1962 650SS Light relay instal

I brought a restored bike back to Australia last year and have been caught out twice where I fogot to turn off the light switch and come back to a flat battery. Not ussually an issue but I recently have 5 discs replaced as well as 5 verterbrae and my pelvis fused. So if noone else is about to push start me, I am screwed. I was thinking is there a pickup point in the ignition that i could link the active for a relay to, so when ignition is on, the lights come on and therefore when I turn off the ignition, the lights will go out.

What’s the bike?

You should be able to use one of the switched wires to run a relay that breaks the power feed to the headlight- it could be done such that the headlight switch would still function as normal, just cutting the power if it’s on when the bike is switched off. If your machine is positive ground you may have to fiddle with the relay wiring but it shouldn’t be too onerous

How did I miss the bike in the headline?

Anyway- the above still applies.

I looked at a few wiring diagrams and much will depend on how it was wired during its restoration. If you have a separate key switch and headlight switch (some don’t) I would begin by identifying with a volt meter or test light what gets switched on by the key to provide power to close your relay and what the power feed is to the headlight switch. Then it becomes a matter of finding a spot to mount a relay that uses the one to break the other

You don’t even need a relay.

Power your light switch from an ignition switched live.

Fit a magneto !

Fast Eddie said:

Fit a magneto !

Click to expand...

It’s the only way to stop everyone telling you to fit a magneto.