Light Bar Wiring. What did you do?

[CalPaul]

If it's not too much trouble, could someone please post a picture of the headlight bucket with the relay insatlled. I'm having a little trouble understanding a couple of the connections... Thank you.

[bobkat]

I bought two 4 1/2 inch headlights from JP Cycle. They are sealed beam headlights 33 watters pumpin out 10000 candlepower each and have a slick looking chrome housing with little blue jewel lights in the top. I wired them with too relays to work with the high and low beam on the main headlight. I used the hot lead in the headlight nacelle to power the lights. They work great, I'll post some pictures. I also made brackets to mount the lights on the existing lightbar. I made them out of stainless and polished them to a high chrome like gloss.

[Gatogonow]

Originally Posted by CalPaul

If it's not too much trouble, could someone please post a picture of the headlight bucket with the relay insatlled. I'm having a little trouble understanding a couple of the connections... Thank you.

Try this.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ketRelay01.jpg

[freightshaker]

Simple as possible is 30 & 87 is the heavy load lead that will power the lights. A relay is really just a heavy duty switch that stands in for a lighter, weaker switch. It requires only about .5amp (500ma) to work but can switch 30 amp loads (or more). When you complete the circuit between 85 and 86 with a low amp current this causes a electromagnet to complete the circuit between 30 and 87.
Generally the terminals are like an intersection. North & South will be the load wires & the East/West with be the switched that will complete the load circuit (N&S). Terminal 30 goes to your battery (I HIGHLY recommend a fuse between the relay & battery) or to the fused accessory leads in either the bucket or under the seat) 87 goes to your lights.
85 & 86 one will be ground/hot (either can be hot/ground, works either way) from your trigger source, if you have a 1600 use the blue with yellow tracer wire in the bucket, the 900 has this wire also but it's under the front of the tank near the neck. As for the trigger, it can be any wire that you want to power off of, even the horn but then the lights would only work then you honk

[CalPaul]

Thank you. I'll give this a shot. I don't like the factory instructions. Don't need someone messing with me and turning my lights on after I park.

[hharada]

Rich,

Just finished rewiring my lightbar on my 900. I erred in describing its operation earlier. It came on with the key.

No, the dealer did not use a relay. From info in an earlier posting, they must've wired it per the Cobra instructions and wired it directly into the front running lights.

This seemed to work okay, but one of the bulbs burned out coming back on my 3700+ mile ride to Seattle. Any idea how hard it is to find 25W H-3s (which were in the spotlights)? I found it impossible. Tried a 55W, but blew the fuse. Finally found a 35W, but didn't want to go through the hassle of taking off my luggage along side the road in order to get the seat off to change a fuse, so finished the trip with the headlight and one spotlight.

Did the rewiring per your recommendations, i.e. plugged the relay into the accessory connection in the headlight bucket. Works great!! I did use the running lights for the switch, but after reading all these posting, am considering rewiring the switch to a headlight source which is hot on both high and low beams.

A question which probably will show my ignorance. Instead of seeking out the blue w/ yellow tracer wire, which isn't in the bucket on the 900, why can't I tap into the headlight ground wire, right in the headlight bucket where I've got the relay, to trigger the relay? That wire should be hot with both high and low beams shouldn't it?

[RichLockyer]

Because the ground wire is at ground potential... it's on the wrong side of the lamps.

But you CAN use the existing feed from the front running lights to trigger the relay. The spots will come on with the key instead of the headlight, but it is probably the 2nd most common method of triggering the relay.

Ya... 25w and 35w H3 bulbs are impossible to find on the street. I've checked EVERYWHERE for them and ended up ordering online from KC Hilights for about $20 for the pair of 35's.

[freightshaker]

If you didn't want to fish for the blue/yellow then you could run 2 relays, one triggered off the low & one triggered off the high beam.
Both 85's will go to ground, both 87's will go to lightbar, run accessory lead to both 30's then run one 86 to the low the other 86 to the high. The second relay won't take up much room also you don't need to run a full second set of wires, just run jumpers between all the same terminals except the 86's.

[Rider65]

Hharada,

I heard you were having problems today. MWRD

[hharada]

Rich,

Thanks for all your help, both with this problem and many others for which you've given your knowledge.

I guess I'll seek out the blue/yellow, which I understand should be somewhere under the front of the tank. My headlight bucket would probably handle it, but Freightshaker's suggestion to use two relays would get me a little more crowded in the bucket than I would feel comfortable. I've already used the second accessory connections in those bucket leads to power a deer warning beeper (along with an in-line fuse) and all that wiring is also in the bucket.

I've found the 35W H-3s at NAPA. One, I picked up on the trip in Ukiah, CA, but decided not to try and use until I rewired and the second here in the Denver area after rewiring. I think they cost less than the $20/pr. you indicate you're paying for the ones on the web.

[RichLockyer]

No luck at my local NAPA stores... and now I'm having trouble finding the BP1210H4 bulbs.

I may resort to buying online direct from NAPA.

[Chondro]

I am getting ready to install my new Cobra light bar on my 2008 900 classic LT. I want the lights to operate exactly like Freightshaker's video: On with headlight, high or low, and switchable off using the stock Cobra switch.

I've read this entire thread three times and I think I understand most of it. I am going to use Kevin's instructions from page 7.

