Non-H4 Headlight Relay Kit Installation

Photos and Help with Wire Connections here:

Modulators: Make sure you connect any headlight modulator directly to the bulb. The Relay Kit connects to the modulator.

Description:

This kit connects to the existing headlight wires up front, and attaches to the bike’s battery posts at the other end. The positive (red) wire nearest the fuse on the kit connects directly to the bike battery’s positive post. The relays locate near the headlights. The ground (black) wire connects to the battery negative post, or to any good bike ground. Please read and understand these instructions fully before proceeding with installation. Take the kit and instructions out to the bike and identify everything first, while reading these instructions carefully. Check and identify your existing wiring well.

If you have difficulty understanding any of these instructions, maybe you should ask an electrically savvy friend to do the work with you.

Tools and supplies needed:

- Wire cutter – you must make cuts on 3 or 4 wires, depending on headlight design.

- Wire stripper – you must strip � inch and 3/8 inch of insulation on 6 or 8 wire ends.

- Philips screwdriver and wrench or whatever tools are needed to remove the wires from your battery.

- Wiring Diagram - If your owner’s manual doesn't have one, ask your dealer or a friend for a copy of the wiring diagram for your make, year, and model of bike. It will make things easier, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with wiring. Finding the wires which power your headlight bulbs is usually very easy if you have some experience with bike wiring.

- 12 volt Test Light or a Volt-Ohm Meter (VOM) - one is available from Radio Shack for less than $20 - for positively verifying wires. This will be used to test that you have the right wires before cutting.

Recommended but not necessary:

- Service manual - Clymer, Chilton and Haynes produce manuals for many motorcycle models. Your dealer may be a good source for these or a factory manual. Not necessary but it will make things easier, especially if you need to remove parts to get at your headlight unit or battery. You may need to remove your gas tank as well.

The instructions here will assume that the installer knows nothing about wiring and has no experience with bike wiring. If you do have experience and can easily identify your bike’s headlight plug(s) which connect the wiring harness to the headlight unit(s), you should still read through these instructions fully before beginning any work.

You will need to gain access to the rear of the headlight area, but you will not have to remove the bulbs. Do not remove any parts until you know what needs to be removed to access the headlight wiring plugs (not the wiring on the bulbs). This could involve removing the headlight housing shield, or some fairing parts. Check your service/owners manual.

You might have to take off other parts and the gas tank to route the wiring safely back to the battery. Sometimes you can tuck the wiring up under the tank into a good position, but it’s very important that the wiring be protected from any pinching or rubbing. Do not cut the wires inside the actual bulb housing(s).  See the here for photos of some bulb housings and examples of where to cut, and where not to cut. And if you have an odd wiring arrangement, please Email me with photos and I’ll help you find the best place to splice into, on YOUR bike.

1. Find the Headlight Wire Plug(s)- Remove any body parts needed so you can see the back of your headlight assembly and the wiring leading to it. Check your service/owners manual for removal of any parts needed to gain access to the headlight area. Look for the plug or plug(s) connecting the wiring harness to the headlight unit(s).

You should see a headlight power plug or plugs connecting to the headlight unit or bulb housings. See here for some examples of headlight power plugs. Bikes which have one 3 wire plug on the headlight unit will typically have a ground and two ‘hot’ wires that power the bulbs. Bikes with two plugs (one for each bulb housing), will typically have one ground and one ‘hot’ wire in each headlight power plug. Hot wires are typically red, white, blue, yellow or green, and ground wires are typically black or brown. If you’re not sure if a plug is actually powering the headlights, unplug it, turn on the ignition, and see if your headlights work. There may be other plugs in this area for things like signal lights or pilot lights.

Follow the colour coding for the headlight wires on your wiring diagram. You are looking for either one plug with three wires, or two plugs with two wires each. You might have to cut or peel back some wiring harness covering to see the colour of the wires you are looking for.

2. Test the Headlight Wire Plug(s) - If you think you have found the right plug(s), then test them as below, depending on which you have; one plug or two.

