Rigid Hyperspot and two D2 Driving Lights wired to a Lighted Switch and High Beams!

dmulk

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San Diego, Ca
After a couple, few hundred mile, test rides, I am finally happy with the mounting and operation of my touring lights. About 10 years ago after getting caught out after dark on the 395 north of Reno with tons of deer...I swore that I would never ride without aux lights that could burn the deer off the road....super happy with this setup now.

I have all three lights wired to a relay, connected to the lighted switch on the bars, it's also wired to the high beam. So both switches need to be "on" (high beams on and aux on) for the lights to work.

The nice thing about this setup is that they allow me to quickly kill them using the HB/LB switch and also allows me to use the normal HB's without the AUX lights.

IMG_20190113_102914.jpg


Lights OFF

IMG_20190113_103053.jpg


Lights ON
IMG_20190113_103102.jpg
 

SHUMBA

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Location
ONTARIO, CANADA
After a couple, few hundred mile, test rides, I am finally happy with the mounting and operation of my touring lights. About 10 years ago after getting caught out after dark on the 395 north of Reno with tons of deer...I swore that I would never ride without aux lights that could burn the deer off the road....super happy with this setup now.

I have all three lights wired to a relay, connected to the lighted switch on the bars, it's also wired to the high beam. So both switches need to be "on" (high beams on and aux on) for the lights to work.

The nice thing about this setup is that they allow me to quickly kill them using the HB/LB switch and also allows me to use the normal HB's without the AUX lights.

View attachment 51882


Lights OFF

View attachment 51883


Lights ON
View attachment 51884
Nice, lots of road critters up our way as well. Deer, skunk coons, and in the daytime in certain areas, turkey vultures, yes thats right. I had one dive at me last summer. I was riding lead ahead of about six others. They got a big laugh out of watching me duck to avoid this grim reaper.
I'm soon taking delivery of my new '18 S-Ten and will be putting a pair of aux lights very similar to yours.

Where did you get the mounting bracket?
Did you wire it off the fuse panel?
What did you have to purchase to make this installation happen?
Any information and or pictures of the wiring would be appreciated.
SHUMBA







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dmulk

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San Diego, Ca
Hi Shumba,

Yeah, I've had those Turkey Vultures do the exact same thing to me! They are very stupid creatures.....maybe we should call them "sky deer" lol.

So....the lights....Here's what I used:

Piaa 7000 series universal light mounts (the 7/8 - 1 1/4 kit) (amazon)
Custom fabbed light mount plates to drop the mount holes for the long brackets included with the Rigid.
Ambuker 12v 16AMP aluminum CNC lighted switch (amazon)


Honestly, this was an effort to get right, but oh so worth it!

Last year I had them mounted to the bars but wasn't happy because with the light bar in particular mounted this way it blocked my ability to run the headlight guard. I would say if you aren't going to run a light bar, then all you need are the lights, CNC switch, plugs and pia mounts. The lights when purchased from rigid as a pair come with the relay harness and bolts that will work with the piaa (although you may need some small nylon spacers to make them fit tightly in the piaa mount holes.)

I cut down the relay harness that came with the rigid (it has a LOT of extra wire) and modified the red wire intended for the lighted switch so it connected to the PINK high beam wire. So this is effectively the SWITCHED trigger wire for the relay in the rigid harness.

So....unless I have the lighted switch in the ON position, it can't "trigger" the relay when I flip the high beams on...

Pretty simple setup.

I also cut the plug off the second harness that came with the lightbar and soldered it inline with the harness running the driving lights (as the wire was properly rated for the AMP draw - which is under 10Amps total for all 3 lights)...

To make it possible to mount the light bar to the proprietary mounting holes and also under the ALTRider bar (but have at least 7.5in of fender clearance....) I needed to fabricate a couple brackets. I went to Home Depot and was able to find a piece of 1/8 steel that I could cut and drill as needed. Worked very well.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to walk you through it on the phone or a Whatsapp video chat if needed.

<D>
 

dmulk

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Here are a couple photos I took while working on the mounting brackets.


IMG_20181223_175130.jpgIMG_20181226_160103.jpg


The mocked photo don't have the main rigid bracket holes drilled yet and aren't cut to the proper length....but you get the idea....

If I did it over again, I would leave them a bit thicker....enough so that the holes in the center of the bracket could be preserved and I could use them to zip tie the light harness plug wires to. Works fine though....I just had to use a couple more zip-ties so the wire anchored to itself. no real problem.
 

SHUMBA

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PS: I also used the rigid light switch as it seemed a bit more durable than the one in the CNC'd mount.
Many thanks for your kind words and assistance.
I have the lights, the plugs (deutche) connectors for plug and play along with the wiring.
Just want to ensure that I get it right and wired into the bike correctly so these lights are only powered when the ignition key is in the on position.
Thanks again
SHUMBA

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dmulk

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If all you care about is triggering it and don't care about controlling them with the highbeam, all you really need to do is use a positap off that three prong aux light plug. i find the rigids too bright to run with oncoming traffic...(figured this out with my trip last year through jasper and banff....man I'm glad I had that light though)...so I needed the control.
 

