Wiring straight to the battery? (esp. Bi-Xenon)

[Mancolt]

First things first: I am knee deep in the middle of my Bi-Xenon installation. My lack of electrical knowledge has really made this a much more difficult and long process than I had hoped. I assumed that a complete kit would come with instructions that would make the installation much more user friendly...I was wrong. The instructions for my particular kit (sportbikelites) leave A LOT to be desired. Anyhow, back to my questions:

Boneman has answered many of my questions regarding wiring. But I didn't want to continue bugging him and I hope some others might benefit from this thread since I know that alot of people have ordered/plan to order this kit.

1) How do you attach a wire to the positive terminal of the battery?
Boneman told me to use a ring terminal, but I'm having trouble getting a ring terminal to fit with the battery. The screw on the battery isn't long enough to grab if I put the ring terminals on the screw and then attempt to screw it down. They create too large of a gap for the screw to make contact with the bottom part of the positive battery terminal. I haven't been able to find a ring terminal that the screw can fit over the screw, but inside the little metal housing of the positive battery terminal. Am I just not looking hard enough for the right size ring terminal? I've attached a picture that I find in another thread of the battery. It shows pretty clearly the metal housing parts on the terminals that I'm referring to.

2) Can you attach the HID controller cables labeled "battery positive" somewhere other than directly to the battery? If so, where else is an option?
In the future, I might want to do some LED underglow lights. If I attach the ring terminal for the Halo eyes and the ring terminals of the 2 battery positive cables, I now have 3 terminals connected directly to the positive battery terminal. It seems like it would be a bit cluttered. Can/should I splice some of these together into 1 ring terminal and just attach 1 to the battery positive?

3) Are there any downsides to connecting multiple negative/ground wires to the same point on the frame? For example; Can I connect the HID controller ground wires to the same ground that the speedometer ground wire uses? Or is that mixing 2 different circuits and leading to a potential problem?

4) If someone has done the Bi-Xenon install (or anyone that has 2 controllers and 2 ballasts in their front fairing), could you please post some pictures of the setup. I'm having a bit of difficulty getting everything to fit nicely and out of the way enough that I'm still able to plug in all the necessary connections and turn the handlebars all the way from side to side without hitting anything. An image of a way to organize everything so it fits nicely would hopefully give me some ideas about how to arrange mine.

Also, any photo closeups of your batteries with mod wiring connected would be very helpful! Thanks so much for any insight you guys can provide. I wouldn't even be nearly as far as I am without this forum!

 

[SANGER_A2]

First things first: I am knee deep in the middle of my Bi-Xenon installation. My lack of electrical knowledge has really made this a much more difficult and long process than I had hoped. I assumed that a complete kit would come with instructions that would make the installation much more user friendly...I was wrong. The instructions for my particular kit (sportbikelites) leave A LOT to be desired. Anyhow, back to my questions:

Boneman has answered many of my questions regarding wiring. But I didn't want to continue bugging him and I hope some others might benefit from this thread since I know that alot of people have ordered/plan to order this kit.

1) How do you attach a wire to the positive terminal of the battery?
Boneman told me to use a ring terminal, but I'm having trouble getting a ring terminal to fit with the battery. The screw on the battery isn't long enough to grab if I put the ring terminals on the screw and then attempt to screw it down. They create too large of a gap for the screw to make contact with the bottom part of the positive battery terminal. I haven't been able to find a ring terminal that the screw can fit over the screw, but inside the little metal housing of the positive battery terminal. Am I just not looking hard enough for the right size ring terminal? I've attached a picture that I find in another thread of the battery. It shows pretty clearly the metal housing parts on the terminals that I'm referring to.

2) Can you attach the HID controller cables labeled "battery positive" somewhere other than directly to the battery? If so, where else is an option?
In the future, I might want to do some LED underglow lights. If I attach the ring terminal for the Halo eyes and the ring terminals of the 2 battery positive cables, I now have 3 terminals connected directly to the positive battery terminal. It seems like it would be a bit cluttered. Can/should I splice some of these together into 1 ring terminal and just attach 1 to the battery positive?

3) Are there any downsides to connecting multiple negative/ground wires to the same point on the frame? For example; Can I connect the HID controller ground wires to the same ground that the speedometer ground wire uses? Or is that mixing 2 different circuits and leading to a potential problem?

