Hi beam on low,low beam on hi

[Iron Duke]

Hello guys, before I state my problem I'll say that my XS is in great shape,after five months of this an that,could have been a lot worse. Now the only problem I can see is a small one. When I have the headlight on low beam the blue hi beam light is on in the pilot box,and when I switch to hi beam the blue hi beam indicator light gos off in the pilot box, whats going on here! is there a fix for this so it works as it should as far as lights go?

[crazy steve]

What's the position of the handlebar switch when the light is on high? Is it in the 'top' position?

If not, then the wires at the headlight are backwards; switch those and that should fix it.

If it is, then the RLU (reserve lighting unit) is probably defective.

[cywelchjr]

Not sure if you can get the headlight switch hooked up backwards (I have never gone in that far, so hate me because everything pretty much worked when I got the bike), but as mentioned since the headlight plugs into a pigtail, the high and low leads can be swapped easily. This is NOT unique to the 1100, as at the very least the 400's were the same way, and I had mine switched by mistake once. Makes it a little hard to adjust the headlight properly let me tell you. Of course doing the adjustment was how I found out it was wrong (not sure what my pigtail came from, but it's colors don't match the harness colors) when I pointed it at the shed door and tried both settings.

[GARTHXS]

Have you checked the relay. Does the light stay on after the bike is off

[SFerinTEXAS]

When I restored my 79 I accidentally grabbed a headlight pigtail from my pile of parts that did the same thing. Turns out it was from an xj550. Looked the same but was wired differently from the XS. Put the right one in and fixed it.

Probably just need to switch the wires at the bulb. test first then cut and splice with heat shrink should work.

[DGXSER]

If you just need to swap which wire goes to which pin, you can remove the female connectors from the plastic housing and put them back in where you want them. No need to cut and splice.

[Iron Duke]

In answer

I cut the wires in the bucket(on fairing)but didn't help, soldered&heat sinked them back. The handlebar switch is in the hi position(with blue indicator light in pilot box on)but is on low beam. switching handlebar switch to low beam cancels the blue light in pilot box and gives me hi beam for light, so I'm guessing from what crazy steve and one other has said its a defective RLU(reserve lighting unit) I'm in luck, there are a few on fleabay right now, hope this will solve the problem. Thanks troups,hope I can return the favor. regards from the flatlands. Duke

[bikerphil]

In case you want to bypass the RLU, here's the tech tip....

http://www.xs11.com/xs11-info/tech-t...nd-bypass.html

[crazy steve]

...The handlebar switch is in the hi position(with blue indicator light in pilot box on) but is on low beam; switching handlebar switch to low beam cancels the blue light in pilot box and gives me hi beam for light, so I'm guessing from what crazy steve and one other has said its a defective RLU (reserve lighting unit)...

Nope, your RLU is probably OK, sounds like the wires going to the headlight are switched. Find the DG (dark green) and Yellow wires going to your headlight and switch them at the connectors closest to the light...

[GARTHXS]

I had a similar situation I thought my wires were switched but the relay was toast and was not allowing power to the rlu jumped the relay wires in the plug and it works great now

[ManagerMike]

Hello guys, before I state my problem I'll say that my XS is in great shape,after five months of this an that,could have been a lot worse. Now the only problem I can see is a small one. When I have the headlight on low beam the blue hi beam light is on in the pilot box,and when I switch to hi beam the blue hi beam indicator light gos off in the pilot box, whats going on here! is there a fix for this so it works as it should as far as lights go?

Sounds maybe as simple as your low beam filament is burned out and the RLU is doing exactly what it is meant to do, that is to sense the low beam burned out and switch you to high beam automatically. Just a thought, since in your post the title says 'high on low and low on high', but that isn't what you decribed in the body of your post.

[Iron Duke]

hi beam,low beam Huh?

As stated cut wires at point closest to light conector and criss-crossed, did't work changed back,soldered & heat sinked. pulled conector pins last night as to Crazy Steves statement, did not have dk.green(3wires:Black,Yellow,White) so used the black and the yellow,beams seemed dimmer than normal,started bike thay brightened up but now the blue indicator not only is on in the hi beam but is on faintly in low beam posistion is it the RLU, or as ManagerMike says the low beam filament(the two beams I have are one lower closer in,the other brighter and out more from bike) whats my next step??

[ManagerMike]

This may be one of those rather rare cases where the low beam filament breaks at one end and shorts to the high beam filament inside the bulb. Put everything back the way it was and try a new bulb, or at least a different one. If the trouble goes away, you are done, if not, you at least eliminate that as a cause. Then try the RLU bypass.