LED/projector headlight upgrade

Hello all,
Sooooo I installed an LED/Projector headlight. Works fine, but it has that typically flicker at idle. I was wondering if I could bypass the alternator by connecting directly to the battery with a relay and fuse. I bought a car kit that piggybacks off of the original plug so that you still get the functionality of your switches and also the function of only turning on when the engine starts running, but it gets the source from the battery which should eliminate flicker. I haven't set it up yet as the harness will need to be modified for just one light rather than two. Has this been done? or is it going to somehow mess up the wire system?

PS update photo of my JX550 maxim!

 

Yes, you can do that. I have done it on several bikes. I use 2 relays, 1 for high beam, 1 for low beam. Run the fused power from the battery to feed the relays. Trigger the relays from your original headlight plug so the normal switching works. Remember to increase the size of the wires from the relays to the lamps and a good heavy ground wire to the battery. With LEDs your probably don"t need the heavier gauge wire.

 

We have a nice, heavy-duty headlight relay harness that should solve your problem, and it's plug-and-play:

HEADLIGHT RELAY-CONTROLLED WIRING HARNESS:

Headlight Relay Wire Harnesses:

In order to take full advantage of either stock or aftermarket headlights, full battery voltage must be available at the headlight terminals. The long run of under-sized factory wiring, and the stock headlight toggle switch, will not allow your headlight to receive a full dose of current, and thus your headlight---the most critical safety component on your bike----will be suffocated for amperage and will far less brighter than it should be. The solution is a professionally assembled, plug-and-play RELAY-CONTROLLED HEADLIGHT HARNESS that uses your headlight switch to actuate an electrical switch (the relay), which then allows full battery power to your headlight.....allowing it to shine like the sun!

REMEMBER, as per the discussion previously, that headlights are rated at 12.8 volts, but typically receive a lot less......and that's the main reason why your headlight is so dim.

These headlight relay wire harnesses are simple to install-----even for the most electrically-challenged mechanics-----and come with extra terminals, cable ties, illustrated instructions, and do not require cutting your original wiring harness at all. Your stock headlight switch now powers the relays, rather than the headlight, and thus no new switch is needed. Installation time varies, but normally requires 30 minutes or less to install (mostly involving the removal and replacement of your seat and gas tank, and the routing of the wire harness), and absolutely no soldering is required.

NOTE: when installing a headlight relay harness on any model which utilizes a "computer display" gauge package (XJ750 Seca, XJ750 Euro, 1982 XJ750 Maxim, and XJ650 Turbo models) which have a headlight "testing" circuit built into it will experience a HEAD warning on the LCD display screen, and the flashing red WARNING light will blink every time the bike is started! There is no way to overcome this issue when using a headlight relay harness on these models. Depressing the right-side rectangular WARNING CONTROL button TWICE on the gauge cluster will eliminate the red flashing warning light for the headlight issue, but this must be done every time the bike is started. The HEAD display on the LCD screen will remain illuminated, and cannot be eliminated.

HCP14749 Aftermarket headlight RELAY-CONTROLLED HEADLIGHT HARNESS, with plastic headlight socket.

HCP14750 Aftermarket headlight RELAY-CONTROLLED HEADLIGHT HARNESS, with hi-temp, hi-performance ceramic headlight socket.

 

I haven't had any problems with the LED headlights. Just plugged it in and presto.. no flickering whatsoever.
On the dash the headlight warninglight stays on.
I read somewhere that this is to eliminate by tweaking the computer with a resistor but I don't care about the dashnotificationlight staying on.

 

what type of rely ? Just a universal 12v 3 blade relay ?

 

Yes. There are relay kits that are already wired, usually sold as fog-light or driving-light wiring kits. You'll need two of them, or just buy the relays, sockets, and make your own wiring harness.

 

I used this kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073ZZWKGT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The kit comes with everything you need, with two relays, and two 40amp fuses built in. All you need to do is remove one of the ceramic plugs hook it up to your battery and plug it in to the factory H4 connector. Works perfectly! no more flicker as its running of the battery and is now much brighter.

 

Hmmm, so excuse my ignorance - why not use one relay for low high (changeover contact). Then just use the HB side of your switch to energise (change) the relay to HB? If you wanted to you could add another relay to power the changeover one, either driven by the alternator output or from the handlebar switch. Still two relays though I suppose?

 

You could do it that way but I don't know if that would defeat theheadlight not being energized while the wngine cranks. I haven't tried on an XJ so I have no experience to offer. Absolutely, positively, definitely maybe.

 

Or a relay with 2 outputs, 1 normally closed (opens with activation) for low beam, 1 normally open (closes with activation) for the high beam. I haven't tried that either. I have just used the relays I had around.

 

$40 total I bought a $20 led h4 bulb and a $20 headlight housing and it looks amazing and is as bright as can be (unless I bought better led’s)

 

Here’s the before and after, I just need to adjust the aftermarket housing

 

A before and after from the riders perspective, in the dark would have been good?

 

So I bought the kit installed it and the issue I am having is that my low beam gets power then I flip my high beam switch and it cuts power to the low beam side and powers the high beam. Is that correct ? I was under the assumption that the low beam would remain powered and then flipping the high beam switch would then power the high beam as well.

 

So I bought the kit and got it all hooked up. But I am running into an issue when I turn the ignition on the low beam is powered but than when I hit the high beam switch it seems-energizes the low beam and powers the high beam side of the plug. Is this correct ? I was under the assumption that the low beam would remain powered and turning the high beam switch on would just energize the high beam and not affect the low beam. Am I missing something ?