Fuse Box upgrade

[GQROD]

you are the man.


what exactly do you have running there, and is the 12v constant running through one, or separate like mentioned earlier?

my bike doesnt look like that. what is the thing with the 4 screws in it?

Thank you, the thing with the for screws ( phillips head ) is the seat mount.

I run one fuse box just for ground.

The second is just for 12 volts Positive.

I could have used a distribution block but separating the grounds and centralizing them gives me an easy way to test each circuit without digging out the harness.

Most of the circuit additions will be low power with the exception of the 139 db horn i just added, so i needed a lot of available fused circuits that were easily accessable,still making the cover for the air horn.

My 12 volt constant is the 4 guage red wire you see going to the fuse box. I still have the original fuse box mounted and i still have a free circuit there to use. I did't want to change things from stock when it came to what was already there, it aint broke why fix it?

The stator output isn't that high to run too many high powered accessories, however i have a distribution block that will provide power from solar panels that will be used to trickle charge main battery when parked in the sun. It will be a 25 watt solar panel which is big so i'll use two smaller ones to provide the needed 1.5 amps

All my upgrades can be seen from the photbucket album linked to my signature as this is an evolving project.

[jed.only]

Thank you, the thing with the for screws ( phillips head ) is the seat mount.

I run one fuse box just for ground.

The second is just for 12 volts Positive.

I could have used a distribution block but separating the grounds and centralizing them gives me an easy way to test each circuit without digging out the harness.

Most of the circuit additions will be low power with the exception of the 139 db horn i just added, so i needed a lot of available fused circuits that were easily accessable.

My 12 volt constant is the 4 guage red wire you see going to the fuse box. I still have the original fuse box mounted and i still have a free circuit there to use. I did't want to change things from stock when it came to what was already there, it aint broke why fix it?

The stator output isn't that high to run too many high powered accessories, however i have a distribution block that will provide power from solar panels that will be used to trickle charge main battery when parked in the sun. It will be a 25 watt solar panel which is big so i'll use two smaller ones to provide the needed 1.5 amps

All my upgrades can be seen from the photbucket album linked to my signature as this is an evolving project.

that is cool, thanks for sharing. i think is smart to have all the ground in one place, like you said, easy to diagnose.

[GQROD]

No problem always happy to share. The people on this site made this all possible with their advice so i only made it this far with their help. They'll get you through any problem that comes up good luck and let us now how it goes!

[Steve]

For all the farkles on my wife's bike, I used a distribution panel (terminal strip) mounted under the right side panel. Switched power is fed to the panel from a relay under the left side panel. When I installed that relay, I also added a relay that cuts power to the headlight when the starter button is pushed. Here are the relays:


Here is the terminal strip:


The strip has changed a bit since this picture was taken, but there are a few items connected at the top to switched power, one row is constant power, the bottom rows are all grounds.

Can't say as I would recommend this to everyone, but it works for me.

.

[doctorgonzo]

As I'm wiring mine back up after this teardown I think I'll add the relay to cut the headlight power when the starter button is pushed, if as an electronic retard I can figure it out.

[Steve]

I can tell you how I did it if you want.

Hey, even if you don't want, I'm gonna do it anyway.

At the fuse panel is a 4-pin plug. One wire comes from the ignition switch to feed the top three fuses, the other three wires are the ones going from the fuses to their respective circuits. I removed the headlight wire from that plug and re-routed it to a relay, using terminal 30 on the relay. From terminal 87a on the relay, I routed a wire back to the headlight feed where I disconnected it. (You could also just cut the wire before or after the plug, I chose to remove the terminal from the plug and insert another terminal.) Back at the relay, connect terminal 85 to the starter terminal on the solenoid and terminal 86 to ground. Here is how it now works: Terminal 87a is "normally closed", meaning that it will pass current from 30 to 87a. When the starter is activated, you now also activate the coil in the relay, which moves the power from terminal 87a to 87, which has nothing attached. Since 87a now has no power, the headlight goes OFF. When you release the starter button, the relay relaxes, power returns to 87a and the headlight comes back ON. Note that this is a fail-safe system. If the relay malfunctions and does not operate, you still have a headlight, it just won't go OFF when you push the starter button.

.

[doctorgonzo]

Actually Steve, that was subtle prompting to get you to explain it to me. I have progressed from complete doofus, to just kind of clueless when it comes to electronics. After this I may progress to just a bit dim.

[Steve]

Keep up the subtle prompts, we'll turn up that wattage.

.

[GQROD]

For all the farkles on my wife's bike, I used a distribution panel (terminal strip) mounted under the right side panel. Switched power is fed to the panel from a relay under the left side panel. When I installed that relay, I also added a relay that cuts power to the headlight when the starter button is pushed. Here are the relays:


Here is the terminal strip:


The strip has changed a bit since this picture was taken, but there are a few items connected at the top to switched power, one row is constant power, the bottom rows are all grounds.

Can't say as I would recommend this to everyone, but it works for me.

.

Does your terminal strip have two seperate metal strips on the back?

Just trying to figure out how it works cause it seems compact and useful!

[Steve]

Does your terminal strip have two seperate metal strips on the back?

Just trying to figure out how it works cause it seems compact and useful!

Nothing on the back except plastic.

The two screws that are side by side in the picture are connected by a strip under the screws. The top two pairs and the bottom two pairs are each connected by a small jumper that you can see bridging over the barrier on the right side. That gives four screws with the same connection. My general thought was power in on the left, power out on the right. For example: in the second row from the top, the blue wire on the left comes from the (added) relay on the left side of the bike. That relay is activated when the key is turned ON, so anything connected to those top four screws has switched power. The wires on the right go to the CB radio, GPS and voltmeter, the wire on the top left goes back to the tail light. The tail light was flickering a bit when the headlight modulator is used, so I moved its feed to a steady power source. The third row is fed by the red wire on the left, which is the normally closed contact from the relay, meaning it has power when the key is OFF. The wire on the right goes down to one of the switches in the lower right corner that are for the LEDs on the edge of the gas tank. That way we can park the bike at the light parades we attend and have lights on without having the key on. My wiring was incomplete when that picture was taken, but there is now a wire going off to the right of the lone orange wire, but I can't remember what it feeds. All the grounds are together at the bottom for convenience.

The terminal strips are from Radio Shack and only cost a few bucks each. If you choose to use fork-type terminals like I did, make sure you get the ones with the narrow legs that fit the terminal strips. The normal fork connectors are too wide.

.

[GQROD]

Awesome thanks! i never saw the jumpers in the package at my local auto zone so i never bought them, after reading your post i found this site
http://www.canyonchasers.net/shop/generic/relay.php
which went into detail like you explained. The above link could be helpful to others planning multiple circuits.