Different angle on brighter lights

[vaget22]

I have a GUARANTEED way to make your lights brighter. The main problem with the lights is that the power is routed through the handlebar switch. What you need to do is route the power through relay switches to get the full power to the bulbs. I've done this on all my bikes and the difference is huge. Do a google search on this and you will see I'm not full of it. Everyone I night ride with wants to know what kind of lights I run. They have a hard time believing they are stock bulbs. Anyone ever try those higher wattage bulbs and see very little difference? Its because the handlebar switch drops voltage and acts like a dimmer switch instead of getting the full juice to the bulbs. If you run power from the battery to a set of relay switches and use the power from the handlebar switch to activate the relays you will get the full amount of voltage to the bulbs and they will work like they are supposed to. Much brighter.

[mechmatt]

What are all the extra parts you need to do this

[ralph87]

any guides for this

[tri5ron]

can you post any pics of bikes you have done this to ?

or have you done any actual testing with a meter to verify this ?

what was the actual voltage that you recorded to the headlight power contacts, before and after your mod ?

did you do a ohm resistance test through the handlebar switch ?
what were your findings/readings ?

[vaget22]

All you need is a couple of automotive (12V) relay switches. The kind you get with a set of fog lights. You can buy them sepperate at most auto stores. About $7ish each. Not flasher relays though. They are a square box shape with four prongs on the bottom. You'll also need a soldering iron, some wire, some of those blade connectors, some heat shrink tubing and wire strippers. Its not exactly a snap together job but if you are good with your hands anybody can do it.

[vaget22]

The first bike I did this to was several years ago a 86 FJ1200. I read several posts about this and did some testing on it. I didn't do an ohm test for the actual resistance but I did take a volt measurment across the switch and I got almost 1.5volts. This showed me the switch was dropping about 1.5volts before it got to the bulbs. After I installed the relays the difference was obvious. Since then I don't bother measuring, I just install the relays and the result is the same each time. I have done this mod on two KLR650s, the 86 FJ1200, 99 Concours, 93 CBR600F2, 86 TR200(Fatcat), and my 99 400EX. Every time its the same thing. Much brighter lights.

[vaget22]

I found a few links to some sites that give some info.

http://www.jeepfan.com/projects/headlight-relay.htm

http://www.se-r.net/electrical/wiring_relays.html

http://www.rowand.net/shop/tech/WiringHeadlightRelays.htm

These talk about automotive lights but the info applies to any 12volt system.

[Donjuan400ex]

any pics of the install would be greatly appreciated!!

[vaget22]

I'll try to get out to the garage and pull the plastics off and snap a few pics tonight. If not I'll get it tomorrow for sure.

[Rscarpantonio]

intresting :confused:

[vaget22]

I have a full write up on this but I can't figure out how to get the pictues to go. If someone can give me a heads up on this I'll post the whole thing.

[ralph87]

Originally posted by vaget22
I have a full write up on this but I can't figure out how to get the pictues to go. If someone can give me a heads up on this I'll post the whole thing.
When you post a picture upload it to imageshack or any other picture uploading site. Copy the direct link of it then come here and click post reply then where it says img click that then paste the direct picture link into that.

[vaget22]

Hi, I tried what you said about the picture, but it just pasted in a link to the picture in Photobucket. I have seen where other people have pasted the actual image into their posts. I want to have directions followed by a picture, then more directions and more pictures. Any ideas?

[vaget22]

Ok, I’m going to have a go at explaining how to wire your lights on your 400Ex with relays. First off I need to say you should read all of this and make sure you understand this procedure before you tear into this.
What you will need.
1) Soldering Iron and solder
2) 2 12v automotive relays
3) Weatherproof blade type fuse holder
4) 4ft of 14ga to 16ga red wire (Don’t use solid core)
5) About 3ft of both red and black 16ga to 18ga wire
6) Some 1/4in heat shrink (Harbor freight has it real cheap or Radio Shack)
7) A kit something close to the picture below

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz304/Varget22/412VBN8TYML_SL500_AA280_.jpg?

What you are going to do is use the wires that go to the headlights to activate the relays. The actual power to the headlights will go straight from the battery through the relays to the bulbs. On the bottom of the relays there are four blade type male terminals. Next to each terminal there is a number (85,86,87,and 30). Pay close attention to these numbers. Below is a simple diagram of how each relay is wired.

