Electrical question - rotary switch for headlights?

To save real-estate o your dash you could use double throw switches. You know the ones that are on (circuit 1)/off/on (circuit 2). this would reduce your switches by 1.2. However you would have to decide which circuit goes where because you could not run Circuit 1 and Circuit 2 at the same time.

Quote from KayTwo

This can be done with 4 switches.
The First Switch is a Master (witch is a simple ON/OFF. The off state would give you ALL OFF and the On state will provide power to the other Switches.
The Second Switch would be a Thee position Switch (ON (Circuit 1)/OFF/ON (Circuit 2). Circuit 1 powers the A lights. Circuit 2 powers the #1 Halos.
The Third Switch would be a Thee position Switch (ON (Circuit 3)/OFF/ON (Circuit 4). Circuit 3 powers B & C Lights. Circuit 4 Powers The 2 & 3 Halos.
The Fourth Switch would be a Thee position Switch (ON (Circuit 5)/OFF/ON (Circuit 6). Circuit 5 powers the C lights. Circuit 6 powers the #1 Halos.

Both types of Switches are available to fit in you dash (under the radio where the blanks are). You can get both types of switches from Polaris or the internet (Amazon....)

Looking at reply 15 of this thread you wanted various light conditions, by selecting Switch 1 on and a combo of 2/3/4 you can get the conditions you requested.

Yes. You wanted both the ability to have either A/1 or C/1. By putting the #1 Halo on each you can select either. If I only used Switch 2 for the #1 Halo you could not have A/1, due to the switch being on Circuit 1 or Circuit 2.

Anytime

The impacts of turning on/off HID headlights and other issues can probably be addressed using one of the circuits designed by a Motorcycle Forum poster known as D'Ecosse who has posted on many motorcycle forums. Here's a Google Search for his work - motorcycle headlight circuits by D'Ecosse - Google Search Not sure about what changes might be needed for this app, but he has designed a lot of circuits and accessories.
Those who're familiar with his work certainly consider him an electrical genius!
The recommendation of just switching each circuit independently is also a smart choice., assuming you can find enough switch space!

Short answer - yes. Long answer: I have a 30 amp fused circuit run from the battery to the engine compartment to a 40 amp relay. This relay is triggered by the OEM ignition line in the dash. This allows me to put all my added loads on a separate circuit that is disabled when I turn off the key. (I had a few instances where I forgot to turn off the LEDs resulting in a mandatory jump (not the good kind). So now when the bike is off so are all of my lights, radio, back up cam, rear view cam, rear view monitor etc. The headlights are also on a switch but all I did there was interrupt the oem circuit at the input to the HL relay at the oem fuse panel and put the switch in the circuit. I did this when the bike was still under warranty so Polaris couldn't blame a failure on the added wiring. No idea if it would have done any good as I didn't need any electrical work beyond the recall for lights. As I have all HID's the switch allows me to start the bike before energizing the HID lamps. I had an on-delay relay at first to hold HID ignition for 30 seconds after start but it proved too flaky. Also had a light sensor on the WS center post to activate the lights at dusk till the law pointed out that I would be far ahead financially to run heads all the time.
The dash switches control oem relay for both the headlights and the outside driving lights. The inside driving lights are on a separate switch and the halos are on a third switch. I wired this way after talking to a LEO who was fascinated with the bike but recommended that I keep the oem lighting, just in case someone actually became familiar with the bike as built. I run all six halos on one switch only because I like the look. Accent led's around the light nacelles are on the halo circuit.
After you plan your switch location, I can spend some time up there to help. (Did I mention I'm retired!!!) And yes there will be some disassembly required but it not difficult, just time consuming.
I'll send you a link to the chinese site from which I got most of the switches. They have a wide variety of styles with illuminated power symbols, light symbols, e flasher etc. The ones I am sending are simple chrome push button with an illuminated ring around the button. Only one has a power symbol and one has a lamp symbol.

Quote from KayTwo

@Gadgeteer:

I have the LEDs on all 6 headlights, no switches or additional controls, and the 6 halos are wired through the aux fuse box, with a remote, no switches.

The fog light circuit is already in use, with its own independent switch, and will not be part of this equation.

My goal, if possible, is to have preset combos of lights/halos illuminated together.

Now that I look at this, I wonder if @Roy658 's idea isn't just better....just put each of the 6 pairs (A, B, C, 1, 2, 3) from the diagram above on their own single throw switch, so I can literally do what I want in a given OCD mood.

The thing I like about the rotary switch idea is that it takes up way less real estate. What do you guys think?

Display More

Agreed, using independent switches is probably the way to go. The illuminated push buttons would look the best (IMHO) and I've noted the ideal locations (also IMHO) in the attached pic. If you moved the black function switch up or down a bit, fitting 2 horizontal rows of three buttons should fit nicely, like this...

