Headlight toggle switch - will this work? (SPST)

[retroLS1]

Hello all. I am in the process of wiring up my '83 XS650 bobber and was working on the headlight last night and started scratching my head. Here is the wiring diagram I am using - modified version of the one provided by inxs in the Tech section:



I haven't modified it again yet, but my headlight setup I want to use will be different than the one shown. The one on the diagram has separate high/low and on/off switches. What I want to do ideally is have the low beam on all the time, with a switchable high. This may not be possible because from my thinking (I am not an electrical whiz by any means) I would need some sort of on/on switch. Here are the switches I have been using:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3111493

I have one wired up as my main power switch with a 20A fuse going to it. The other I have wired up separately on a 10A fuse is my kill switch for my ignition/coils. Both of those work fine. I have a third one I was planning on using for my headlight, but I am thinking I may need to get a different switch. I am putting it on the back/top side of my headlight housing and wanted it to just flick between high and low beams. The switch has 3 terminals - power, acc, and ground.

Someone please correct me if wrong, but I think I need to change my setup to an on/off/on switch so it will low/off/high. Can this be done with a simple SPDT toggle switch?

On that same note, since I have the diagram up - could I just tap into the power going to my headlight switch and run it to the tail light? Basically where the two blue lines cross on the top of the diagram - could I actually just hook my tail light power up to that line so it's on all the time?)

Thanks and sorry for the newbie electrical questions. Just trying to get it right the first time! Also feel free to let me know if anything else in the diagram looks off or funky.

 

[retroLS1]

Did a little digging (productive day at work here, obviously) and found this switch:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12708889&filterName=Type&filterValue=SPDT

It says it's rated for ON/OFF, ON/ON, and ON/OFF/ON. Does this sound like it would work with my original plan of having low beam on all the time, and have a switchable high beam? I plan on wiring in an LED to act as a high beam indicator and mount it next to the switch.

 

[XSLeo]

On power to the tail light, yes, you can hook it up before the headlight on/off switch. As you think it will be on all the time.
On the headlight, yes you can use a on/off/on switch for the headlight.
Leo

 

[retroLS1]

Thanks Leo. Would that last switch that I posted work the way I had originally intended for my lights - have the low beam be on all the time, and have the high beam switchable? (which would be an ON/ON switch if I'm not mistaken)

 

[xjwmx]

have the low beam be on all the time, and have the high beam switchable?

There's no sucha thing as this so nobody knows what you really mean. Normally you have either high beam on or low beam on, mutually exclusive.

Here's something I drew up for another guy (my second drawing in the thread). For your hi beam led near the switch, just connect the one end of the led to the high beam lug on the switch and the other end to ground.

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27939

If you truly want the low beam on all the time and the high switchable, in my diagram just jumper the center lug to the low beam lug.

 

[retroLS1]

Sorry - I didn't mean have both on at the same time, I just meant switch back and forth between the two but have the low beam be the "default" when the bike is running. Should have been clearer. What you said about wiring up the LED was what I was thinking of - thanks for confirming.