Planning accessory wiring

MattR302 · Nov 30, 2012

So sometime over the winter I plan on adding some electrical goodies to the bike. I’m thinking heated grips, an LED voltmeter, and a 12v outlet. I’m thinking I’d mount these on the inner fairing. They would all be fused and switched with a relay. I’m trying to plan out my wiring, and where it would make sense to locate the fusebox and relay.

Would it be better to run wires from the battery, back to a fusebox and a relay under the seat, and then the accessory wires run from there up along the frame to the inner fairing? This way, to replace a fuse or relay, I just have to lift the seat.

But this first way would have a lot of wire running back and forth. I could mount the fuses and relay near the battery, save the amount of wire needing to run, but then it’s harder to access them. Thoughts?

why_not_Zoidberg? · Nov 30, 2012

I would go the first way, with them mounted under the seat. Sure it's going to be more wiring, but as long as you keep everything need and orderly, future maintenance will be much easier, and you'll thank yourself. If you had any concern (I'm not sure you did) about losing power through more wiring, keep in mind that most losses are made through connectors, rather than the wire itself.

I could be preaching to the choir though. I'll be re-wiring my license plate light this winter with something more heavy duty than the PO, his wiring rotted off and left me without a plate light...but maybe that's a good thing, the way I was riding before I put her away... Cheers!:rockon:

TownsendsFJR1300 · Dec 1, 2012

If the bike is faired, there's plenty of room under the right side to put a junction box. I have my marine grade power distribution box velcroed (industrial stuff) to the right, wired to the battery. Anything connected from there is fused to the farkle. The fuses are at the lower end of the fairing and easily accessable.. The left sides a little tighter, my Stebel horn resides under there..

As for the outlet, I use mine mainly for heated clothing and thus have the Powerlet BMW style outlet ( Standard Powerlet Socket - Powerlet Products ) mounted on the left side just ahead of the pillion foot peg.

I didn't want the clothing wires flopping across the tank and should I forget, I dismount on the left side and the wire would pull out without any damage to either the outlet or plug.

......Fuses with power block...........BMW style electrical outlet............Stebel mount/horn..............Stebel horn final install
...........................................................(Powerlet)........................(inner fairing off)..................(inner fairing on)

Yasko · Mar 10, 2013

I'm going to do this mod so that I can have my gps, and phone power on the bike all the time.:cheer:

I'll post photos when done.:thumbup:

Yasko · Mar 17, 2013

TownsendsFJR1300 said:
If the bike is faired, there's plenty of room under the right side to put a junction box. I have my marine grade power distribution box velcroed (industrial stuff) to the right, wired to the battery. Anything connected from there is fused to the farkle. The fuses are at the lower end of the fairing and easily accessible.. The left sides a little tighter, my Stable horn resides under there..

As for the outlet, I use mine mainly for heated clothing and thus have the Powerlet BMW style outlet ( Standard Powerlet Socket - Powerlet Products ) mounted on the left side just ahead of the pillion foot peg.

I didn't want the clothing wires flopping across the tank and should I forget, I dismount on the left side and the wire would pull out without any damage to either the outlet or plug.

......Fuses with power block...........BMW style electrical outlet............Stebel mount/horn..............Stebel horn final install
...........................................................(Powerlet)........................(inner fairing off)..................(inner fairing on)

After the fuses block is done, what's the best way to hard wire a garmin, and cell phone.

The wires in the car adapters are very tiny, and hard to splice.

I would like to have to wires tucked away for when needed.:thumbup:

fb40dash5 · Mar 17, 2013

What's the Garmin use for a power port? Just looking at ebay, there's a couple different hardwired micro USB chargers available, and I imagine probably for something as common as a Garmin unit too.

I tried gutting a car charger to power a USB port for my old car a few years back, and it ended up not working out for me. Keep in mind for USB you need 5 volts, not 12. If the Garmin uses 12V, that would be much simpler. For tiny wires, if I can strip them without taking too many strands out, I'll double or even triple the stripped end over to make the wire fatter to crimp. If it's still tiny, soldering might be in order.

FrozenBiker · Mar 18, 2013

fb40dash5 said:
What's the Garmin use for a power port? Just looking at ebay, there's a couple different hardwired micro USB chargers available, and I imagine probably for something as common as a Garmin unit too.

I tried gutting a car charger to power a USB port for my old car a few years back, and it ended up not working out for me. Keep in mind for USB you need 5 volts, not 12. If the Garmin uses 12V, that would be much simpler. For tiny wires, if I can strip them without taking too many strands out, I'll double or even triple the stripped end over to make the wire fatter to crimp. If it's still tiny, soldering might be in order.

eBay is chock full of "hardwire" units for Garmin gps. They vary depending on your gps model.
I have the 1300 LMT, and bought the power unit from gpslot:

GA NHWC2 Garmin Nuvi 1200 1300 1350 2200 2350 2360 GPS Hardwire Power Cable | eBay

Yasko · Mar 18, 2013

Nuvi 265 gps.

fb40dash5 · Mar 18, 2013

So mini USB... FWIW, I think 500ma-1a is pretty standard for USB chargers, so if that one's seriously putting out 1.5a, you could probably get away with splitting/adapting a single mini USB charger, especially if you don't need both at once. I keep 2 chargers in my truck, but I've got 3 outlets and plenty of room, having to find space for them on the bike you might wanna go with one.

