[ErikDK]

With the house to myself during Easter, I've dragged the scooter into the kitchen/dining room, where I have heat, space and excellent lighting.

What stated out as a cruise control install has extended into bringing mere electrical power up front, now that everything is apart and I have time and space.

And now to the question:

Should I go for complete reversibility, with no cutting of the original wiring harness?
My gut feeling says yes, although it could be much more elegant, without 3 fuses in series as Suzuki designed it.
I have a headlight relay kit with a male plug that plugs into the H4 socket, but I need a third relay, because the left headlight works off its own circuit.

Would you make a wiring diagram to document the modifications? I'm thinking of laminating it and sticking it somewhere hidden under the tupperware, near the relays.

Since it's no big deal to take off the front panel, I think it's OK if the headlight fuses reside beneath. They should only blow if somethings wrong there anyway.

The reason for the desire for improvement is the huge voltage drop in the system from battery to headlight, which is no wonder given the backroads the current takes before arriving at its destination:

From the left headlight -> fuse 2 -> start switch -> fuse 5 -> ignition switch -> main fuse -> battery
From the right headlight -> HI/LO switch -> fuse 1 -> start switch -> fuse 5 -> ignition switch -> main fuse -> battery

 

[Mike337]

Maybe a tad complicated, or over-done? I have no clue what you want
I'm not the brightest crayon in the box though......Just bored tonight. :lol:

 

[momule]

I'm not sure what you mean by "complete reversibility" although in your context I guess you are questioning the running of a whole new power lead to the front from the battery without disturbing the main wiring harness? What I did was to run #10 wiring from the battery to the front, removing the tupperware below the handlebars. That gave me plenty of room to do the wiring under there and I terminated the hot/ground wires into a fused 8 position block and a ground bar with 8 screw positions. For an aftermarket horn I used a Wolo Bad Boy and a relay so that I could use the factory horn button...the horn button wire only triggers the horn through the relay and power comes from my fuse block. For running lights I used Moto's mounted to the caliper mounts and again a relay with a new switch on the dash between the lower glove boxes. New cig lighter wired and mounted the same. Stereo was powered from the worthless power outlet in the upper glove box and I also added an additional power outlet behind that box for the GPS. Because both of those are low voltage items I didn't add an additional relay, relying on factory ignition wiring so that when the scoot is off the power is also.

This all has been working trouble free for a year now and I have the comfort of knowing that I'm not overloading the factory circuits in any way. By the way, all components are secured to the inside of the tupperware with industrial strength velcro, all wiring is routed, wire tied, and tagged, and connections are kept to a minimum with soldered and heat shrunk splices where they had to occur. Dielectric grease lightly coats fuse and ground connections to keep them safe from water and mist from rain or the front tire.

What kind of voltage drop are you experiencing and what is causing it? I find that interesting and am curious as to the guage of wire that you are using and the fuse amperage. Makes me wonder if there's some kind of slight ground leakage or something going on. Your thoughts??

Like you I had the space, time and inclination to do the job right as I added new electric farkles and any future trouble shooting will be easy because there are so few potential trouble spots in this wiring. My way is not, of course, the only way to go but it's what I ended up with, and it's far better than hacking up the factory wiring harness or running multiple hot runs from the battery. I could take all this off, and with the exception of cutting the box up that I installed the horn into, you'd never know it was all there. Take your time and do it right and you'll be glad you did. Comments welcome....

 

[mikeyMarine]

first, start out by positioning the bike with the part that needs most work closeset to the liquid refreshment center, no need making all those trips around it

each break or cut in the wire is another ten thousand miles on that back woods path, that is all dc current cares about in the small length it has to travel on this bike, as for fuses, they are basically 2 bad connections with a weak piece of conductor in the middle, vibration should be taken in consideration when mounting, and corrosion especially those lead in line spring loaded failure waiting to happen fuses , nothing better than a great schematic of what you have done, to remind yourself, and in the future it is a document worth it's weight in gold to someone else that gets the bike and I'd buy you a beer if you gave it to me when I bought the bike from you

don't forget to bring the table in from outside when you are done, that little test run before you clean the kitchen can get you in deep poo ,

 

[ErikDK]

Thanks for the input, I can see I'm not out of sync with your thoughts.

I'm running 10 AWG for both plus and ground, with a fuse at the battery plus pole.

Do I really need to put a fuse between the relays and the headlights?

Is there anything wrong with connecting the ground wire to one of the bolts in the fairing frame and running the other ground wires to that bolt?

