A word about harnesses... as in, why would you need one? Motorcyle manufacturers, even the big ones, are notorious for installing cheap switches. The power supply for many devices are routed through your bikes on/off switch. These switches are light duty devices that rapidly wearout and burn out. This is scandalous, especially since the bike manufacturers will charge you anywhere from $200 to $500 for a replacement switch.
It means that any devices that you wish to attach to your bike will cause the power switch to burn out that much more quickly. Lights, horns, radar detectors, sound systems, all take their toll on the outrageously low quality switches even the highest rated manufacturers put on their motorcycles. So our solution is to bypass the switch altogether!
Additional lights can be an excessive drain on stock wiring harnesses that were not designed for the additional load. In some instances, these additional loads can cause catastrophic failures on stock harnesses and in particular starter switches.
The starter switches on Honda brands in particular are known to fail from owners hooking up additional accessories and wiring them into the headlight circuit The starter button is part of the headlight circuit and passes current to the headlight when the button is not depressed. When depressed, the headlight goes out and the voltage is directed to a starter relay.
Additional loads on the headlight circuit cause excessive current through the starter button contacts which causes heat build-up that melts the plastic holding these contacts in place.
Take for instance the average and most common 55W driving lights. You add two to your bike for a combined 110 watts. Ohms laws tell us that power (110W) divided by voltage (12V) will give us the current draw for these lights. So for a true 110 watts at an average of 12 volts DC we are drawing about 9.1 amps through the starter switch to run these on top of the headlight current.
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This is a new motorcycle harness that is designed to lay under the seat area and run up the frame and out the steering neck to provide power for auxiliary light bar lights. It could also be used to power other accessories instead.
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This harness makes a light installation simple. One ring lug connector is labeled to hook to a frame ground, one ring lug connects to the battery positive (+), and one connector hooks to the headlamp wire low or high beam (check your state regulations for running auxiliary lights).
We recommend attaching to the low beam as this is where you would most use the lights and gain the most visibility from other drivers.
Hi beams are usually only used on long open stretches of road when you are alone or in front of a group. There are two wires that are equipped with female bullet connectors which connect to the male bullets that most auxiliary lights come equipped with. This makes an easy disconnect for the lights if you have to remove the lightbar for any reason.
It can be run on hi and low beams by tapping into the running light circuit under the seat which will leave the aux lights on when the key is on, even while cranking the engine!
The relay isolates the stock harness from any real current draw, taking voltage directly through a fused battery connection and passing it to the lights. This makes for a brighter light since switches are not in the circuit. Switches cause resistance and ultimately current loss and a dimmer bulb. A water-tight fuse holder is equipped with a 15 AMP fuse for lightbar harnesses, and 30 amps for headlight harnesses.
The headlight trigger wire hooked to the stock harness draws minimal current, just enough to trip the relay so it will pass the battery voltage to the lights, saving your harness and starter switch. When the headlight goes out while cranking the engine, the auxiliary lights will go out as well.
The trigger wire and both light wires are sleeved in chrome braid and heat shrunk on each end. This makes the visible wiring aesthetically pleasing. Additional sleeving is provided to dress the wires coming out of the auxiliary lights as well. If your auxiliary lights come with two wires (Hot and Ground) connect the ground wire to the base mount of the light and the hot wire to my harness. The remainder of the harness is encased in black wire loom and taped at all wire exit points.
This is a nice harness that you could not build individually for this price with all these details. They have been installed on Honda Shadows (VT1100 and VT750 Spirits, Sabres, Aces, and Aeros), Honda Valkyries, and Yamaha Viragos with no problems. Makes wiring a 15 minute job. Best to remove the tank and seat to get it dressed in but not really necessary to remove the tank. The loom can be routed under the tank or pushed up along the frame and
tie-wrapped in.
CLICK HERE to buy now!
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