Airhead control switches

There are four generation of handlebar control switches used on Airheads

'70~74 - /5-style, a single paddle on each side that is also a button. Horn and hi/lo on the left, start and turn on the right.
'75~78 - Totally redesigned to suit the '75-on housings, they were functionally identical to the earlier ones but had a kill switch on the right and an optional headlight on/off on the left.
'79-on - Cosmetically revised, but the only real change was that the turn signal control moved to the left. The connection style was changed from spade connectors to plugs for the Monolever models.
'91-on K-style - only used on the GS and R models starting in '91, these are the same as the switches used on the K bikes and R1100 models.

'70~'74

'75~'78

These switches were made up until the turn signal was standardized to be on the left side. They can both be replaced with the following generation switches if replacements are not available.

Length	Part	side	Features
230	61 31 1 243 598	L
	61 31 1 243 247	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 243 245	R
380	61 31 1 243 597	L
	61 31 1 243 248	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 243 246	R

'79-on

With spade connectors

Length	Part	side	Features
230	61 31 1 243 804	L
	61 31 1 243 864	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 243 808	R
380	61 31 1 243 805	L
	61 31 1 243 865	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 243 812	R
520	61 31 1 243 806	L
	61 31 1 243 866	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 243 810	R

With connector blocks, all the same length

Length	Part	side	Features
?	61 31 1 244 418	L
	61 31 1 244 410	L	with headlight control
	61 31 1 244 420	L	G/S and GS*
	61 31 1 244 417	R

Wiring

	LIGHTS
		'70~74	'75~78	'79-on	Monolever
L E F T	Horn	black		green/black
	Horn	brown ₁		brown/white
	Clutch	brown ₁	←
	Clutch	blue/yellow	yellow/brown
	Flash pwr	red	red₂	green
	HL pwr	yellow/white	←	←
	high	white	←	←
	low	yellow	←	←
L or R	TURN SIGNALS
	in	green/yellow	←	←
	left	blue/red	←	←
	right	blue/black	←	←
R I G H T	brake	green/black	N/A ₃	←	←
	brake	green/red	N/A ₃	←	←
	starter	blue/yellow	←	←	←
	starter	brown/yellow	←	←	2x green/blue
	kill		green/blue	←	2x green/blue
	kill		green	←	←

1 common ground for horn and clutch?

2 red changed to green during production

3 Separate switch, not in main switch bundle

Euroswitches for Airheads

US models came with no way to turn the headlight off while riding. The ignition switch controls the headlight and has positions for Off, Park and On. In Park you get eyebrow lamps (RS/RT) or the park bulb in the headlight as well as taillignt, and On gives you full lights. As you can see there is no way to run the engine without lights so many people added the 'European' switch (really the Rest Of World switch) which adds a headlight on/off/park control to the left switch assembly.

Adding the switch for twinshock models

Keep in mind that the On/Off/Park component is entirely separate from the High/Low part.The new left switch assembly has the following connections (with the two greens tied together):

Horn:

green/black - power from board
brown/white - horn output to board

Turn signal:

green/yellow - power from flasher relay 49A
blue/red - to board for left signal
blue/black - to board for right signal

High/low

green - power for high flash - to key 56
yellow/white - power from headlight relay 87
white - to board for high bem
yellow - to board for low beam

Headlight On/Off/Park

green - power in from key 56
gray - to board for park light
green/red - switched headlight power to headlight relay 86

US models came with a wire running from the ignition switch to the headlight relay (the green/white wire if the bike has a remote switch, like on the RS and RT) which powers the relay any time the key is on, except on later models when the engine is cranking. This wire gets removed and the functionality is taken over by the new switch, so that the ignition feeds the solid green and the green/red goes to the headlight relay.

For RS/RT, the gray wire from the ignition switch runs directly to the eyebrow light, so this will not be controlled with the new headlight switch. For this reason the eyebrow light comes on with the ignition in Park, where the key can be removed. With the ignition in Run, power also goes to the headlight switch.

Here is a diagram of the correct switched headlight circuit. Note that the headlight relay coil is shown as grounded on 86 where typically it is grounded on 85. This only matters if you are using the relay with diode (in which case you must ground 85).

Relays

The headlight relay is wired on later models as a load shed relay, with the coil grounded by the starter relay. When the starter relay is triggered, the headlight relay loses its ground and shuts down. Early models were grounded to regular ground, so the starter relay didn't affect the headlight. If your headlight relay is grounded by a black wire, it's a load-shed. If brown, it probably goes straight to the terminal board and is a standard ground.

