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Anyone install Fog lights using a battery tender cable?

StratTuner said:
link for that? I think I'd like to try the SAE (battery tender) connection method. Would not be hard to wire in a simple ON/OF switch and make it manual.
Maybe we could put together a list of things required to accomplish it?
Click to expand...


To install "Fog Lights" using "Battery Tender Wiring" (experimental stage :)

2 Fog Lights (with Red and Black Wires).

1 (preferable 10 Gauge) 2 Pin Quick Disconnect Wire Harness - SAE Connector (to cut in half and connect each end of the Tender wires to the two separate Fog Light Wires).... Red to Red and Black to Black).

2 Pin SAE to SAE Splitter Cable-for Battery Tender Harness Charge 2 items
(To Connect Both Lights into One tender cable).

Motobatt Battery Tender SAE connector 1 into 2 "Fused" Splitter Cable (1 wire is 7.5amp and the other is a 15amp wire).
(Fog Lights Wires will use this to Connect into the 15amp wire which gets connected to the Bike's Battery via the Tender wire).

Look at the attached picture to see how simple it should be. I ordered everything and will report how it goes.

Not sure how to add a "On/Off" switch? But worse comes to worse, I can just disconnect the Tender connections when I want to turn the Fog Lights off and re-connect when I want the lights on). Should work (I think).
Gotta read up on how to fuse two separate wires together :) but best part is I don't have to take apart my NC 700 to wire it up or pay a tech $80 an hour. And no, my NC didn't come with an attached tender wire.



Sent from my iPhone
 

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The SAE connectors you plan on using are some of the worst connectors made because they are not weather resistant and prone to corrosion. To make them water resistant use dielectric grease on the connector then use electric tape to keep the water out and secure.
 
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If you cut the harness in photo number 2 in half and use as two separate cables, the polarity will be wrong on one of the connectors, assuming you want to maintain the color coding.

As a side note, understand that the positive lead from the source (battery) should never be the exposed pin.

The wiring on the fog light looks fairly small. Do you know the current draw of the light and the wire gauge that comes with the light? You may want to reduce fuse sizes in order to protect this wire if it is too small to handle the current the fuse could allow to pass. The fuses are there to protect the wiring.

While there's nothing wrong with using larger wire than needed, if you are using LED lights (recommended), then 10 gauge wire is overkill.
 
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Ruggybuggy said:
The SAE connectors you plan on using are some of the worst connectors made because they are not weather resistant and prone to corrosion. To make them water resistant use dielectric grease on the connector then use electric tape to keep the water out and secure.
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you. I was already planning to insulate the wiring and connection points :) but here in LA, CA we barely see any rain. But you are right.
 
Great info, 670cc. Thanks for posting :eek: I don't know the gauge of the light wires but the specs said 15watts. X 2 ... 30watts total ... That should be less than 3amps. But in case the watt specs are wrong (lights coming from China), my splitter Tender will have both a 7.5amp connection and a 15amp connection. One should work. (I hope).
 
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JoeZ said:
To install "Fog Lights" using "Battery Tender Wiring" (experimental stage :)

2 Fog Lights (with Red and Black Wires).

1 (preferable 10 Gauge) 2 Pin Quick Disconnect Wire Harness - SAE Connector (to cut in half and connect each end of the Tender wires to the two separate Fog Light Wires).... Red to Red and Black to Black).

2 Pin SAE to SAE Splitter Cable-for Battery Tender Harness Charge 2 items
(To Connect Both Lights into One tender cable).

Motobatt Battery Tender SAE connector 1 into 2 "Fused" Splitter Cable (1 wire is 7.5amp and the other is a 15amp wire).
(Fog Lights Wires will use this to Connect into the 15amp wire which gets connected to the Bike's Battery via the Tender wire).

Look at the attached picture to see how simple it should be. I ordered everything and will report how it goes.

Not sure how to add a "On/Off" switch? But worse comes to worse, I can just disconnect the Tender connections when I want to turn the Fog Lights off and re-connect when I want the lights on). Should work (I think).
Gotta read up on how to fuse two separate wires together :) but best part is I don't have to take apart my NC 700 to wire it up or pay a tech $80 an hour. And no, my NC didn't come with an attached tender wire.



Sent from my iPhone
Click to expand...


Denali D4 vs. DR1 Review - webBikeWorld

look at this wiring diagram, this might help.
 
I think you are making it more complicated then it is:

I think the reason you want to use the tender cable is because you dont want to cut or tab into any wire in the NC.

you need this:

OPT7 8ft on Off Power Switch for Off Road LED Light Bar Relay Wiring Harness | eBay

or something similar.

this cable will allow you to tab into the battery directly and control the with a power switch. no cutting wire on the bike


this one is cheaper and has it for two lights. check out the diagram - easy to understand.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-R...Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e950eec1b&vxp=mtr
 
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mreric said:
I think you are making it more complicated then it is:

I think the reason you want to use the tender cable is because you dont want to cut or tab into any wire in the NC.

you need this:

OPT7 8ft on Off Power Switch for Off Road LED Light Bar Relay Wiring Harness | eBay

or something similar.

this cable will allow you to tab into the battery directly and control the with a power switch. no cutting wire on the bike


this one is cheaper and has it for two lights. check out the diagram - easy to understand.
Universal Relay Harness Wire Kit LED on Off Switch for Fog Lights HID Worklamp | eBay
Click to expand...

