For those guys who want the Euro switches: it doesn't work

[tomacGTi]

I just tried to install a European LH/RH set of handlebar controls on my bike so I could run the city light in the headlamp as well as turn the lamp on and off independantly, it doesn't work.

Now before everyone tells me this is illegal: I know and I don't care. I'm grown up enough to know to turn on my lights when I ride and just wanted to shut them off for more amperage to start the bike. I certainly could still do this using a jumpered switch to ground, but thought and OE application would be neater.

I was hoping that Suzuki would have been savvy enough to just use the same plugs but defeat some of the functions in the controls but the US/Canada models are an entirely different plug (4 versus 7 wire) than their Euro counterpart. This poses a problem because unless you go through the trouble of either:

a: Obtaining a Euro wiring harness: PIA
b: Obtaining a the correct plug and running wires: PIA
c: Being totally ghetto and using jumper wires: no way

So there it is in a nutshell before you to waste $75.

-Randy

[tomacGTi]

Alright, not being one to be defeated, here's how you adapt the US wiring harness to your newly acquired Euro switch assemblies:

*do not attempt if you are intimidated by the bird's nest of wires that live in the headlamp bezel!

*make sure you have a factory manual that has both US/Canada wiring diagrams and West (!!) German.

*all wires: color/trace

*make sure you have insulated quick disconnects onhand (12-14g) as you are using the US 4-prong plug assembly and removing and re-wiring the remaining switched from the Euro assembly.

-RH Switch:

Step one: note the wire order on the US switch plug and remove the wires from the molex connector. Do the same for the Euro side, and insert into the US plug. These wires will not be able to be reinserted, hence the mod. A small jewler's screwdriver will assist in removing the wires from the plug itself.

Headlight on/off
-org/red
-ye/white

Citylight
-grey
-org/blue

Rewiring:
-Lowbeam (wht) to or/red and yel/wht (switched on/off)
-Citylight: grey to grey and org/blue (1st position) to brown (+), blk/white to ground

You will have to use a fused powersource to power this. I tapped from the guage cluster lights as it's a small output bulb.

-LH switch: No molex modifications necessary except removing the or/red.

-Flash to pass: Or/red spliced with white on switch side to white LB wire (harness side)

Doing this will enable the headlights to be switched entirely off and also enabling flash to pass in all positions. The city light is the second position and just illuminates the bezel itself. It does not provide enough light on it's own. All other functions remain the same. If you are careful enough with your splices etc. you will be able to switch back to the US controls easily.

Also, it would be a good time to consider relaying the headlamps if you were thinking about it as you'll be in the assembly.

Best of luck to those who decide to go through with it.

-Randy

[PitterB4]

Damn... nice job, Randy.  

Wanna wire a Euro switch in my Jetta so I can kill those GD DLRs?  

[tomacGTi]

Just get the Euro switch Rob, it plugs right into the factory harness.

That and you can just pull the DRL relay (IIRC).

[Kenyan01]

TomacGTI,
Thanks for the informative post. I like it when you say you are not one to be defeated... I'm currently undertaking this modification after mistakenly buying an American wiring harness for my Euro bike.
A few questions:
1. On rewiring the RH switch, the white wire on the harness side is to be linked through the switch plug to the O/R and the Y/W wires?
2. On the same side, you say to wire the citylight, grey goes to grey and to O/L. There is no gray in the harness except in the cluster of wires heading for the instrument cluster/ dashlights. Do I trace this grey and connect it to the grey of the switch?
3. What do you mean by the 1st position? and what wire is the ground for the citylight? I have no battery currently and so I cannot check using the tester.
4. What colour of wire from the cluster lights did you use to power the citylight?

5. LH switch: why do you need to remove the O/R? Just for information please.

Thank you!
Patrick.

[tomacGTi]

Patrick:

1. Yes, the white wire (LB headlight +) is constant on the US harness. You are using the switch in the RH assembly to interrupt the current flow. If you ride a good deal at night, it would be a good time to wire in a relay since you're doing wiring anyway.

Basically O/R and Y/W are the switched wires so one side of the cut white LB wire to one and the other obviously to the HL. Once again, if you're doing a relay, this will go to the switched side to activate it.