4) If someone has done the Bi-Xenon install (or anyone that has 2 controllers and 2 ballasts in their front fairing), could you please post some pictures of the setup. I'm having a bit of difficulty getting everything to fit nicely and out of the way enough that I'm still able to plug in all the necessary connections and turn the handlebars all the way from side to side without hitting anything. An image of a way to organize everything so it fits nicely would hopefully give me some ideas about how to arrange mine.

Also, any photo closeups of your batteries with mod wiring connected would be very helpful! Thanks so much for any insight you guys can provide. I wouldn't even be nearly as far as I am without this forum!

Just buy a longer bolt! It will be fine. Just get the next length up from what is on there already. It it is so long that it touches the plastic of the battery at the bottom, just add a washer or two above the ring terminals.

Basically it will work the same with any steel/iron bolt as long as it's all clean and done up tight.

I even attached an AWESOME diagram I made. BTW, Paint in Windows 7 rocks even harder than in XP!

 

[Mancolt]

Thanks Sanger! You are THE MAN!

I've been overanalyzing this. I'm not at all experienced with wiring, and I'm just a little hesitant that I'll do something wrong and screw things up royally.

I'm glad to hear paint is improved in Windows 7! I'm not a big fan of it in Vista, and from what I remember, not in XP either. I'm going to install 7 as soon as my company adds remote access capability for Windows 7.

 

[AngelFZ]

Mancot, you might find Fed's video very helpful if you're thinking about additional connections for LEDs:
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/2799-accessory-wiring-right-way.html

I hope it helps,

 

[Mancolt]

Mancot, you might find Fed's video very helpful if you're thinking about additional connections for LEDs:
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/2799-accessory-wiring-right-way.html

I hope it helps,

AngelFZ, that was very helpful! I'm beginning to understand basic wiring, I'm just nervous about the potential consequences of a mistake while wiring. I should be able to hook everything up tonight and if all goes well, when I flip that switch, I'll have HIDs with Angel Eyes!

I found this link from that thread particularly helpful: Wiring a Relay for Accessories

 

[SANGER_A2]

There are also details on mine and Boneman's site about how we connected bits to our bikes using a relay. It's much easier than it sounds. Only problem is deciding which wire to use to activate the relay and if you're feeling brave enough to tap into the stock wiring loom (I wasn't, but used the extra headlight connection they have).

 

[Dr.Moby]

1) How do you attach a wire to the positive terminal of the battery?
Boneman told me to use a ring terminal, but I'm having trouble getting a ring terminal to fit with the battery. The screw on the battery isn't long enough to grab if I put the ring terminals on the screw and then attempt to screw it down.

I cut out a tiny piece of foam and placed it under the square threaded nut that the battery bolt goes in to. this elevated the nut enough for the stock bolt to grab and bite. easier than finding a longer bolt for the battery connection.

DrM

 

[Mancolt]

First off, I'd like to thank all of you, including Boneman! Without the help of this forum, I never would have successfully completed my Bi-Xenon mod.

Right now, I'd say I'm about 90% done. I've just got to finish up running wires to the battery, or most likely relay, in a more permanent fashion. I tested everything tonight just to see if it would work...

(sorry about the picture quality, they were snapped with my cell phone because it was the only thing I had near me at the time)

I was so excited when everything worked on my test run!! Made the whole experience worthwhile even though it was very frustrating at times!


I still do have 1 question about wiring: Is the metal piece that is covered by the red plastic and circled in the picture below supposed to be screwed onto the positive terminal? Up until now, I've never messed with the battery and it always just stayed in there because of pressure. I bought the bike off of someone, so I'm not sure how it comes from the factory. I noticed that my headlights, turn signals, etc don't work unless I have that metal piece under the red plastic touching the positive terminal. What I'm trying to say is that it used to just kind of sit on top of the positive terminal. If I add any connections to the positive battery terminal, I am not able to get it to stay down. Is it okay (and safe) to insert this metal piece between the screw and positive battery terminal? Is that how it's supposed to be?

 

[SirIsaac]

I still do have 1 question about wiring: Is the metal piece that is covered by the red plastic and circled in the picture below supposed to be screwed onto the positive terminal? Up until now, I've never messed with the battery and it always just stayed in there because of pressure. I bought the bike off of someone, so I'm not sure how it comes from the factory. I noticed that my headlights, turn signals, etc don't work unless I have that metal piece under the red plastic touching the positive terminal. What I'm trying to say is that it used to just kind of sit on top of the positive terminal. If I add any connections to the positive battery terminal, I am not able to get it to stay down. Is it okay (and safe) to insert this metal piece between the screw and positive battery terminal? Is that how it's supposed to be?

