Eastern Beaver headlight relay kits

[mbpdavies]

Hi All,

As some of you may have seen from a previous post I am experiencing an intermittent loss of headlights on startup, most likely due to the starter switch. I just have a couple of questions about the relay kits..

I'm assuming the kit completely bypasses the starter switch and takes switch live from the headlight circuits? Does this mean the lights stay on as the bike is started, probably not an issue unless it's cold/weak battery etc?

Is there somewhere I can get a wiring diagram of the kits as I might have a go at putting one together?

I am looking into sorting the other electrical bits on the bike as other accessories have been wired straight to the battery, does anyone have a recommendation for a an aux fuse panel that I can wire to a relay?

Cheers!

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[Rusty Nuts]

The low current to trigger the relay goes through the bar switch. The high current to the bulbs goes direct from battery/aux fuse panel through relay and to lamps. Pressing the start button should de-energise the relay, keeping lamps off till release of button.

[greywolf]

The relays take the place of the headlights in the stock wiring. Just don't use the bike frame for earth. The earth connection on the top connector goes to the battery negative and the earth connections on the lower connectors go to a black wire with a white stripe on the original wiring loom. The stock wiring works as originally except feeding relays instead of lights. If it is damaged, it needs to be repaired before the relays will work. The headlights will still go off when the start switch is pushed. The stock high beam is yellow and the stock low beam is black/blue.

[mbpdavies]

great, thanks for the clarification and the diagrams. I didn't think the switch was still part of the circuit I'd just assumed it was bypassed to resolve issues with the plunger in the switch. I guess I'll have to crack it open and clean it up either way. Time to order some electric components :D

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[mbpdavies]

Just trying to get my head round the connections, is there a headlight plug from the right hand side that just needs taping up? Thanks

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[MartinW]

Yes, just tape up the spare one 

[Rich:-)]

I recently adapted a Chinese relay harness I'd bought years ago to use on my wee. It worked fine but the high beam relay was creating a back EMF spike that was lighting up the indicators LED on the dash!
I've no idea if that is because the wiring near the high-beam side is more susceptible or maybe I just have a noisy relay coil in the HB loom.

Either way I quickly worked out what the issue was and soldered a diode directly to the relay legs to kill the back EMF spike.

[greywolf]

The Eastern Beaver kit does the same thing. It's harmless and only flashes the dash LED indicator lights when switching between high and low beam. Jim Davis at EB says he chose not to add diodes to the relays in the kit because it would add to the cost of the kit and would result in decreased life of the relay contacts. I don't know if the contact issue is a fact or not.

[Rich:-)]

Yeh, I also read about the decreased life issue. Tests have shown that the contacts will separate more slowly when de-energising and so the arc will be maintained for longer, and in some circumstances the relay could even jam ON.
I just figured that if this relay was generating enough to light those LED's then what else could be getting hit. Also what is the peak voltage that is hitting those LED's, could it be damaging them?
I could rig up my scope & find out but I just figured it'd be easier to swap out that 30 amp relay if needs be than it will be to replace those 2 LED's in the instrument panel so I went with installing the "flyback diode", just to be on the safe side.

[greywolf]

I've never heard of any problems associated with the little spike. The only complaints I've ever seen involving adding relays is a very occasional, once or twice, relay failure.