I just bought a 2017 with about 17,500 miles on it back in April. 

Fantastic bike - I put a touring screen on immediately and want to add some auxiliary lights.

The bike has an engine cage so I'm not sure whether to install aux lights low down or up under the faring like the new Tracers.

 

Thoughts? 

I like them up high out of harms way.

Search is your friend. Here is a thread that shows the hook up location...

Aux Lights

higher is also better for the light pattern it will put out.  low causes more and longer shadows and gets blocked easier.

I prefer them attached to forks/fender mounting bolts. This way they are basically in constant movement (more noticeable to others) and they are pretty far from turn signals (this way not interrupting function of them).

Mount them as high as you reasonably can.

If you install the Givi Light Bracket for the Tracer under the chin of the bike, you can then mount the lamps of your choice. These 2" LED Flamethrowers put out some insane lighting.

 

 

 

The Givi light bracket is a great option.

On light position, if you want more light on the road, higher is better; if you want to be seen by other road users, lower is better (down on the crash bars gets them wider). Also, for fog lights, you want those low too. 

Amber lights are much better for getting noticed by others on the road.

 

On 3/15/2024 at 4:45 AM, Warchild said:

Mount them as high as you reasonably can.

If you install the Givi Light Bracket for the Tracer under the chin of the bike, you can then mount the lamps of your choice. These 2" LED Flamethrowers put out some insane lighting.

 

 

 

Apologies for bringing up an older post...can you tell me where you purchased the bracket?

Also, can you tell me how you wired up the lights? (Does anyone know, if we can just plug into the open auxiliary ports behind the windscreen with an additional switch? If so, will this allow light to turn on/off with ignition?)

Sorry, I have zero electrical knowledge...

The brackets are from Givi, you might want to shop around for the best price: https://twistedthrottle.com/shop/lighting/light-mounts/givi-fog-light-mounting-kit-for-yamaha-tracer-900-18-19

I ran an dedicated circuit for the lamps, with its own fused relay, its own wiring, and its own dedicated switch.

Ignition signal voltage to the relay only allows the lamps to be turned on at the switch; you don't want lights that come on with the ignition; you need to have the ability to douse them yourself while underway.

I would encourage you to find someone to do this work,, or at least an electrical savvy person nearby. The work is not too arduous, but one needs appropriate technical knowledge to do this properly, and of course you don't want to inadvertently damage your bike.

14 hours ago, Warchild said:

The brackets are from Givi, you might want to shop around for the best price: https://twistedthrottle.com/shop/lighting/light-mounts/givi-fog-light-mounting-kit-for-yamaha-tracer-900-18-19

I ran an dedicated circuit for the lamps, with its own fused relay, its own wiring, and its own dedicated switch.

Ignition signal voltage to the relay only allows the lamps to be turned on at the switch; you don't want lights that come on with the ignition; you need to have the ability to douse them yourself while underway.

I would encourage you to find someone to do this work,, or at least an electrical savvy person nearby. The work is not too arduous, but one needs appropriate technical knowledge to do this properly, and of course you don't want to inadvertently damage your bike.

Let me rephrase my lack of electrical knowledge. I know how to wire up connections, solder, etc. My electrical knowledge is limited to “can it be done”?

My hope was to connect the 10w lights directly to the open auxiliary ports behind the windscreen without a switch. This way, ignition on = lights on. Ignition off = lights off with no battery drain by forgetting to switch off the lights. Is this not possible due the added rampage/volt draw it takes to start the bike?

It is possible. Just not a Best Practice.

Me, I would not use those small aux circuits for this task, but 20 watts between the two lamps is not a ton of draw, it would probably be alright. Judicious testing is indicated.

The reason one uses a relay for these lamps is that the relay is only energized with the ignition on. So even if you forget to switch the lamps off, they still shut down when the bike is off.

Just curious - did you intend to have better night-time lighting, or are this more for conspicuity? If the former... 10w lamps are mighty lean, they are likely to have marginal output.

If you intend them for conspicuity, there are better options. I would steer you to Denali Daylight Running Lights, these babies get noticed by cagers!

Edited May 21May 21 by Warchild

1 hour ago, Warchild said:

If you intend them for conspicuity, there are better options. I would steer you to Denali Daylight Running Lights, these babies get noticed by cagers!

I run the exact same Denali daytime running lights off the switched auxiliary lead behind the dash. I don't ride at night so I only care about being seen by other drivers.

Mine are mounted to the radiator guard exactly as seen in this photo. It has been many years since I bought mine and damn, the prices have gone way up since then.

I also run the Denali DRL lights and like them a lot. I have them wired thru a Fuzeblock and then thru a Hi/Off/Lo switch. Mounted to my SW Motech crash bars. They are very bright and conspicuous!

Looking to just add daytime visibility for other drivers to notice me. I hardly ride at night time.

Thank you all for the info. However, as you can see there are different opinions as to wiring. A couple wire with a fuse box and switch and another directly to the switched auxiliary port while using the exact same lights it seems like.

Am I just expecting too much from those ports? Would they even power a USB connection to run a GPS like a Carpuride?

2 hours ago, taylormade21 said:

Am I just expecting too much from those ports? Would they even power a USB connection to run a GPS like a Carpuride?

I have 2 x 10W flood lamps on one aux circuit, and a Garmin DriveSmart 55 GPS on the other.... no issues. I sometimes run Aoocci C3 Android Auto device via USB with no issues on my FJ-09... and charge my S20 at the same time.