That is the main power connection from the battery to the bike's electric system. It needs to be bolted to the battery, as illustrated below. I'm kind of surprised that your bike ran reliably with it just sitting on the battery terminal.

 

[Mancolt]

Thanks SirIsaac. Upon closer inspection, that's what I was thinking. It seemed that the pressure from the 3 sides alone couldn't have been the intention of the designers. And then I peeled back the rubber cover and saw that there was a hole for a screw to go through. I'm kind of surprised it didn't work itself loose at some point during the 800 miles or so I've put on it so far.

I was going to test it, but something about the possibility of electrical shock if I screwed up concerned me I'll fix it and hopefully wire up a relay in the next couple of days.

 

[mawebb]

In general, working on a 12 Volt system is safe (from the potential of shocks that is). When connecting anything to the electrical system, particularly the battery, please ensure that you use a fuse between the battery connection and the accessory you are connecting. The large red cable that connects to your battery is typical a unique type of cable, called a fusable link, so even though you don't see a fuse, it's there. If the positive wire (+) gets caught between sharp parts that will penetrate the insulation and allow the wire to touch the metal chassis (-), you could end up with an electrical fire that can cause damage not only to device that you have installed, but to the adjacent wiring and connectors, due to the extreme heat. For the same reason, be meticulous as to how you route cables. Think about heat and vibration as these can damage the insulation on wires. There is nothing worse than being 100 miles from nowhere, and having an electrical failure.

 

[Mancolt]

If you use a relay and connect accessories to that, do you need fuses between the accessories and the relay? There's already a fuse between the relay and the battery. If you don't need them, is there any harm in having them?

 

[oldfast007]

If you use a relay and connect accessories to that, do you need fuses between the accessories and the relay? There's already a fuse between the relay and the battery. If you don't need them, is there any harm in having them?

Think of it this way, a blown fuse is easier to replace on the road than a fried relay, I'd rather have a blown fuse tell me there is an issue than work on tracing what if any relay's are bad.

This diagram seems to make sense..

Disregard, I should have read your post more carefully, sorry.

 

[mawebb]

Having an extra fuse is not a problem. I did a quick look into the Bi-Xenon lights and there are two parts to them. There is the actual light, which is similar to the original lamps, however, much more efficient and the second part is the light ring around the lamp. This is a tube light (similar to neon or fluorescent) the ring requires a balast which increases the voltage from 12V DC to a high enough voltage to excite the gas in the tube, and generate light. I am not too sure where the relay comes into play, but relays are simply switches which are controlled the a magnetic coil and armature. They are typically used to provide a higher current rating than can be handled by the actuating device, which could be a thermal or pressure switch. I would assume that the Bi-Xenon lamps would be controlled by you headlamp switch, but if you want only the halo lamps illuminated, then you will need to have some way operate the parts of the lamp assemblies separately.

I hope this is not adding confusion, but without the full plan of wat you are trying to do, it's hard to provide details.

 

[Mancolt]

Having an extra fuse is not a problem. I did a quick look into the Bi-Xenon lights and there are two parts to them. There is the actual light, which is similar to the original lamps, however, much more efficient and the second part is the light ring around the lamp. This is a tube light (similar to neon or fluorescent) the ring requires a balast which increases the voltage from 12V DC to a high enough voltage to excite the gas in the tube, and generate light. I am not too sure where the relay comes into play, but relays are simply switches which are controlled the a magnetic coil and armature. They are typically used to provide a higher current rating than can be handled by the actuating device, which could be a thermal or pressure switch. I would assume that the Bi-Xenon lamps would be controlled by you headlamp switch, but if you want only the halo lamps illuminated, then you will need to have some way operate the parts of the lamp assemblies separately.

I hope this is not adding confusion, but without the full plan of wat you are trying to do, it's hard to provide details.

Actually, this was helpful. And to clarify, the relay is something that I'm choosing to add in. I want to create a distribution block off which to power my accessories. This will prevent them from running straight off the battery and potentially draining it as well as keeping the clutter on the battery terminals to a minimum. I was curious if having an extra fuse had any downsides, but you answered that for me.

