Relay trigger from 2016+ LED high beam

[Harald]

Picked up a nice set of 57FA LED aux lights from advmonster to mount on the forks of my 2020 ES. These tiny lights are very bright and have both Yellowish low beam and bright white high beam options with a crisp cutoff beam pattern. I fabbed up some nice brackets to mount them on the forks and set out to do the wiring today. I can't find a suitable high beam trigger source off the bikes LED high beams! The Yellow wires at the LED headlights show 13 volts on low beam and 0 volts on high beam. No other wires to the LED modules vary. Normally this wouldn't be a problem wiring a relay for a negative trigger, but my wiring doesn't work. Both yellow and white aux lights are on continually when switching the bike from low to high beams (the yellow should always be on and the white only when high beam selected). To verify that the relay trigger is the problem, I moved the trigger wire from the bike headlight and touched it to the battery hot terminal and the aux light yields the correct response. So I'm thinking the 13 volts I'm seeing on the bikes LED light wire is current limited and won't switch the relay. Perhaps there's a relay that requires minimal current to actuate?

Anyone come up with a solution to this problem? I've searched the forum and Google with no ideas. Yeah, I could just wire up a switch to battery 12v to cycle the high beam on, but I like things to be simple and easy to operate even if it takes a lot of work to get there. LOL   A good example of that is the few hours I spent yesterday modifying the stock Yamaha trunk lock cylinder and the Givi Maxima trunk so that I can use ONE key for all the locks on my bike.  

 

[sapest]

Perhaps this will help?





-Steve

 

[Harald]

Perhaps this will help?





-Steve

Thanks. Other than the incredibly awesome cornering lights, my 2020 LED lights should be the same. I have no need for dimming with these little bullet lights because the low beam fog light has a very crisp cutoff that I'll adjust to not blind anyone. And when I select High, I want everything full blast. But I may need to buy the Skene controller just to recognize that weak High beam signal from the bike.

 

[sapest]

Other than the incredibly awesome cornering lights, my 2020 LED lights should be the same

2016ES/2020ES - same headlight assy part number. Good to go. Didnt check the headlight controller however.

-Steve

 

[Harald]

I found a $5 solution to my problem: A relay that will trigger off a weak signal. Works like a champ. Time will tell how reliable it is because the relay coil is powered whenever the low beam is selected due to the bike high beam trigger is either 12 volts on low or an open (not a ground). Check Amazon for a " HiLetgo 12V 1 Channel Relay Module With Optocoupler Isolation Support High or Low Level Trigger". 
I'll write up details for future use by anyone trying to do the same thing when I get a minute. 

 

[Harald]

I found a $5 solution to my problem: A relay that will trigger off a weak signal. Works like a champ. Time will tell how reliable it is because the relay coil is powered whenever the low beam is selected due to the bike high beam trigger is either 12 volts on low or an open (not a ground). Check Amazon for a " HiLetgo 12V 1 Channel Relay Module With Optocoupler Isolation Support High or Low Level Trigger".
I'll write up details for future use by anyone trying to do the same thing when I get a minute.

Just a follow up on this light setup. The relay is still working great to trigger my little fork lights to go bright off the FJR's high beam signal. The same relay is still available on Amazon (I know because I just ordered another one to use for the same purpose on a new 2023 Goldwing with Canbus wiring). Sadly, ADVmonster is out of business, so those great lights are not available anymore but the ones I installed are still working great also.

I'm attaching a schematic and notes if anyone wants to duplicate this setup.