Dual Headlight Plugs: These 2 wire plugs have a ground and a power wire each. You must unplug one only, to verify that it is truly a headlight plug, and which headlight beam it powers. Test with the ignition on that one headlight beam does not work with this plug out. You should be able to identify all 4 wires in the plugs by their colours. Always make sure you turn your bike’s ignition OFF after any testing.

Single Headlight Plug: This 3 wire plug has a ground and two ’hot’ wires. You must unplug it to verify that it is truly the headlight plug. Test with the ignition on that the headlight does not work with this plug out. You should be able to identify all three wires by their colours. Always make sure you turn your bike’s ignition OFF after any testing.

IMPORTANT!  Be carefully removing one of these plugs. There is a lock (or two) which holds the plug to its socket and must be disengaged while wiggling and pulling the plug loose. Do not break these locks. Usually there are plastic tabs engaged onto the plug from the housing. You must hold or pinch these tabs while removing the plug from its socket. Cut or peel back any wire wrapping to get at least 2 inches of wire from the plug(s) to work with later when you cut and install the Posi-Locks here.

1. Ground Connection(s)- these wires are typically brown (German) or black (most Japanese and American). Use your test light or VOM to confirm the headlight ground wire(s). Put one lead of your test light, or the black negative lead of your VOM into the ground wire’s socket hole. Attach the other lead to the battery’s positive post. You should see ~12.5 volts on the VOM, or the test light come on. If you have two plugs, check the other ground the same way. This confirms the ground wire(s).

2. Power Feeds - The other wires in the headlight power plug(s) should be the ‘hot’ power wires. You can test and verify them with the VOM’s negative lead on a known good ground and the positive lead on a headlight hot wire. Turn on the headlight and you should see 12V. Test the other hot wire the same way.

First some photos of a customer’s 2004 BMW R1150RT installation.

On the left is where the stock headlight socket plugs into the main loom. The wire sheathing was trimmed back a bit and the wires have been cut and stripped, then the Kit’s Posi-Locks have been connected.

Below you can see how the relays were mounted using two screws.

Great install Jim, thanks for the photos!

 1. Disable the Battery - Remove the wire(s) from your bike’s negative battery post. Leave the red positive wires on the battery attached for now. Make sure the wires you remove will not touch the battery negative post during your work. Now, pop off the rubber cover from the fuse holder of the kit. Remove the fuse from the fuse holder and put the fuse somewhere safe. Only replace this fuse later when you are finished and have tested your work.

 2. Before Cutting the Headlight Wires- When you cut one wire you end up with two wire ends. Pay special attention to which wire end is on the bulb side, and which end is on the bike side. Cut only one wire at a time in the order below.

3. Bulb 1 (White/Red Kit Wires): Cleanly cut either the bike’s LO beam or HI beam hot wire two inches from the plug (see above). The best location can vary depending if you have a protective shroud on the back of your headlight area. You may be better off cutting further from the plug, but only you can decide that. Strip 1/4 inch (6mm) of insulation from each wire end. Be careful not to cut any of the wire strands when stripping. The Posi-Lock on the kit’s white wire goes onto the bulb side wire end, and the Posi-Lock on the kit’s red wire goes onto the other wire end. See the Posi-Lock section of the webpage for help installing these.

4. Bulb 2 (Yellow/Blue Kit Wires): Cleanly cut the bike’s other bulb hot wire two inches from the plug (or further out if you have determined this is best for your installation as noted above).  Strip 1/4 inch (6mm) of insulation from each wire end. Be careful not to cut any of the wire strands when stripping.  The Posi-Lock on the kit’s Yellow  wire goes onto the bulb side wire end and the Posi-Lock on the kit’s Blue wire goes onto the other wire end.

