Battery And Accessory Connections, Etc.

[mrclubike]

There is a problem reducing load on the original switches.
They where designed to carry the load they see on an OEM bike.
If you reduce this load too much, they will fail. The load "cleans" them at every switch operation. If the current is reduced this cleaning is not done and oxidation increase the switch resistance up to a failure.
Contacts for low voltage/low current switches  are quite different (and very often gold plated).
If, on the other hand, the relay you install do not have a diode across the coil, the cleaning function could still be present because of the current spike seen when de-energizing the relay.
hope  this  helps.

 True
But looking at the stock wiring diagram  some of the switches are only carrying the current of a  relay anyway and the coils are resistor suppressed
So I am more worried about a 35 year old switch over heating and burning up from getting dirty
You may be able to clean a oxidized switch but a burnt up switch is not very easy to repair

Most of the extra relays I have are for added on accessory's

Driving lights
tank bag
heated grips
Aux driving lights
Emergency flasher
Fiamm  Freeway  blaster horns
Turn signal beeper relay

[georgesgiralt]

BPT, I've yet to see switches from a BMW bike destroyed by the load BMW put on to them.
They die from the sun burning the plastic down to dust.
I've had left hand  switches dismantled and the contacts were pristine.
It is a different story if you replace the 55/65W H4 bulb to  a 100/80 W or add a couple of 55W H1 headlights...
In the latter, I would add a small extra load  on the OEM switch to pilot the relay powering the new headlights.
BMW supplied stuff is of  good   quality  (well was.... ).

[Ed Miller]

I just got some stuff for my Triumph from Eastern Beaver a few months ago.  I hope he is able to get the business going again.  I get the Airlist but I generally just skim the subjects and delete it if I don't see anything that looks interesting.

[BPT]

Hi Ed - Sorry, I am traveling and this is the first time I've been able to look in for a while.  I made a separate post about Eastern Beaver, he is up and running and didn't sound like he had ever stopped.