Shopping list:
12 v relay
bullet connectors for aux hot and ground leads in can
spade connectors for relay tabs

I understand the connections for pins 30, 85, and 87.

Pin 86: I understand finding the blue/yellow wire on my 900 but am confused about the the diagram in Kevin's post on page 7. The diagram seems to show a switch and fuse. Is this the Cobra switch? Do I have to buy a fuse and holder and install myself in the pin 86 line?

Also, in Freightshaker's photos there appears to be two leads going to the Load pin. This is pin 87 (lights in Kevin's diagram), yes?

Thanks for all the info and help. I am pretty sure I can get this done, just a little confused about that pin 86 connection.

Greg

[jac4xt]

Not sure if this will help or not, but I did the same installation on my 900LT and they work the way you want them too. I just ran a wire from under the plastichrome speedo cover where I quick-spliced into the blue/yellow wire. No switch or fuse needed as far as I know as this is just the wire that will trip the relay.

[RichLockyer]

Originally Posted by Chondro

Pin 86: I understand finding the blue/yellow wire on my 900 but am confused about the the diagram in Kevin's post on page 7. The diagram seems to show a switch and fuse. Is this the Cobra switch? Do I have to buy a fuse and holder and install myself in the pin 86 line?

You don't really need a fuse in this line, though if you are bringing the wiring out of the bucket to the Cobra switch, it IS a good idea.
Fuse it at 2a with the fuse as close as possible to the blue/yellow connection and if the wiring becomes chaffed, the fuse will blow before it blows your 10a headlight fuse.

Also, in Freightshaker's photos there appears to be two leads going to the Load pin. This is pin 87 (lights in Kevin's diagram), yes?

Freight's diagram shows traditional wiring of pins 30 and 87, so the battery (or accessory power connector) goes to pin 30, and the hot leads from both spots go to pin 87.

As mentioned above, I like to reverse 30 and 87, connecting the battery to 87 and the lamps to 30.
Some of the relays have a 5th connection... 87a.
On these relays, 30 is a common, and depending on the status of 85/86, pin 30 is connected to either 87 or 87a.
That means that any time the system is "dark", the battery is connected directly to pin 87a.
Connecting the battery to 87 and the lamps to 30 means that when the system goes dark, the lamps are connected to 87a and not power.

On a 4-pin relay without an 87a in the middle, it really makes absolutely no difference.



Thanks for all the info and help. I am pretty sure I can get this done, just a little confused about that pin 86 connection.

Greg[/quote]

[freightshaker]

Originally Posted by Chondro

I am getting ready to install my new Cobra light bar on my 2008 900 classic LT. I want the lights to operate exactly like Freightshaker's video: On with headlight, high or low, and switchable off using the stock Cobra switch.

I've read this entire thread three times and I think I understand most of it. I am going to use Kevin's instructions from page 7.

Shopping list:
12 v relay
bullet connectors for aux hot and ground leads in can
spade connectors for relay tabs

I understand the connections for pins 30, 85, and 87.

Pin 86: I understand finding the blue/yellow wire on my 900 but am confused about the the diagram in Kevin's post on page 7. The diagram seems to show a switch and fuse. Is this the Cobra switch? Do I have to buy a fuse and holder and install myself in the pin 86 line?

Also, in Freightshaker's photos there appears to be two leads going to the Load pin. This is pin 87 (lights in Kevin's diagram), yes?

Thanks for all the info and help. I am pretty sure I can get this done, just a little confused about that pin 86 connection.

Greg

The two leads (the blue wires) are the wires going to the driving lights. There are two because one is for the left & the other is the right light.
The diagram shows a single wire that is split to two wires going to the two lights, in this case it's easier to just run both to the same terminal.
The lights in this case are the load.

[freightshaker]

BTW, you can reverse 87 & 30 as well as reverse 85 & 86. Think of 87 & 30 as a draw bridge, when the circuit is completed at terminals 85 & 86 the "bridge" is down and the power can cross from the battery (source) to the lights (load).
As for 85 & 85 it's a circuit just like any other. Even a simple light bulb, if you have power going to it will light when the other contact is grounded or vise-versa. It needs power & a ground.
In this case of the lights, the ground is already established and when power is applied from the trigger (blue/yellow wire, running lights, low beam wire etc) this completes the circuit which then lowers the "bridge" and power flows to the load.
In the case of an aftermarket air horn relay, then the power is established either when the key is turned on or on constantly and the circuit is completed when the horn button is pushed, creating a ground and thus completing the circuit & allowing the power to flow to the aftermarket horns.

[Bedouin]

Where I live, it is illegal to run the high beam and the driving lights together- why? I dunno! I wired mine so that when the high beam is on, it cuts power to the driving lights.

I had a dumb little switch on my Cobra bar which was an accident- standing or rolling- about to happen. I hooked the wiring into a switch at the hand grips and can flip it off when I want.

[Chondro]

Thanks for the help in this thread. I installed the Cobra lightbar on my 900LT and everything went pretty smoothly. If I understand correctly, wired with a relay as shown, I can add higher watt bulbs to the head light and spots, yes?

[RichLockyer]

You can go up to a total of 10 amps (a touch over 100 watts) on either circuit.

Personally, I would not go that high on both, especially on the 900, as the charging system will not be able to keep up at idle.

[Chondro]

In your opinion, which is more useful: Adding higher watt lamps to the spots or going with the Wagner headlight lamp upgrade?