Wiring discovery

[Idaho]

I was so smart. Found a lead in the headlight bucket that is only hot after the engine starts and tapped into that lead to power a 12volt automotive relay that heats up a fuse block. Then I tied my Stebel air horn and audio system into the fuse block. A couple of times now my horn stopped working. First time I pulled the fuse and it looked okay but I replaced it anyway and after starting the bike the horn worked. This morning my horn worked early then did not work later after church. I looked a the switches on the left handlebar and noted that the headlight switch was in the hi-beam position. Flipped it down to low-beam position and sure enough the horn started to work. Verified it by hitting the horn button and flipping between hi and low beam at the same time. You guessed it, the horn stopped when I went to hi-beam. At least I know that the horn works on low beam. Did not have a problem with the audio system because it has a back up battery in the radio that powers the system when the bike is off.

Some of you guys probably are way ahead of me on this but I thought that I would post it for those of us who are not as up to speed on wiring. Don't remember the color of the wire that I tapped into.

[macmac]

I don't understand very well what you are saying, but you have hooked a relay into something that is loaded all it can do, and you won't like what happens next. The circuit is over loading.. There is a relay right?

[Idaho]

No, I don't think the circuit overloads. I think what happens is that the lead that I picked is hot when the engine is on and the headlight is on low beam but is de-energized when I switch to high beam. The only extra electrical load is the 12V aux relay. So, when I switch to high beam the relay is de-energized and drops out which kills the feed to the fuse block.

[namvet]

Ok, I thought that Stebel horns needed a min of 20 amp fuse to work and the head light extra lead was rated at 10 amps, so the best bet was to run a wire right to the battery with a 20 amp fuse inline. I have yet to hook my horn up, so I need more info on your set up. Isn't the 12 volt relay still going back to a 10 amp lead?

[v0lusia]

I'll step in here. I am assuming what he did was run a new curcuit from the battery (20a) to a new aux. fuse box. The relay turns that curcuit on and off with the bike (actually with the hi beam switch ;) ) A relay is used as a switch to turn one curcuit on or off based on another curcuit.

So (in his case) if there is electricity going to the low beam, the relay turns on electricity to the new aux. fuse box (from a different electrical feed)

[ringadingh]

v0lusia; Thats the way I understand it as well. He should find a different wire to power up the relay, unless he's happy with it working on low beam only.

[formikec]

The stock horn wires control the relay on a horn install. That's the only way you can get your horn button on the bars to drive the relay which opens/closes the circuit for the horn. From what I am reading, he is using the aux in the headlight to feed through the relay to the horn. He would still need the horn wires to open/close the relay. In any case, I don't believe that is enough amps for that horn. According to the install of the bad boy I did, you need more than 10 amps, which is probably what that circuit is.

[rlfaubion]

Tie it into the blue with a yellow stripe wire.

[Idaho]

One more time trying to explain this. I found a lead in the headlight bucket that comes hot after the engine starts. I tapped into that wire and ran it to the coil of a 12v relay. Then I ran a heavy fused wire directly from the battery to one side of the contacts on that relay, then from the other side of the relay contact another wire to the fuse block. So, when the engine starts the aux relay picks up and heats up the new fuse distribution block. I have a 20 amp fuse in that block to another relay that is powered from the horn button to power the Stebel horn.

And, NO, I'm not happy with this arrangement. I think that I will root around in the headlight bucket to see if I can find the blue wire with a yellow stripe that Valdez recommends.

Thanks,
Idaho

[rlfaubion]

You can find it in the headlight bucket, or under the right-side panel (the one with the screw). In there, it's the block of wires to the rear. Same color, Blue (or at least dark) with a yellow stripe. Good luck Bud.... I'm deal'n with lighting stuff too right now.. Sure is fun!

[Yellow Jacket]

If you want your aux fuse block to be powered only after you start the engine, the blue/yellow stripe wire Valdez mentioned is the one you want. This wire comes out of the Junction Box behind the right hand cover and feeds the common position on the headlamp switch. It goes through a connector in the headlight bucket.

Since your relay presently only works while the headlamp is on low you must be tapped into the red/yellow wire which comes from the switch to the low beam bulb.

There is also an accessory connector in the headlamp bucket. The black/yellow stripe wire is the ground and the white/blue stripe wire is 12 v. This connector is not switched however, it's hot all the time.

[Idaho]

Yep, I was right, several of you are WAAAY ahead of me on this. Shoulda asked before I got started but I figured that I had a voltmeter and could do this without help. Who woulda thought that the one lead that I found that goes hot with the engine being started was switched with the hi/low beam switch. Thanks gentlemen.