'82 XS - no headlight! The saga continues

So this has been an on-going project here over the past month. An '82 I purchased from a guy for $100, supposedly 'with a title' (that I have yet to receive)......and in REALLY BAD SHAPE!! That said, the past month has provided me time to resolve 'just about' every issue needed to make the bike road-worthy, save one: I'm now down to a 'no headlight' condition, and I suspect it may be my fault for having removed some relay or other connector.

In attempting to get this bike running I basically stripped the harness down of every component I could. Then I began the replacement process in order to first get a working ignition system, then the charging system, then the brake lights (as actuated from both the rear pedal and the front lever), then blinkers, and now I'm at the headlight. The tail light does come on with the key, and I've reinstalled the 'Reserve Lighting' module..... but still no headlight illumination, even after starting the engine. I will add that I do NOT have the starter relay hooked up, so no 'electric start' function as yet. Only the kick start, which works great and bike starts on first or second kick at most! Pretty sweet!!

Anyway, I'm not familiar enough with the overall electrical system in this bike to know one way or another, but I'm wondering about 'other' relays that might be in the circuit that need to be installed in order to get a working headlight? If anyone has some info on this and can maybe help point me in the right direction, that would be great. I have 3 manuals I'm working with, none of which have any photos that help me any, and the wiring diagrams are rather cryptic. I do see some kind of "headlight / Starter Cutout" relay, but no picture of what it looks like. So, even that would be helpful if indeed that is what's needed in order to make this thing work.

Many thanks!! Tom D.

Yes, there is a double safety relay (2 relays on one bracket) located under the right side cover. One of the relays is for the starter, stopping it from engaging once the motor is running. The other is for the headlight, automatically turning it on once the motor is running .....





Headlight power is fed into the relay from the headlight fuse on a red/yellow wire. Once the relay is tripped, headlight power gets fed out on the blue/black wire to the RLU. From there, it gets sent up to the hi/lo switch. So, without this relay in place, the headlight won't get power unless you jumped some wires together. But I don't recommend that long term because the headlight will then come on with the key, robbing battery power from the starter and ignition.

5, many thanks! That relay module is not currently installed, so hopefully once I put it in the headlight will trigger.

Do you happen to know the wires to 'connect' or 'jump' in order to eliminate the 'Reserve Lighting Module'?

TSD

Details on the late headlight circuit

Yes, here's a link with the info for removing and jumping the RLU .....

http://www.excess650.co.uk/tips & tricks.htm

You can also eliminate the clutch switch and it's relay, and the sidestand switch and it's relay. See post #55 here .....

http://www.xs650.com/threads/200-special.51454/page-3

In particular, I recommend doing away with the sidestand switch and relay. The switch is located under the bike so is subjected to water and any road debris that gets kicked up. They can and do go bad. Since the sidestand relay works on the TCI box, shorting it out and killing the spark, if things go bad you're left with a bike that has no spark and doesn't run.

I was having problems also. I finally bought a new Mikesx harness and restored all three relays. starter, starter lockout and RLU. No problems now. The harness was simple to put on because of all my tinkering with the wiring and troubleshooting made me quite familiar with bike. i say do it sooner not later. you will wonder why you waited so long. i also installed inline blade fuses, replaced the rotor

Huh......??? I wonder is my side-stand switch is still working? I've started the bike several times now, and even ridden it around in my neighborhood. But, it never ocurred to me to see if the side-stand switch was functioning or not. I seem to remember that it will kill the engine, even if in Neutral, if the side stand is placed down while running. Likewise, the engine won't start if the side stand is still down, right? I'm not sure, but I may have inadvertantly disabled that function when I started stripping stuff off the bike just to get the engine started initially. I'll do some further checking.

By the way, is it just me, or does this headlight circuit seem WAY overly complicated?

If the sidestand switch and relay are working correctly, the bike should start in neutral, sidestand up or down, but will die if put into gear with the sidestand down. That's it's whole purpose, to protect you against driving off with your sidestand still down. Honestly, the best thing you can do is eliminate these items, they're just problems waiting to happen. Maybe they were fine when new but they're 40 years old now.

Yes, the headlight circuit is pretty complicated compared to what it used to be, just a simple on-off switch on the handlebar. I liked that and reverted back to it. It took some wiring diagram studying, a few jumper wires, and acquiring an older right handlebar control assembly with the on-off switch, but I think it's a worthwhile mod.

I recall putting an in-line on/off switch on the ground side of one of my prior XS bikes. Simple!

Anyway, relay block reinstalled, and I had headlight illumination... for all of about 10 seconds. Then, poof!! ... bulb burned out. Turned out to be an older sealed beam type headlight with a small crack. Replaced it with another H4 type I had here from an old BMW, and now working fine!!

Checked side stand switch and it appears to be disabled! probably a good thing! So, now on to the instruments. Hopefully nothing too complicated there. I also have to find a set of side covers that will work on an '82. Beyond that, it will be all just cosmetic improvements!

Thx guys! Another XS brought back to life!!

Tom D