 

[Scootereno]

If you add a flux capacitor you will eliminate the current drop. :lol:
I have kept all my add-ons reversible but have upgraded the wire gauge on them to help control the current loss. :wink:

 

[ErikDK]

Just measured the voltage drops with the engine off:

1.2 V at the high beam bulb, drops to 0,8 when the "PASS" button is activated -> undersized contacts in the dimmer switch.
the constant dipped beam had a drop of 0.9 V.

On the ground side there was an additional 0.9 to 0.15 V

This is good for bulb life, but not good for my lacking eyes.

 

[ErikDK]

Design voltage for halogen bulbs is 13.2 V

5% over (=13,9V) -->50% shorter life, 18% increased lumens
10% over (=14,5V) -->74% shorter life, 35% increased lumens
5% under (=12,5V) -->110% longer life, 18% reduced lumens
10% under (=11,9V) -->450% longer life,35% reduced lumens

I might have to do smomething to increase the voltage drop for daytime riding.

 

[Redbeard]

Is there anything wrong with connecting the ground wire to one of the bolts in the fairing frame and running the other ground wires to that bolt?

IMHO, I would advise against it. The frame on this bike is not a good ground.

 

[Chérie]

When install http://admorelighting.com/store/index.p ... duct_id=56
on rear 650 burgie , we find hole in rear frame for bolt ground wire, scrape paint on frame for good contact, bolt ground in hole, it very very poor ground, light bar not work, friend solve problem with connect to rear light ground wire, all work 100% now.

Have same problem when install LED amber light turn signal in mirror, ground to frame very very poor, now ground wire connect to ground wire under handle bar & front panel.

 

[Dave_J]

Erik, It all matters on the resale value when you decide to sell and if your mod's will make a negative impact.

I would try to make it "Plug and Play" when possible but getting correct connectors is impossible. I cut the wires for my turnsignals when I did the Magic Blinker mod. NO BIGGIE in my opinion if done right. But if you don't take the time to do it right then don't do it is also my opinion.

On grounds, I would only use a ground "BUSS" from the battery and or engine block near the alternator/stator/starter. I have been known to run a 6 Gauge ground to a common buss bar and tie all grounds to it. In all the 90's up Subaru's the ground system is CRAP!!!!!! Run 5 more grounds in a ring, tying them all together to the alternator and battery and the computer works much better and more boost from the turbo. The fuel pump on almost every fuel injected car/truck is wired with 18 gauge and this causes the pump to work harder and burn out faster. I run two 14 or 12 gauge wires all the way to the pump and have a relay control the power, the effect is more fuel pressure at a constant volume.

One of the first things I do when doing a restoration of a old Mopar is to make a plug in harness and relay the front headlights with 12 Gauge wire. MANY times brighter lights.

[attachment=0:232fcae8]headlight-relays.jpg[/attachment:232fcae8]

 

[NormanB]

Re: Wirinotherg strategy advice

Erik
If it is not to late - as well as running a new power feed run another ground too, I know from prior experience that anything less is not enough!

 

[Dave_J]

Re: Wirinotherg strategy advice

Erik
If it is not to late - as well as running a new power feed run another ground too, I know from prior experience that anything less is not enough!

Norman, are you saying like, two Blonds are not enough, add in a RED too? :?:

I talking beer now, 2 blond lagers and an Irish Red. :twisted:

I would always add a ground when ever supplementing the power lead.

 

[ErikDK]

The voltage drop on the ground side from battery to the bulbs is only 0.15V @ 170 W load, so it really isn't necessary to draw a new ground to the front, compared to the more than 1 volt on the plus side.
If I do it anyway, I was considering using one of these bolt as terminal for the ground cable straight from the battery, and running all grounds from the bulbs to it.
[attachment=0:2435053c]Cruise 003.jpg[/attachment:2435053c]

Off to bed now, it's 01.40 hours, and in 20 minutes it will be 03.00 hours, since DST starts today.

 

[ErikDK]

Finally finished with the relays, but I'm not entirely happy about the fuses, since I couldn't get a surface mounted one, but only in-line ones with 4 inches of wiring either side. they reside at the front end of the air cleaner box.

The maximum battery to bulb voltage drop is now down from 1.2 volts to 0.28 volts, but the improvement on the ground side is negligible; only 0.02 volts, down from 0.15 to 0.13 volts. Definitely not worth the extra effort.
I did run all ground connections the bolt above, including the new cable from the negative battery post.

I mounted 2 spare relays, one for the horn, the other just for symmetry. The Motolights kept their relay, but I moved it up front with the others, and zip-tied it to the tip-over sensor above the ECU.