Re: 'Does the light switch still need to be in the circuit for it to fire?'
No. Separate circuits. Nothing shared except ground.
Re: 'I removed the light switch, headlight harness, put the ground back, made sure the kill switch was connected, taped off the two headlight connections and now .....'
Not spelling, but grammar.
When using commas to separate items in a list, a comma is placed before the conjuntive 'and', too.
.., taped off, and now...
That being the 'Oxford' comma or 'serial comma' way of looking at it.
Unless...it's not your way of looking at it.
Yes, some think there is no reason for a comma in such a listing, but that may lead to:
'I wish to thank my parents, Franz and Hanz.'
Personally, I'd prefer to thank my parents, Franz, and Hanz.
But, that's probably just me.
