Wiring?

[Monkeyman]

I'm hoping to install all 3 gauges (water temp, oil press and volts) this weekend as well as wire up the entire fairing (ending with the 4 way plugs at the fairing/bike). This way, once I get my main bracket, I can bolt it together, plug stuff in and be done.

I've read Gadgets write up about wiring up the gauges but want to make sure I'm doing things correctly. It would be nice to only have to do something once this time.

For the voltmeter...I understand it only needs power and ground. I'd like to keep the wires from fairing to bike at a minimum. Can I take power/ground from anywhere or do they need to be dedicated to this gauge? Do they need to run from the battery to the gauge or can they be combined with other power/ground wires? Is there anything that CAN'T be between the battery and the gauge (switches, relays, lighter, etc)?

For the oil press/water temp...all they need between the sending units and gauges is the sending unit wire, right? Do they also need some sort of power (other than the back light) or do they get that from the sending unit?

I know I can daisy chain the back lights (power and ground) for the gauges. Do these wires need to be run straight to the battery or can they be branched off of something else?

Like I said, I'm trying to have as few connections from the battery to the fairing as possible. I've run a pair of hot and a pair of ground wires from the battery to the front of the bike. I'll need to wire up these 3 gauges, run power to a switch/flasher for 4 ways, power to a lighter (to charge my phone) and run constant and switched power to the stereo. Will these be enough wires? I thought I had it figured out but then I added these gauges to the mix and I got cornfuzzled all over again.

I'd like to get my wiring diagrams solidified this week so I can start on this when I get off work Friday.

[ringadingh]

You should probably run a small fuse panel that is mounted inside the fairing. This would be for your radio,& cigarette lighter, as well as anything else you have in your fairing.
The voltmeter could be connected to the power coming in to the panel, and the negative side goes to ground. You can install a terminal strip so all your grounds are neatly connected together. You don't need to keep running wires back to the battery for the ground, any bare connection on the frame will work.
Connect the three negative wires from the gauges and ground them, connect the three wires from the backlighting and connect them to a switched power source, this could be in the fuse panel if you mount one.

[Monkeyman]

Thanks. I was trying to avoid spending another 100 bucks on a fuse block but it appears I might have to after all.

[ringadingh]

You should be able to get a fuse block for about $20.00 or less.

[Monkeyman]

Hmmm....All I could think of was the one from Eastern Beaver. Guess it's another $20 then.

[sly]

The eastern beaver is more expensive, but very easy to install and everything you need is there. Great service, recieved mine in about a week after ordering...

[ringadingh]

You can save a lot of cash by wiring it in yourself, use a relay to make it become switched.

[Monkeyman]

I need at least one constant lead for the stereo. Everything else can be switched I think. With 2 hot leads from the battery, one could be for the constant to the stereo and the other to a fuse block. Hmmmm....

[ringadingh]

You have a constant fused power wire under the tank or in the headlight bucket that you can use for that.

[cnc]

The eastern beaver is more expensive, but very easy to install and everything you need is there. Great service, recieved mine in about a week after ordering...

The Eastern Beaver is very desirable, oh right were not talking women here, carry on.:tehe:

[Monkeyman]

Much more so than the Western Beaver. You're funny, Betty.

[Bdog]

The Eastern Beaver is very desirable, oh right were not talking women here, carry on.:tehe:
Actually it is the Northern Beaver that is the most desirable..very rare..hard to find..and crafty as hell..and costly to get a licence for.:cheers:

[Monkeyman]

You have a constant fused power wire under the tank or in the headlight bucket that you can use for that.

That's a constant lead? I assumed it was switched. Hmmm... Still, a wire straight to the batter for constant power then one to a relay that went to a fuse block might keep things a bit tidier? Especially if I'm trying to connect everything between the fairing and bike with 4 pin trailer connectors.

I figured I'd need (3) 4 pin connectors. One for the whole headlight wiring thing (from Eastern Beaver, no less), and a total of 2 for the other misc stuff. I was thinking about connecting the turn signals through another connector for ease in removing the fairing (in the event of an accident or for when I need to paint). Perhaps I can just plug those in to the OEM connectors. I'll have to lengthen the wires anyway.

[Monkeyman]

Actually it is the Northern Beaver that is the most desirable..very rare..hard to find..and crafty as hell..and costly to get a licence for.:cheers:

I had a Northern Beaver once. I wasn't all that impressed. Found her at a truck stop...nevermind. :D

[collinr]

You might be better off yanking the PDC from a basic junked car. Maybe a VW bug or something.

You only really need 1 direct to battery + connection.

You can probably use the brackets from the highway bars as a ground path, inside the fairing you simply need a bolt and nut to connect them all together.

Although there may be an unswitched hot in the headlamp it may not have the capacity to run a power outlet.

If you swipe a PCD from a modern car it will have plenty of relay and fuse locations prewired, these are basically dirt at boneyards.

[ringadingh]

The accessory wires are fused at 10amps, more than enough to power the radio.

[coacha]

PCD/PDC? please elaborate on what those are.

[ringadingh]

I was wondering that myself Ron. Guys use the abbreviations, not realizing most of us have no idea what they mean.

[Rotorboy]

I believe he means Power Center and Distribution or Power Distribution Center. i.e., Fuse box. Modern cars have relay ports built in so you can run a relay by just dropping power in and then running to your load. The relay it's self is then just plugged in. Makes for a very clean compact setup. Could you post a simple list of everything you want to run? Thanks

[Monkeyman]

I ordered this today. http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/p519.html It has a place for grounds, too so I hope it will work. I have: stereo (12v constant/12v switched/ground), 3 gauges, power for 4 ways (per Gadgets site), lighter.

