Quick Question Guys,

When you put your main beam lights on, do your dip beam lights turn off or do both the dip and main beams stay on together?

Cheers

If you have separate main & dip lights then it is a good idea to keep the dips on when the mains switch on.
If you have combined main & dip lights then you cannot do this or you will overheat the bulbs and they will burn out very quickly.
Another point to bear in mind is that your alternator might struggle with all the lights on at the same time,

ok, so the bulbs i have have 2 filaments inside them, so im assuming then that i have sure that the dips go off when the mains come on.

i have two switches on my dash on for main and one for dip, i have individual relays for the main and dip wiring, how would i wire up the switchs so that when i flicked the main switch the dip turned off?

A changover relay will simplify things here - one power feed to the relay (30) commoned with (85) and then the dipswitch (86) swaps the main (87) & dip (87a) contacts over.




[Edited on 7-11-10 by RazMan]

thanks Raz, you truely are the man!

so i wire up the main beam switch in to the 12v supply to the coil on the relay (85) and put the main beam wire to pin 87. so when i press the switch on the dash it will pull the switch across onto pin 87 and make the circuit making my main beams come on.

similarly, i wire the dip beam switch into the 12v supply to pin 30 & the dip beam wiring goes to pin 87a so when i press the button on the dash it makes the circuit and my dip beams come on.

sound about right?

thanks

Ermmm ..... Your light switch feeds 85&30, the dipswitch connects to 86 & then back to earth, and finally 87&87a feed the main & dip beams.

That way you have one switch to turn the headlights on and the other is the dipswitch - simples

[Edited on 7-11-10 by RazMan]

surely you need a minimum of 2 switches otherwise your lights would be on all the time?

if you only have one on pin 86 then that would allow you to change between dip and main but if you dont put a switch on pin 30 you would have a free current flow from 30 to 87a and your headlights would come on as soon as you switched the ign key to allow the 12v supply to the relay?

Not quite - your ignition supplies the light switch, not the relay. There won't be any power supplied to lights or relay until you flick the switch - this then allows the dipswitch to choose which beam you switch on.

Description

Alternatively you can use 3 relays which will keep the switches free of the heavy currents required by the filaments. This example is for a bike but the principle is the same.



What sort of switches are you using? Have you thought about side lights and main beam flash?

[Edited on 7-11-10 by RazMan]

[Edited on 7-11-10 by RazMan]

arrrrrrhhhhhh so your using the switch relay in addition to the original 2 relays.

you might as well stick up side lights and main beam flash if you have it to hand!

[Edited on 7/11/10 by omega0684]

Judging from your archive pics you already have Sierra switchgear / stalks - are you changing it for some reason?

haven't got any of that now raz, its all manual switchs (on/off) on a carbon dash

Ah I see now

All separate switches? You might want to reconsider slightly and fit a 3 position switch (off/sidelights/headlights) which will make things a lot easier. I think CBS does a good one. That way you will just connect the changeover relay as described and the flasher will be easier to wire in too.

only have buttons for dip and main at the minute. just been looking at this?

http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/large-rotary-headlamp-and-horn-switc h-hlhsw-5385-p.asp

oooh you get a horn too - bonus!

Looks ideal and it would certainly simplify the wiring.