Good morning all. I spent a few hours yesterday installing a Scorpio i900. I hadn't seen anyone do any sort of install or write-up here on the forum so I thought I'd try and document the process as best I could for anyone thinking about installing an alarm or thinking about purchasing the i900. This is on my faster-blue 2007 FZ6. I assume other years are similar. I was really pressed for time since I was using a garage on the Marine Corps base that closed at a certain time. If I didn't finish the install I wouldn't be getting home! So things were certainly more rushed than I wanted them to be and I didn't get everything secured down, but I did the majority of the work. Below is what I got accomplished yesterday. I'll post a follow up with some pics of where things were placed to secure them and a review of the system after I've had a chance to use it a bit. [click links for larger photos]
Here's a photo of the "brains" of the Scorpio i900 system. Scorpio calls this the MCM-9 unit. Obviously it's not very large. Everything aside from the RFID antenna an antenna to pick up the transmitter (which amounts to a wire, it's about 18 inches long and it's actually already attached to the MCM-9). The optional accessories and harnesses are plugged into this unit. Even the alarm siren is in this unit.
As I already said I was rushed with the install so the quality of my photos isn't so great. Hopefully it'll give you a general idea of what you need to know though. I'll try to put the rest of this post in a logical order, so bare with me.
I opted for the "factory harness" kit which amounts to a bag of connectors that help you integrate the unit into your fz6. The kit that we use is the "YAM-6" which has the following two harnesses in it:
We only use the one for the R6. You can pretty much toss the one for the R1.
We’ll start by installing this harness. If you don’t opt for the factory install kit there is a “generic” harness that’s included with the i900. The factory install kit is like $30 and in hindsight I’m not sure I would have paid for it. It saved me about 10 minutes *shrug*. It all depends on how you want to make your connections.
Here’s a horrible picture of the generic harness. It plugs into the MCM-9 and on the other end has some crimp-on spade connectors. The idea here is that you use a press on T connection to the wire you want to connect to. I didn’t think of taking a picture last night since I wasn’t using these but I’ll try to think to add a picture of these connectors later so you can decide which route you want to take. Anyway, you press these connectors onto the wire and they cut the insulation around the wire and make the connection that way. They work but I’m not a fan of them. They take up a lot more room than my method of solder and shrink wrap, plus they don’t look factory. I think it’s important for this install too look factory aka “stealth”. Also I am paranoid about problems associated with dampness and moisture. A good solder joint is going to stand up to moisture whereas the press-on fittings may not. So I didn’t want to use them. Regardless, the connections we are aiming for either way are:
Left turn signal
Right turn signal
License plate lamp (or any other switched +12V source)
Ground
The “factory harness kit” made it simple to connect to the tail light and ground. Simple disconnect the factory connections and install the Scorpio connections in-line with them. The kit does not help you install the left and right turn signal leads. This is why I say it may not be worth the $30. It saved me making two connections. The factory harness kit uses the spade plugs for the left and right turn signals. Whereas the Generic harness kit uses the spade plugs for left, right, +12v switched source and ground. I say it saved me the 10 minutes since I wasn’t going to use the spade connectors. I figure 5 minutes per wire to cut, strip, place the shrink wrap around it, solder, shrink and wrap with electrical tape.
Here's a photo of the "brains" of the Scorpio i900 system. Scorpio calls this the MCM-9 unit. Obviously it's not very large. Everything aside from the RFID antenna an antenna to pick up the transmitter (which amounts to a wire, it's about 18 inches long and it's actually already attached to the MCM-9). The optional accessories and harnesses are plugged into this unit. Even the alarm siren is in this unit.
As I already said I was rushed with the install so the quality of my photos isn't so great. Hopefully it'll give you a general idea of what you need to know though. I'll try to put the rest of this post in a logical order, so bare with me.
I opted for the "factory harness" kit which amounts to a bag of connectors that help you integrate the unit into your fz6. The kit that we use is the "YAM-6" which has the following two harnesses in it:
We only use the one for the R6. You can pretty much toss the one for the R1.
We’ll start by installing this harness. If you don’t opt for the factory install kit there is a “generic” harness that’s included with the i900. The factory install kit is like $30 and in hindsight I’m not sure I would have paid for it. It saved me about 10 minutes *shrug*. It all depends on how you want to make your connections.
Here’s a horrible picture of the generic harness. It plugs into the MCM-9 and on the other end has some crimp-on spade connectors. The idea here is that you use a press on T connection to the wire you want to connect to. I didn’t think of taking a picture last night since I wasn’t using these but I’ll try to think to add a picture of these connectors later so you can decide which route you want to take. Anyway, you press these connectors onto the wire and they cut the insulation around the wire and make the connection that way. They work but I’m not a fan of them. They take up a lot more room than my method of solder and shrink wrap, plus they don’t look factory. I think it’s important for this install too look factory aka “stealth”. Also I am paranoid about problems associated with dampness and moisture. A good solder joint is going to stand up to moisture whereas the press-on fittings may not. So I didn’t want to use them. Regardless, the connections we are aiming for either way are:
Left turn signal
Right turn signal
License plate lamp (or any other switched +12V source)
Ground
The “factory harness kit” made it simple to connect to the tail light and ground. Simple disconnect the factory connections and install the Scorpio connections in-line with them. The kit does not help you install the left and right turn signal leads. This is why I say it may not be worth the $30. It saved me making two connections. The factory harness kit uses the spade plugs for the left and right turn signals. Whereas the Generic harness kit uses the spade plugs for left, right, +12v switched source and ground. I say it saved me the 10 minutes since I wasn’t going to use the spade connectors. I figure 5 minutes per wire to cut, strip, place the shrink wrap around it, solder, shrink and wrap with electrical tape.
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