HID delay relay won't work... why?!

Hello there,

I just installed a 10 seconds time delay relay (FV-TDR) for my HIDs from FutureVisionHID.com. My 2x35 watts low headlights HID worked fine before but they drain to much energy at startup (at the same time as starting up the bike) and that's why i'm installing this relay. Check out the diagram. I plugged the positive (+) 12 volts to pin #86, checked voltage with a digital multimeter, shows 12v. This positive wire comes out from the original stock headlights low relay (white/black wire), then into pin #86 (delay relay). Plugged pin #85 to ground (-), (connected to the green stock relay wire). Then finally plugged the 2 low headlights to pins #87 and #87a.

Problem is: after turning the ignition on, waiting 10 seconds and hearing the delay relay "click" (which means it went on and should work), no voltage comes out from pins #87, 87a and 30, and obviously the ballasts and HID don't go on. Correct me if i'm wrong, but i should get a 12 volts+ measure out of these 3 pins (#87, 87a, 30)??

In the wiring diagram attached below (cut from original diagram in service manual), 4 wires are connected to the stock Low headlight relay: Bl/R comes from the battery 12v (+), G goes to ground (-), W/Bl goes to low headlights [This is where i plugged the 10 seconds delay relay!, before going to the ballasts], Bu/W goes to the engine starter switch.



Thanks much for your help guys!

 

I have been running HIDs on mine for a few years now and mine gets a lot of use. I understand that they do draw a lot while warming up but have never run into any problems with mine, unless I have both the high and low beams on. In which case, guaranteed to blow a fuse. For just your low beams, you should not need that relay but it would be nice to wire it up on your high beam circuit. In which case, the problem would remain so hopefully someone can come up with an answer for you.

You do realize that according to that schematic, it appears that it is supposed to be just your high beams that is affected by the relay? Both your low beams should come on immediately if wired according to that diagram. Without me actually going into mine and trying to do an install, I can't help more than this.

 

Umm ok I think I might know what is going on here but hard to say with out eyes on your wiring. The on delay relay pins 86 and 85 are for the timing coil only and don't have any electrical conection to the other pins (30, 87a,87) When power is first applied to time delay relay- contact is made between pin 30 and 87A. After the relay times out the contact switches to contact between pins 30 and 87. And should stay that way until power to turned off to time delay relay. So if you want both low beams to come on 10 seconds after starting bike you need to run the wire from the bikes head light relay that was going to the low beam lights to pin 86 And pin 30 on your time delay relay. Then from pin 87 on time relay to the low beam hid's. OR you could run the wire from the bikes headlight relay to pin 86 like before but then run a fused wire from the battery to pin 30 so that the power for the hid's comes from the battery and the bikes original wiring is just used for control wiring. Clear as mud?

 

Thanks guys! Problem solved! Solutions proposed by MrSleep helped me to understand .... i actually plugged :
* 12v White/Black (gauge 18) coming out from stock low relay to pin #87 of the Time Delay Relay (TDR)
* Pin #85 of TDR to ground
* 12v Blue/White (gauge 20 or 22) signal (ignition switch) coming out from stock low relay to Pin #86
* Pin #30 to HID ballasts (low headlights!)

==== quick question : should i switch wires between pins #86 and #87 because of the wire gauge or did i judged right? ====

Im my case, i do not get the chance to ride the bike for 3 weeks sometimes + 5 months of Canadian winter! So this TDR might help to get more power on startup... delaying HID's ignition for them not to draw power at the same time....

Oh well...

Thanks again!