Headlight issues

[jchesshyre]

Thanks E. Marquez.

I just need to check something about how this is wired up. Does one run a hefty cable from the relay ground terminals straight to the battery negative terminal? What happens to the original ground cable from the headlight switchgear?

I can't WAIT to get this done as the schit headlight is really spoiling my enjoyment of night riding now, even with an Osram Nightracer 110 bulb which does its best to be good but really isn't with my (low ) current wiring. I'm expecting big things...

[KermitLeFrog]

Thanks E. Marquez.

I just need to check something about how this is wired up. Does one run a hefty cable from the relay ground terminals straight to the battery negative terminal?

That's how I did it.

What happens to the original ground cable from the headlight switchgear?

I left the existing grounds alone.

[jchesshyre]

I left the existing grounds alone.

So just not connected to anything?

[tony.mon]

The best place for the relays is to the lh side of the headstock, and you can run a ground to one of the bolts in front of the headstock holding the clock bracket and front fairing stay on.

That means that only one power lead is needed, with a short bridge between relays, minimising the additional cable weight.
Fitting the fuse at the battery end of the power cable means that all of the fuses are in the same general location.

Although the Eastern Beaver kit has a ceramic bulb connector block, the STD plastic one is fine as long as you have good connections, so an annual separation, check, cleanup and a smear of dielectric grease keeps everything in good order.
It is only when the connection is poor that heat builds up and melts the connector block.

It doesn't take long to do this for all of the connectors on a Storm, and half an hour once a year saves a breakdown.

[jchesshyre]

Cool, this sounds good.

So I'm still not clear (my electrical understanding isn't quite up to working this out for myself) - can the ground wire from the original headlamp wiring from the switchgear just be blanked off, or does this need connecting to ground somewhere?

[tony.mon]

Blanked off, if you run a good-quality ground as I suggest.

[KermitLeFrog]

I used it for the relay ground on the switching side (I think) but any old ground (for the relay switching side) will do so you don't need it.

Tony is quite right about the main ground from the headlight. It saves weight.

[E.Marquez]

Thanks E. Marquez.

I just need to check something about how this is wired up. Does one run a hefty cable from the relay ground terminals straight to the battery negative terminal? What happens to the original ground cable from the headlight switchgear?

The relay ground is only for triggering the relay, it can be a very small gauge wire and grounded close to the relay location.
The Headlight socket does need a good ground though. There is no need to run it back to the battery however. If the battery is properly grounded to the frame and motor (I run a second grounds strap on all the bikes I build) the frame at the front of the bike is as good a ground as anyplace else.. for the VTR I use a ring terminal on the upper cowl stay bolt at the frame. Standard things like clean the bolt head, frame, stay well, coat with some dielectric silicon, or BoeShield T-9

Power to the relay (and through that to the headlight) needs to be a fused run from the battery. 14ga is all that is needed for 12VDC at 11 amps (that would be a 130 watt bulb run constantly) on a 8 foot run and no more than 2% voltage drop is more than sufficient for a fused run in sheathing. Put the fuse close to the ring terminal at the battery. protect that run of wire in sheathing, heat shrink tube or the like, and tie it down along the way ....a lot...then, go back and put some more ties on it.

If you want to be ready to power some add on light on say the hi beam relay later, then add those future watts to the calculation and up the power wire to relay gauge size.

Here is a good wire calculator http://circuitwizard.bluesea.com/# just remember GIGO Garbage in, Garbage out ..if you don't set it up right , you wont get accurate recommendations.