V11s, or has the wiring been changed on later (2002+?) models that make this mod less effective or useful?

My understanding from reading Gary's mail is that it would apply to all V11s no matter what vintage, but just wanted to be sure before embarking on what is, for me, some complicated electrical job 

I have a brand new 2004 Ballabio but certainly the headlight efficiency could be improved. Also, at least for EU models (or is it just Germany?) there is no light on/off/sidelight switch - the headlight is on dipped beam when starting the engine.  Is there some way of working the mod so that power goes first to the starter and then to the headlight if there is enough juice on the battery?

regards

Jonathan

The benefits of improved lighting with the relay pkg are shared by all Guzzis . Any problem with early relays aside , the headlight current in standard Guzzi wiring ,old and new flollows a ridiculous path through small switches and light gauge wire . A reminder and thanks to Docc ,that the GROUND side of the circuit needs attention as well . Be sure to run a 16 gauge wire from the headlamp to a FRAME ground or ,if you prefer to the battery negative . The short distance from the headlight to the battery makes the battery negative post a viable alternative to a frame ground point . If you have a digital volmeter you can measure the voltage at the headlight before and after the conversion . Use high beam with the engine turning 3500 rpm so you will get a good idea of the improvement.

hi. After buying some Phillips Vision blue (+50% brighter claimed) H4s today (will fit the 2nd to the Triumph) I measured the voltage (before doing the headlight mod). With the ignition turned on and the engine not running it was 12.2V. With the engine at 3000rpm it measured 14.4V.

Do these figures suggest that there would not be much improvement to the brightness on a 2004 model Ballabio? I still see the light visibly dim at idle compared to 3-4k rpm. I guess the benefits to the lifetime of the wiring will still be worth the effort.

Someone on another post recommended the Philips bulbs - the difference is very obvious just in the garage so I imagine the claims are not completely off the mark. The price for two (€18.5) was not much more than for standard quality bulbs.

Jonathan

[Guest Gary Cheek]

Measure the voltage at the headlamp using both test leads at the lamp ,both positive and ground . Now measure , at the same speed the voltage at the battery . The difference is the voltage drop . You can also put the leads with the plus on the battery + and the negative lead on the headlight + terminal , this will give you the actual voltage drop on that side of the circuit . Next do the same on the negative side with the meter + lead on the headlight ground terminal and the meter's negative lead at the battery - terminal . The total of the two readings is the total voltage drop .

As an aside , The voltage drop across any part of a circuit is a very helpful test when lookinng for high resistance . Many defects that show low resistance with and Ohmeter or continuity tester will actually get worse when under full load ,making the voltage drop under actual operating conditions a better test .

 

Your 14.4 is a pretty good reading as long as the battery voltage isn't real high . It would seem your wiring and switch gear are still in real good shape . In time it will get worse so the relays are still good insurance .

[docc]

 

One note, for LeMans owners, the wiring color coding and connectors are much different than the Sport/Naked, and we have 4 wires for the headlight, instead of 3 for the Sport:

 

Strange . . . my 2000 Sport has those same 4 wires. Whazup wit dat?

[Guest bshpilot]

Manufactured Headlight RELAY KIT <REVIEW>

 

59 bucks from THIS GUY

[al_roethlisberger]

.....very cool

 

 

Unfortunately for LeMans owners, some "chopping" will have to occur as the connectors used on the LeMans harness aren't the 3-prong units as used on this kit.

 

...OK, well this isn't entirely true .... one could get the 4-plex connector unclipped out of the bucket, and fish out the 3-prong connector that connects directly to the bulb inside I suppose, but you'd probably have to extend the wiring for the "city light" then Then you could insert the kit inline.

 

Anyway, unfortunately it's just a bit more work or tedium to make kits like this work on the LeMans. But it does reduce the work of building the whole setup

 

al