The problem I'm having is that the small bulb under the headlight and my tail light are out.  The brake light works fine and my headlight works fine.  So its just the driving lights that aren't being turn on.  This is on a 07 gs500f.  My first though was that it was a blown fuse and then I come to find out from searching that there is only 1 fuse for the whole bike.  Seems odd and I don't know what I should check next.  Any ideas would be great!

No checking needed, just buy a new pair of stop/position light bulbs for rear, and a position light for front.

Lightbulbs tend to die from time to time. 

Thanks but thats not the issue.

Now that I've been thinking about it though I did recently add heated grips that I got power from the lower headlight bulb.  I'll check there first. 

You accidentally cut your running light circuit.
Check that on the wiring diagram. The tail light and small light in the headlight are the running light circuit.
Its the brown wire that goes to the "side light" on the left and one of the wires into the tail light.

Quote from: maverick72 on February 03, 2011, 09:59:51 AM
Thanks but thats not the issue.

Now that I've been thinking about it though I did recently add heated grips that I got power from the lower headlight bulb.  I'll check there first. 

Forget tapping into the brown and the lighting circuit, tap into the orange instead.

Right, the running light circuit is pretty small wire. He could have fried that wire.
Orange is the main power when the bike is on.
Always helps to have a wiring diagram before cutting into things.

Whats interesting is that the "side light" has two brown wires going to the connector that connects to the bulb on my bike, where the wiring diagram shows one. Anyways I would have thought the brown wire would be better to tap into as it has less running off of it, but if it is a smaller gauge then thats that.  I ran my heated grips off the "side light" on my SV and its been running fine like that for a couple years, guess I thought wrong.  I'll find the mythical orange wire and correct my wrongs with the brown.  

Quote from: maverick72 on February 03, 2011, 11:43:48 AM
Whats interesting is that the "side light" has two brown wires going to the connector that connects to the bulb on my bike, where the wiring diagram shows one.

If you look at the drawing and follow the brown wire vertically down from the ignition switch, it joins to another brown wire running horizontaly. Although the drawing shows a seperate `joint` in reality the joint is made on the connector leading to the bulb.
Its just the way the drawing is....it keeps things neat and easy to follow.....dont be concerned about it.

You can tap into the orange anywhere on the bike.....it really doesnt matter where the connection is made but you will find the ignition switch connector and an orange in side the headlamp bowl. Prob` nearest place for heated grips

I would hook them up to a relay and then trip the relay with any wire thats on with the key, you could use the brown wire since you already cut that one (assuming you can get it working again).

If you use a relay your grips will be warmer and you won't be stressing your stock electrical wires and ignition switch.  If you key the relay off the oil light then you won't be wearing on the battery when the bike isn't running also.

I agree with the relay being the best way to do it, but not sure about using the oil light, that only comes on when the ignition is on but the motor is not running.

This guy says brown works and he's from your wiki site. http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.HeatedGrips

Looks like I'll be doing some investigative work tonight on the GS.  I was thinking about using a relay, but I don't have one on me and I already have enough other projects at the moment.  I've been rebuilding a R1 and haven't even gotten to the SV yet this winter! 

Quote from: the mole on February 03, 2011, 01:10:47 PM
I agree with the relay being the best way to do it, but not sure about using the oil light, that only comes on when the ignition is on but the motor is not running.

Right, I should have been more clear, you'd want to wire it so the relay trips when the oil light is NOT on.  This will be more tricky than I thought, I think you'd have to use 2 relays.

I've been thinking about doing this for my headlight (when I go HID), in that case you'd only need 1 relay because you'd use the stock headlight power wire which only has power when the key is on.  Its harder in this case, where you'd wire it directly to the battery.

If you really want to use a relay, run the relay from the headlight circuit - the yellow wire off of the start button. Power routes through the relay contacts from the orange wiring.
Relay is energized when bike is on but off when the starter button is pressed so you have more power for the starter (same reason the headlight goes out when starter is pressed, except on older bikes).

2 relays now??..there is no need even for one!

This is all becoming far more complicated than it needs to be. Its obvious the O/P has limited knowledge in this area and must be getting `information overload` by now.

The orange cable feeds everything on the bike and has more than enough capacity to handle the slight amount of extra current a pair of heated grips will draw....... as well as being switched with the ignition. Lets keep it simple eh.

Quote from: sledge on February 03, 2011, 01:58:21 PM
This is all becoming far more complicated than it needs to be. Its obvious the O/P has limited knowledge in this area and must be getting `information overload` by now.

I know wiring, however I don't know this bike well.  I.e. It was a surprise to find out the bike only has one fuse.  What I've found works best is to default to those who've been there and done that before.  So if the general consensus is to throw a relay on there, because the wires are to small of a guage then thats cool or tap into the OJ wire instead of the brown, all good. 

Quote from: maverick72 on February 03, 2011, 02:29:28 PM

Quote from: sledge on February 03, 2011, 01:58:21 PM
This is all becoming far more complicated than it needs to be. Its obvious the O/P has limited knowledge in this area and must be getting `information overload` by now.

I know wiring, however I don't know this bike well.  I.e. It was a surprise to find out the bike only has one fuse.  What I've found works best is to default to those who've been there and done that before.  So if the general consensus is to throw a relay on there, because the wires are to small of a guage then thats cool or tap into the OJ wire instead of the brown, all good.  

You don't need to use a relay, it will work without it.  But you really should use a relay.  

Motorcycle electrical systems are overloaded as it is.  In fact you can get a noticeable increase in light output just by upgrading the headlamp wiring on almost any motorcycle.  I would not add a 3+ amp draw (I believe this is about what the heated grips draw) through the stock electrical system without using a relay.

You don't need anything complicated with 2 relays and the oil light, I would just power a relay from the battery (I usually to tap it at the solenoid because then you never have to mess with it when changing batteries) and then trip the relay with any wire thats hot with the ignition on.  The head light (and probably the 'position' light too) would be a good one because it is already wired to turn off when you hit the starter, so you get all available power for starting.

If you could just catch a little of the hot air on these pages and direct it to your gloves you wouldn't need the heated grips!  

Quote from: zirconx on February 03, 2011, 02:37:13 PM
You don't need to use a relay, it will work without it.  But you really should use a relay.  

I agree to an extent.....but on a bike with an electrical system capable of seeing up to 20A??........less than say 10A yeah use a relay, but 20A??......nah...........on the basis that no part of the wiring system will have a lower capacity than the fuse.

To see 20A and come close to the fused limit the bike would have to draw about 240W, no chance of that even with heated grips, in fact I doubt the alternator can even deliver 240W and would guess the battery would run down way before any wiring started to overheat.