Auxiliary lighting on a 1200

[Schtum]

Yes, I know there are hundreds of lighting threads but I don't think any of them have actually answered what I'm trying to work out, so......

Bike = '07 R1200GS

Lightbar = PIAA Powersports jobbie

Lamps = ....ahh yes, the lamps.... I have a selection that I've acquired through time. For fogs I have a choice of either Hella Micro DE or Hella FF100. For driving lamps I have Hella FF100 (I have a pair of these fitted to the front of my Golf so I know that they're surprisingly effective for their size, FF300 ( I suspect that these are as good as the FF100 and then a bit more....) or a pair of humungous Hella Luminator.

So far that's it. I'm thinking that to begin with I'll fit a pair of fogs and just have them switched. I suspect that the easiest way to do that is via a fused supply directly from the battery and with a relay doing the actual switching tripped by a handlebar switch. (I have a basic understanding of this stuff. For many years, I fitted every new car I got with a pair of driving lamps and a pair of fogs.) I suppose the alternative method would be to use an Autoswitch from Nippy and that would do away with the need for a handlebar switch. I'd have to find somewhere for the Autoswitch to go and that might not be so easy on an ABS equipped bike.

However, if I then want to go on to fit the driving lamps, I guess I can just do the same thing with the main beam feed tripping the relay rather than a switch. That would leave the fogs switched on with the driving lamps when main beam is selected. Is that what folks do or is it better to have the fogs extinguish when main beam is selected? I'm thinking mainly about the alternator's capacity to balance the load on the battery on main beam with another 220W of auxiliary lighting. If it's better to have the fogs extinguish and leave only the driving lamps on with main beam, is that something that the Autoswitch will do or do I need some sort of double pole relay?

I know that ultimately, fitting HIDs in all the lamps would be the way to go and I may do this through time but for the moment I'm intending sticking with good old halogen bulbs.

TIA.....

 

[Schtum]

Just out of interest, these are the Micro DE lamps that I'm planning to fit. You'll see that they originally came with surface mount brackets. I plan to change those for the pendant brackets, kindly supplied by Les Wassell, which you can see in the pic. However, the rear caps are different from the soft rubber ones usually supplied on Micro DEs. They have a connector which mates with one on the wiring loom which feeds them and I'm hoping this will allow me to have a relatively QD installation.

 

[Wizard]

Always ran the fogs full-time, with high output 35W lamps instead of 50W. These were switched via relay, with the switch line from the dip headlight, through a bar switch, to the fused relay.

The spots were switched by fused relay, with the switch line coming directly from the high beam.

To switch the fogs off when the spots come on, you would indeed need a crossover of some type. If it were me, I'd do the wiring above with an additional relay on the switch lines. The fogs would be switched through the NC contacts, the spots would go through the NO contacts, and the additional switch line would come from the high beam. So, when you hit high beam, the switch line from the fogs would be broken, and the switch line to the spots made.

It's a wee bit of overkill, but if you fit a single relay any fault will render all your lights useless. This way, you can bypass the crossover relay easily at the roadside and be able to continue with lights.