Way Low on Wolo and Electrical Wiring

[ghostler]

Yep, I decided to do something that most would not do. While rewiring and adding accessory circuits (alarm, heated grips, headset cables, CB PPT switch, trailer module wiring), plus a new accessory load center (6 by 30 Amp (max) per fuse block mounted to top of ignitor with universal strap cushioned by camper top foam tape, I hate to search for fuses), I reworked the previous owner's wiring job.

While testing the first horn on the left, I discovered that Wolo Bad Boy air horns are actually dual horns. One is sufficiently loud. Also, it was wired with 16 gauge wire, I upgraded it to 14 gauge and cleaned up the installation.

With the 2nd horn removed, I now had an additional relay for use with my Bikemaster Heated Grips. I decided to wire the coil side of the relay to the headlight power circuit. I didn't want the grips to be capable of power, until after the engine was started. (This is the Red wire with Blue stripe, where it enters the Reserve Lighting Device. (The RLD monitors the powered headlight beam (Lo or Hi), and if it fails, switches to the other beam and lights a warning on the dash panel.)

Power draw of the relay is less than 1/5 Amp, which should be fine on this headlight circuit.

[ghostler]

Here are some photos of my Bikemaster heated grips installation. They are about 1/2 inch (13 mm) shorter than the Kawasaki ones. To cover the shortage, I used 1 inch rubber heater hose. The slight looseness on the left side was compensated for by making the length a tad oversized, so that when I re-installed the bar end weight, it was set into place. The right side fit perfectly over the hand grip area. If you notice, my new accessory load center is just below the grip, mounted on top the igniter module. It is slowly getting populated as I add circuits. Grips got toasty warm with engine running in this 100 DegF New Mexico weather.

[ghostler]

Electrical aftermarket accessory expansion fuse panel is coming together. A standard wire nut is used to insulate the hot 12 VDC terminal post. Got alarm, heated grips, Wolo horn, charge connector, and cigarette style socket wired. Open slot is for trailer light power which is next.



Wiring is now cleaned up inside left upper fairing area. Wiring loop with green wire ties is the CB PPT switch. This wire will be terminated when CB is installed. Socket for the cigarette style power socket is awaiting mount, which is now being painted. It will sit in the spot reserved for the CB control unit. Other red & black wiring loop is for the alarm LED. I may shorten, splice and heat shrink sleeve this later to eliminate excess.



Edit 7/29/2014, 9:12am MDT. Corrected 12 VAC to 12 VDC and added note below. gh

I used grounding locations at the headlight reserve module mount (middle left) for heated grips and relay, and alarm returns. Lower middle off horn mount bracket is the Wolo horn and cigarette lighter socket returns.

[SgtSlag]

Nice, clean installation. Did the same with my sub-fuse block. I bolted my cig./accessory outlet on the back of the cruise control switch panel; it is aimed at the driver, due to the angle of the mounting, which works nicely for my handlebar GPS bracket, which has a short cable on its power supply plug (my GPS's battery died years ago, so it needs to be plugged into power, to work for more than 2 minutes...). It has a spring-loaded, waterproof cover.

For my horn upgrade, I used two disc horns (Hi/Low pair), instead of the Bad Boy's. Wired them directly to the battery, with a relay. Gives plenty of dB's, but not like an air horn. I shied away from the Bad Boy due to reading about their susceptibility to water damage. I wanted to face the horn's output forward, never really considered mounting it like you have, behind the side cowling, aimed sideways, which looks as though it would keep the water away from the innards. Two Bad Boy's, one on each side, would certainly wake folks up!

Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

[ghostler]

Thanks, SgtSlag. Yes, 2 Bad Boys were extremely loud. I was concerned about LEO's use that as a flag for a citation. 1 is bad enough, more than sufficiently loud, but not annoyingly loud, plus reduced circuit load. Previous owner had mounted the horn outlets rearward. I cleaned up his wiring a little, rerouting for cleaner installation and recrimping his connectors. Tool I've got is a Japanese crimp tool, which has a wider crimp base for better crimps.

Your location for the cigarette lighter socket is a good location for ready access. I didn't have one of those bike mount sockets, so I went with an automotive socket instead. This will allow me to charge my cellphone and run my GPS. Cord is sufficiently long and I can Velcro band the excess for my GPS mounted on handle bar left.

Edit 7/27/2014, 11:55am. Added photo and description.

Here's the mount for the cigarette lighter power socket, from 3/8" plywood. To it I mount the plastic automotive mount that affixes the socket. It has one coat of Dupli-Color primer surfacer already to seal the wood, synthetic spackle is used to fill wood imperfections. When finished, no one will know it is wood.

[ghostler]

Here's what the cigarette lighter power socket looks like:



It has a caveat, I'll have to redo it. The plastic bezel became brittle, falling apart after being in contact with the painted plywood. Photo shows how the edge of it was easily crumbled by my fingers. I only let the paint dry for half a day, so it was dry to the touch but not fully cured, but should have been sufficient to mount. Paint was spray lacquer.



The trailer wiring is almost done. I would have shown a photo of it, but it is too dark in the garage to get a good photo. I mounted the 5 to 4 wire adapter module behind the license plate with connector cover sticking a little beyond for easy access. This module monitors the motorcycle's lights and has a separate lead straight to battery to power the trailer lights.

I checked the current draw of the module with key off. As shown how it should be wired, it has sufficient internal resistance to have 110 mA draw at the power lead fuse location. This is a tenth of an Amp. In 24 hours, it would have consumed 2.64 Amp-Hours. Battery is rated at 24 Amp-Hours. Theoretically battery would be dead in 9 days.

