Wiring Q's

I'm pretty sure I've got most of my wiring figured out thanks to the tech section. Great info there! However my light setup is confusing me a tad. The diagrams I've been following seem to just run power straight to the head and tail lights, ground them, and hook up the rear brake switch. However my bike is a little different and am trying to figure out why, it does work though. So power coming in from the key (through a 10amp fuse) splits and goes three ways, one to a solenoid looking thing, then from the solenoid it runs up to the handlebar switches (I'm guessing high low), from the handlebar it runs two wires to the headlight, another comes back out into a little module thing mounted in the headlight canister, from the key power comes into that module, ground comes out of the module as well as the light being ground along with it, power also runs from the key to a switch, then from the switch to the module. Hope that makes enough sense to comprehend.

My main questions I guess are, what is the "solenoid" thing, and the "module" thing, and are they necessary?

Hard to visualise without a diagram but it sound like they may be relays? Usually black plastic 'cubes' about 20x20x20mm, with four poles numbered 85, 86, 87 and 30. If not then post up some pics for a better guess.

Before we can help you much we need to know the year of your bike and any mods done to the wiring.
There were many changes over the years. They added things like starters, and lighting devises to turn the lights on automatically, light up lights on the dash to tell you the headlights blown, the brake light is blown. Removed things like the brake lining warning light, the headlight on/off switch. Things like the safety relay are wired different, the light checker, the RLU.
Changing from point to TCI, separate reg and rec to combo reg/rec. So many things that have been changed from year to year.
You may notice that many of us put the year, model and mods below our posts, This is the signature, you can find it in your profile.
Finding a wiring diagram for your bike and studying it a bit you will be able to learn how to ID the electrical parts by counting the number of wires and the wire colors of the parts.
Leo

It's an 82 with pamco/pma, battery setup. The wiring is kinda a hodge podge, I'm in the process of building a new harness. Tried to post pics but I can't seem to figure it out, do I have to get a photobucket or something?

No photo bucket. If you have them on your computer, just hit the Go Advanced button just below where your are writing. This takes you to a place where you can do advanced stuff, like add smilies. There you will find a Manage Attachments button. This opens a window that has a list of Browse buttons, these lead to the your pics in your computer. Select the pic you want hit upload and if not too large it will load. Below thw browse buttons you will find a list of pic formats and the max size that format can be to upload.
Leo

Alright, I'll give it a shot, thanks

Test photo, this is of my points housing by the way, not sure why the PO drilled a hole in the top of it.

Maybe these will help