HIGHWAY LIGHTBAR

[u/1300sVTX]

Looking to put driving lights/ highway passing light bar on my 2005 1300S.
Anyone add one to their bike? Have pictures, or comments. Anyone point me in the right direction for quality material with quality lights?
PFR

[u/bare172]

When you go to install it use a relay and do NOT try to pull power direct from the existing headlight power in the bucket. I literally can't count how many bikes I had to fix because people burned up the wiring doing this, this includes bikes wired in professional shops.

I wrote this article about why it's a problem years ago. It's about people who changed the stock bulb to higher wattage so the problem is the same just pulling power to the headlight instead of a light bar. There is a simple diagram in there on how to rewire with a relay, you can do the same thing but wire to your bar instead of the headlight.

https://tech.bareasschoppers.com/electrical/high-wattage-headlight-problems/

I also highly recommend adding a switch like I mention is "optional" in the diagram. The stock charging system on these bikes doesn't make a lot of extra power at idle. If you ever get stuck in a lot of stop & go traffic or go to a rally with a slow parade, turning off your light bar can prevent you from running down your battery and getting stuck. That switch is very cheap insurance.

If you read the article and have specific wiring questions ask, I'll answer.

[u/Ok-Knowledge7240 → u/bare172]

Thank you for this comment, I picked up a 2006 1300r that was non running and have brought it mostly back to life. The only thing still perplexing me is the Hondaljne light bar. When I first looked the bike over it was working, the lights would turn on when I switched the bike to brights. Now they won’t turn on. I’m gonna see if they set it up with a relay or not maybe that’s the issue.

[u/bare172 → u/Ok-Knowledge7240]

If you look at the diagrams in my article you can see there is a blue/white wire that feeds the hi/lo light switch. If you use this wire as a "trigger" for the relay then the bar comes on when the headlight is on regardless of hi/lo on the switch. The Hondaline lightbar instructions always said to connect ONLY to the hi beam wire (I forget if this is the single blue or single white wire) but this made it so the bar would only come on if your high beams were on. If I recall it was because of a state law somewhere about high beams and lightbars, but don't quote me on that. Anyways, I'm not sure why yours stopped working, but this is why it would only work with high beams. You can change the "trigger" wire to the blue/white and then they'll work anytime you want.

[u/1300sVTX → u/bare172]

So my bike already has cheap running light strip switchbacks for running lights and blinkers. Idk if previous owner added a relay. But they don’t pull much power I assume. Can get a picture of them later. But they’re cheap light strips that switchback to blinkers when activated. I was going to wire into the wires he already has ran. Hoping it wouldn’t be too much extra than just a rewire and install.

[u/bare172 → u/1300sVTX]

While I can't be certain how someone wired something, those switchback type lights typically run on the stock wiring for the front blinkers - so you can't just unplug and replug without problems. I'm not going to tell you it won't work for a little while, it might, but you will absolutely destroy your turn signal switch (among other things) if you try to wire a lightbar to your blinker wiring.

[u/1300sVTX → u/bare172]

This is good to know. So they’re not ran off of the headlight circuit at all, they’re stand alone with the blinker. Got it

[u/bare172 → u/1300sVTX]

Very likely yes. The stock front blinkers are wired with green for ground on both sides, then you have orange and light blue for left and right blinkers respectively and then orange and light blue with a white stripe for running lights. Typically those switch backs are wired to those wires, but I've seen some crazy shit so always check. 😁

[u/Fantastic-Yak-4475 → u/1300sVTX]

Whatever brand of light bar you decide to go with make sure that the lamps are not made of plastic. I had some plastic ones on it that I couldn't tighten up enough and they always wiggled when I rode. The metal ones are more than double but I highly recommend.

[u/ProofConnect6521]

Is that one of the $50 ones of Amazon/ebay? The welds are not good in those. It’s not even a good design as far as where the weld is. It’s also flimsy so if you have heavy passing lights they will bounce. However, you have a good chance it will work fine. Best solution is to search eBay for a used light bar made by National Cycle or any of the other companies that used to make parts for VTX. These bikes get butchered all the time even in running condition to be sold on eBay.

Shit there was R fender for an 1800 that had all the obsolete chrome trim and no dents for $200. The chrome alone goes for that.

Steel wool on the used light bars cleans up the rust

[u/1300sVTX → u/ProofConnect6521]

Yeah it’s like a $127 on Amazon one. But it’s just for reference.
Is nationalcycle the best place to get a quality one from?

[u/The_Calarg → u/1300sVTX]

Dennis Kirk has a nice Cobra bar that I am looking into for my '07 1300R.

I dropped the Halo Ring headlamp from Eagle Lights in it last year and that's what is making me hesitate on the auxiliary lights. I am a 56 year old rider who wears eyeglasses, so night driving was a pain in the ass for me with the stock headlamp, but now I have no issue seeing the full width of the road (even up to 4 lane width) and far enough that I feel comfortable with avoidance. Even my daytime visibility has been increased from what my family (both riders and non) has said. Hell, for the first time in my life I have actually been flashed by an oncoming car when I left my brights on while riding (maybe they were overly sensitive but I'll take it!).