I haven't been on the forum in a really long time, and I haven't ridden my bike hardly at all in the past year, but I finally have the headlights 100% complete. I ended up burning up the ground again at the headlight connector, even with just one light on (I unplugged the second as a temporary thing since I didn't have time to work on it). I figured I'd share how I did the final wiring in case anyone else is looking to do a headlight upgrade (the factory lighting circuit sucks).
I just rewired it yesterday and used the orange with white stripe wire that is for european (i think) models with indicator lights to power my high beam switch. This activates the shudders which are only about 1 amp total for both lights. The wire is always hot with ignition on so works great, and I used the stock ground.
I then used the two stock blue wires (18 ga I think), that come off the headlight fuse, one wire feeding each headlight. I would have liked to use a thicker gauge but didn't want to run new wiring if I didn't have to. I then ran a 14 or 16 ga (can't remember now) ground from both headlights to the ground screw under the steering neck on the frame.
I let the bike run for about 15 minutes with the high beams on and none of the wiring was hot. I also eliminated the factory headlight plug (white connector), I don't think the terminals can handle that amp draw. Even my stock setup melted the ground pin in there. I'm heading up to the Ozarks next week to do some riding, I just changed the oil, aired up the tires, and got the headlights done and added some new led turn signals out front, I'll snap some pictures to share what it looks like all completed.
I just rewired it yesterday and used the orange with white stripe wire that is for european (i think) models with indicator lights to power my high beam switch. This activates the shudders which are only about 1 amp total for both lights. The wire is always hot with ignition on so works great, and I used the stock ground.
I then used the two stock blue wires (18 ga I think), that come off the headlight fuse, one wire feeding each headlight. I would have liked to use a thicker gauge but didn't want to run new wiring if I didn't have to. I then ran a 14 or 16 ga (can't remember now) ground from both headlights to the ground screw under the steering neck on the frame.
I let the bike run for about 15 minutes with the high beams on and none of the wiring was hot. I also eliminated the factory headlight plug (white connector), I don't think the terminals can handle that amp draw. Even my stock setup melted the ground pin in there. I'm heading up to the Ozarks next week to do some riding, I just changed the oil, aired up the tires, and got the headlights done and added some new led turn signals out front, I'll snap some pictures to share what it looks like all completed.
