More electrical questions

[Jeremy]

i hope you all are not tired of me yet. I have more issues and questions.
1. Got my new headlight. Parking light has never worked. New light has white and amber halo. I thought i would wire the white halo with low beam and amber with parking light. I played with the parking light bulb with the key set to park and it lit up. Cool, so the wiring i know is alive. Now when i put key to start the bike, the headlight and parking light come on. Is this supposed to have constant power? If so, my idea will not work.
2. I thought about running led lights off of the parking wiring if they are live and constant, but do not want the led lights on during a sunny day ride. I think that will look silly. Any ideas?
3. My aux switch on the R3T (2009) is dead. I have no aux lights. Before i take the housing apart, are there already wires run somewhere for this? If not, can i use it as a toggle switch and run a constant from battery with an inline fuse and then run led lights or something with the aux being a toggle or rocker switch?

 

[Ygransom]

3. My aux switch on the R3T (2009) is dead. I have no aux lights. Before i take the housing apart, are there already wires run somewhere for this? If not, can i use it as a toggle switch and run a constant from battery with an inline fuse and then run led lights or something with the aux being a toggle or rocker switch?

When you say switch is dead and you have no aux lights do you mean you have lights fitted and they don't work, or just the the switch? There is a plug under tank to plug lights in to. You don't need to add wires.

 

[Jeremy]

When you say switch is dead and you have no aux lights do you mean you have lights fitted and they don't work, or just the the switch? There is a plug under tank to plug lights in to. You don't need to add wires.

Sorry, let me clarify. The bike has never had, to my knowledge, any aux lights on it. The switch when i flip it does nothing. I was curious if the aux switch is pre-wired somewhere in the bike to tap into, or if it is just a dummy switch to take up space. where would this plug be and what does it look like?

 

[DEcosse]

The Park Lights are constant on with ignition on

If not using the Aux Accessory lights (so you just have the single headlight, not the smaller units on either side that although accessory seem to be pretty universal on most US Touring models) then you can indeed utilize the aux lights connector for a switched function - no need to open up the switch - just find the OEM 3-way connector under the tank (behind the steering head) - it will have three wires Blue/Black, Black and Purple (the schematic is wrong it does not show the black ground wire)
You can even get a mating connector to make this completely plug n play.
For relatively low power lights you can use the Blue/Black directly - if running high power (like the OEM Aux lights) then you would need to use a relay - you can use the purple wire in the same connector as the supply power for that function, with the Blue/Black switching the relay.

 

[Jeremy]

The Park Lights are constant on with ignition on

If not using the Aux Accessory lights (so you just have the single headlight, not the smaller units on either side that although accessory seem to be pretty universal on most US Touring models) then you can indeed utilize the aux lights connector for a switched function - no need to open up the switch - just find the OEM 3-way connector under the tank (behind the steering head) - it will have three wires Blue/Black, Black and Purple (the schematic is wrong it does not show the black ground wire)
You can even get a mating connector to make this completely plug n play.
For relatively low power lights you can use the Blue/Black directly - if running high power (like the OEM Aux lights) then you would need to use a relay - you can use the purple wire in the same connector as the supply power for that function, with the Blue/Black switching the relay.

@DEcosse I appreciate your time responding. You are correct, I only have the single headlight. What i am looking to do is to possibly hook up some accent lighting, cig lighter, or cell charger to the bike and then use that aux switch to turn them on or off.
Two different senarios:
1. Aux switch on the left perch. If I find that 3 way connector under the tank, does it just not have anything connected to it and I can tap into the wire or try to find a connector to fit it? Should I secure this circuit with an inline fuse or anything? What i am saying is, say I put in a cig lighter and water gets in there. I would rather a fuse pop to shut the accessory off and not pop the fuse that is securing everything on that 3way connector.

2. The parking light. 2 part question/options
2A. Option 1, keep the parking light/wiring in tact......The parking light has a 2 pin connector on it. can i just disconnect the bulb at the connector and then tape the wire up or let it "float" in the bucket, or am I best to just keep the bulb in it and put it in the bucket. I have heard of people popping fuses, but I dont understand how if you can just disconnect the connector.
2B. Using the parking light wire - I can clip the wire and use the hot and ground off of it to run "something". Same question as #1. Is this secured on a fuse, and should I put an inline fuse between my "something" and the parking wires I am connecting to so I do not pop that entire circuit? How much can this parking wire handle safely? 5 amps?

 

[DEcosse]

1. The Blue/black comes off the same circuit as the main lights - it is fused (fuse #9) so protected, however if you blow it you lose your headlight
Safe choice is to run an in-line fuse off your new circuit connected to that blue/black wire

2a - removing just the bulb is not adequate - an unpopulated lamp socket is what blows the fuse (the terminals short together inside the socket when a bulb is not present to stop them intermittently contacting) I'm not sure if there is a separate connector on a Touring that allows you to remove the park light sub-harness completely, or whether the wire must be cut. I think your post is suggesting there is indeed a 2-pin connector, if so just remove that sub-harness completely (not the case on classic or Roadster)

2b - the Park circuit has independent fuse (10) - only caveat again is that if you blow that you also lose your tail running light.

5A is a lot for that circuit - it would normally be running about 0.5A - use a relay if running 5A

 

[Jeremy]

1. The Blue/black comes off the same circuit as the main lights - it is fused (fuse #9) so protected, however if you blow it you lose your headlight
Safe choice is to run an in-line fuse off your new circuit connected to that blue/black wire

2a - removing just the bulb is not adequate - an unpopulated lamp socket is what blows the fuse (the terminals short together inside the socket when a bulb is not present to stop them intermittently contacting) I'm not sure if there is a separate connector on a Touring that allows you to remove the park light sub-harness completely, or whether the wire must be cut. I think your post is suggesting there is indeed a 2-pin connector, if so just remove that sub-harness completely (not the case on classic or Roadster)

2b - the Park circuit has independent fuse (10) - only caveat again is that if you blow that you also lose your tail running light.

5A is a lot for that circuit - it would normally be running about 0.5A - use a relay if running 5A

@DEcosse

What does a normal cig lighter or a cell phone charger pull then? would that be too much?

The bulb would not be populated. this is the connector that is on the parking light. Cant I just disconnect the light at the connector

 

[Bigjaype]

I wouldn't use the light circuits to power anything other than lights. It's so easy to run a separate fused power source from the battery and use a relay to switch them on and off. With a little planning and sound electrical practices you can do almost anything with very little cost.
Remote controlled relays are cheap too, so you could get quite fancy.

 

[Ygransom]

Along with the switched circut for the aux lights there is an unfused circut for a GPS under the tank.

 

[Ygransom]

not the smaller units on either side that although accessory seem to be pretty universal on most US Touring models)

Triumph made them and the backrest standard in 2010