I ordered a couple of what BMW calls the additional switch, here's the part number and description,  
BMW ADDITIONAL SWITCH Part # 61311459306

It says nothing about being a lighted switch nor does it have a lamp in it when it ships. Has anyone used one of these and are they lighted and if so, where do I acquire a lamp for them? Secondarily, if you have one and wired it how did you wire it? I have tried a few different combinations and it is very weird how it works or doesn't work. One way it only allows the momentary position to lite the fog lamps, the other way in the ON position it lights the lamps but does not light when the momentary position is activated. And wired "correctly" per colour codes of the wires on the switch and the position of the wires, it only does the momentary feature. Basically, it is a three position rocker with three wires, one for ground, and I assume one for hot feed, and a separate wire for load, what ever that load might be.......perplexed is a good word.

I sounds line the BMW switch 61311459306 is a single pole double throw (SPDT) center off, momentary contact switch.  Please correct me if I'm mistaken here.  It sounds like the switch rests in the center position normally,  When you push one side, the switch makes contact but breaks contact and returns to center if you release it.  If you press in the opposite way, the switch makes contact and remains in contact, so you must press it back into center off position.  Is this the correctly described behaviour?  

If there are only three contact terminals provided on the switch, and the behaviour is as described above, then you don't have illumination capability.  If so, the switch you have will be wired as this (2 is common, 1 and 3 are switched contacts):


An illuminated single pole single throw (SPST) switch will have three contacts.  One contact is for the light, one is common and the third is the switched contact.  The schematic for such a switch looks like this:

Yes that is the way it works. I'll try that wiring and see if it works which makes sense. Thanks! My confusion was trying to wire it as a lighted switch with a groun on either pin 1 or 3. So is pin 2 ground and pin 1 source hot and 3 load?

Only one switch ever shipped with a light and IIRC that was the hazard switch. ALL of them have the internal moldings to take a tiny (so called 'grain of wheat') bulb but only the hazard has a coloured window. The rest are completely opaque. A bit of almost literal poking around led me to the (probably incorrect) conclusion that when shipped in a BMW car, the switches all had coloured windows and bulbs. At least, the car switches look externally identical to the K ones.

Putting the part number into realOEM, in a K100 context that switch seems to be mostly associated with Police lights and sirens.

Bill

There are several translucent switch inserts:
Hazard - Red
ABS - Red
Plain orange
Plain blue
Windscreen - green

I think the only one that ever came with a bulb was the hazard - and they didn't last too long. Aside from the first few years, I don't think a lot of them were produced with the bulb in them. (why the hazard switch connector on the main harness has three wires - used for the early hazard swtiches and then just a legacy thing after that)

All of the switches also have a legacy spot for the bulb. If one is resourceful, you can retrofit non-lit switches with a 3mm 12V LED - as I have done on most of my bikes - makes the swtiches much easier to see when riding somewhere dark at night.

Dai wrote:Only one switch ever shipped with a light and IIRC that was the hazard switch. ALL of them have the internal moldings to take a tiny (so called 'grain of wheat') bulb but only the hazard has a coloured window. The rest are completely opaque. A bit of almost literal poking around led me to the (probably incorrect) conclusion that when shipped in a BMW car, the switches all had coloured windows and bulbs. At least, the car switches look externally identical to the K ones.

Ok, now you have me thinking. One of the BMW cars I still own is my 1985 Dinan E28 535i. So I now will go out and look at the switches and see if any are lighter. I think the seat switches might be at least the same footprint as these extra switches. All of them are momentary though.

On the K switches (also used on many Rs of the era) it is very easy to turn a momentary switch into a non-momentary switch. Just some minor Dremeling is all that's required.

The BMW switches are a standard automotive size, 31mm X 17mm. Boating shops also use these size switches on panels and they are usually the water resistant type (IP56 or better).

Dai wrote:Only one switch ever shipped with a light and IIRC that was the hazard switch. ALL of them have the internal moldings to take a tiny (so called 'grain of wheat') bulb but only the hazard has a coloured window. The rest are completely opaque. A bit of almost literal poking around led me to the (probably incorrect) conclusion that when shipped in a BMW car, the switches all had coloured windows and bulbs. At least, the car switches look externally identical to the K ones.

I saw the hole where the lamp would go which started me off on this problem. I am going to also get the hazard switch if it is a direct plug in.

So the next problem is that the leads from the bulb are only held under the copper switch contacts with pressure. They are not soldered on in any shape or form.

Speaking of switches, I need to install a manual switch for the Fan, as I am driving to Malta on the K1100 in 8 weeks from Galway....hehehe. Don't ask how I got permission. it wasn't easy:)

Its for the K11RS absII . Would anyone have a handy method to achieve this??

Simple... purple/yellow from the fan to one side of a 10amp toggle switch and green from the ignition switch to the other side of the switch. If you forget about it, the fan goes off with the ignition.

A suggested way of adding two new wires in:
Disconnect the fan and look at the socket on the main loom. With a slim screwdriver you should be able to depress the tang that holds the purple/yellow terminal in and push it out. I would then unpeel the rear ears on the terminal and crimp a new wire into there - solder to the forward crimp if you feel it's necessary. You can pick the green wire up from pin 7 on the fusebox or pin 86 on the load shed relay. Do something similar to add a new wire.

Just don't use Scotchlocks. One mis-squeeze and you've buggered the main loom.

Dai wrote:
Just don't use Scotchlocks. One mis-squeeze and you've buggered the main loom.

Just don't use Scotchlocks EVER !  Unsealed, unreliable and just plain bad !  The few minutes saved over a proper heat sealeable butt splice  will ne paid back with hours of aggravation chasing dead or intermittent problems.