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz304/Varget22/wwwoffroaders.jpg?t=1264213531

Place the two relays side by side and wrap some tape around them to hold them together just to make it easier to hold on to things. Mark one relay with an L and the other with an H just to keep track of which is which. Doesn’t matter which one just pick them just to be able to keep track. Pull off the front and side plastics so you have access to everything from the battery to the front. Looking at the front you will see a green plug connector you had to disconnect when you removed the nose piece. I wanted to keep this plug so installing and removing the nose piece was like from the factory. What I did was carefully remove it from the tab that holds it to the frame and look at the wires that go into it. There are three wires, white, blue, and green. The white is the low beam, the blue is the high beam, and the green is the ground. I measured about an inch from the green plug and cut all three wires and set the green plug in a safe place till later. Next I stripped the ends of the white and blue wires and soldered female connectors to them. These will plug into the relays. The white one will plug into the relay labeled L at terminal 86. The blue one will plug into the relay labeled H at terminal 86. At this point you should be getting a good idea where you want to mount the relays. Below is a picture where I mounted mine. I worked for me but you can mount yours where you want. You just need to have a place in mind so you know where you will need to run wires to. Don’t let the number of wires in the picture confuse you. There is also a horn, a spal fan, and a Vapor gauge wired into that mess.

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz304/Varget22/400EXRelays017.jpg?t=1264213644

Now you will need to be able to have wires reach from where the green plug mounts to the frame to where you mounted the relays. You can either find some white and blue pieces of wire or you can use whatever color you want, just keep track of which is which. When I made these splices I soldered them together and put heat shrink on them and reinforced the insulation with electrical tape. From the green plug the white wire needs to go to the relay labeled L at the terminal 87. And the blue wire needs to go to the relay labeled H at the terminal 87. Strip the ends of the wires and use your female connectors. The green wire is the ground and at this point I just spliced a black wire about a foot long or so and hung it off to the side till later. As your doing this try to keep an idea of where all your wires will be routed and the lengths just to keep things from getting out of control and turning into a birds nest by the time you’re done. Now get your fuse holder and the heavier gauge red wire and run some power from your battery up to the relays. Take your fuse holder and use a ring terminal on one end to either connect it to the battery or as I did to the positive end of your starter relay switch. Picture below.

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz304/Varget22/400EXRelays027.jpg?t=1264213720

At this point it is ok to have the fuse holder connected to the battery ONLY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A FUSE IN IT. Otherwise just leave it unconnected till you are ready to test the lights. Splice the heavier gauge red wire to the other end of the fuse holder and run it up to the relays. At this point you will need the red wire to go to each relay. I just cut off another piece of the heavier red wire and spliced them together to make a Y to go to each relay. Strip the ends and solder female connectors on them. These will plug into the terminals labeled 30 on both relays. Now the only thing left is to ground things. The spot I used was where the L bracket is mounted to the frame just above the left shock. Remove the bolt and take some sand paper and make sure there is good metal to metal contact. On both relays the terminal labeled 85 goes to ground. I just took a couple of black wires, soldered female connectors on them, plugged them to the terminals 85 and ran them to the bolt mentioned above with a ring terminal. Also bring the other black wire that comes off the green plug talked about earlier to this same ring terminal and ground all three. Put a 15A fuse into the holder, plug in the lights and test. If the fuse blows you have something plugged in wrong. At this point it’s all about weatherproofing things. Use heat shrink on all the plugs on the relays and every splice. Rewrap everything with more electrical tape then wrap it again. When you look at the bottom of the relays there may be some places where water or dirt can find its way into the relays innards. I wrapped the electrical tape around them and worked it into a cone shaped kind of thing to contain a bunch of RTV to seal the bottoms of the relays. Just think weatherproof and seal the crap out of things. Enjoy.

[vaget22]

I was wondering if anyone looked into this or do you think I'm on crack. :devil:

[bigbad400]

i didnt need to look into it. a simple understanding of electricity is all you need. its guaranteed to work if you do it right. besides you have put it well. ill be doing this mod asap. thanks alot


id say this one should go in the most popular sticky :D

[vaget22]

Bump

[tri5ron]

I'm hoping to test this out sometime this coming weekend, or early next week. I'm just trying to find some "tinker time" to spend on the quad.
(I'm wrapped up in another project right now).

I'm hoping to get/use a light meter, as well as a voltage drop test at the headlight wires, and, the handlebar switch, to perform this test.
I will certainly post my results when available.
Thanks,
Ron