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Switched Power for LED Driving Lights

kumatae

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I have the subharness and was running my lights but it keeps flickering and been unreliable. I'm not interested in taking the bike apart to troubleshoot to the subharness. The heated grips and charging accessories are working fine that are on the subharness. I've disconnected the LED light and want to connect it directly to the battery on a switched power source since I'm pretty sure that one day I'll forget and end up with a dead bike. Any ideas? I'm pretty handy but I haven't seen anything that allows you to connect the LED lights to be only on when the bike is on. Inputs would be much appreciated! Thanks!
 
Run power from battery to a relay that is energized by a power source that is only on during time bike is on. Most kits come with a relay that is supposed to be powered from the high beam power wire so lights come on when high beam is on.

Negative wire goes from battery to lights. Positive wire runs to relay and then to lights. Small power source (high beam) runs to relay to power it when you want lights on.
Make sure there is a fuse coming off the battery on the positive power wire.
Flickering to me would be a loose wire or connection.
Below is a typical PIAA set up
And an explanation how a relay works. Sorry, I am not an artist or an engineer so it is not done beautify OR to perfection!

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I've disconnected the LED light and want to connect it directly to the battery on a switched power source since I'm pretty sure that one day I'll forget and end up with a dead bike. Any ideas? I'm pretty handy but I haven't seen anything that allows you to connect the LED lights to be only on when the bike is on. Inputs would be much appreciated! Thanks!

I am not a mechanic or electrician, but I've added several lights, heaters, an extra power port.

The item you want is called a "relay". See [HERE] (link active 9/2018)
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I have one wired directly to a fused connector on the battery.
It accepts THREE inputs:
hot and ground (from the battery),
AND an third input from something that is on ONLY when the bike key is turned on.

It has two outputs (Ground and HOT for whatever accessory you want to power).

I've connected the THIRD "input" to the turn signal running light wire. (you have to find that on your own...not hard.)

The relay forwards battery power to the accessory ONLY when the THIRD input is ON. Thus, if you turn the key off, the running lights go out, and the relay stops sending power to the accessory.

Relays I use are all under the left side "frunk" plastic.
I learned this all from kind and patient folk on this board. I hope this helps.
 
Although more expensive than a simple relay, the Skene controller ties your Led auxiliary lights into your existing light switch and lets you set the % dimming when on low, and uses 100% when on hi beams. Easy to install and works great

Skene Lights Online Store




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II'm pretty handy but I haven't seen anything that allows you to connect the LED lights to be only on when the bike is on.
My LEDs are simply triggered by the headlight HOT wire. Easy peasy! Because most LEDs pull such low amperage (one of the main points of having LEDs) a relay isn't necessary.

Relays were used in the old days when guys (like me!) ran 200 or more watts of PIAA 910s ;-)

I suppose if you have some really huge, honking LEDs a relay would be the way to go, but mine are only about 30 watts each on full power.
 
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Okay got it. I was more confused with the various types of relays since some have four or five pins. Think I know what needs to be done. Got a wiring harness on order and I’ll be using the lead from my sub harness that I used for the LEDs originally as my wire to trigger the relay!


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On 4-pole relays, the wires are attached as follows: #30 is 12v coming in from battery, #85 is ground, #86 is a source for 12v that is only energized with key ON, and #87 is the wire to the accessory. These four numbers appear on every 4-pole relay and their functions are always the same.
 
What DirtFlier said, plus: if you are concerned about a fifth terminal 87a, if present, it is the normally closed contact. 87a would supply power to the accessory device when the bike is off, and remove power when the bike is on. That would not be useful in most applications, so just leave it unconnected, but isolated from ground.
 
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I have the subharness and was running my lights but it keeps flickering and been unreliable. I'm not interested in taking the bike apart to troubleshoot to the subharness. The heated grips and charging accessories are working fine that are on the subharness. I've disconnected the LED light and want to connect it directly to the battery on a switched power source since I'm pretty sure that one day I'll forget and end up with a dead bike. Any ideas? I'm pretty handy but I haven't seen anything that allows you to connect the LED lights to be only on when the bike is on. Inputs would be much appreciated! Thanks!

I think Your LED lights are going bad. Same thing happened to me on my H7 LED bulbs. I have just replaced after close to 2 years.
 
I have the subharness and was running my lights but it keeps flickering and been unreliable. I'm not interested in taking the bike apart to troubleshoot to the subharness. The heated grips and charging accessories are working fine that are on the subharness. I've disconnected the LED light and want to connect it directly to the battery on a switched power source since I'm pretty sure that one day I'll forget and end up with a dead bike. Any ideas? I'm pretty handy but I haven't seen anything that allows you to connect the LED lights to be only on when the bike is on. Inputs would be much appreciated! Thanks!

I think Your LED lights are going bad. Same thing happened to me on my H7 LED bulbs. I have just replaced after close to 2 years.

I agree with Matt that the source of your flickering lights may be the lights themselves. If the other items running from your subharness are OK, about the only possible subharness fault would be the connection of the light’s wiring to the harness. That would be easy to check. All of the items running on the subharness share the same relay. Be open to the possibility that if you switch the power source of the lights to a new relay wired to the battery, your lights might still flicker if they are bad.
 
Spent yesterday re-installing my led lights with a separate wiring harness that came with a relay. All went well is working and no more flickering! I skipped the switch since I just wanted the lights on whenever I was riding was good enough for me. Also I mistakenly bought H4 led lightbulb and installed it to the headlight. And yes aware of the glare and etc. Appreciate all the feedbacks!!

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Take the same picture from a 100 Yards back...........can the front turn signals be seen or are they hidden in the light wash?
 
Take the same picture from a 100 Yards back...........can the front turn signals be seen or are they hidden in the light wash?

Good call. I’m not sure. I’ll have to check tomorrow and is something I definitely want to know.


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