Of course the internal resistance of the battery would cause it to lose charge over time as well. I plan to check what the radio's current draw is for key off, but we don't need to worsen the situation more than what it already is. The alarm I installed already has an idle current, even though it may be small. I need to add another relay to end this 110 mA with key off.

[Lumpy Rider]

The fan in the pic...is that mounted on the bars or dash cover?

[ghostler]

The fan in the pic...is that mounted on the bars or dash cover?

If you are referring to this fan I posted a couple days ago:



It's my eastern New Mexico shop air conditioning system, a 24" 3 speed fan. We get temperatures to 100 Deg. F during summer. It makes life more endurable while working on stuff in the garage.

[kjsett]

Hey, my son lives there in Clovis (works as WG on the base). His family is actually over in Edgewood till his house sells. We get that far every so often, but haven't ridden yet to Clovis (3 more hours). If we ever get that far, maybe see your project.
Anyway, he sold me my '03 after he decided he needed a Harley. Now owns a Triumph 2.3L ( i think it is a "Rocket", but not sure about the model name).
Anyway, won't be riding over anytime soon as we just finished a 3 week, 4500 mile trip around the west (including Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Washington State, the Coast of California, and back to Phoenix on I10 from LA). Planning on writing it up for Don M. and his use of it.
Oh, and I wish it only would get to 100F around here. Rode to work yesterday (just have to ride at least once a week, if not more) in 106F and started home at 8pm at 108F. I try to do as little as possible outside this time of year, but then I get 8-9 months of great riding weather.
Great project, might borrow some ideas. I have been thinking about how to relocate the Cruise Control unit, but think that will be a bigger project than I have time for (Led indicators up on the dash and the switches on the handlebar with the board underneath with some way of filling the hole (coffee cup/coin holder???).

Enjoy,
Ken in Phoenix

[ghostler]

Hey, my son lives there in Clovis (works as WG on the base). His family is actually over in Edgewood till his house sells. We get that far every so often, but haven't ridden yet to Clovis (3 more hours). If we ever get that far, maybe see your project.

Yes, Edgewood is a little bit of a drive from here. It is at a higher elevation, I think around 6,500 feet, which makes it more pleasant during the summer. If you ever are in the area, please PM me, perhaps we can have a cup of coffee and chat, have look see at each other's projects.

Anyway, he sold me my '03 after he decided he needed a Harley. Now owns a Triumph 2.3L ( i think it is a "Rocket", but not sure about the model name). Anyway, won't be riding over anytime soon as we just finished a 3 week, 4500 mile trip around the west (including Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Washington State, the Coast of California, and back to Phoenix on I10 from LA). Planning on writing it up for Don M. and his use of it.

That is a good ride. Longest I've been on so far is 1,800 miles from Clovis to Kansas City, MO. Did it with a friend, who has friends in another part of the state.

Oh, and I wish it only would get to 100F around here. Rode to work yesterday (just have to ride at least once a week, if not more) in 106F and started home at 8pm at 108F. I try to do as little as possible outside this time of year, but then I get 8-9 months of great riding weather.

We are at 4,300 feet elevation a little further north, which tend to keep the temps down a little compared with Phoenix. Occasionally I have seen temps climb to 105 Deg F, but only a couple times in the summer.

Great project, might borrow some ideas. I have been thinking about how to relocate the Cruise Control unit, but think that will be a bigger project than I have time for (Led indicators up on the dash and the switches on the handlebar with the board underneath with some way of filling the hole (coffee cup/coin holder???).
Enjoy, Ken in Phoenix

Yes, those two switches on the tank with oversized light indicators is a bit of overkill. Perhaps it was done more as a marketing gimmick. I haven't any ideas of what to put at that location. One thing good about this project is that I was finally able to adjust the cruise control cable slack. Apparently no one ever adjusted this unit from birth, or it is a replacement unit. The cable adjustment was fully backed down, I needed to move it about a half to almost 3/4" to take up the slack. I thought the cruise control should work like an automobile, but it was slow reacting. Now I know better.

[ghostler]

Bought a relay from O'Reilly Auto Parts. I had it mounted, then it blew a fuse when Pins 30 and 87 were one way, activated head and marker lights when reversed without my choosing. After checking it with a multimeter, I found that Pins 86 (coil) and 87 (relay switch contact) would short when relay was tripped. Relay was defective. I got a refund after showing them the problem. They didn't have another make/model in stock (didn't want a repeat experience with same item), so I bought another from Autozone for a few bucks more.

Attached are photos of the relay and trailer module mounted. One sometimes has to get creative with where to locate the relays. In this case I mounted it to the bottom of the bracket to the cruise control servo. I T-tapped into the marker lighting circuit to power the relay. Relay coil current draw is 140 mA.

The finished accessory expansion fuse block:



Relay to the trailer 5 to 4 wire module battery power supply lead below cruise control servo module:



Trailer module mounted behind license plate area:

[ghostler]

Here's where I put the alarm module. To mount, I used small heater hose clamps to attach the bracket to the fairing frame (lower left of photo). There wasn't much room due to the flow through ducting. Left side was congested with wiring including the additional circuits I added. To the lower left is another view of the trailer lighting relay.

[ghostler]

I checked the current draw of the Clarion radio and alarm system. They are 5.3 milliamperes and 10 milliamperes respectively. This is far less than the trailer module, which through its electronic circuitry was soaking 110 milliamperes, requiring an external relay.