[Jackag]

That's a constant lead? I assumed it was switched. Hmmm... Still, a wire straight to the batter for constant power then one to a relay that went to a fuse block might keep things a bit tidier? Especially if I'm trying to connect everything between the fairing and bike with 4 pin trailer connectors.

I figured I'd need (3) 4 pin connectors. One for the whole headlight wiring thing (from Eastern Beaver, no less), and a total of 2 for the other misc stuff. I was thinking about connecting the turn signals through another connector for ease in removing the fairing (in the event of an accident or for when I need to paint). Perhaps I can just plug those in to the OEM connectors. I'll have to lengthen the wires anyway.

If you are interested I can provide you with some part numbers for a single 14pin connector. Would be easier than several connectors.

[Monkeyman]

I think I have the wiring figured out. I drew it on paper but it looks like a bowl of spaghetti. I'll redo it this morning (with pretty lines and such) and snap a pic of it to post. Ya'll can see what you think.

[ringadingh]

That fuse panel you chose should work well, thats the same as I had, but mine doesn't have the ground terminals. Ive never seen them before like that but its exactly what you need.

[Monkeyman]

Well, that'll be one thing I've done right so far. I'm off to a good start. :)

[ringadingh]

You can connect it with a 30-40 amp relay so it becomes switched if you need.

[macmac]

The only thing missing is a ground wire from the forks to the frame in a heavy enough size to be the ground the head bearings are right now! Probably a 10 gauge wire in black bolted to any bolt near the head stock to the forks, as a ground.

Maybe you added one in another of my rants already?

The whole reason is about keeping bearings, bearings and not turning them into rocks. When current passes through bearings that are greased, and are not good connections in the first place arcing occures, and little by little the bearings are turned into steel rocks. Pebbles of steel make for very poor bearings. I call these pebbles because that's what they end up looking like. They get black and irregular.

[collinr]

The accessory wires are fused at 10amps, more than enough to power the radio.

I would want far more in mine. Running an inverter from the outlet would be nce on occasion. So would the ability to jump start a buddy without having to do anything other then pull out a custom cable.

I believe he means Power Center and Distribution or Power Distribution Center. i.e., Fuse box. Modern cars have relay ports built in so you can run a relay by just dropping power in and then running to your load. The relay it's self is then just plugged in. Makes for a very clean compact setup. Could you post a simple list of everything you want to run? Thanks

Yup Power Distribution Center, its an all in one deal. The bigger problem is probably finding one thats not crazy overkill. Even say a Jeep Wrangler doesn't have too many circuits since it's a rather basic vehicle the PDC is a long narrow design that would probably be tough to fit in a fairing.



The whole reason is about keeping bearings, bearings and not turning them into rocks. When current passes through bearings that are greased, and are not good connections in the first place arcing occures, and little by little the bearings are turned into steel rocks. Pebbles of steel make for very poor bearings. I call these pebbles because that's what they end up looking like. They get black and irregular.

Thats definately true, I would consider the highway bar as I think that is one of your chassis connections. You don't want your path to ground to go through bearings.

[collinr]

I can only think of a few wires I would need coming from the bike.

Chassis ground
Unswitched hot
Park position from key switch, not sure where to source. One of you guys know???

You can make unswitched hot switched by using the headlamp low beam to trip a relay. No need to have a seperate switched lead coming from the bike.

Me personally I would probably run an overkill lead for hot and ground and then some stranded Cat5 for the rest. If you use a shared ground you can run 8 signals on a single Cat5. Once you have a good hot supply into the fairing it only takes a few miliamps to trip the relays, 22 or 24 gauge Cat5 is plenty for that task. Since it's stranded it will handle the vibration and movement like automotive wire. However unless you can find CMX you would need to run it inside a wire loom to protect it from UV.

I think the park feature is just underutilized so I want to do something cool with it.

[Monkeyman]

You can connect it with a 30-40 amp relay so it becomes switched if you need.

That's my intention. I only need 1 constant power lead (for the radio) so I'll have 1 hot to the radio, 1 hot to a relay powering the fuse block and a ground off of the fuse block (ground junction thing).

The only thing missing is a ground wire from the forks to the frame in a heavy enough size to be the ground the head bearings are right now! Probably a 10 gauge wire in black bolted to any bolt near the head stock to the forks, as a ground.

Hiya, buddy! I have 2 ground wires running from the front of the bike (where they'll plug into the fairing) back to the battery. I think they're 12 gauge so it should be big enough. Good thinking.

I can only think of a few wires I would need coming from the bike.

Chassis ground
Unswitched hot
Park position from key switch, not sure where to source. One of you guys know???

You can make unswitched hot switched by using the headlamp low beam to trip a relay. No need to have a seperate switched lead coming from the bike.

Me personally I would probably run an overkill lead for hot and ground and then some stranded Cat5 for the rest. If you use a shared ground you can run 8 signals on a single Cat5. Once you have a good hot supply into the fairing it only takes a few miliamps to trip the relays, 22 or 24 gauge Cat5 is plenty for that task. Since it's stranded it will handle the vibration and movement like automotive wire. However unless you can find CMX you would need to run it inside a wire loom to protect it from UV.

I think the park feature is just underutilized so I want to do something cool with it.

Please, don't confuse me. I've got this overthought already. :D