HEADLIGHTS MOD REVISITED

[Tiger Tito]

Hello,
I've been reading some old posts about headlights and relays mod on Tigers.
In my experience with my 2003 Girly I just wanted to have low headlight on when slected with right handlebar switch and both on when high beam selected via right handlebar switch.
I bought a car relay 30A 12V 5 pins and connected at the spare socket located at the bottom of relays connector.
Now I am able to run with low beam on and high beam with both low and high on when high switch pressed.

[blacktiger]

All very well buying car relays, they will work but they have to be EXACTLY the same as to ones already fitted (they have a little diode in them) otherwise, as I found out a couple of times, they will drain your battery completely over night. Strangely not every night but just at the wrong moment like when I was on holiday and parked in an underground car park with a 1in3 ramp up to street level.
When I'd found why my battery was intermittently draining I just went and bought the Triumph supplied ones.

[Tiger Tito]

Good point BlackTiger,

I'll be watching this item carefully.

By the way, do you have the Triumph Relay Part Number for this purpose?

Thanks

[iansoady]

It's not the diode, that's just covering up the real problem which is that there are 2 pin layouts for "standard" relays:



85/86 are the energising coil contacts; 30/87 are switched.

If you use the wrong one, the relay doesn't actually do anything (but seems to work as the signal just passes straight through, operating the headlight directly) but there's a constant feed to the energising coil which is what flattens the battery.

Unfortunately I can't remember which layout is the correct one for the Tiger headlights.....

[Tiger Tito]

Hello Ian,

I found an interesting link that explains relay's function, perhaps in there is the answer:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/faq-emp ... re-up.html

What do you think about it?

Regards

[tyger]

I bought my 05 Girly last year with 17k miles on the clock (now 24k :) ).

The problem with buying used is sometimes you don't get all the documentation and "fixes" that have been accomplished.

Can someone start at the beginning and explain what a stock 05 Girly's headlights do?
low beam-- just the right light is lit up?
high beam on -- both high beams lit up?
pass flick switch -- all four beams lit up?

I have to ask because that's the way mine operated for ten months. Then all of a sudden both low beams would be on. While this strange behavior was being manifested I also had to wait for the starter circuit to "charge up". Meaning I couldn't just insert key, turn to on, pull clutch hit start. It was turn to on, pull clutch, hit start & hold it and wait for 3-5 seconds before it started engaging.
But this week it decided to go back to one low beam and normal start pattern.

I was in the instrument cluster wiring recently (trying to figure this weird thing out) and I'm pretty sure I have all relays filled. So I'm guessing that the PO did this fix and the bottom relay is spotty. I think I will go out and take a look again while I wait for ideas to pour in from the interwebs.

[oxnsox]

@Tito
That link is a good explanation.

As Ian says the real problem is in using the WRONG relay type.
The Diode is there to help prolong the life of the contacts. I very much doubt that Triumph have had to have 'special' relays made... as this would indicate their electrical design department didn't understand some of the basics....

You should also know that Triumph don't always have the relay pack setup in the same order on each bike, soo the picture you have posted may be correct for your bike but they maybe the wrong socket choices on mine and others. Fortunately you can reference the coloured tag on the relay socket wiring to identify which lamp/filament it is controlling (by referencing to a wiring diagram)

Any relay will have the numbers moulded into its base or a small circuit diagram printed on one surface, which will help you identify what type it is

[iansoady]

Hello Ian,

I found an interesting link that explains relay's function, perhaps in there is the answer:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/faq-emp ... re-up.html

What do you think about it?

Regards

Good link but it doesn't mention the 2 different layouts. Plus of course you have normally open vs normally closed etc etc.

The diagram I reproduced came from here.

If I think about it, let's say the Triumph relay is Type A and you fit a Type B. This will mean that the live feed which should be switched (on 30) is actually on the coil energising contact (86). This means the contacts are permanently closed and is where the constant current drain comes from. The trigger which should be on 86 is actually coming in on 30 so it looks as though the relay is working. In fact it is merely passing the trigger direct to the output.

If it should be Type B and you fit a Type A then you get exactly the same situation.

It took me a little while to get my head around what's actually happening.....

[blacktiger]

@Tito
That link is a good explanation.

As Ian says the real problem is in using the WRONG relay type.
The Diode is there to help prolong the life of the contacts. I very much doubt that Triumph have had to have 'special' relays made...

The ones that come in a Triumph bag are actually Hella relays. As it's about 3 years ago since I bought mine I cannot remember which is what.
I just couldn't be arsed to piss about trying to find the right ones somewhere else just to save a few quid so I went to the Triumph dealer. That way I was sure I got the right type.

[tyger]

The PO on my tiger had installed Hella type B relays in the sockets.
No constant drain so perhaps that is the right kind of relays, but I was having odd problems so perhaps not.

Not much help is it?    :?

I am leaning to thinking it was the right kind of relay but just one (or something else on the bike) is having issues.