SHUMBA

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If all you care about is triggering it and don't care about controlling them with the highbeam, all you really need to do is use a positap off that three prong aux light plug. i find the rigids too bright to run with oncoming traffic.
Agree, that is the route I will likely follow. (Not wired to the hi-beam)
Old sayin, KISS Keep It Simple Stupid, and that describes me. I had these lights on both my Africa Twin and my CB650F. I use the extra LED lights for added daytime visibility to hopefully prevent others from turning and pulling in front of me. I rarely ride at night, but extra LEDs are great on county roads to enable you to see animals.
I'll use an on off switch mounted onto the handle bar to control these LEDs.
SHUMBA

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dmulk

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Agree, that is the route I will likely follow. (Not wired to the hi-beam)
Old sayin, KISS Keep It Simple Stupid, and that describes me. I had these lights on both my Africa Twin and my CB650F. I use the extra LED lights for added daytime visibility to hopefully prevent others from turning and pulling in front of me. I rarely ride at night, but extra LEDs are great on county roads to enable you to see animals.
I'll use an on off switch mounted onto the handle bar to control these LEDs.
SHUMBA

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K, if you chsnge your mind in the future, it is literally a single wire cut on the rigid harness near the relay and a positap to make it all work off the highbeam. :)
 
B

ballisticexchris

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I have a question on your under headlight lightbar. Do you have any clearance issues with it hitting the front fender? I want to mount one on my Alt Rider bar but it looks like it just wont have the clearance needed when the forks bottom. That Rigid one looks to be narrow and tight up under the bar.

OOPS EDIT!! After re reading your post I see you do have clearance. Very cool!!
 
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dmulk

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San Diego, Ca
I have a question on your under headlight lightbar. Do you have any clearance issues with it hitting the front fender? I want to mount one on my Alt Rider bar but it looks like it just wont have the clearance needed when the forks bottom. That Rigid one looks to be narrow and tight up under the bar.

OOPS EDIT!! After re reading your post I see you do have clearance. Very cool!!
Yeah, I made a little clearance measuring tool and while I haven't totally bottomed out and tested it, the measurements I took seem to give enough clearance.

If we end up meeting up for the RTE, you can take a closer look at the setup (and since you're local, I can also probably help you with some brackets. I *think* I still have a template. If not, I can probably pull one and make one. Either way, happy to help you if needed. Would also be a good excuse to get up and visit my brother and mom in Anaheim. Seems like they live pretty close to you. :)
 

dmulk

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PS: I had some problems with mounting it to the altrider. The piaa brackets didn't give me enough cleaeance to get around the bar (at least with the spacing of the 6in rigid) and between the headlight plastic, so I originally had it mounted inline with the bar. Hard to explain I'll try and see if I can find some photos from last year...

Wasn't happy with the aesthetics of that so I worked up the brackets. My metal skills are basic and it took a long time to figure this out (and I cheated by spending way too much time wondering home depot and Lowe's looking for something that would work).....that said....super happy with how this turned out. I really like the tucked in look.
 
B

ballisticexchris

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I like your style Dan!! The picture above looks solid and functional. I have to admit the bracket you fabricated is much cleaner and looks to give a bit more clearance.
 

bnschroder

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Is there any proof that more light gets the deer off the road? I agree you see them better, but isn’t there the “Deer in the headlights” expression for a reason? Won’t they just freeze when you point their Flak lights at them (which is arguably good if they stay at the side of the road)?


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SHUMBA

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Is there any proof that more light gets the deer off the road? I agree you see them better, but isn’t there the “Deer in the headlights” expression for a reason? Won’t they just freeze when you point their Flak lights at them (which is arguably good if they stay at the side of the road)?


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Agree, animals are likely to "freeze" if exposed to intense lighting. Good riders ride at a reduced speed in darkness and in the early hours along with dusk. These are the times when you are most likely to encounter wildlife on roadways.
So, reduced speeds along with extra or additional lighting equals a better chance or opportunity to avoid collisions with animals.
That's SHUMBA's humble opinion.
SHUMBA

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SHUMBA

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Agree, animals are likely to "freeze" if exposed to intense lighting. Good riders ride at a reduced speed in darkness and in the early hours along with dusk. These are the times when you are most likely to encounter wildlife on roadways.
So, reduced speeds along with extra or additional lighting equals a better chance or opportunity to avoid collisions with animals.
That's SHUMBA's humble opinion.
SHUMBA

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And NO extra lighting does not get deer off the road
SHUMBA

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Mellow

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I've used a skene controller with mine in the past and gave me some good conspicuity during the day w/amber rigid lights at around 30% then the high beam trigger to 100%... avoided messing with a manual switch other than just the high beam.
 

SHUMBA

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I have the rigid with high low and a switch. Works great. They don’t sell it anymore.
Whatever you prefer. I use my LED's as additional daytime running lights. (Mandatory up here in most provinces of Canada). I use an on off or interuptor switch as I must dim them for on coming vehicles. Mine are 2720 lumens each side.
SHUMBA
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