1982 XJ650 Maxim Headlight question

I picked this bike up a few weeks ago and it had been sitting for about 6 years, I have most everything working now and running. I did a turn indicator and brake light LED conversion and that is working fine. I had it running for just a short period by filling the carb bowls with gas and do not have the gas tank installed at the moment and the headlight that was on it, not original, did work on both high and low beam while it was running, I never noticed if they were on before. So the question is, does the engine need to run for the headlight to work? Trying to install a 7 inch LED headlight and not getting where with it. When checking voltage I get zero with key in on position but get less than a volt when turning over the starter.

Any help is appreciated.

 

yes motor has to spin fast enough or start to close the headlight relay . you can bypass the relay if needed to test light

 

to bypass connect the 2 red/yellow wires together
location:

- on all XJ650 Maxim/Midnight Maxim/RJ Seca models: behind left side cover, below the TCI and Regulator-Rectifier unit.

Harness connector wire colors:
- on all XJ550 all models, XJ650 all models (except Turbo):
* Blue wire with black tracer stripe
* solid White wire
* Red wire with yellow tracer stripe
* solid Black wire

 

make sure the relay is correct
Identification:
- small metal "cube" relay, inked 3H5-00 on the top face.
- has a yellow (yellow) paint mark on the bottom terminal connector block.
- normally open; has an internal diode.
- plugs into a connector shell which has the following set of wires going to it:

 

Thanks for the reply. I have the correct relay. When you say to connect the two R/Y wires together, where is the second wire?

 

Set the light up and started the bike and the light works great. Full conversion to LED and the only thing not working is the turn indicator on the dash for the left turn, right turn works fine. If I figure it out super, if not no big deal. Using LED for dash light.

Again, thanks for the help.

 

This would be why your indicator only works for one direction, diodes have polarity and will only allow electricity to “flow” one way. Since the indicator gets positive from the active blinking bulb and grounds through the inactive light it won’t work without getting more creative with the wiring and adding some diodes etc. There’s some threads on here. Or go back to a bulb.

 

that would be the red/yellow and blue black wires connected together

 

search for super bright metric diode
it has to be added for dashes with 1 indicator light

this is it it has a drawing buy the kit or some diodes
Metric Bike Diode Kit | Super Bright LEDs

 

Awesome, that’s great they make a kit. I love that site.

 

a thread on how to go to led
https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/how-to-convert-to-leds-and-still-have-everything-work.14068/