Stock ignition switch, question

[xs650newb]

Hey everyone,

My build is ALMOST road worthy. My final step is finishing up my custom wiring harness.

I have a stock ignition switch with three wires coming out of it. My understanding is these switches have 3 positions.

1) Off
2) On
3) Park (tail light only?)

I would like to reconfigure it for the following.

1) Off
2) On WITH headlight
3) On WITHOUT headlight

Can this be done solely with this switch?

Best,
Adam

 

[retiredgentleman]

Hey everyone,

My build is ALMOST road worthy. My final step is finishing up my custom wiring harness.

I have a stock ignition switch with three wires coming out of it. My understanding is these switches have 3 positions.

1) Off
2) On
3) Park (tail light only?)

I would like to reconfigure it for the following.

1) Off
2) On WITH headlight
3) On WITHOUT headlight

Can this be done solely with this switch?

Best,
Adam

If your bike is an 1981 year, the headlight is turned on and off from the Safety Relay i.e. when the engine starts and stops.

You could disconnect the blue/black and the red/yellow at the SR and re-connect a manual switch across those same 2 wires. That would give you total manual control of when the headlight is on or off.

 

[xs650newb]

Thanks RG. I don't have a Safety Relay. I removed it along with a bunch of other stuff.

Could you explain the wiring without the SR?

Best,
Adam

 

[gggGary]

I think you can get the stock switch to do that, for most years the connections are;
Pos. 1 no connections
Pos. 2 red to brown and blue
Pos. 3 red to blue

so If you put;
red from battery
blue to ignition and other on with engine circuits; tail, stop light, etc.
brown to head light
It should work the way you want.
Best to fuse the circuits.

Around 1976 there is an extra wire or two to the ignition switch

 

[XSLeo]

I don't think that would work. The key when on send power out on the brown wire ONLY. In the Park position it sends power out on the blue ONLY. To use as an off/on with lights, on without lights won't work.
Just use the brown wire to power everything and put a seperate on/off switch for the headlight.
Or replace your switch with one that has the off/on/ on with lights like Harley used.
Leo

 

[gggGary]

Leo That's what I thought also, then I checked this 79 factory diagram and several other year diagrams from Jayel's post in tech, they showed the same schematic. Guess I have to meter a US switch to know for sure.

 

[XSLeo]

Ok I referenced some of my diagrams and reread your post. Wiring the ignition to the blue/yellow and the rest of the bike to the brown then it does look like it will work. Park will be the run position, on will be run with lights.
Leo

 

[gggGary]

Hmm that could be a sweet little mod for any late XS. Be nice to have a run without headlights switch position on bikes that don't have a headlight off switch. Handy for the driveway warmup. Has anyone EVER used the park position? I want to leave my bike and be SURE the battery is dead when I get back. LOL

 

[aldo5468]

Hmm that could be a sweet little mod for any late XS. Be nice to have a run without headlights switch position on bikes that don't have a headlight off switch. Handy for the driveway warmup. Has anyone EVER used the park position? I want to leave my bike and be SURE the battery is dead when I get back. LOL

Amen, Gary - I never have understood the logic of the "park w/ taillight on" key position. Could it be a US regulatory requirement? Same thing on my '94 XV1100 Virago.

 

[jd750ace]

Hmm that could be a sweet little mod for any late XS. Be nice to have a run without headlights switch position on bikes that don't have a headlight off switch. Handy for the driveway warmup. Has anyone EVER used the park position? I want to leave my bike and be SURE the battery is dead when I get back. LOL

I used mine once to kill a 14 month old battery deader than disco!

I argue that the position is not just park, but STAY parked!

 

[retiredgentleman]

Ok I referenced some of my diagrams and reread your post. Wiring the ignition to the blue/yellow and the rest of the bike to the brown then it does look like it will work. Park will be the run position, on will be run with lights.
Leo

There is actually 4 key positions; On, Off, Park, and Lock.
In the Park and Lock positions, the locking pin goes out and locks the steering, so I don't think you could use Park as a run mode. I suppose you could remove the locking pin.

Use the KISS method...............just install a switch (blue/black and the red/yellow at the SR)

 

[xjwmx]

Interesting. Run without headlight would help with cold (very) starting I suspect. It wants to semi-start and dies when the headlight drops the voltage.

But since my kill switch crumbled to pieces and since I like the headlight with out a motor running sometimes (big flashlight, won't fall off the kickstand from vibrations if precarious) the sensible thing would be to eliminate the headlight relay and make a separate and independent switch for the headlight. Most easily done by switching ground. Electricians - I know you don't do that, but with 12V it's fine.

 

[xjwmx]

Interesting. Run without headlight would help with cold (very) starting I suspect. It wants to semi-start and dies when the headlight drops the voltage.

But since my kill switch crumbled to pieces and since I like the headlight without the motor running sometimes (big flashlight, won't fall off the kickstand from vibrations if precarious) the sensible thing would be to eliminate the headlight relay and make a separate and independent switch for the headlight. Most easily done by switching ground. Electricians - I know you don't do that, but in electronics we do it all the time - with 12V it's fine.

 

[xs650newb]

Ok everyone, thanks for all of the details.

I was able to get everything working as it was suggested. 'On' means everything is working (lights, ignition, etc) and 'Park' means just engine stuff no lights.

I only tested this on the center stand and did not realize the lock pin would be a problem until I reread this thread. I'll just grind it off, no biggie.

Adam

 

[pamcopete]

xs650newb,

Well, it's a long way from the lock position to the on position and you have to pass through the off position so the engine will die as you struggle to do it really fast or it will backfire big time and blow the carbs off.

If you are looking for an invisible headlight switch, just do as I did on my '81 and wire a relay to the neutral switch to shut off the headlight when in neutral.