no headlight

[bigb9582]

hi yall im a newb here and to xs's. i have a 79 xs1100 that i bought for 50 bux. it sat for 8 years and i had it runnin 30min after i brought it home, haha.

my problem is my headlight dont work (everything else works). there is no power going to it. I even tried to bypass the RSU with the howto on here. and that didnt work. all the fuses have power going through them as i checked them with a tester.
all the wires behind the light were unhooked, they are now all hooked up but six of the ones that are round female conecters. i figured all of them out as to what they go to (turn signal etc) but the 3 solid blue ones, if i used a jumper wire and hook any of the blue ones together or hook one of the blue to a power wire the headlights work (high, low, and ones that light up behind the gauges). but the headlights stay on wether or no the engine is running, but they do turn off with the key. is this how there supposed to work? i thought they only ran with the engine running.

second thing is there is no battery in it so i jump start it with my car. if i leave the wires connected it idles fine but if i unhook them it dies unless i rev it up but then it dies if it idles for a sec or two, and it dies quicker if the headlight is hook up with the 2 blue wires. is this normal? as long as the jumper wires are on it runs fine.

[mro]

I'm guessing you have a 79 special?

6 wires on RSU
one is blue/black
goes beween RSU and headlight relay
-----
would check relay
no power and bike not running, "open" between blue black and other side of relay>red/yellow wire. (red/yellow goes from relay to a fuse, then key switch)

Relay been by-passed?
yellow wire on relay goes to generator. This wire is what activates the relay after starting.
____

Not to sure good idea running w/o a battery
TCI needs 10+ volts to operate, or no fire.
____
Besides battery, would clean all electical connections.
Will solve/prevent problems and helps when trying to figure out any other electrial problem.


mro
welcome to XS land
Cost for above is you have to post a pic of your XS
If above info wrong, pic does not have to be a good one

[bigb9582]

i feel like a dork, about 10 min after i posted i found a wiring diagram, followed the wires on it to the realy.
i went out and checked the relay, red/yellow had power, yellow had power when running, but no power out to the blue/black. so i jump the wire from the red/yellow to the blue/black and the lights came on!! so my relay is bad.

would it hurt to bypass the relay?


no its not a special, (i think). it came with saddle bag bars (no bags), and a front vetter windsheld/storage, radio. i removed all that stuff and i think it looks better with out it (may sell it). it needs a seat, good gas tank, tires, and rear shocks. besides that it runs good with my rigged up tank, lol. i get pics up as soon as i can.

[bigb9582]

heres some pics. this is what it looked like when i brought it home, i removed the front fairing and saddle bag bars (doesnt feel as top heavy now).
it sat for 8 years in the neighbors yard, i can veryify 5 of those years. offered him 50 bux for and and had it runnin 30 mins after he said sold, haha.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey BigB,

The purpose for the relay is to help provide more power for the cranking/startup function, so it's available for the TCI and coils for easier starting, and then once the engine is running, and generating power from the ALT, then it latches the relay and turns the headlight on.

So....you might want to get another relay that you could wire a switch to, so that you could leave the headlight off until you get it started, and then turn the headlights on! JAT!

Glad you found the wiring diagram and figured it out! Wish more folks would take a little time to browse the site before jumping in and posting a "HELP ME" thread, when most of the problems have been either covered in the tech tips....as you have found.... or doing searches in the Forums!

But hey, I can touch type, and don't have a life, so like Prom said elsewhere....I live to serve!

PS, great find! Looking forward to the photos....the HOW TO is in the HOW TO forum!

[mro]

Very cool, both the pic and the deal ($50.00....my kinda a bike , altho could not pass on a special I got recently)

No light on/off switch on right hand control?
Check your serial #... if starts with 2H7 then it's a 79,
if it starts with 3H5 then you got an 80


mro
btw, very interesting hardware on the back,
floor boards and controls. Had a 79 very simular last year.


mro

[TopCatGr58]

Photos already!

Well,

Apparently I wasn't typing fast enough! As for the gas tank, unlike you like pulling into the gas station every 100 miles, then you'll want to keep that tank! The Standard tank has much more capacity. Yours should paint up nicely, and cleaning the inside and recoating it should work well. Just hopefully it doesn't have any rust thru around the bottom seams!?

Also, it has some rare Forward Controls, and if you are wanting a more sporting ride, then you can remove them and sell them as well, and pickup foopegs, brake and gear shift levers from Ebay fairly easily and cheaply!

The saddlebag frame looks like what's found on GoldWings!
I can see a very nice oil cooler you'll want to keep! The pipes are rather rough, not many alternatives in aftermarket available, either 4-2 or 4-1! Good luck getting it cleaned up and all!
T.C.

[bigb9582]

nope it needs a new tank its filled with rust and holes. as far as the floor boards and shifter stuff, im gonna remove them and get normal stuff when i can find a cheap set.
as far as the saddle bag bars, i guess they were after market, but i took them off and those things weighed about 50-75 lbs, heavy as crap.

yes its a 79 vin starts with 2h7-025XXX.

[Dennyz]

That is pretty much what my 'F' looked like when I brought it home. Except it was blue and the tank was in better shape.

The chrome and aluminum surfaces were in pretty bad shape from sitting outside for years. I chose to paint (powder coat) everything black. It is amazing what can be hidden under paint.

I found it cheaper and easier to find or make custom parts rather than track down stock stuff.

110K miles later, it still looks and runs great.

[Ken Talbot]

Great find for 50 bucks! You could make that much back, or maybe even more, just by selling off the forward controls and 'floorboards'. I prefer the stock pegs myself, but there's always somebody looking for controls like that.

That's quite the bumper too, and it looks like a PO used to tow a trailer.

It's going to take a bit of work and searching for a few parts, but it looks like you could have a fine ride coming there.

[skids]

This is what I did.

http://home.comcast.net/~sidhansen/relay/relay.htm

Originally posted by bigb9582
i feel like a dork, about 10 min after i posted i found a wiring diagram, followed the wires on it to the realy.
i went out and checked the relay, red/yellow had power, yellow had power when running, but no power out to the blue/black. so i jump the wire from the red/yellow to the blue/black and the lights came on!! so my relay is bad.

would it hurt to bypass the relay?

[scott0757]

see next (oops)

[scott0757]

Just make sure you're checking the power when the bike is runn ing. I wasted lots of time chasing this same problem with the engine off, only to learn the relay shuts off the headlight power when the engine isn't running

[jwoell]

Is running an XS without a battery a bad thing?? I thought if you did that it would burn out the regulator. I could be wrong though, that might only be on way old vehicles...

I'd actually be interested in your forward controls and floorboards and stuff if you want to get rid of em.