I really like the 2nd eBay option. And this would work on the NC? Cuz the item seems to be for Autos? It doesn't allow me to find our model Bike :-/) But this is "Great Information" and will get us started. Thank you.
 
I'm hoping to execute this project next month....if funds become available....
here's one of the diagrams someone suggested numbered 1 to 4 with parts I don't understand at all.
wiring-diagram2.jpg
1. What is that?
2. What is that? (connect to NC's wiring? I thought the whole point of this was to avoid that.)
3. That looks like a fuse. hanging out in the middle of no where... soo...just solder the red hot wire to both connections to run current through it?
4. What is that?

I have an SAE splitter connected to the battery directly.
saesplitter.jpg

It has 2 unused SAE connections. (one powers my GPS, the second services the battery tender).

Can I plug into that?

now the hot wire has to go to the on/off switch and the lights. That's it?
Right?

I sense that it might be good to have a fuse somewhere, but I have no clue how to wire that. In essence, the bulb becomes the fuse. The bulb blows (breaking the circuit) if too much current goes through the circuit.


I've been looking at the harness kits on Amazon, and those seem the "all in one" choice. They appear to have a fuse, on/off, switch and connections to two lights. all that remains is soldering on an SAE connector to connect to the existing, unused, sae.
wiring-diagram3.jpg

the ground/hot ends would go to the SAE connector and on to the battery. I think Iunderstand that.
There appear to be two loose ground/hot wires that aren't near eachother....
do those go to the same place?

Yes, I am way out of my depth here... I will have to learn as I go.

[THIS] post looks interesting... at least it explains how to solder on an SAE connector to bare wires. It looks like it has something else on the wires (a fuse?) but I don't know what that is.
 
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StratTuner said:
I'm hoping to execute this project next month....if funds become available....
here's one of the diagrams someone suggested numbered 1 to 4 with parts I don't understand at all.
View attachment 21879
1. What is that?
2. What is that? (connect to NC's wiring? I thought the whole point of this was to avoid that.)
3. That looks like a fuse. hanging out in the middle of no where... soo...just solder the red hot wire to both connections to run current through it?
4. What is that?

I have an SAE splitter connected to the battery directly.
It has 4 unused SAE connections.

Can I plug into that?

now the hot wire has to go to the on/off switch and the lights. That's it?
Right?

I sense that it might be good to have a fuse somewhere, but I have no clue how to wire that. In essence, the bulb becomes the fuse. The bulb blows (breaking the circuit) if too much current goes through the circuit.
Click to expand...

#1 is a relay. It would be required if the lights demanded a fair amount of current. The purpose of the relay is to power the auxiliary lights on when the bike is turned on, but without drawing current directly from the bikes lighting circuit. In the case of two 10 watt LED aux lights, you might get away with tapping into the existing lighting circuit, since the draw would only be about 1.6 amps. Personally, I would use the relay as you would not want take a chance on blowing your lighting circuit fuse while driving at night.

If the spirit of this mod is simplicity. You can forget the relay and just run the lights direct from the battery, through a fuse, to a switch. Only problem is you would need to remember to turn them off or you will probably end up buying another battery.

If your bike has the Honda accessory harness and relay already install, the relay and feed from the battery is already there for you. Just connect the lights to the harness.

#2 is the signal from the bike to energize the relay when the bike key is on. If you want the lights to work along with the key switch, this connection is necessary.

#3 is an inline fuse holder with fuse. You can buy this already assembled at an auto parts store. It's a fuse holder with two short wires (maybe 6 inches each) connected. You want the fuse as near the battery as possible, that way if there is a short circuit or overload anywhere in the circuit downstream of the fuse, the fuse will protect it by opening ("blowing").

#4 is simply illustrating the connectors supplied with the Denali kit.

My personal choice would be to employ the Honda accessory harness since half your project would then be plug-and -play. But it would up the cost a bit.
 
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I still don't understand what a "relay" is... even after reading your explanation.

#1 is a relay. It would be required if the lights demanded a fair amount of current. The purpose of the relay is to power the auxiliary lights on when the bike is turned on, but without drawing current directly from the bikes lighting circuit.
Click to expand...

I guess I shouldn't ask for an explanation of a circuit I don't plan to use. That one connects to the bike's circuity, and I don't want to do that. The circuit I'm imagining is completely separate from the NCs. I want to keep it that way so that I can remove it if what I stick on there doesn't work.

I'm going to pour over that explanation more now... see if I can learn something...thanks for taking the time to post.

If the spirit of this mod is simplicity. You can forget the relay and just run the lights direct from the battery, through a fuse, to a switch. Only problem is you would need to remember to turn them off or you will probably end up buying another battery.
Click to expand...

