Was wondering if it was possible to wire our bulbs up so that when the high beams are activated the low beams also stay on?

I know there are some possible drawbacks to doing this. Such as....

Overloading the alternator

Overloading the headlamp wiring harness

Overloading the headlamp switch

Heat build up causing issues with the headlamp lens

And I might be missing a few drawbacks.

But...are these actually drawbacks or not? I mean...can this modification be done without needing to worry about these drawbacks?

Use a relay or two? Seperate circuit?

Need an electrical guru to jump in and figure the numbers here. If the numbers all work I'm willing to be a guinea pig and take the risk...with a bit of guidance.

If you look at the warnings in the riders manual it says

WARNING!

DO NOT WIRE THE HEADLIGHT HIGHBEAM AND LOW BEAM TO TURN ON TOGETHER!

THIS WILL ACTIVATE THE DEATHSTAR RELAY!

DEATHRAY WILL DESTROY ANYTHING IN ITS PATH!

WARNING! DO NOT ATTEMPT!

I'm just saying, saying.....

I reckon Lotza will get his answer eventually. I don't know what will happen if you wire the two together and I'm just curious as to why, as the highbeam is the brightest I know.

But while we are on the subject, I used to get flashed many times on the low beam and I thought it was the HID. But I adjusted the low beam down a turn or two and run the HID all the time. I've not been flashed since. My only problem I have is on low beam and taking sharp turns like exit ramps I always out run my light, I think I need to install the PIA and turn them out a little.

Wow! The thought just came to me is if you wire the Hi and low together and concentrate the PIA and HID with the headlight on Hi Beam that could destroy a whole city. I think when we were issued the Vision we were instructed to use the powers for good and not for evil.

Thanks for the fun replies !!! I've actually referred to my HID lamp as a Photon Torpedo.

But...on to Guardsman's answer....

The load on the alternator is an additional 10 amps. I think the alternator could handle this increase. But if other high current things like driving lamps or heated clothing or trailer wiring are added then the alternator would be getting into a possible overload. Correct?

As far as the heat build-up issue. Well when it comes to the connectors they are fairly thick plastic, not like the cheap flimsy ones that used to be found on some of the foriegn vehicles. Being in the collision industry I know about headlamp sockets a bit, the sockets on the Vision are good sockets and I think they can easily handle the heat. And if by chance the sockets did melt they would be very easy and cheap to replace. So how about the headlamp housing? Well I've had mine out and apart and become somewhat intimate with the design of it. They use a fairly thick plastic that I really doubt would have any possibility of melting or distorting under the headlamp bulb heat. There are a couple of members here who are running HID headlamp bulbs without any heat issues.

So the "weakest link" here is the headlamp bulb. Correct? A possibility of having a shorter bulb life? I'm willing to take this risk. Especially since I've replaced the crappy stock bulbs with Sylvania Silverstars, which have a 1 year warranty against failure.

So I guess it appears that I'm going to go ahead and be the guniea pig on this. Yea, I guess you could say that my mind was made up prior to my starting this thread. I wanted to get some feedback before I did though.

So what wires would need to be jumped?

Edit: Double post

Lotza –I still think this is bad juju, but, I hate it when somebody answers a question I didn’t ask, and you didn’t ask if I thought this was a good idea.  So here goes.

I’ve looked over the wiring diagram again and tried to give it some real thought, since you seem to be serious about this. There is too much interconnect and not enough working room to get everything jumpered down in the guts of the bike.  Also, the low/high beam switch switches the left light directly so the current will slightly more than double.  Also, when switching light bulb power you have to consider the surge current.  When light bulbs first turn on, they draw more current – a LOT more current.  The filament then heats up fast and starts drawing less until the temperature and current reach a point where they stabilize.  In aircraft we estimate a factor of 6 when selecting switches and relays.  That means a 10 Amp load (both beams of one light since one is on the switch and the other is on a relay) would require a 60 Amp switch.  The switch on the handlebars is nowhere near that.  In fact, thinking about it, it doesn’t even appear big enough to really handle one beam at 5A (30A design).  BUT, the beams aren’t switched that much over the life of a typical bike so the reduced life was obviously judged to be acceptable by Victory.

I’ve had the tupperware off to replace the lights, so I’ve seen the working area once removed.  If I was going to do this I would only do one side first – there’s less to repair that way.  I would cut the high beam wire (green) of the left light near the headlight, leaving enough wire to easily reconnect things, and insulate the hot (bike) end with self-sealing electrical tape, Then I would cut the low beam wire (yellow), again leaving enough room to rework it, and splice all three wires together with a good splice – this thing will have to carry about 10 Amps reliably.  The wiring won’t  have a problem since 10A only requires 18 AWG wire.  I would then remount the headlight and make sure the switch was on low beam, and leave it on low beam.  The relay for the right side light is always switched so that’s why I would use the left light and not switch it low/high – to not put the switching load on it during the experiment., to reduce the switch load.  Then turn on the bike.  You shouldn’t have to wait long.  Starting the bike will make things happen faster since that will push the system voltage up to about 14 VDC upping the current (and heat) a bit more, and not run down the battery.

What will happen?  Thinking about it deeper than last time, I think the weak spot is the size of the bulb – physical size.  A halogen bulb runs so hot already that they have warnings about skin oil weakening the glass on the package.  An aircraft landing light is high intensity and about 10 times the size of our bulbs, and they have a rated life of only about 25 hours – and that’s at rated power, not double.  In home use, a 150 Watt bulb is much bigger than 75 Watt bulb.  That’s because with more waste power, it would get too hot to dissipate all that heat if it was the same size.  I think the same thing will happen to the headlight bulb, only faster since it’s smaller.  It’s not designed to get that hot.  My guess is burn out in about three minutes, tops.  Heat will be intense, so I still think there is a good chance of damage to the connector and housing also.  I would definitely leave everything apart and let it run for at least 30 minutes before I considered it a success. 

If it really does work, you will have a dual beam on the left, which will go OFF when you hit the high beams.  The right side should continue to work normally so it’s a safety in a way – you will always have access to a working headlight.  And, adding that second side will only net you about a 30% increase in light (4 filaments instead of 3), which is about a 15% increase in perceived brightness (square law), so it really wouldn’t be worth it.

OK.  I know we’ve got a few guys here that can review this.  What say ye (about the method, not the idea – we’ve already beat that up)?

Oh, yeah.  And have the video camera running when you turn it on.  Either way it should be good viewing.