[ A B C ]
[ 1 2 3 ]
[ F ]

If you're really concerned about space, you could use smaller diameter buttons or mini/micro toggle or rocker switches. They may be harder to find, but I've had a lot of luck with Mouser Electronics and their prices are reasonable. The best part; usually no minimum quantities, so you can get exactly what you need, and they have quantity discounts for larger buys.

One issue that has not yet been addressed is the need for relays/transistors to handle the high amp switching. While LEDs are not high amp devices, the headlights are on high amp circuits. If you or another owner (if you sold/traded your SS at some point) were to switch back to Halogens or HIDs, the switch would get fried (or worse). The safest option is to run the switches to an array of relays or transistors (solid-state relays) and let them handle the high amp switching. Since both draw very little power, you could power them all off a single ignition/acc-switched circuit (I tapped the headlight circuit for my relays), so there would be less concern of forgetting to manually turn off your lights.

Standard automotive relays are bulky, but easier to find locally and easier to replace when they fail. PCB-mount micro replays are pretty small, but for all that, you might as well go the distance and use transistors for their size (the head of a pencil eraser) and reliability (no moving parts). HIgh amp transistors are a bit bigger, but still smaller than PCB-mount relays and more reliable. Of course, either of those will require a PCB (printed circuit board) with an enclosure.

As for assembly of the circuit board, if someone with better soldering skills doesn't volunteer, I can help you out. I've done a little work with PCBs but the results are not very pretty. In fact, that describes most of my electrical work. Fugly, but functional.

Or just wire the switches into the oem circuit. Easy to break into the polaris circuit and use existing fuse and relay.

Whenever possible, I think relays are a wise idea, especially in today's manufacturing environment where the penny-pinchers force the use of the lowest cost, minimally functional components.
As has been pointed out in earlier posts, it is possible to wire stuff into existing relay-operated circuits when using LED or HID bulbs, but if you ever need to revert to old-school halogen/filament bulbs, the circuit might not still be capable of handling the original plus additional load.

Quote from BKL

Whenever possible, I think relays are a wise idea, especially in today's manufacturing environment where the penny-pinchers force the use of the lowest cost, minimally functional components.
As has been pointed out in earlier posts, it is possible to wire stuff into existing relay-operated circuits when using LED or HID bulbs, but if you ever need to revert to old-school halogen/filament bulbs, the circuit might not still be capable of handling the original plus additional load.

A standard 12v 40A relay pulls about 400 mA, so total draw would be about 2.4A when all are energized. Instead of loading one circuit, the load could be split with (3) relays on the main lights and (3) on the aux. lights, so each only has 1.2A additional load. Also, running on different circuits would mitigate a single point of failure, so at least some of the lights would work if one fuse blows. I have (3) relays tapped off the aux.light circuit and have not had any problems, but they're not all energized at the same time. Of course, I can't deny that a dedicated circuit is always the safest option.

Due to what he wants to do a simple rotary switch would not work without some crafty relay magic, also regardless of which route you go you shouldn't be feeding a load directly from a "switch" and instead it should be going through a relay.

The "spark" created when you ignite the load directly on a switch will lead to an early grave on the switch and is considered a fire hazard.

Many people get away with it but it is the equivalent of driving without license or insurance, you might get lucky and be ok but if luck is not on your side you are in deep shitzu.

[Queues in the video of slingshot on fire]

Quote from KayTwo

This is probably going to be a dumb question, but I know there are some wicked smart electrical types in the group, so hopefully I can get some help.

I want to be able to run my six headlights and six halos in a few different combinations. I was thinking that if I had some kind of barrel switch with 4-6 positions, would it be possible to wire the lights such that each position had a different combination? Or, is there another (easier/smarter) way to make those combinations possible, aside from wiring six different toggle switches, one for each pair of headlights or halos?

this would be a best use case for the Smart fuse box.

Polaris Slingshot SmartPhone Controlled Bluetooth Enabled Power Distribution Box

Quote from KayTwo

Guys, guys....guys! Give me a minute to go get an electrical nerd-to-English dictionary and take an Excedrin, will you?

(Seriously, though, I almost bombed out of Naval nuclear propulsion school because of the electrical course....I'm pretty electron-dumb.)

Folks, I think we lost him on post #2. Perhaps the thread should have been titled "Electical question - who can wire this for me?"

Sorry @KayTwo. I hope this helps...

Switch - closes (allows flow) or opens (stops flow) a circuit. You already knew that.

Circuit - a conductive path

Relay - It's like a "remote controlled" switch that controls a high current (large flow) circuit and is activated by a low current (small flow) circuit.

The dash switch controls a small current to energize the relay which opens or closes the flow of the high current. The state (on/off) of the switch circuit is "relayed" to the device circuit and your lights turn on or off. A relay has a "normal" state when it is not getting power. A NO (normally-open) relay closes a circuit (allows flow) when energized. NO is more common (no flow until switched on) because it mirrors the state of you dash switch. NC (normally-closed) relay is handy for the opposite (allow flow until switched off) but is less common and it's usage can be confusing.

Clear as mud, right?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk