I have thought about this for a few years and even had a look on the forum to see if anyone else has my concern. . .

Let me start by saying, I am a believer in the head lamp being on during day and night.

However, there are times when working on the bike or moving it when I find myself wishing I could turn off that front light.

For example, I do have the alarm module and the siren, when the ignition switch is in accessory mode it activates, when the ignition switch is in the on position it does not, BUT the headlamp is now on. Anoying. Yes I do know I can put the bike in tranmsport mode as far as the alrm goes, but its a bit of work and a pain in the butt if I want to just take 5 or 10 minutes out at the side of the road and clean the bike.

Perhaps this is a bad idea installing a head lamp cut out switch, but perhaps not, anyone done it and have a suggestion on how to do it and what wires to adjust?

Certainly open to comments on this . . . .

 

I've thought about this too but never got around to actually doing it. By adding a switch you inject another variable in the system that could fail, and having the headlight go out at the wrong time could obviously be inconvenient.

Mine ('07 SG) will activate the alarm when the ignition is turned on but not when in ACC mode. It will also activate anytime it is moved off the kickstand regardless of the switch position if the fob isn't present. So, moving mine in any way without the fob present, PIN# inserted, or put into transport mode will set the alarm off.

 

I made two mods to the headlight on my 2003 FXSTS. I installed a relay switch to cut off the light while the engine is cranking and another separate switch to cut off the headlight for the same reasons you listed. The site won't let me post the info, file too big. Email me and I'll send it to you. As for the other switch I just bought an ordinary toggle switch and wired it into the headlight wiring and mounted it on the coil bracket. It stays on unless I turn it off.

 

Ok, figured it out. Here are the instructions for the relay and I attached the pic.

1. Tap into Pin 6 of Connector 22.
2. Take the "tapped wire" and connect to terminal 86 of relay.
3. Connect terminal 85 of relay to ground.
4. Cut wire from Pin 2 of Connector 24.
5. Connect end of cut wire that goes back to Connector 24, to terminal 38 of the relay.
6. Connect end of cut wire that goes to headlamp, to terminal 87a of relay.
7. Nothing should be connected to terminal 87 of the relay.

It won't turn off the hi-beam (or any other light), just the low-beam. I like having at least the low-beam go off for starting.

It is a 5 pin. 87 is where it trips to when it's energized(that happens when the starter button is pushed) and turns off the low-beam. Then when it's not energized anymore(release of starter button) it trips back to 87a and completes the low-beam circuit.

My relay was pretty well marked so I just made sure it had all those #s on it.

I bought my 5 position pre-wired relay and socket at an auto alarm place.

 

Thanks rustybearing I appreciate the detailed explanatuon and your comments.
I had not thought of a light relay for start-up. It is a larger consumer for sure and with the engines getting higher in compresion it probably takes a bit of load off the starter. Not certain I will go this root, but I like the idea and it sounds like a clean install. Where did you place the relay?

The headlamp issolation 'toggle' switch sounds like a great solution to my initial question. Thanks again for the reply.

 

I put the relay on the right side of the frame, under the gas tank, next to the wiring connector.