No High/Low Beam

[spazz]

I have recently lost my head light power completely. Let me explain what has been done first.
When I added my Cobra light bar, I installed a relay with it. But since then from time to time the spots would not come on. I would go into the bucket and check all of the wiring. I would unplug and re-plug each wire. Then I would get my spots back. I did try and replace the relay 3 times. But I always seem to have this problem. So you know what I did next. Yep that's right, direct wire to the high beam wire in the bucket. Now I have lost the head light completely. But I did not blow the fuse. This happened at night traveling through DE headed home. I had to hot wire my spots just to get running lights.
I have been told that Kawasaki has had a problem with the head light relays. I was also told about possibly moving the relay wire to another pin on the board behind the fuse block. Has anybody ever heard of this happening before? And if so, what can be done to correct this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a trip this coming weekend and would to have it fixed.

[fish]

:-/ I'm no electrician but it seems like you have more then your fare share of electrical problems

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by spazz

I have recently lost my head light power completely. Let me explain what has been done first.
When I added my Cobra light bar, I installed a relay with it. But since then from time to time the spots would not come on. I would go into the bucket and check all of the wiring. I would unplug and re-plug each wire. Then I would get my spots back. I did try and replace the relay 3 times. But I always seem to have this problem. So you know what I did next. Yep that's right, direct wire to the high beam wire in the bucket. Now I have lost the head light completely. But I did not blow the fuse. This happened at night traveling through DE headed home. I had to hot wire my spots just to get running lights.
I have been told that Kawasaki has had a problem with the head light relays. I was also told about possibly moving the relay wire to another pin on the board behind the fuse block. Has anybody ever heard of this happening before? And if so, what can be done to correct this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have a trip this coming weekend and would to have it fixed.

Let me make sure I'm understanding you. You had problems with the relay, so you removed the relay and wired the driving lights directly to the headlight? I guess I don't understand why anyone would wire anything to their headlight circuit in the first place. ???

Hmm, that's not good. If you have a voltmeter or test light, are you getting any voltage at the headlight connector (the 3 contact socket that plugs into the headlight bulb)? One of the contacts is ground, one is low beam and the other is high beam. If yes, then your bulb is shot. If no, then your problem is further back. You could have fried the headlight relay or cooked some wiring.

[macmac]

We need more details.

What wire was the relay trigger off the main lamp? Hi beam, lo beam, or something else?

Is the relay wired this way? T= terminal

T-30 fused to the battery
T-85 to ground
T-86 to the trigger
T-87 to the passing lamps (load)

[Yellow Jacket]

The first thing you need to do is to get those spots off the headlamp circuit. The headlight relay, the high/low beam switch and the wiring is not designed to carry the load which you have put on them.

If you lost both the high beam and the low beam then your problem is somewhere from the high/low switch on back toward the battery. If you look at the enclosed wiring diagram you will see that high/low switch (item #14) receives power on the BL/Y wire. The switch then routes this power to the headlamp to either the high beam on the R/BK wire or to the low beam on the R/Y wire.

Possible failing points you may have:

1. The high/low switch may have been fried to the point that the moving contact no longer makes contact with either of the two output contacts.

2. The BL/Y wire between the high/low switch and the headlamp relay may have been burned in two.

3. Fuse 4 may be blown. Check it with a voltmeter if it hasn’t been replaced with a known good fuse.

4. The contacts in the headlamp relay may have been burned out. Item #3. (IF your taillight still works then you are at least getting power to the headlamp relay circuit.)

If you don’t have a voltmeter or a test light you need to get one to trouble shoot this problem.

Once you get the issue resolved with the headlight then you can go on to the driving or spot lights on the light bar.

Please wire them up using a relay getting fused power directly from the battery. You can use either the high or low beam wires as a trigger to the relay. If you want the spots on all the time then you will need to use the BL/Y going to the high/low switch as your trigger.

[spazz]

Originally Posted by macmac

We need more details.

What wire was the relay trigger off the main lamp? Hi beam, lo beam, or something else?

Is the relay wired this way? T= terminal

T-30 fused to the battery
T-85 to ground
T-86 to the trigger
T-87 to the passing lamps (load)

I had the trigger wire as the High Beam. Honestly it has been over a year since I installed the relay. I used the drawing supplied by another member. My wife got it for me. It always worked but had that little quirk where it would stop. I would just unplug one wire at a time when this happened. And yes I know without a doubt that I shouldn't have wired it direct. But we will just chalk that one up to a Darwin award.

[spazz]

Originally Posted by Yellow Jacket

The first thing you need to do is to get those spots off the headlamp circuit. The headlight relay, the high/low beam switch and the wiring is not designed to carry the load which you have put on them.

If you lost both the high beam and the low beam then your problem is somewhere from the high/low switch on back toward the battery. If you look at the enclosed wiring diagram you will see that high/low switch (item #14) receives power on the BL/Y wire. The switch then routes this power to the headlamp to either the high beam on the R/BK wire or to the low beam on the R/Y wire.

Possible failing points you may have:

1. The high/low switch may have been fried to the point that the moving contact no longer makes contact with either of the two output contacts.

2. The BL/Y wire between the high/low switch and the headlamp relay may have been burned in two.

3. Fuse 4 may be blown. Check it with a voltmeter if it hasn’t been replaced with a known good fuse.

4. The contacts in the headlamp relay may have been burned out. Item #3. (IF your taillight still works then you are at least getting power to the headlamp relay circuit.)

