Purpose of relays?

This is probably a dumb question but is the purpose of the starting circuit cutoff relay, sidestand relay, clutch switch and neutral switch to "ground" out the starting circuit power wire so there's no power for spark?
I'm not dumb but am working on it. :lol:

 

They're all safety-related. The sidestand relay prevents the bike from being IN GEAR with the side stand down......obvious reasons why this situation would not be wise, and how it could occur.

The starting circuit relay prevents the starter from engaging while the bike is in gear and the clutch lever is out (meaning the clutch is engaged). Again, obvious why that's needed.

The headlight relay prevents the headlight from coming on while the engine is being started, and also acts as a high beam relay.

The flasher (turn signal) relay is obvious, and there is also a slef-canceller relay that automatically cancels your turn signal in case you forget to based upon a combination of time and distance.

The two switches that sense the position of the gear box and the clutch hand lever are needed so that the relays have their input signal in order to make their "decision".

Although you can bypass them, it's not a bad idea to keep them in place and operational.

 

on my seca turbo, the light is on with just the key.. also on when engine's on..

wonder if that's a problem or feature.

the side stand one, i've gotten bit by that.

start the bike, put it in gear, it dies, start, gear, dies.. then wtf, oh side stand... *blushing* starting, gearing, going.

never try to show off for girls, it always ends up embarassing

 

Thanks for the replies guys.
When the side stand is down, does it cause a ground so the contact in the kickstand relay, wont allow current through?
Thereby grounding the power to the coils?

 

Turbobike......"feature" is the correct answer for your bike. Some of these bikes did not use a headlight relay, and thus "the headlight on as soon as key is on" is the correct operational outcome.

 

Jon-Maxim......It doesn't actually ground your coils, the relay opens a switch on a separate circuit. There's an excellent starter diagnostic thread here that details each pathway.

 

Generally speaking, a relay is used to open and close a heavy electrical load, by using a smaller electrical signal to operate a magnetic contact. This is the main purpose of a relay, such as the starter relay, which would fuse the starter button shut if the full load of the starter was passed through a set of light contacts like the starter button. This is also why aftermarket horns need a relay, and the weak, stock horns don't (10A draw vs 2A draw). This is probably why stock horns are so weak, to eliminate one more part in production. As they are employed on our bikes, however, they are often simply used as safety switches.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.
I took my relays apart and cleaned them. The side stand relay was cloged with rust from the inside of the relay housing. Now it works!!
I sanded the inside of the housing and coated with dielectric grease.
I cleaned the points and used some di-grease( not too much ).
I'm a happy camper now.