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1200I electrical question

379 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  papabee49
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OK I am not the whiz with electrical know how that others are, so help me out guys...I hve driving lights on the bike that the PO put on. He had them direct wired to the battery with an inline 15 amp fuse. I didn;'t like that becaues they would always be hot. Well 1 day they quit working altogether, after a bad rain, think they got wet or somthing. Anyway rewired them to fuse block accessory poles and replaced switch. Now told I should have put a relay in and replaced the inline fuse.. what is a relay for and where should I put it? I don;'t know what a relay does and should I get 1 larger for other accessories, don't have any now.:(:(:(
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A relay is essentially an electromagnetic switch. It lets you connect the lights directly to the battery and therefore not run throught bikes electrics but still be switched. Essentially, you connect one pole of the relay to the battery hot, one to the lights and one to a power source that is hot with the key on. When you turn on the key, it closes the relay and connects the lights directly to the battery. The relay is the only thing drawing power through the bikes electrical system and that draw is tiny. Relays are available at most auto parts stores and will come with a diagram on how to wire them, but if you are unfamiliar with wiring electrical accessories you might want to enlist the help of a friend.
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As always, tricky has a handy diagram to illustrate. Tricky, you must have a whole hard drive full of these things!
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Thanks Tricky really appreciate it.
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