If you don’t have a voltmeter or a test light you need to get one to trouble shoot this problem.

Once you get the issue resolved with the headlight then you can go on to the driving or spot lights on the light bar.

Please wire them up using a relay getting fused power directly from the battery. You can use either the high or low beam wires as a trigger to the relay. If you want the spots on all the time then you will need to use the BL/Y going to the high/low switch as your trigger.

Okay, here is what I have found.
1. I definitly do not have any power to the head light plug.

2. The 10 amp fuse for the Head light is good.

3. I definitly have continuity through the BL/Y wire from the fuse box to the dimmer switch.

4. There is no power coming out of the fuse box on the BL/Y wire.

So I am afraid that I may have fried the head light relay.

[macmac]

Not so fast.... At 6 with the key on, engine runing see if there is power at the R/BL.

[spazz]

Originally Posted by macmac

Not so fast.... At 6 with the key on, engine runing see if there is power at the R/BL.

I am assuming that (at 6) refers to number 6 on the diagram, the fuse box. If so, I will check there tomorrow. If not please elaberate.

One thing I forgot to mention is that all the rest of my lights are working.

[Yellow Jacket]

spazz,

Mac is correct. The engine has to be started to energize the headlamp relay first. After starting the engine you should get power on the BL/Y wire at the junction box. If not, then the relay is probably bad.

[macmac]

Yes 6 is the fuse box... Besides the relay, I also suspect a fried or burnt tab in the Ign switch, the wire I am after is that one.

I tend to get wordy and over complicated, and right now you don't need that. The R/BL needs power before the BL/Y is going to get any.

(bob I had to work to see where that brown wire goes and what for) spazz, don't bother with brown it's ok and has nothing to do with this. it does come On at the same time, but is on another tab insiide the Ign switch.

[Yellow Jacket]

Just for kicks, and because I have nothing better to do at the moment, I'm going to try to explain the wiring diagram I posted above. Maybe this will be of some use to those folks who may not be used to trying to figure out these diagrams.

For those of you who are accustomed to figuring out wiring diagrams you can ignore this post.

I will start by explaining a couple of things on the diagram first.

The ignition switch:

Circle 1 (the circle with the number 1 inside it) is the ignition switch. It is depicted as a two column table with four rows.

The columns are labeled "On" and "Park."

The rows are unlabeled. I'm going to call them contacts 1 through 4, starting with contact 1 at the top.

Contact 1 has a brown (BR) wire connected to it.
Contact 2 has a white (W) wire connected to it.
Contact 3 has a blue (BL) wire connected to it.
Contact 4 has a red (R) wire connected to it.

Now, notice that when the ignition switch is in the "ON" position that contact 1 is connected to contact 2 and contact 3 is connected to contact 4.

Also, when the switch is moved to the "Park" position the only connection at that point is between contact 2 and contact 4.

These connections are indicated by the circles with a dark line between them.

The junction box:

Circle 6 is the junction box. It contains (on this diagram) two fuses, a relay switch, a relay coil and two diodes. The diodes are the two black arrows (triangles with a bar, or dash, crossing the point of the triangle.)

A diode will allow a positive DC current to flow in the direction of the arrow and will not let it pass in the opposite direction. This comes in very handy.

OK, here's how this thing works.

Starting with the ignition switch "Off", nothing is on.

Find the battery (Circle 17). The hot, or +12VDC, lead goes from the + terminal to the starter relay (Circle 15). From there power continues down through the main fuse (Circle 16) and out of the starter relay on the W (white) wire.

The W wire goes to contact 2 on the ignition switch and supplies the +12vdc to the ignition switch. This contact is always hot as long as the main fuse is not blown and the battery is good.

Now the fun starts. When the ignition switch is turned “On” the connection is made between contact 2 and contact 1.

This applies +12 VDC to the BR (brown) wire which feeds to the junction box.

At this time power is applied to both the headlight fuse (Circle 4) and the tail light fuse (Circle 5).

Power goes thru the tail light fuse and out the junction box on the R/BL wire (Red with blue stripe.) This wire goes directly to the front running lamps which should now be on.

The R/BL wire also goes back to the ignition switch to contact 3, feeds through the connection to contact 4 and exits the switch on the R (red) wire.

The R wire goes from the ignition switch to the tail light and the license plate light which should also now be on.

At this point the head lights are not yet on.

Start the engine.

The alternator (Circle 2) will now be producing +12 VDC.

The Y/BK (Yellow with black stripe) wire feeds the +12 VDC from the alternator to the junction box. The +12 VDC passes through a diode and activates the head light relay coil which closes the relay switch.

Power from the head light fuse (Circle 4) now can pass through the closed switch and exits the junction box on the BL/Y (blue with yellow stripe) wire. An internal wire in the junction box feeds back to the relay coil through another diode and keeps the relay activated. This is called a hold circuit.

The BL/Y wire goes from the junction box up to the high/low beam switch on the handlebar. From this switch the power is routed to either the high or low beam depending on the position of this switch.

The head light will now remain on until the ignition switch is turned off.

Here's the diagram:

[blowndodge]

For the "Electrically challanged" Bob I thank you!!! I understood most of what you said/wrote.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

For the "Electrically challanged" Bob I thank you!!! I understood most of what you said/wrote.

Next time, have Bob draw pictures with crayon so you'll understand all of it!

[blowndodge]

scratch.............