Iv been looking into ignition switch relocation options for my FXD and this solution occurred to me. I havnt had a chance yet to look at the wiring diagrams so I'm not 100% sure its possible but I wanted to run it by you guys before I started down that road of research... Would Like to hear any reasons I shouldnt do this or reasons it will not work.

What If one permanently closed the Run/Stop circuit (switch always ON) then used the Run/Stop switch by relay as a inline ignition switch.

File the nipple off the key so it will come out in the ON or ACC position and you can effectively use the thumb switch to turn the bike ON/OFF. Use the key to turn the neck switch to OFF for extra security.


Lets hear it! Pros, Cons, and reasons it WILL NOT work.

Thanks

 

I did this on my old sportster and road it for a few week and then didn't ride the bike for two or three days and the battery died. I was told why this happen, but I have long forgotten what I was told. After I rewired the switch back in I didn't have any issues again. Hope that helps some.

 

EDIT: If I understand you, you are suggesting that you splice into the main IGN circuit currently on the fork neck with a heavy duty relay which would be controlled by the existing RUN/STOP switch on the handlebar (and hard-wiring the RUN/STOP circuit permanently in RUN). So, both the neck switch and the handlebar switch would have to be ON for the bike to run?

I don't see why it wouldn't work, provided you use a heavy relay to splice into the IGN circuit -- the IGN switch carries a LOT of current directly (check out the guage of the wire running to the switch!), so reusing the RUN/STOP circuitry without a high-amp relay wouldn't be a good plan in the long run.

Downside? You would have no fast way to turn the bike OFF if that relay failed. In the stock config, you can turn the bike off via the key OR the RUN/STOP, which gives you a fail-safe way to shut down the machine. Relays on the whole are pretty reliable devices, but being an electro-mechanical device, they DO fail, sometimes in the ON position, and as luck would have it, it would almost certainly choose to fail when you do NOT have the key handy!

Cheers,
Kent