Passing Lights

I have just started noticing that my passing lights are on sometimes, and not at others. Since I bought the bike with them installed, I have never seen a switch for them. I thought they ran with my low beams, but lately if I pull up to someones back end at a light, in the reflection they are sometimes on and sometimes off. I think it is a short, but wanted to check to see if I am missing a switch. High/low beam doesn't make any diference. I guess I could rewire them to run with both. Is it better to wire a switch in, like I had on my 1st gen?

Generally a short will blow a fuse. A poor connection will cause the problem you describe. if they were installed according to the instruction ( a big maybe) there should be a push button switch next to the accessory plug in the fairing.

Mike

Hello Brian: I am new the passing light thing on my RSTD. I recently had my dealer install passing lights and wire them to the highbeams on my bike. I prefer to run with my highbeams on during the day and dim my lights to on coming traffic at night.

Check your passing lights on both low and high beams. If they are not working, and coming and going on their own? I would suspect a loose connection or "open" rather than a "Short". Shorts usually will cause blown fuses. A loose connection on the 12v power or the ground side will cause your problem. I hope this helps?

The standard switch for the driving lights on an RSV is installed on the inner fairing next to the aux power jack. But your problem won't be that unless you are always plugging things in and out to accidentally hit it (not easy to do). You have a bad wire connection in the fairing.

Goose

On my 97 RSTD the bad connection was in the light housing where the ground wire connected to the housing via a rivet. The rivet had worked loose and needed "adjusting" with my trusty hammer and a wood block. Took care of the connection...

On my 97 RSTD the bad connection was in the light housing where the ground wire connected to the housing via a rivet. The rivet had worked loose and needed "adjusting" with my trusty hammer and a wood block. Took care of the connection...

Assuming his bike has the Yamahaha lights, the RSV lights are not wired the same as the RSTD; they have independent power and ground lines. So if both lights are going off, the problem must be a wire in the fairing.

Goose