Mod to keep Dip-Beam on with Main Beam – Falco (and others)

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Mod to keep Dip-Beam on with Main Beam – Falco (and others)

#1 Post by D-Rider » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:21 pm

Purpose of Modification:
The Falco (and other V60 Aprilias) headlight control turns the dip beam off when the main beam is turned on.
This modification changes this functionality to keep the dip beam on when the main beam is on. For all types of headlights, this “fills-in” the light pattern in the short to medium distance when on main beam.
If you have upgraded to an HID dip beam it also eliminates the current surge every time you switch between main beam and dip beam.

The functionality is as shown:

Image

History
This modification has previously been described by Tweaker and the French Aprilia V60 site (maybe others too). When I came to do this mod, I discovered that the Dip Beam switch on the newer Falcos has been changed – therefore this is an update to cover both switch types.

Open the light switch assembly on the left-side clip-on.

Old-style Switch:
For the older switch type, un-solder the black wire and re-solder to the centre connection point.

See pictures below:
Standard wiring
Image
Modified wiring
Image

New-style Switch
The newer switch looks like this when you get it apart:

Image

Remove the plastic cover that hides the dip switch then pop the dip switch out.
Either unsolder the black wire (A) and re-solder it to the white wire (B) or solder a short piece of wire between A and B (I think this is easiest). Make sure you use a similar gauge wire to the other wires in the switch.
See picture below:
Image

Put the switch assembly back together and your conversion is complete.


All modifications undertaken entirely at owners risk. These are not instructions – merely accounts of what other people have done. No responsibility is taken by the poster of the thread or the ARS for any damage that may occur or any laws that may be contravened through modification.
Last edited by D-Rider on Sun Apr 18, 2010 9:50 am, edited 6 times in total.

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Gio
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#2 Post by Gio » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:24 pm

Cheers for that D-R, I know I asked about it but I've just printed it off so that whoever buys my Falco can do it :smt003

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#3 Post by sabestian » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:50 am

Thanks, D. I was trying to look into this mod but now I have no excuse not to do it (apart of a chronic lack of time). :smt001

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#4 Post by Falcopops » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:56 am

sabestian wrote:apart of a chronic lack of time
Takes no time at all, the most difficult part of the job is trying to push all the wired back into the switch unit.

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#5 Post by mellow yellow » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:15 pm

Just gave this a go on the newer switch type described above.

Didn't have similar gauge wire so just soldered the black wire over to the white one.

Put switch back together, re-connected battery then tried it out.

Dipped beam - business as usual

Main beam - All lights blazing - Good times :smt001

So thought to myself 'better see what happens with the lights on dipped and I need to flash someone' - pressed flasher button and all lights went out including dash lights :smt013 - Bad times

Must have blown a big ol' fuse :smt017

Ran out of time to investigate tonight so will see whats up in the morning :smt017

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#6 Post by mellow yellow » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:38 pm

Hmmm

No fuses blown :smt012

No power either

The search continues..... :smt017

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#7 Post by mellow yellow » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:21 pm

Turns out pressing the pass/flasher button had blown the relay! Really? Yes relay!! :smt018

So as D-riders disclaimer states - do these mods at your own risk.

I may just have been unlucky or maybe nobody has tried their pass button with their dipped beam on :smt102 but suffice to say I've put the wiring back to the way it was and ordered a replacement relay.

You live and learn.

Not every fettle is succesfull (should be my disclaimer :smt003 )

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#8 Post by D-Rider » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:39 pm

mellow yellow wrote:Turns out pressing the pass/flasher button had blown the relay! Really? Yes relay!! :smt018

So as D-riders disclaimer states - do these mods at your own risk.

I may just have been unlucky or maybe nobody has tried their pass button with their dipped beam on :smt102 but suffice to say I've put the wiring back to the way it was and ordered a replacement relay.

You live and learn.

Not every fettle is succesfull (should be my disclaimer :smt003 )
Sorry you've had problems Mellow - 'tis true that I've not tried using the headlight flasher since the mod (not sure I've ever used it to tell the truth).
I've been looking through the wiring diagram to try to understand what might have caused the problem. I'm still following it through but I've seen nothing yet.

BTW: Which relay has failed?

Really need to get to the bottom of this before anyone else has a problem.

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#9 Post by mellow yellow » Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:51 pm

BTW: Which relay has failed?
Thats a good question.

All 3 relays are the same - Dipped,main and fan.

I took the fan one out and put it aside knowing it would be fine.

Took the other two out and put the one from the fan in the dipped beam socket then tried the other two relays in the main beam socket. One brought everything back to life and the other didn't.

I've a hunch it would likely be the main beam relay as when you press the pass/flash button its that light that illuminates.

Interestingly they are all rated at 12V/20A (on my bike anyway) but on the Apriliayorkshire website, the replacement is 12V/30A :smt102

Could be a typo but Im going to try the breakers yards first anyway.

The £8 they want for a relay I can just about swallow but £6 for postage :smt119 they're having a laugh

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#10 Post by sabestian » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:58 pm

If you press the flasher button the dipped beam stays on... That may be a clue... For wiser then moi... :smt017
Edit: that's on standard bike, of course.

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#11 Post by D-Rider » Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:36 pm

Although I couldn't see a problem from the wiring diagram I decided to test the various combinations on my Falco - and everything is still working for me.

Summary:
Lights Off, Flasher pressed -> Dip beam off, Main beam on,
Lights On in Dip Position -> Dip beam on, Main Beam off
Lights On in Dip Position, Flasher pressed -> All lights on
Lights On in Main Beam Position -> All lights on
Lights On in Main Beam Position, Flasher pressed -> All lights on (no change)

All exactly as expected.

Given that the Dip beam relay only supplies the dip bulb and is activated by the same feed as before (just happens to be on whenever the light switch is on) and the Main beam relay still only supplies the Main beam and is activated in exactly the same way as it was before the mod - with a wired-OR from the Main beam and flasher switches, I can see absolutely no reason for the modification causing either of the relays to fail.

Additionally, if the only problem was the failure of one of the relays, I can't understand why ALL of the lights should not work - they feed dip and main beam separately - before and after the modification.

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#12 Post by mellow yellow » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:17 pm

Dunno :smt102

Although the cursed alarm started making all sorts of strange noises and couldn't get it to cancel until I either disconnected the battery or replaced the faulty relay with the good one from the fan. :smt017

Bike alarms!! :smt013 Who'd have em?

If it wasn't for the fact it was on the bike when I purchased it I certainly wouldn't miss it. My other bike doesn't have one and I can't say I worry more about it when I leave it parked up.

Reckon it must be alarm related then folks as D-Rider hasn't found any problems with his :smt023

(still going to put mine back to standard now though :smt083 )

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#13 Post by D-Rider » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:53 pm

What alarm have you got on there?
I've a Meta on mine.

(I hate it when we struggle to explain problems like this!)

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#14 Post by mellow yellow » Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:09 pm

Datatool System 3

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#15 Post by sabestian » Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:57 am

mellow yellow wrote:Datatool System 3
I've got one too. Every time I had a problem with my Falco it eventually turned out to be alarm related. I'd be glad to see it in a bin. Piece of crap. And their support sucks big time too.
Meta on my other bike is a-problematic.

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