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woot -> RE: Bike Comm and Sound (11/5/2008 5:12:04 AM)
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It has been awhile, but I decided I''''d draw the basic diagram, and explain how it works. Please see the attached image! :D
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This is how I went about wiring my bikes auxiliary fuse block. I wanted it to be key switched so I didn''''t accidentally leave it on.
When I did it - I just did it... turns out you can buy the kit online for what I think is a very reasonable price.
http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/Fuseboxes/FB-4/fb-4.html
Required supplies:
- red wire
- back wire
- blue wire (optional - I used this for the trigger wire so I''''d remember)
- inline fuse (REMOVE THE FUSE NOW)
- sheathing (nice)
- dielectric grease
- FEMALE spade connectors (insulated type are best for avoiding moisture problems later)
- MALE spade connectors
- heat shrink, or your choice of wire splicing methods
- Automotive relay ( NAPA, Radio Shack, local electronics shop. Mine is 30a and I consider that far over kill)
DO NOT CONNECT TO THE BATTERY UNTIL THIS IS COMPLETE.
Locate a place on the bike to put the relay. No point going too far away from the battery.
The relay has 4 posts:
- Power IN (from the battery)
- Power OUT (for the fuse panel)
- Trigger power IN ( license plate light for example)
- Ground (to complete the trigger circuit)
Attach a ring connector to the ground wire.
Pull enough length off the roll to go past the relay. Don''''t cut it now as we''''ve still got to figure out where we want the fuse box.
Attach a ring connector to the power wire.
Run that to the relay to measure for length, and then cut it off there.
Now on this length we have to install the inline fuse. This protects the whole system right at the power source.
Choose where you want the inline fuse to be... cut the power wire
I used an inline fuse that came built into a 6" length of wire. I connected the power wire to either end. I personally soldered and heat shrank this, but spade terminals will work here as well.
Confirm it is the right length with the addition of the inline fuse connector, cut off excess if needed.
Put a female spade connector on the end of it and then attach to the Power In pole of the relay.
Locate where you want the fuse panel. (put it somewhere accessible, but so that the wires can be hidden or out of the way)
Pull a fresh length of power wire from the spool.
Attach a spade connector.
Connect to the relay
Measure from the relay to the fuse block.
Cut the wire,
Going back to our ground wire. We need to make a Y, one for the relay and one for the fuse block. I personally made the Y near the relay because I didn''''t see the point of running the ground to the fuse panel, making the splice, then coming back to the relay.
Make the Y in the ground cable. The short end of the Y doubles back on itself and connects to the relay with a female spade connector. The long end of the Y should run up to the fuse panel.
The Trigger wire.
The relay needs to be turned on and off. The way that works is that it has a small electromagnetic switch. When power is applied to the switch it toggles on. When the power is off, the switch toggles off. If you listen you can even hear it click. That means it''''s working - we''''ll get there later.
Choosing our triggering power source takes some thought. Whatever you tap needs to be a switched power source. An indicator would be a bad option as all of your electronics would flick on and off as you made a left turn. For the same reason the brake light is a bad option. The next consideration I had was that if my wiring caused a fault, I didn''''t want it to be a show stopper. So I avoided the horn, the headlight and the brake light. That left the license plate light. If something goes wrong I don''''t mind losing my license plate light.
As the license plate light was past my relay and past the fuse box I decided I''''d run my trigger wire through the same sheath as the power/ground wires going from the relay to the fuse box.
Attach a spade terminal to the blue wire, connect to the relay''''s triggered power source. Run from the relay, past the fuse box, back to the license plate. Leave a foot slack, cut it off. We will do this last. Multiple points of safety... if you do prematurely connect to the power, the inline fuse is out, and this isn''''t connected to the trigger power source.
Now we''''ve got the wires ran from the relay to the fuse box, sheath them and route them along the frame (or wherever works for you). Cable tie the sheath at the relay end, and cut the sheath off at the fuse box. You''''ll have to push it back to finish work at the fuse box end so don''''t cable tie it yet. We needed to do the sheath now, as we won''''t be able to pass the fuse box through the sheath later... and yes I learned the hard way.
While we''''re at it, cable tie from the relay back as far toward the battery as you want. This is only for tidy purposes.
RIGHT HERE WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE FUSE BLOCK YOU''''VE PICKED.
In the linked diagram it has a series of male terminals that our spade connectors would slide onto.
On my bike my fuse block has a common bus, so we don''''t need to create a daisy chain of female connections. I personally prefer my option.
One such product is made by bussman. I''''m going to follow the picture in the link provided as their fuse block is very nice looking.
Create the power daisy chain by putting one end of a 2" wire into the FEMALE spade connector with the supply power. Continue this way until you have enough female connectors to satisfy the fuse box. {*** If you have a bussman style fuse block you do not need to daisy chain, as illustrated in the figure. Some fuse blocks don''''t have a bus, so you must make 4 inputs to get 4 outputs ***}
Do the same for the ground wire using MALE spade connectors. Make the same number of connections as the power. One to one pairings later.
NOW - we''''ll leave the fuse box alone for a minute and focus on the accessory power plugs.
I personally like to use SAE 2-pin trailer plugs for all of my accessories. You can use BWM style, or cigar style or the many other coax types. I like SAE as they''''re common, and relatively cheap and weather resistant.
One improvement I would make to my current system would be to mount the fuse box as far to the side or back as possible. I only need access to the fuses, not to the wiring. To do this we''''ll run the accessory leads through a sheath from the fuse box to a convent location under the seat.
This fuse box has 4 fuses, so you need 4 pairs of SAE trailer plugs. There is a male and female!!! The female is the one where the power pin is covered. Maintain the same colour scheme for all your work!
The SAE plugs I buy come with a 8" length of wire in a loop. Cut the pair in half so each plug has a 4" tail. Put the male in one pile, the female in the other. If you want more length away from your fuse box extend the tail as long as you want.
With the 4 female plugs - dope and crimp FEMALE spade connectors into it Run all of the wires through a sheath, and connect the power leads to the fuse box male connectors and the ground to the male grounds.
With a multimeter find out which plug is associated with which fuse. (Alternatively you can later plug in a device, and pull fuses until it turns off.) Mark each SAE plug with the fuse number it corresponds to.
Cable tie the sheath to the wires.
BACK TO THE TRIGGER WIRE
Now - we need to find the license plate light. If found it easier to follow the wire from the light than to look in the book. Find the license plates power wire, and either tap or splice it. If you choose to do a splice and solder make sure you dope it and cover it with a liberal amount of electrical tape OR better yet some paint on heat shrink. Otherwise you can use a vampire tap - I see some Posi-Tap online... look very nice to work with.
INSTALLATION AND TESTING
Ignition OFF!
Connect to the battery.
Install inline fuse.
Install a fuse into position 1.
Plug in a device. (My GPS charger has a nice green LED dumbie light)
The device should be off. [**]
Turn the ignition off. The device should power on. You might depending on the relay hear a nice positive click.
Turn the ignition off, remove the inline fuse. Finish cable tyeing to the bike.
You are done... I have described it in such detail to make it sound difficult. This is a couple hours work the first time... especially if you want to make it very tidy.
Woot.
[** If the device powers on with the ignition off, you tapped an always on circuit. If the device won''''t power on, then you didn''''t tap the trigger wire to a switched power source, you have a bad ground to the relay, no power to the relay, a blown fuse, or a bad terminal.]
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