I was cleaning my headlight switch last night and everything looked good except for the solder connection between the yellow and white wires for the low beam. As you can see in the picture it overheated and some of the solder is now making a connection with the wire next to it. My question is that it looks like it would simpley keep the low beam on all the time so I am not sure if it should be fixed? It would be nice to have the low on even when the high is on. I remember reading that there is a white wire that when connected keeps the low beam on with the high but I could not find the info. Does anybody know where this "white" wire is?

The white/yellow wire is the supply from the RHS switch assy.
The yellow wire is low beam.
The white wire is high beam.

I would highly advice to install relays in the light circuit, to avoid problems with this switch.........the weak link in the light circuit in our bikes.

miki

as you can already see the switch mechanism is subject to over heating ... this happens when the contacts arc up a little .

as in other posts, most of us recon additional relays are a really good suggestion

cant help you with the extra wire ...and i just wonder if the headlight reflector could cope with all that heat in any case

best to reflow that solder joint ...and attempt to inspect the contacts ...and add relays quick smart before you have to buy a whole new mechanism , once the rot sets in better have a forward thinking plan .

just some thoughts

So with mine the white and yellow wires are now connected with solder would the high and low be on all the time? The blue light on the instrument panel is not always on. DO you know where the white wire that keeps the low beam on with the high is?

I have this in the archives but never found it on mine;



I think you have high shorted to low. The white/yellow is the center. It ties to yellow for one and white for the other. I believe they go to that round special instrument switch so are tied there....

To have low beam on together with high, jump the white/yellow and the yellow wire.............after you have installed relays.

But I do agree with Charlie, it could be that your reflector won`t be that happy about it.

The jumper was what I was looking for but mine did not have anything like that either. Guess I will get going on the relays.

Inge K. Could you provide a diagram of how you get the high and low on? I am not following your discription. I would assume the headlight wire for the new high beam relay would activate the low relay?

mikidymac wrote:Inge K. Could you provide a diagram of how you get the high and low on? I am not following your discription. I would assume the headlight wire for the new high beam relay would activate the low relay?

The jump wire you place between the solder points.

When at low beam, the low beam (yellow) wire would be connected to the supply (yellow/white) both through the switch and the jump wire.

When at high beam, the high beam (white) wire would be connected to the supply (yellow/white) through the switch as normal.....and the low beam connected via the jumper.

I think I understand. So with the jumper the low beam would always be on as far as the switch is concerned. You are negating the low beam switch with the jumper.

Correct, the low beam would stay on at all time, and high beam would be added....
when switch is in position.

+1 ^^^^^

There's 2 problems with that. One is the heat generated, the other
it that the ground for the headlight is meant for one circuit. Minimum
I'd run a new ground, better would be to add a relay. I just did this to
mine as the switch I had and the used one I got online both did not
work on both settings. I took the power from the load relief relay to
a new relay that is switched by the handlebar signal. I wired the low
beam to the 87a terminal so if the switch fails the low beam stays on.