First of all; thanks for a great forum.

I am considering mounting the OEM passing lamps on my 2002 XVS 650A. Both because they looks cool, but mostly for visibility. You can never be too visible. Right?

But I hate visible wiring. Does anyone have close-up pictures of these running lights / passing lamps when mounted on the bike?

Thanks in advance.

Just so you know people are paying attention - I do not have any pics, I'm afraid.

However, welcome to the forum.

You might want to post in the Introduction section as single posts, particularly questions, are considered rude and tend to attract little more than sarcastic insults (usually from me!)

You also need to check if it will still charge the battery with all the lights on.

Someone did a piece on here showing how little charge is left if you start adding lights to a 650 XVS

And what Ttaskmaster said - do an intro

"hi there i just bought a dragstar 1998 classic

on the ride home very wet and dark so traveled with the spots on as well and found battery drained when i got home

looking around the forums i found this

explains it all to me:

I have been working on putting together a complete map of the 650 Electrical system

with wattages,etc so folks understand a bit better exactly how much you can add and

what you can expect to be the outcome of adding extras.

The following items on the bike use the power constantly:

Headlight - 55W

Taillight - 8W

Front Running lights - 16W

Speedo light - 2W

Ignition Coils - 72W

Ignition Module - 20W

This means that under normal running conditions the bike will use at least 173W of

power.According to the test data from Electrosport in their comparison of their stator to

the stock one, the stock system puts out

169W at idle(1200RPM) and 221W at 5000RPM.

Yamaha states that the stock system puts out 280W Max so most bikes will fall between

the 221W and 280W marks.

Here are some additional power usages:

Signalling - 28W

Braking - 27W

Carb Heaters - 60W

Passing lamps - 60W (smaller units) - 110W (larger lamps)

The carb heaters kick in when the temps are lower than 12 degrees Celsius.What this

means is that the bike will consume 173W + 60W = 233W of power when the carb

heaters are on.

My 2000 Classic puts out something like 235W-240W at 5000 RPM which is barely

enough to keep the system running without using the battery while highway riding only.

At idle, the charging system cannot keep up and an additional 64W are drawn from the

battery. I have a battery monitor on my bike and was able to verify the above. I'm sure

the “My battery died” posts are going to start now that the weather is getting cooler and a

lot of folks falsely blame the battery when it is actually the weak charging system and too

many electrical accessories that are to blame. Bottom line is that if you ride in temps

lower than 12 degrees Celsius, you had better not run your passing lamps or any other

extra lights or you will drain the battery and have difficulty starting."

Extra weight, extra current drain, extra pointless. If you want more light, get one of the new xenon bulbs.

think that was me that put that up about the power levels

lol

Thank you TM for finding it and Giz for providing it - I couldn't find it before.

Extra weight, extra current drain, extra pointless. If you want more light, get one of the new xenon bulbs.

On a bike that already weighs 230kg and only has 40hp with which to haul it, I really don't think the weight is a factor...