Electrical Questions

[Hollow Road Rider]

Re: My NC700X with Honda heated grips and an outlet in the frunk.

I finally got around to heating up the garage today and started in on my long put off farkle installs.

I successfully wired and installed a Powerlet power outlet on the left side for my battery tender and running my heated gear.

Now I have some Skene Design Photon Blasters and Visibility lights to wire up. For these, I will need to find convenient spot where I can splice into:
A switched hot wire
A Brake light wire
Front and rear turn signal wires

(I did this job on my Gold Wing, and everything is in a big fat harness under the seat).

I did find a big fat harness with loads of wires under the NC seat that goes to a black plastic wedge shaped box that's tucked into a cavity with another empty cavity next to it. Is this the baby I need?

 

[Hyperborea]

I didn't need the brake light for the Skene Photon Blasters. I guess you got the alert option that needs the brake light?

I put mine on a little bit back and used one of the unused connections on the accessory harness for power and ground (same one that your heated grips and frunk outlet use). For the signal lights, when you pull off the plastic that has the left side turn signal on it there is a clip that goes to the turn signal. You will need to disconnect that to get the plastic off. Follow it back a very short distance and you find that it Y's with one arm going to the right side signal. Pull the tape off and you can tap for the signal connections to the left and right. I put the light controller up under the left side fake vent.

 

[Hollow Road Rider]

Thanks.

The accessory harness that you refer to--- is that the bunch of brown plastic connectors that are all tucked in to that big clear rubber boot?

And, "the plastic that has the left side turn signal on it" --- where is that? Do you mean the signal switch?

 

[Hyperborea]

Yes, the accessory harness is the group of brown plastic connectors in the big rubber boot. There will be 3 that are alike and have 2 wires and 1 larger connector with 3 wires. Use your remaining 2 wire connector (1 used by your grips and 1 by the frunk outlet). I used posi-taps but you can buy the connectors and wire up your own. Just, FYI, the 3 wire connector is power, ground, and high beam that are used for a not in North America light kit.

By the plastic with the left side turn signal I mean the body panel plastic that has the left side turn signal on it. I pulled mine off to do the work and it made it easy to get to the harness. There is an electrical tape wrapped group of wires coming from the turn signal that ends in a connector. It connects to a group of wires that if you follow it back gets to a junction or Y in the harness. The other branch goes to the right turn signal. If you unwrap about the point of the junction you can get access to the left and right turn signals. I used posi-taps here. I then rewrapped it all in electrical tape. You might be able to get to the harness without taking the plastic body panel off but it will be tight in there.

 

[Hollow Road Rider]

Now it makes sense. Thanks again.

I did see some posts here a while back from somebody that found a source for those plastic connectors in the rubber boot. Anybody remember where that was?

 

[Hyperborea]

I bought some from the site listed in that post. It was after I had done the Skene lights. I plan to switch over to the connector the next time that I'm in.
Motorcycle 2.8mm - 110 Connector and Terminals

Honda used the 3 pin connectors for the 2 wire connections and the 4 pin connectors for the 3 wire connections. I bought some of each.

 

[elizilla]

Another site that has the stuff is OEM-Type Bullet & Spade Electrical Connectors for 1960's through 1970's Japanese Vehicles... Bridgestone, Datsun, Hodaka, Honda, Kawasaki, Landcruiser, Suzuki, Tohatsu, VW, & Yamaha. I have ordered a couple of their box sets so that now I have the various sizes all on the shelf, ready to go when I am farkling.

 

[Hollow Road Rider]

That's the site, thanks again.

Now, can anybody tell me where to find those 2-part expanding plastic pins that hold some of the body panels in place? (Please don't tell me to look on the shop floor, I already did).

 

[elizilla]

Nylon Rivets/Plastic Clips - Sport Bike - Products : Bolt Motorcycle Hardware

These are not an exact match, but I have a box of the M6 plastic rivets from this site, and I happen to have my NC's plastic apart right now. So I just test fit one and it worked in the spot I tested it.

 

[Lord la la]

Nylon Rivets/Plastic Clips - Sport Bike - Products : Bolt Motorcycle Hardware

These are not an exact match, but I have a box of the M6 plastic rivets from this site, and I happen to have my NC's plastic apart right now. So I just test fit one and it worked in the spot I tested it.

The 6mm plastic rivets seem to work in some locations, but not others on the NC7x.

 

[Lord la la]

I've gone on a binge and installed some electrical accessories and I now have only (1) two pin connector remaining which will be used to connect the heated grips which should arrive this week.

Leaving me only the square 3 pin connector.

Can I use this three pin connector to hook up (non Honda) auxiliary lights? I have the appropriate connector half and would simply use two of the available slots to connect the power and ground leads from the lights, ignoring the high beam wire into the female half.

 

[Hollow Road Rider]

I've gone on a binge and installed some electrical accessories and I now have only (1) two pin connector remaining which will be used to connect the heated grips which should arrive this week.

Leaving me only the square 3 pin connector.

