Necessity for headlight load.

[Solina Dave]

I have a '78 GL1000. I was told one time that the load provided by my motorcycles headlight was necessary for the proper function of the electrical system. And that there would be a negative effect on that system if I operated the motorcycle for a prolonged period of time without a headlight.
Is that true? If so, what happens, and how serious is it?

Thanks.......................Dave

[tfdeputydawg]

Not true
However, most if not all states require a motorcycle to have its headlamp on at all times anyway. So ride with it on.

[dingdong]

Agree. Not true. The less the electrical load the better.

[virgilmobile]

I'll poke my nose in a bit.
My gl1000 had a difficult time keeping the battery fully charged...It charged fine above 2500 rpm but I did a lot of slow in town...To alleviate this I did convert most of the lighting to LED and questioned a State Trooper about the headlight being on all the time.

At the time,the law was specific that I must have a "white light facing foreward" while the bike was on the road..
When I asked he also clarified that there was no mention in the law that it must be the bikes headlight..Any forward facing white light was legal...
I asked about using 2 white LED driving lights and leaving the headlight off.He said it was legal as long as the LED's were mounted at the correct level.They cannot be near the ground or too high.

I added the lamps..drawing about a amp and disconnected the low beam circuit to operate them.
This satisfied the law,lowered my charging strain at the lower RPM and left the high beam active.
Not the best for night time driving but I tried to make it home before that anyways.
Other wiring methods can be done to be able to select low beam or LED lights if your need should call for that feature.

[tfdeputydawg]

However, the states can MANDATE that when you ride any motorcycle the daytime, you must have your low beam illuminated. Louisiana is one such state. Even if your motorcycle headlight does not automatically come on because it is exempt from the federal requirement, you still have to run with it on. Only difference is, it's up to you to turn it on.

[virgilmobile]

This is true.That's the reason I checked with the State yrooper about thr specific law before I did this.I was in a different state back then.

[ekvh]

The Goldwings sent to Europe had separate headlight switches. The regulator is capable of dumping excess loads.

[Maz]

The Goldwings sent to Europe had separate headlight switches. The regulator is capable of dumping excess loads.

Also we don't have the 'reserve lighting unit'. I wonder if this could be damaged by running without a headlight? I can't think of anything else that would be damaged.
Maz

[Solina Dave]

Agree. Not true. The less the electrical load the better.

I'm not too good at this stuff. But would the removal of the headlight load have any effect whatsoever on the regulator's performance? And if so, how would it be affected? Maybe it wouldn't. If it did, maybe it's minimal. Just wonderin'.