Amazon sells their own plug-in with 2.1a output and 2 USB ports, you could always super-glue it into a 12v outlet, which coincidentally comes with much thicker wires. :rof:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-2-Port-Charger-Output-Black/dp/B00511PS3C/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk]Amazon.com: AmazonBasics 2-Port USB Car Charger with 2.1 Amp Output (Black): MP3 Players & Accessories[/ame]

Another option courtesy of fleabay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcycle-...er_MP3_Player_Accessories&hash=item337e027e0c

Apparently Garmin sells their own version, too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Garmin-...US_GPS_Chargers_Batteries&hash=item3a7cd3ca86

chunkygoat · Mar 18, 2013

I'm not sure what experience you have here but I would build up a small board with a main 12v bus supplied from your battery.

A few simple connectors would let you throw whatever connections you need on there. You can buy fuses and the PCB fuse holders all on Jameco for cheap cheap cheap. You can probably build the entire board for under 5$ if you prefer that route. I'd probably use a few of these:

USB-A-S-RA: ADAM TECH: Interconnects

ADC-002A-1: ADAM TECH: Interconnects

G1SA1A-R: JAMECO VALUEPRO: Passive Components

0FS503-R: JAMECO VALUEPRO: Passive Components

3pcs Paper Phenolic Prototyping PCB 5x7 Universal Board | eBay

I would probably throw it in a cheap enclosure and maybe even put some fancy bells and whistles on it (aka switches and led's haha). I totally prefer to build it myself for the uniqueness, wow-factor, and purely because i enjoy it. That's the route I'd take to power my devices -- maybe store it under-seat or beneath a fairing.

TownsendsFJR1300 · Mar 20, 2013

Yasko said:
After the fuses block is done, what's the best way to hard wire a garmin, and cell phone. The wires in the car adapters are very tiny, and hard to splice.

I would like to have to wires tucked away for when needed.:thumbup:

If attaching to a fuse block(like I have), you could slice off the outside of the wire, double it over (doubling the thickness of the wire)then crimp and soldier an appropriate end on it (I used closed end, marine grade SS ends).

For the GPS, I didn't want it powered 100% of the time and tapped into the front, directional RUNNING LIGHT, so it only powers up with the ignition.

For tapping into existing wires, "Posi Taps" has some very neat products. The fuse holders in my pic's are from them, fully "adjustable (the inserted wire can be shortened if needed):

Order Online- Discounts

Their not cheap but make for a considably easier and neater installation...

I also velcro any extra wiring neatly inside the fairing to keep it out of the way and flopping about.

TownsendsFJR1300 · Mar 20, 2013

fb40dash5 said:
What's the Garmin use for a power port? Just looking at ebay, there's a couple different hardwired micro USB chargers available, and I imagine probably for something as common as a Garmin unit too.

I tried gutting a car charger to power a USB port for my old car a few years back, and it ended up not working out for me. Keep in mind for USB you need 5 volts, not 12. If the Garmin uses 12V, that would be much simpler. For tiny wires, if I can strip them without taking too many strands out, I'll double or even triple the stripped end over to make the wire fatter to crimp. If it's still tiny, soldering might be in order.

I had Powerlet ( Powerlet Products - Rugged power outlets, cables and electronics ) make me up an adapter for the bike (waterproof) for 12 volts down to 5 volts. I had it made up without a coiled wire so I could route it neatly with the stock wiring.

Note, the initial harness I received from Powerlet had the really small gauge wire that was NOT user friendly. It kept breaking on me at the end it was so small... I ended up sending that back, they remade it using a larger("Standard") wire more commonly used that could be handled without breaking...

Mines a Garmin 2300 (or 2350) automotive GPS, the power end is a mini port. The fuse holder in the below picture is a "Posi Tap" fuse holder I installed. The lines did come with another shorter piece, see below, (both mini USB's) should you want to hardwire the short end to the GPS mount itself, pic #3.

Yasko · Mar 20, 2013

Thanks Scott.:cheer:

Yasko · Mar 22, 2013

I was looking for something like this one on ebay, but without so much wire.

Hardwire Power Cable for Garmin Nuvi 200 200W 205 205W 250 250W 255 255W 260 265 | eBay

TownsendsFJR1300 · Mar 22, 2013

Yasko said:
I was looking for something like this one on ebay, but without so much wire.

Hardwire Power Cable for Garmin Nuvi 200 200W 205 205W 250 250W 255 255W 260 265 | eBay

The 12 volts end (without the USB mini end) can be shortened. You can also neatly wrap it if need be and tuck it under the fairing. That converter box, at least on mine falls about where the wire comes down (from the GPS) and ends up about next to the frame steering head. You'd be surprised how, once routed, that cable gets a whole lot shorter.

Taking a similar piece of wire and running it the route you intend will give you and idea how much line you will indeed need. Lenthening the route, will of course take up more cable.. Its do-able..

Yasko · Mar 22, 2013

TownsendsFJR1300 said:
The 12 volts end (without the USB mini end) can be shortened. You can also neatly wrap it if need be and tuck it under the fairing. That converter box, at least on mine falls about where the wire comes down (from the GPS) and ends up about next to the frame steering head. You'd be surprised how, once routed, that cable gets a whole lot shorter.

Taking a similar piece of wire and running it the route you intend will give you and idea how much line you will indeed need. Lenthening the route, will of course take up more cable.. Its do-able..

Thanks again Scott.:cheer:

TownsendsFJR1300 · Mar 22, 2013

Your welcome, please post how it comes out! :thumbup:

Yasko · Mar 22, 2013

I'll get photos this weekend of the fuse box. :thumbup:

Yasko · Mar 23, 2013

My fuse box.:cheer:

TownsendsFJR1300 · Mar 24, 2013

Yasko said:
My fuse box.:cheer:

Nice and neat!!

Did you use velcro, epoxy or how'd you mount it?

Planning accessory wiring

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