YES! I think I understand that.
questions that remain are:
1. what gauge wire must I use?
2. what is a fuse. (I know what a fuse is...but what does it go into? what is that thing?)
3. what size fuse?

#2 you answered:
an inline fuse holder with fuse. You can buy this already assembled at an auto parts store. It's a fuse holder with two short wires (maybe 6 inches each) connected. You want the fuse as near the battery as possible, that way if there is a short circuit or overload anywhere in the circuit downstream of the fuse, the fuse will protect it by opening ("blowing").
Click to expand...

it makes sense (to me) to talk about the order things go in following the red "hot" wire... starting with the battery...so here goes.
1. battery
2. cable connected to battery pos/neg terminals converts to SAE.
3. four-way sae cable (changes one sae connection into four).
4. sae connector for lighting
5. inline fuse connection (holds fuse)
6. on/of switch
7. lights

now, the black (ground) part of this circuit comes back from the lights and to the SAE connector.
This makes a circle. (a circuit)

All the action takes place on the red "hot" wire. the power is there, so is the on/off switch, and finally the lights.

Working this through means a lot to me... I think I get this now....

Fuse size: If I'm using two 20 w lights i need a 40 w fuse. Fuses don't appear to be measured in watts, they seem to be measured in amps.... so now is the time to figure out what 40 watt draw is on the AMP scale....
sigh....
 
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StratTuner said:
I still don't understand what a "relay" is... even after reading your explanation.



I guess I shouldn't ask for an explanation of a circuit I don't plan to use. That one connects to the bike's circuity, and I don't want to do that. The circuit I'm imagining is completely separate from the NCs. I want to keep it that way so that I can remove it if what I stick on there doesn't work.

I'm going to pour over that explanation more now... see if I can learn something...thanks for taking the time to post.



YES! I think I understand that.
questions that remain are:
1. what gauge wire must I use?
2. what is a fuse. (I know what a fuse is...but what does it go into? what is that thing?)
3. what size fuse?

#2 you answered:


it makes sense (to me) to talk about the order things go in following the red "hot" wire... starting with the battery...so here goes.
1. battery
2. cable connected to battery pos/neg terminals converts to SAE.
3. four-way sae cable (changes one sae connection into four).
4. sae connector for lighting
5. inline fuse connection (holds fuse)
6. on/of switch
7. lights

now, the black (ground) part of this circuit comes back from the lights and to the SAE connector.
This makes a circle. (a circuit)

All the action takes place on the red "hot" wire. the power is there, so is the on/off switch, and finally the lights.

Working this through means a lot to me... I think I get this now....

Fuse size: If I'm using two 20 w lights i need a 40 w fuse. Fuses don't appear to be measured in watts, they seem to be measured in amps.... so now is the time to figure out what 40 watt draw is on the AMP scale....
sigh....
Click to expand...
To convert Watts to Amps, simply divide by the Voltage. In your example 40 watts/12 volts = 3.33 amps
 
StratTuner said:
Fuse size: If I'm using two 20 w lights i need a 40 w fuse. Fuses don't appear to be measured in watts, they seem to be measured in amps.... so now is the time to figure out what 40 watt draw is on the AMP scale....
sigh....
Click to expand...

Yes, I think you have the basic hang of it.

The fuse is indeed rated in amps (amperes), which is a unit of current. A simple formula relates amps to volts to watts.

Power (watts) = Voltage (volts) x Current (amps).

Rearranging the same formula, you get: watts/volts = amps.

Thus, your 40 watts lights divided by the bikes electrical voltage, say 13.8 volts when it's running, equals a current draw of about 2.9 amps. If you use the 12 volt rating on the lights, you'll get 40/12=3.33, as in the post above. You'll want a little overhead in your fuse rating to prevent nuisance blowing, so I would round up and try a 5 amp fuse to start with. Your wire lengths will be quite short, so based on wire size charts for 12 volts circuits, you can probably do just fine with 16 gauge stranded copper wire for a 5 amp circuit. You could probably even use smaller 18 gauge, but why skimp on it that much?

If your lights are LEDs, 20 watts each is really bright. You'll be seeing dots for days if you look straight at them.
 
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Well, I put my fog lights up. Just waiting for the wiring kit suggested by mreric to arrive. Spent the day installing highway foot pegs and Barkbuster hand guards too. Thanks for the help guys. Will try to put up a picture or two.
 

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here's the diagram...
diag.JPG
two things I don't understand and so would not include:
1) 40A relay (what is that?)
2) positive trigger

Everything else looks like it should be part of the circle...(circuit)
except the 40a relay (which has no obvious function) and the
"trigger" which actually breaks the circle... or at least extends it beyond the scope of the lights.
 
StratTuner said:
two things I don't understand and so would not include:
1) 40A relay (what is that?)
2) positive trigger

Everything else looks like it should be part of the circle...(circuit)
except the 40a relay (which has no obvious function) and the
"trigger" which actually breaks the circle... or at least extends it beyond the scope of the lights.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^Post 31 # 1 and # 2 explains the need and function ^^^^^^^^^
 
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