This is a plea for help from our electrical wizards!

I have a 1990 FLHS that I bought new, with a feature I have never been able to understand. It is an International spec, in other words export model, for which there are no correct electrical diagrams, that makes life a real pain on occasions like this.

My bike has a toggle switch, similar to my passing lamp switch, which when operated switches OFF the entire bike’s electrics, but switches ON the fender lights! It is not a switch I have ever found a useful use for and it drew attention to itself one very wet day in central Germany, when we ground to a halt, with a total power failure. We got going again when we realised the fender lights were on, by repeatedly flicking that switch, until power came back on and we could get going again. As you can imagine, I replaced all the toggle switches as soon as we got home.

As part of my repainting project I have the front end apart at present and on studying things closely find I have a relay, operated by that switch, a:

Hella 4RD 960 388-07

which my internet search tells me is an ‘SPDT change-over relay’. That makes sense, as it changes the power over from the fender lights to everything else and back! Let us set aside why the factory installed the darned thing, I would like to be rid of it. I don’t want to find one day that the relay itself decides to die and leave us truly stranded.

The attached photo (next post!) shows the wires to the culprit, cut away from its normal resting place, alongside my five thermal cutouts. They alone are different to the factory wiring diagram for my model. The relay has terminals as follows:

• 30 – red
• 85 – orange
• 86 – black
• 87 – brown
• 87a – red.

Of these: the orange goes to the switch mentioned; black to ground; the thick brown goes to one of the thermal cutouts (and from that to two blue/white wires); and the two red wires are both thick.

Tracing the blue/white wires takes me to the front fender light and into the main harness. The rear fender light has a blue wire, which I guess is linked directly to the blue/white along the way. From this I deduce the brown wire simply powers the fender lights. I guess the black ground wire only services the relay.

SO: my interpretation is that I can remove the orange wire and switch, plus the brown wire and thermal cutout (as it does nothing else), also the black wire. Which leaves the two red wires, that I can join together. Bingo! Have I got that right?! Any flaw in my logic?

 

Photo added. I've actually removed the relay, to show the connector and wires into it.

 

Yeah, looks like just join the 2 red wires together and cap off everything else and you should be OK. Schematic is on here:
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=441

 

Could your setup be a true parking light setup?. Are there laws where you live that state when a vehicle is parked on a roadway at night, it has to display a set of parking lights? On the old goldwing I had, if you turned the key all the way in one direction only the tail light would come on. I never used it but it was there if I wanted to.,,

 

Hi BC, this switch works independent of the master ignition switch. In other words, with the ignition switch locked in the off position, this toggle switch will turn the fender lights on and off, although it doesn't operate the rest of the bike's electrics in that setting.

 

Isn't there a EU requirement for a vehicle to be able to display illuminated parking lights even without the ignition being turned on? I vaguely recall most of my European rental cars behaving this way.

 

Yes, quite right, but that is done via the main lights and the ignition switch. Also they don't cut the main power supply!

 

I agree with Dr.Hess ., it looks like your international model has been fitted with a dedicated toggle switch etc. to provide parking illumination although my vague understanding of european laws were to illuminate one tail lamp only .???
I agree that to connect the two red wires and eliminate the rest would essentially omit this system if not required.

 

Hey GR, Harley has a wiring diagrams and Electrical Troubleshooting Guide. I have a few, but none for your year. The part number is 99948-96 for my 95-96 manual. Have your dealer look up the first part and see what is available. It has saved my bacon more than once.
John

 

Hi John,

I did that some years ago and contacted H-D UK as well. Their reply was that there are no wiring diagrams available for my model, as there were so few built. I was also told the harnesses were hand laid as specials. There were only about ten imported into the UK apparently.