There are three similar headlight relays used from /6 onward:

~~61 32 1 358 193~~ 61 32 1 358 198 relay SR-9725 without diode, shown for units with headlight switch. The diagrams show the coil being grounded by 86, although by numeric convention it should be grounded at 85. For this relay, without diodes, it doesn't matter. This is relay 8 in the diagram below.
~~61 32 1 243 532~~ 61 36 7 727 672 relay with diode between 86 and 87b which keeps the park lights on during cranking, used on models without the headlight switch. This is relay 7 in the diagram below.
61 32 1 244 411 is the Monoshock relay, which has the 86-87b diode and also has a diode so that it will only work if 85 is the ground. This is relay 3 below. It does not have a mounting tab like the first two do.

Although the diode version was used with the US-style always-on headlight, and the non-diode was used with the headlight switch models, they aren't related by functionality. The diode relay will keep the park circuit energized whether you have an always-on headlight setup or a switch that is turned on. Likewise, the non-diode version will extinguish all lights during cranking, switch or not, as long as it is wired to load shed.

Switches for Monoshock models

The wires are the same as for the Twinshocks except they are terminated in two connector blocks with 3.5mm sockets. Installing a headlight switch on most models is plug and play. Keep in mind that the G/S, ST, and early GS and early R65 models use a special switch that has dual outputs for the turn signals and cannot accomodate a headlight on/off switch (that function is performed by the ignition switch for those models). With some creative wiring, the 410 switch can be used on any model bike such that the headlight switch controls an accessory.

	General function for 410 and 418	Pin location number	Continuous light 61 31 1 244 418	Switched light 61 31 1 244 410	G/S, GS and R65 61 31 1 244 420	General function for 420
R E D	High/low	1	Yellow to HL low	<- same	<- same	high/low
		2	Green x 2 power for FTP and horn	<- same	Green power for FTP
		3	White to HL high	<- same	<- same
	Headlight on/off	4	Yellow jumper to 6	Yellow/black to HL relay	Yellow/white power to hi/lo
		5		Gray (park) to HL relay	Blue/red jumper to black 4	Turn signals
		6	Yellow jumper to 4	Green/violet power to HL switch	Blue/black jumper to black 5	Turn signals
B L A C K	High/low	1	Yellow/white power to hi/lo	<- same	Brown ground	Horn
	Horn	2	Green/black power out to horn (from Red 2)	<- same	Brown/white switched ground for horn	Horn
	Turn signals	3	Green/yellow power in for TS	<- same	<- same	Turn signals
		4	Blue/red left signal	<- same	<- same
		5	Blue/black right signal	<- same	<- same
	Unused	6				Unused

Switches for Paralever models

The 1991 and later R100GS, R100R and Mystic used the K-style controls, which have the optional headlight switch on the right switch assembly. The big change is that the turn signals are momentary pushbuttons, with "left" on the left switch and separate buttons for "right" and "cancel" on the right switch. Although the switches are identical between the Airheads, 2V K bikes and 4V K bikes, the part numbers are different because the connectors differ. The early switches (for 2V K75/K100) used a 9-pin connector with 3.5mm pins, while the late (R100 and 4V K/R) switches used 8-pin and 12-pin connectors with 2.5mm sockets.

		61 31 2 305 232	61 31 1 459 462
T U R N	right	5 blu/yel	5 blue/yel
	cancel	10 brown/wht	separate
	ground	8 brown	8 brown
L I G H T	power	3 green	3 green
	park	7 gray/blue	7 gray/blue
	lights	4 yel/wht	4 wht/yel
R U N	power	9 green	9 green
R U N	kill	2 green/red	2 green/yel
S T	power	6 green/yel	6 black/green
S T	start	1 black/wht	1 black/yel

These are the switches for this style:

61 31 1 459 461 left early
61 31 1 459 462 right euro early
61 31 1 459 464 right cont early
61 31 2 306 058 left late w/windshield control
61 31 2 306 177, 61 31 2 305 231 left late
~~61 31 2 306 178~~, 61 31 2 305 232 right euro late
~~61 31 2 306 179~~, 61 31 2 305 233 right cont late

The 177/178/179 switches are the same as the 231/232/233 switches but do not have the clear plastic shrouds over the connector. The 178 and 179 have been superseded by the shrouded versions. The 461/462/464 have shrouds.

The 058 switch (with windshield control for the R1100RT and K1100LT) can be used on any of these bikes to control whatever you want, but the main connector will have to be changed over to the 3.5mm pins for use on a K75 or K100.

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