I rarely ride at night (on purpose anyway) so I didn't wire one in. My car's HL's are relayed and it makes a HUGE difference.

2. Yes, the power wire I used was grey to power the citylights from the cluster lights. Since they're hot as soon as you turn the key, it's a fairly good souce. The Euro version draws power from the taillight assembly and I didn't feel like running new wire just for that.

The switched side of that (cluster) was also grey on the RH assembly so the power will go from the cluster, to the switch (Gry) back out the or/blu, out to the citylight. Obviously ground is Blk/wht.

3. There are three positions in the Euro switch: off, middle (citylight/no headlight), headlight on. Obviously middle position is the citylight. I used the headlight ground (blk/wht) for the citylight as the wire was right there and neg is common ground anyway (typical 12v system).

4. On the blue plug harness you'll find a grey wire. This is the wire I tapped for power to the city light. Ironically, on the RH switch assembly, one of the switched wires is also grey.

5. I removed the or/red on the LH switch and connected it directly to the white (same side of the harness). I did this to activate the flash-to-pass feature on the switch assembly. I figured I went this far to adapt it, I want everything to work!

When you pull the trigger, it fires an additional amount of current to activate the HB. You can tell it's working because the HB indicator will illuminate on the dash. It should work in all positions of the RH switch IIRC. If not, in the middle and headlight on.

Hope that helps.

-Randy

[Kenyan01]

Randy,
That is of great help, thank you.

From your reply I got one question. What do relays really do? And would fixing a relay then allow me to use the 100/90w headlight bulbs I always like? I'm runnig on 65/50W for fear the bigger wattage may help drain my battery or cause some other electrical problems due to the heat they generate.

Season's greetings to you and all others on the board!

Best regards,
Patrick.

[Herr Tod]

Ever considered getting xenon light? It's the ultimate solution, more light, less wattage and thus less heat.

[tomacGTi]

Relaying the bulb routes 12v directly from the battery to the light.

Eliminating the current through the switch increases the actual voltage that your bulb sees and allows you to run a hotter bulb without the amp draw that the factory switches cause. Also, running a hotter bulb through the factory wiring will fry the switch/wires/plug because of increase amperage.

Just remember that increased wattage also increases heat as well so the bezel of the headlight will get hot. I don't know if it will be hot enough to melt any of the wires in there but I'd rather not find out.

AFAIK I think the generator on the bike can handle increased bulb wattage. Of course if you crazy like a BMW touring bike it'll get stressed but a wattage upgrade with relays should be fine.

Xenon or HID is a good idea but the big problems are:

-The reflector isn't optimised for HID. Meaning, you're going to have to dip the bulb down to avoid blinding people/getting flashed.

-The ballast is huge along with the actual bulb. It's already a tight squeeze in the bezel and I'm not sure there's enough room inside of there for the +2" longer  bulb assembly. That and where to hide the ballast pack?

-If you encounter alot of fog, the reflected light back is terrible. One of my friends is a race car driver for endurance events and years ago Hella set up his team with some prototype HID setups. The light is so intense that the dust kicked up from a tire going off would cause a whiteout condition.

We experience this as well when night riding MTB's as a bunch of buddies have HID setups. When it's dry and dusty, it's very hard to see through. Of course, they're now tuning the light frequencies to better cope. You'll have to do the research there as I'm sure the add-on kits may not be engineered so.

-They're expensive. A relay harness pre-assembled is about $90USD. You can easily piece one together for a quarter of that if you know what you're doing. I think the last time I saw, HID kits were north of $300USD so take it for what its worth.

Danielsternlighting.com is a good place to check out for a better explanation. Since I rarely ride at night I don't even think about further upgrading the lighting on the moto but the car has 80/100's relayed since I can't stand driving with inferior US DOT light specs. I live in a rural area so the better the lighting, the safer I am.

Happy holidays all, hope this helps out!

-Randy

[Herr Tod]

Xenon or HID is a good idea but the big problems are:

-The reflector isn't optimised for HID. Meaning, you're going to have to dip the bulb down to avoid blinding people/getting flashed.