The Halos (Angel Eyes) are powered separately from the Bi-Xenon bulbs themselves. I am going to wire the bulbs to only run when the ignition is turned on. But I want the Angel eyes to run off a switch whether the ignition is on or not. I've already tested out the wiring to this and gotten it to work the way I wanted. My only remaining question (as of now) was about the fuses.

Thanks for the answers guys!

 

[LexusFZ6]

hey mancold im so glad it worked out for you i hope your happy with what you got from those guys i have been watching what you have been going throw just because i got the same kit from the same ppl it hasnt arrived here yet im still waiting for it , looking at what was going on with you installing this kit i might be needing your help when i start lol

 

[Mancolt]

hey mancold im so glad it worked out for you i hope your happy with what you got from those guys i have been watching what you have been going throw just because i got the same kit from the same ppl it hasnt arrived here yet im still waiting for it , looking at what was going on with you installing this kit i might be needing your help when i start lol

Yeah, don't let my experience deter you. If you have some electrical/wiring skill, it won't be as bad for you. I taught myself (with the help of this forum) everything I know about wiring in the last 6 days. Before that, the only thing I knew about wiring was seeing my dad strip and splice wires.

The biggest PITA is that the directions they include suck IMO. And they don't include a parts list, so you don't know what you're supposed to use where. I also think their quality control is pretty shoddy. I got a ballast with a stripped screw thread and missing the screw because it fell out somewhere along the way. I think the screws they include (presumably for mounting the HID projector housing to the mounts in the headlight housing) are the wrong size. I couldn't find anything that came with the kit that these screws would fit into. So I used my own screws and mounted it.

I'm here if you have any questions though! I'll do my best to answer anything I can. Feel free to PM me with any question you have, no matter how dumb you think it might be. I had so many dumb questions that I just wasn't sure about and I was nervous about messing up so I asked them. This forum is seriously a GREAT resource. I would read through the first half (if not the whole thing) of the Bi-Xenon sticky thread until you understand everything they're talking about. Once you've got that down, it's just a matter of disassembling, mounting, and reassembling.

Here are some of the threads that I used, or think will be useful:
http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-tos/14783-how-remove-your-fairing.html
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/14963-bi-xenon-projector-angel-eye-installed.html
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/2799-accessory-wiring-right-way.html
http://www.canyonchasers.net/shop/generic/relay.php

The last two would be something that I would plan to do from the start. Put a relay on there that you can wire any future electrical mods to. It'll make things easier and look a little more organized. After learning a little about wiring, I don't think it's going to be difficult at all.

I'm going to finish mounting mine, and redo some of the more haphazard wiring this weekend. I'm gonna throw a relay and distribution block on mine as well. I think I've got 2-3 hours left total. In the end, as much of a hassle as it was at times, it looks sweet and the light output from the HIDs are a night and day difference from the stock bulbs. I should have read through this forum more before starting and I probably could have saved myself some time and headaches. I think if I were to do it again, I could cut the time in about half (which would still make it about 10-12 hours for me, down from 22ish).

 

[Boneman]

Looks like you had quite the adventure installing these lights! Glad everything worked out and everyone was able to answer everything you needed!

Please post up some more pics of it all completed!

Great job! :thumbup:

 

[Mancolt]

Looks like you had quite the adventure installing these lights!

That's an understatement!

But in the end, I think it was worth it. I've still got a little left to do, and my bike is at my parents house (I can use the garage and tools there) so I'll finish it up this weekend. But I've tested it and it all worked. Just got to wire everything to power and ground permanently and aim the HIDs using the method on your site!

Thanks for the help via PMs Boneman. Without you, I might be halfway through it by now and probably would have royally screwed several things up

 

[Mancolt]

There is the actual light, which is similar to the original lamps, however, much more efficient and the second part is the light ring around the lamp. This is a tube light (similar to neon or fluorescent) the ring requires a balast which increases the voltage from 12V DC to a high enough voltage to excite the gas in the tube, and generate light.

You are correct. The website I ordered the kit from claims the Halos/Angel Eyes are CCFL Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights.

On a different note, what is the HID Controller used for? My friend ordered HIDs and his kit didn't come with the controller, just ballasts. Not sure where he ordered from, or any specifics, but he came over to look at mine and was asking what the controller was/what it did. His didn't come with one and both us were wondering why.