Can I use this three pin connector to hook up (non Honda) auxiliary lights? I have the appropriate connector half and would simply use two of the available slots to connect the power and ground leads from the lights, ignoring the high beam wire into the female half.

That is exactly what I am planning to do. I don't see why it shouldn't work, we're just going to use the switched hot and ground connections from that 3 pin connector.

 

[670cc]

I've gone on a binge and installed some electrical accessories and I now have only (1) two pin connector remaining which will be used to connect the heated grips which should arrive this week.

Leaving me only the square 3 pin connector.

Can I use this three pin connector to hook up (non Honda) auxiliary lights? I have the appropriate connector half and would simply use two of the available slots to connect the power and ground leads from the lights, ignoring the high beam wire into the female half.

Yes you can but be aware that the sum total of all accessories plugged into the four accessory plugs is fused at 7.5 amps. The heated grips I installed used up to 4 amps on high, while a pair of 10 watt LED aux lights will add over 1.5 amps more. Depending on what else you've already wired, you could be nearing the limit.

 

[Hollow Road Rider]

Super M, when you say that the "heated grips I installed used up to 4 amps on high" are you talking about Honda grips or aftermarket?

 

[elizilla]

I have gotten down to that spot in the bike, and the 2.8mm - 110 connector doesn't match the accessory plug that is already in the bike. The photos at CycleTerminal look exactly like the connectors I have, and have the same name, but just in case, I ordered one of the CycleTerminal connectors to try. I'll let people know when it gets here, whether it works.

 

[bamamate]

I didn't find connectors that exactly match the Honda ones so I used a small screwdriver to push the 110 pins/terminals out of the Honda connector and then pushed them into the 110 connector I had bought online. I saved the Honda connector so it can easily be switched back if I ever needed.

 

[elizilla]

This one looks more like the connector in the bike:

Motorcycle .090 - Connector and Terminals

I ordered one of these to try, as well. But if it doesn't work, that's enough for me; I will follow bamamate's lead and just change the connector in the bike. I certainly have a wide variety of connectors I can swap in!

 

[670cc]

Super M, when you say that the "heated grips I installed used up to 4 amps on high" are you talking about Honda grips or aftermarket?

Sorry, I should have specified the grip manufacturer. Mine are Oxford Heaterz. I couldn't say how much maximum current the Honda grips would use.

 

[elizilla]

So I have been working on this some more this weekend. My new connectors haven't come, so I can't see if they fit. And I'm not going to be able to work on it again until April; I will be gone the next three weekends. I need to get to a stopping point and button the plastic back up while I still have a chance of remembering how it goes together.

So here's where I am: Researched this six wire option connector using the wiring diagram and my multimeter. Green is ground, dark blue is the high beam, and there's a purple and red wire that should be live when the ignition is but it isn't. So I did some further digging. The reason this wire isn't live with the ignition, is because there's a spot for the relay and a spot for the fuse, in the main fuse panel of the bike, and these are empty. This is the Honda relay kit which I don't have. I have fuses but this is an unusually small relay. There are three other relays there, so I pulled one out and took it up to the auto parts store to see if they could match it, but they could not. In the end I just ordered the Honda relay. If it's like other OEM stuff it will be a week to ten days before I see it, so it will have to wait for April. While I was at it I ordered the accessory sub harness or whatever the heck they call it. It will definitely fit that plug, and from what I read here, the connectors on the other end of it are the ones I already have a full set of. Or maybe the six-pin connector of the other type, which I ordered but don't have yet, will fit. One way or another I should be able to achieve my goal, which is to wire up all my stuff without modifying the stock wiring harness.

There is an orange wire and a light blue wire in this six-pin connector. According to the wiring diagram, these go to the turn signals. What on earth kind of Honda accessory needs to be controlled by the turn signals? I can't imagine.

I wired up my heated grips, and installed the semi-mounted heat troller by sticking it to the bottom left corner of the instrument panel. I routed all the wires neatly and hid the controller box in the left fake air scoop. I installed my Fuzeblock in the little compartment under the flap at the bottom of the frunk. It's slightly too thick so the flap bends a little, but I like this better than putting it somewhere that requires disassembly to get to. I might change this later though. I installed the wires for the positive and negative, and the heated grips, but I won't have switched power until the Honda order comes in.

I installed a power outlet in the spot that appears to have been intended for one, on the corner of the flap that covers that compartment at the bottom of the frunk.

Then I put the plastic back on. It went together a lot quicker than it came apart. Hopefully next time it will come apart faster too. Have I mentioned I hate pulling plastic? Yeesh.

I haven't put the battery back in yet. It has those super annoying nuts that are hard to get started when you have even one extra ring terminal. I took the battery out and made little rubber blocks to glue in behind the nuts and hold them in place so they'll be easier to thread the screws into. The battery is sitting on the bench waiting for the RTV to dry. Why why why do batteries have to have those horrible terminal nuts? Seems like someone would redesign those terminals so they'd be less annoying.

It's supposed to be 47 degrees here tomorrow, and since DST was last night, it will actually be daylight when I get out of work. Maybe I'll get a ride in!