Question with rewiring my headlight.. 96 XLC

[firstripholdmybeer]

hey cc,

So I'm doing some rewiring to my 96 stock harness. my goal with the headlight is to have the low beam always running and have the high beam unplugged and ready as a back up filament when ever the low blows (plug n play terminals attached). what do you think about this?

a couple things throwing me off here are the orange/white and Blue wires. Says Orange/White for HDI models only and Blue is the running light. Doesn't look like the Orange/white is going to anything so I'm guessing its there in case it were a HDI model?

Simply wanting a opinion, if I were to just have negative and power through the yellow would this wiring work? Should I worry about getting rid of the White, Blue, and orange/white wires?

Thanks for the helps guys

[TriNortchopz]

"...my goal with the headlight is to have the low beam always running and have the high beam unplugged and ready as a back up filament when ever the low blows (plug n play terminals attached). what do you think about this?"

Hhmm, I think this doesn't make a lot of sense - to me anyhow.
I like to have the lowbeam on a switch that allows me to turn it on after the bike is started.
You can use your highbeam as a backup if the low beam blows just by turning it on - if it is connected to power and a switch.

I like to wire a chopper headlight with the tail light, and the brake light on a three-way toggle switch - off in the middle, down for low beam, and up for high beam (tail and brake powered in up/down positions). All lights out in the middle position to avoid gettin' caught in a high-speed pursuit.

[Tattooo]

Hhmm, I think this doesn't make a lot of sense - to me anyhow. .

Me either that's why I didn't respond...

[Guest]

I'd Bet he believes when on low,There is one filament on,and when on high, your on both filaments ……don't think he knows how a headlight works !!!! ,.. it sounds like he wants to wire it so it's the same as it is ???......

[Tattooo]

I'd Bet he believes when on low,There is one filament on,and when on high, your on both filaments ……don't think he knows how a headlight works !!!! ,.. it sounds like he wants to wire it so it's the same as it is ???......

That might be ..... We shall see????

[Jasonaldean]

Informational Post thanks for answers.

[RickG61]

I'm not sure why you'd want to have to plug it in to use the high beam if the low burns out. Its not like if its already plugged in, it'll burn out at the same time. That would be a bitch on a dark night, blasting down an unlit road, light goes out. You gotta stop and plug in its replacement??? Just wire up a simple multi position switch like recommended above. Its basically one more wire, not like a whole extra bundle to power the other light if needed.

[firstripholdmybeer]

Thanks for all the responses. I have a friend who recommended I do this as he has his wired this way. Though, maybe I misunderstood something, because this plan is starting to seem flawed. I think I'm going to go with a switch after all. I mainly wanted to eliminate the switch, but it seems like that would cause me some problems down the road, literally.

thanks everyone this was very helpful

[farmall]

Leaving lights on when trying to start a motorcycle is a bad idea and using a plug to switch power to the other filament when one blows is retarded and potentially dangerous. If you lose a filament riding at night you could be in deep shit if you can't flick a handlebar switch to use the other beam. I strongly recommend running a high/low beam switch that's easy to reach in an emergency.

To succeed in wiring, copy success. There are plenty of threads on simplified Sporty wiring with diagrams here and on xlforum. They'll get you straight.

To find out what a wire does, use a test light (cheap incandescent is fine because their bulbs are loads) and test with different switch positions.

[JMFNC]

A stock 96 should start with the headlight on.....my 92 and 94 both do.......are you saying that if you're going to rewire to go ahead and change it so that it doesn't? Not arguing, asking for clarification.

[firstripholdmybeer]

Leaving lights on when trying to start a motorcycle is a bad idea and using a plug to switch power to the other filament when one blows is retarded and potentially dangerous. If you lose a filament riding at night you could be in deep shit if you can't flick a handlebar switch to use the other beam. I strongly recommend running a high/low beam switch that's easy to reach in an emergency.

To succeed in wiring, copy success. There are plenty of threads on simplified Sporty wiring with diagrams here and on xlforum. They'll get you straight.

To find out what a wire does, use a test light (cheap incandescent is fine because their bulbs are loads) and test with different switch positions.

thanks for the info, I decided to throw on a mini toggle. I agree this is retarded. I'll have to let my friend know I have a newly found perspective on his wiring methods. ha!

I've looked over a few diagrams and thought I might be causing more problems by following one and having to take out my entire harness. Mainly because I don't have much experience and want to get to riding my bike sooner. making up my own harness might be something for a winter project. I'll definitely be hitting up those forums and blasting a few questions come time.

[firstripholdmybeer]

A stock 96 should start with the headlight on.....my 92 and 94 both do.......are you saying that if you're going to rewire to go ahead and change it so that it doesn't? Not arguing, asking for clarification.

Yea I was thinking about that based on a friends success. I quickly learned its a bad idea via this threads responses.

I'm curious if you know, on your 92 and 94 does the blue wire to the switch housing connect with both the low and high beam wires? Using a toggle switch and trying to see exactly where the Blue fits in.

thanks!

[firstripholdmybeer]

Thanks for all the responses, I went ahead and put a on/off/on toggle on my ignition coil mount. Now just trying to figure out if the Blue (running light) should be split and intertwined with both the high and low wires. I'm 99% sure this would be correct.

[Tattooo]

A stock 96 should start with the headlight on.....my 92 and 94 both do.......are you saying that if you're going to rewire to go ahead and change it so that it doesn't? Not arguing, asking for clarification.

Yes sir that's what he's saying..... When I wire my bikes I don't even have the brake light wired into the run side of the switch, It's just habit......

[farmall]

Tatooos habit is borne of experience.

A stock 96 should start with the headlight on.....my 92 and 94 both do.......are you saying that if you're going to rewire to go ahead and change it so that it doesn't? Not arguing, asking for clarification.

They aren't prevented from starting but more juice is always better so when wiring any of my bikes I wire my key switch as "off, run, lights" to take advantage. You'll see that in simplified wiring diagrams for good reason.