A Couple of Electrical Mods

[SANGER_A2]

Headlight Mod

I decided to do the excellent headlight mod documented here and here by BikerDude 43. I didn't want to risk voiding my warranty or cutting into any stock cables on the bike. It worked briliiantly. I also switched out all the bulbs with decent Philips ones and adjusted the headlight properly (motorbike headlights are always too low from the dealership).

First job was to find the materials. I have loads of different types of cable lying around, so that wasn't a problem. I didn't have a right-angled spade connector, but I had some normal ones that would do just as well with a little bending. The last thing was the pin to plug into the stock connector. I discovered that you can use one of the pins from inside a SCART plug if you reduce the width a bit. Make sure you tin the whole thing as it makes it a bit stronger and reduces corrosion. You need to be careful with this though as it's a bit thinner than the stock ones and can snap.

I wired it all up and covered the soldered connections with heatshrink. Fitting it was a pain in the bum. A few people have said that they could do this without removing the airbox. I have no idea how! You need to follow DB43's instructions and although it's fiddly, it's not impossible. I was mainly worried about losing an important bolt or dropping something into the engine! After threading the wire along the edges trying to keep it hidden and secure I fitted it into the H4 plug holder and had to bend the spade connector sideways a bit to shut the connector properly.

I replaced the H7 and H4 bulbs with Philips X-treme Power bulbs which are apparently 80% brighter than stock. They are a quite a bit brighter and much whiter but I'm not sure about 80%! I replaced the two sidelight bulbs with Philips BlueVision bulbs which are also whiter and brighter. I can now see all the reflective bits on signs and number plates etc light up brightly whenever my lights shine on them. I had a H4 Philips BlueVision bulb on my last bike and it was great so I avoided other brands (especially the cheap chinese ones you can get on ebay).

I needed to adjust the headlights up following the instructions in my Haynes manual as well. I have it so the main glare is just underneath the rear window of drivers in front of me so they can see my lights but it doesn't shine in their faces. I didn't mess with the horizontal adjustment though. It seemed fine.

Here is a pic of the view from my bike with no lights on:-


Here you can see the light thrown by the stock lights:-


Here you can see the light thrown by all 4 of the new Philips lights:-


How cool does this look:-


Another shot with the flash on this time:-


A poor quality shot showing just the side lights:-


Here it is looking pretty evil from above slightly:-


Another shot showing the shape the lights create:-


Here you can see the addition I made to the headlight connector. The new wire is the top one:-

 

[reiobard]

nice job on the install, it looks stock!

 

[SANGER_A2]

Relay Mod

Originally, I had my heated grips directly into the battery as Roxter intended. However, I managed to kill a battery on my last bike by leaving my grips on all day and have no intention of doing that again! I used a relay wired into the DB43 cable to enable the grips to draw power directly from the battery but only be on when the engine is running. VERY useful. I also chopped off the cables from my New Roxter controller and wired in the controller from my old Oxford controller. While the Oxford controller is old and ugly, it's much more convenient to use and made the grips a bit hotter (although I'm still not completely happy).

The inspiration for this mod came from a comment someone made after I documented wiring my old grips directly into the fusebox on my old GPZ500S on the ex-500.com forum and also on the excellent video here. I joined it up to a bit of chocolate block to easily plug things into it. If anyone is planning on doing this, the relay I used is from maplin and can be seen here. Not bad for £2.70!

Here is the circuit diagram I knocked up:-


Here you can see the relay wired up with the chocolate block araldited onto the relay:-


And from the side (I know the connecting wires are a bit long):-


And from the top:-


Here is the old Oxford control box with the Roxter connections soldered onto it:-


I wrapped the hanging down wires etc with loads of tape to improve the looks and waterproofing:-


Here is the ugly control box in place:-


I attached the relay onto the headlight mount bolt and it fitted great. Also, it's completely hidden from view and the weather when the inner fairing covers are on:-


Here you can see the extra wiring I've added in with the grips connected at the top:-


Here is where the power cable (with fuse next to the battery) to the battery comes out:-

 

[Yatz86]

woot nice lights on...

 

[Hellgate]

Very nice, well done. Thanks for posting the detailed photos too. :thumbup:

 

[Mississippi]

Good Job and nice pics that looks great!!!

 

[SirIsaac]

....I used a relay wired into the DB43 cable to enable the grips to draw power directly from the battery but only be on when the engine is running. VERY useful....

You do very nice work!
My only comment is that the BD43 cable is hot when the engine is running AND the high/low beam switch on the handlebar is in the low beam position. When you turn on your high beam, the BD43 wire is turned off, so your relay will drop out and your accessories will go off. Probably no big deal, as most of the time you don't use the high beam, but worth noting. The wire feeding the H7 low beam bulb is hot any time the engine is running and is unaffected by the position of the high/low beam switch, so it might be a better choice to switch your relay. I understand your reluctance to cut wires, I feel the same way, but you could tap into it by buying aftermarket H4 male and female connectors as shown below:

 

[SANGER_A2]

You do very nice work!
My only comment is that the BD43 cable is hot when the engine is running AND the high/low beam switch on the handlebar is in the low beam position. When you turn on your high beam, the BD43 wire is turned off, so your relay will drop out and your accessories will go off. Probably no big deal, as most of the time you don't use the high beam, but worth noting. The wire feeding the H7 low beam bulb is hot any time the engine is running and is unaffected by the position of the high/low beam switch, so it might be a better choice to switch your relay. I understand your reluctance to cut wires, I feel the same way, but you could tap into it by buying aftermarket H4 male and female connectors as shown below:

Lol! I'd forgotten that one of the major bonuses of the BD43 cable over other methods is a negative in the way I'm using it. For now I will probably leave it as is and do what you've suggested when I have free time in the hols. I've really only used the high beam to flash people a couple of times and had it on for maybe 5 minutes total in the last few (winter) months, so it's not going to be a very regular occurance that I accidentally turn off my grips etc!

 

[SpeedyFZ6]

Hey mate for the chocolate box- what amp one did you use? In maplins they are selling it as 3amp or 15 amp strips. Cheers

 

[SANGER_A2]

Hey mate for the chocolate box- what amp one did you use? In maplins they are selling it as 3amp or 15 amp strips. Cheers

I bought the highest rated I could find. For two reasons - one to make sure it won't blow when having all the current powering my heated grips etc and also because I thought the higher rated stuff may be sturdier and last longer (probably rubbish). Anyway, with stuff that conducts like wire/chocolate block etc, it's better to have too high a current rating than too low.

Good luck with it all. What you wiring in then? Grips or summat with a relay like mine? I've now realised heated grips suck and I'm buying heated gloved before the winter starts this year!

 

[SpeedyFZ6]

Thanks. Am wiring in the double light modification. I was also thinking of heated grips but not sure how effective they are. I presume you did not like them.

 

[SANGER_A2]

Thanks. Am wiring in the double light modification. I was also thinking of heated grips but not sure how effective they are. I presume you did not like them.

Well they do make a difference. But in the really cold weather, you still get cold hands! It's also hard to find any nowadays that get really hot!