Hey guys, the other day I found this really good place to power up your stuff so I wanted to get the word out. It's switched too, so when you turn the key off yer grip warmers, gps, radar detector, whatever will shut off. I'm cross-posted from ADV. 1) First, remove the four shinny screws that secure the panel above the headlight. 2) Now look at the bottom of your ignition switch, follow the larger of the two cables to inside the headlight housing. You'll come to this connector... Keep following to the front side which looks like this... 3) See the two green wires? Tap into either or both to run your stuff. Just undo the tape to expose the wire & tap in with a solder connection, install an inline fuse/holder & go. You'll have to find a convenient place for ground, I'd suggest the downtube frame nuts/bolts just behind the radiator or run a single wire back to the neg side of the battery. Now for sme detail about this circuit - You don't need to understand the following jibberish so just ignore if it doesn't make sense to you... How much of a load will this circuit handle? I don't exactly know but it's a heavy circuit, they look like (edit) 14AWG 16AWG wires, if so using both of the wires would be good for a total of 50 44A or 600 528W so no problem there, we are limited by the 30A fuse they originate from. I'm sure there's ample reserve for what I'm doing, heated grips & electronics. Those wires originate & terminate joined together, I imagine they simply used a pair for redundancy & flexibility. Said another way, both those green wires are the same. They are not two different circuits. Tap into both to get maximum current capability. Said another way, tap into both green wires then join those wires together, now run that into a fuse, now run to your stuff. Heated items like grips & vests use the most current. Typical heated grips use 40W / 3.3A. Electronics practically use zilch. If you're just running electronics either single green wire will do. Where does this circuit originate? From the starter relay, it goes through the 30A fuse there. Where does this circuit go? It feeds part of the fuse block, F1 (7.5A), F2 (15A), F7 (4A). For more specifics see the list of items on the wiring diagram. Disclaimer - I'm going off the bike's wiring schematic, I haven't done anything with the circuit yet but plan to. Just wanted to get the word out so people can keep their life simple & bikes uncluttered with relays & wiring. Thanks RidingDonkeys for the wiring diagram.
Another handy-dandy post from run-it... : clap : thumb What a good fellow you are.... So nice of you to share....
I'm not much of an electrician, but not sure whether it's a good idea to tap into the main fuse for accessories. A 30 amp fuse isn't going to provide much protection for whatever you're adding to that circuit, right? Is there potential to cause more problems than it's worth?
I use a Powerlet Termin-8.... run one connection to each terminal and it provides you with four other connection points on a four-sided copper bar. Great for an underseat area that doesn't have much room underneath for a fuse block. From the Termin-8, I have a Powerlet outlet up on the bars, and an SAE pigtail available by the seat for heated gear. The only time I'd tap into a switched hot wire in the harness is to trigger a relay in a fuse block.
That's true you shouldn't go tapping into any harness wire willie nillie without regard to what it does what load is on the other end, how big the wire is & what the fuse size is that supplies it. But like I said, I think those wires were (edit) 14 16AWG, that would be good to go for up to 44A total, that's a LOT! Though I would not max them out like that. There's only 26.5A of fuses on that circuit, the real load at any given time will be a fraction of that amount. Heated grips draw around 3.3A. Electronics draw a miniscule amounts. Unless you plan on running a microwave, it's there for you if you want it.
This is exactly why Forums are such awesome resources. I was about to wire up some LED spotties and this is eaxctly what I need in the right place ( I will run a separate fuse and relay though even though it only draws 2amps plus relay resistance. Don't have to look now.
If you're just looking for a spot to tap into for a relay. Using the tail light, or marker light up front would be easier. I'm using the front marker light, but I'll be re-doing my accessory circuit once my box of powerlet goodies arrive tomorrow, and I will switch to using the tail light as my trigger, since my relay/fuse/junction box is located at the battery anyway, and I decided that I don't want the extra wires I ran all the way up to the headlight.
I used the 5w running light in the headlight on my TE610 and TE630 to trigger the relay in a Fuzeblock FZ1
Actually the switch for the relay will be the headlight highbeam and these green wires would be a better main source, I think, if fused to the light properly. It won't notice the 2 amps.
I used one of the green wires as the switched source for my heated grips relay. I ran a dedicated fussed supply up to the headlight cowl. I can use this supply for any extras and know I'm not overloading any of the original circuits
Blakebird, my thank you's are always late. You posted your powerlet set up a while ago on another thread and I had never heard of them. The standard cigarette style plug is extremely unreliable and the connection aften fails under vibration. This was a great solution. I had it on my old BMW but had no idea it was available to all. Here is what you inspired on my bike and thank you! Also thanks to run-it for a great power tap idea!
Has anyone located the mysterious "accessory connector" yet? I am just looking for a switched source to run my GPS from.
why not use the contact from where comes off for heated grips? At home I have the pattern if you want I'll do. perchè non usate i contatti da dove i si stacca per le manopole riscaldate? A casa dovrei avere lo schema se volete ve lo do.
I used the marker lamp in the headlight, quite straightforward. http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/the-gps-thead.31638/page-3#post-329493
It's fine, I'm not relying on that fuse for protection, there's already OEM branch circuits off that fuse plus I'm adding one more & they are all protected by their respective, smaller fuses. The only concern with the 30A fused supplying circuit is that the sum of the branch circuits don't overload it. The exact way to know is to measure amps going through the 30A supply circuit with all items on the those branch circuits powered up. But I don't plan on doing that b/c I really don't think it's necessary for what I'm doing, eyeballing the load it looks like there's ample reserve.
Has anyone tried those marine grade 12V cigarette sockets? You have to twist to release the male part from the socket, seems like a good idea.
Maybe it's that small connector behind the radiator on the LH side? I don't know, I see it on the schematic, it gets its power from F2 which also powers up the "horn, license, headlamp, brake & accessories" it has a 15A fuse which in turn gets power from our two switched green wires. You can ask someone who installed the OEM grips on the grip thread, they'd know.