Below is an example of typical wire attachment. (NOTE: Older Kits had the red and white wires reversed)

Here, for reference are the wire colors as found on the Kit. White and Yellow are power from Relays to Bulbs. Red and Blue go to HI/LO switching wires from the bike. The black wires are the bulb grounds. These wires are bundled in sets of threes, one set for each bulb. You can use either set for either bulb. BMW uses yellow as a LO beam, while some Japanese makers use yellow for HI beam. Check the color of your LO and HI beam wires and match them up with the Kit if possible.

Ground Wires: One black ground wire is provided for each bulb. The stock bike headlight ground wires will not be used. Connect each black wire to each bulb’s ground wire.

Route the main wiring harness back towards the battery. If necessary, remove your gas tank in order to carefully route and tie-wrap the wiring under the tank. Pay special attention to the area around the steering head. Make sure the wires will not be pinched when the bars are fully turned from side to side. Make sure no wires are pinched between something like the gas tank and the frame.

If you have not already done so, remove the screw (bolt) holding the wire(s) onto the Negative battery terminal first, being careful not to lose any nut on the other end of the screw (bolt). Move the negative wires away from the NEG battery post and make sure they won’t touch the post during Positive lead connection. Tie them away from the battery post if necessary.

Now remove the nut or screw on the Positive battery post.  Clean all terminals, the battery posts, and the screws (bolts) and nuts with fine sandpaper if necessary. If you find dielectric grease on these connections you must clean all grease off before proceeding. Reapply dielectric grease when you’re done if you want.

Replace all the bike’s Positive wire(s) together with the kit’s red wire battery terminal, onto the Positive battery post. Tighten snugly, but do not over-tighten.

The battery terminal on the Kit’s black wire goes onto the negative terminal of the battery the same way, with all of the bike’s wires you previously removed and cleaned.  Again, tighten snugly, but do not over-tighten.

The wiring around the battery area should now be tied up neatly with the fuse holder accessible.

Do not install the Kit’s main fuse until you have done the checks below.

Final Check: Before testing the lights, go back over all your work carefully. With the fuse still OUT, turn on the ignition. Operate the Hi/Low headlight switch. You should hear a soft click from the relays as you switch from LO to HI. Turn off the ignition. Install the fuse. Turn on the ignition, and "see the light". Operate the headlight controls and verify the lights operate properly in both positions.

Caution: Do not put a larger than 15 amp fuse in the kit. If you blow this fuse, you have a short. Find the problem before inserting another fuse.

Posi-Locks: Posi-Locks can be re-used, and you can open one up to check that the wire strands are all well spread for good contact. The Posi-Locks make an almost water proof connection on the wire and hold very tight. You can apply silicone seal around the wire if you want to completely waterproof it, or use shrinktube on each Posi-Lock. And of course you can solder all your connections if you prefer.

Check all Wiring: It’s not uncommon to find some serious wiring problems if you have a used bike. But even a new bike can have problems from the factory or a shoddy dealer’s work. Most mechanics are not electrically competent. Please take a little extra time to check everywhere around where you are working, and if you see anything suspicious, investigate further and be sure that your wiring is proper and sound.

For the Experts: This installation is not that difficult if you can easily identify the headlight wires and find the plugs. Here are just a few important tips to help you out. Make sure you attach the correct kit wires to the correct headlight wires. Be extra careful stripping the wires. And take the time to properly route and tie up all the wiring for a permanent installation.

Disclaimer: I fully stand behind all of my products, but I can’t be responsible for your installation. Please stop and get help if you don’t understand what you are doing, or if these instructions don’t make sense. If a relay gets cracked because it was hanging down and the steering stop broke it, that’s not my fault. If you install wires incorrectly, that’s not my fault. I have written these instructions to help you, but only you can decide if you are doing it right. If you do break something or need replacement parts, I will be here to help you and rush the needed parts or information to you. I have wired and labeled this kit very carefully in the hope that you will find it easy to install. Please feel free to comment to me if you had any problem, or if you think any of these instructions should be changed. I appreciate your feedback!

Thank you for purchasing this fine product.

Jim Davis, the Eastern Beaver Company