People rarely flash. That might be because I have sepperate reflectors for low and high beam so they have a dedicated job and they don't shine where they shouldn't shine. Although when I'm riding through a forest I want to put my headlight a bit higher, I do this by hand now but I'm going to install a small button activated actuator so I can quickly raise or lower the headlight.

-The ballast is huge along with the actual bulb. It's already a tight squeeze in the bezel and I'm not sure there's enough room inside of there for the +2" longer  bulb assembly. That and where to hide the ballast pack?

The ballasts are not that big. I have two of them mounted on the left side under the tank, just above the engine. The bulbs have a H11 fitting and they fit without any problem.

-If you encounter alot of fog, the reflected light back is terrible. One of my friends is a race car driver for endurance events and years ago Hella set up his team with some prototype HID setups. The light is so intense that the dust kicked up from a tire going off would cause a whiteout condition.

This week we had a lot of fog here and I was surprised to note that the light didn't blind me at all. The only things that tend to blind me are reflecting signs at the beginning of a curve.

We experience this as well when night riding MTB's as a bunch of buddies have HID setups. When it's dry and dusty, it's very hard to see through. Of course, they're now tuning the light frequencies to better cope. You'll have to do the research there as I'm sure the add-on kits may not be engineered so.

-They're expensive. A relay harness pre-assembled is about $90USD. You can easily piece one together for a quarter of that if you know what you're doing. I think the last time I saw, HID kits were north of $300USD so take it for what its worth.

I've payed $170 for my kit which consisted of two ballasts and two 6000K bulbs. I think it's the best money I've ever spend on my bike. I'll never go back to anything less than xenon light. I've made the harness myself for about one dollar, which uses two relays and plugs into the original headlight connector.

Danielsternlighting.com is a good place to check out for a better explanation. Since I rarely ride at night I don't even think about further upgrading the lighting on the moto but the car has 80/100's relayed since I can't stand driving with inferior US DOT light specs. I live in a rural area so the better the lighting, the safer I am.

Riding at night is great with xenon light. My low beam provides more light than a BMW R1150 Adventure with 4 lights activated. When I swtich to high beam, which activates both bulbs, I can almost drive as fast as in daylight.

-Randy

[tomacGTi]

Glad it worked out for ya then.

Like I said, I looked into it a couple of years ago for the car and let it go, therfore all my pricing is off by a couple of years.

[Herr Tod]

I think your prices are correct, because in most cars you'd need bi-xenon, so a single bulb can provide both low and high beam.

[Kenyan01]

Man!
Thanks for the genrosity! I'm happy that I've learnt a lot from your discourse...
I will let you know the outcome later when the new battery finally gets to me.
But the relay business sounds beyond my capability this moment. But I will make sure to learn and be able to deal with it sooner rather than later.
One thing I've realized is that the baby Bandit is a good teacher of many virtues and it will never be suitable for princes. It is for the soldier in us, and that is one reason I love my toy. I love to be a soldier.

Thanks a lot!
Patrick.

[Kenyan01]

TomacGTI,

The new battery got here and I can tell you I must have missed something in your instructions.

The good news is the lights are switchable like I wanted, even the pass light works!!

Could it be that some of your instructions were meant for someone with American switches. (Remember, my bike had a Euro wiring but when I bought  a replacement, it turned out to be American.)

Now, here are the problems:
As soon as the ignition is turned to on:
1. The horn honks continuously,
2. The parking light goes on,
3. The indicator light for neutral does not go on despite the bike being in neutral.

The last one of the problems, I easily traced and sorted out.
How do I go about sorting these two problems? Do I unsplice the wires on the LH switch?

Best regards,
Patrick.

[tomacGTi]

Patrick, the bit of advice I can give is to check your grounds at the handlebars as well as the connections themselves.

All automotive/moto related electronics iare positive and negative so something has to be jumping the circuit in order for the functions to work/not work. Since all of the bits are on the LH control, I would concentrate on the modifications there and if need be, undo and redo them to see what's what.

I wish I could be more helpful but I'm currently on the road for work and won't be back for quite some time (3 weeks).

-Randy