Extreme Farkling - Circuits and controls

[Beemerphile]

Neatened up harnesses...

The rear harness has the tail connector, the Honda alarm, Russell heated seat, and a Powerlet plug for heated clothing...



Here is the left side harness before and after...

 

[Beemerphile]

Here are the front amber lights I added from Strobes-n-More. They are wired through the NC contacts of a relay to alternate with the turn signals and otherwise to stay on as running lights. I disconnected the running light filaments from the Honda stalks as they didn't do as much and I wanted the 5 watts each to spend elsewhere. The brackets are homemade. Notice the bushing where the wires pass through. vibration on a motorcycle is famous for abrading the insulation on wires and causing shorts. Best to protect against sharp edges. I cut the programming wires short and hollowed out a place in the gasket for them to live. Don't think I'll need them again, but...

 

[Beemerphile]

Front lighting "on"...

 

[Beemerphile]

Here is a contrast between the Teslas and the Duallys. No contest. The heatsinks on the Duallys are massive. The wiring that was provided is top notch. They have collimator lenses for distance. I got the spots. My plan was to run them at half-brilliance with the low beams and full brilliance with the high beam.


The Clearwater IQ-170 PWM controller is a fine piece of kit. I used to to provide three levels of light from the Duallys. I have an auxiliary light switch on the handlebar. When it is off, the Amber fork lights are off and the Duallys are at 20%. When the switch is on, the Amber fork lights are on and the Duallys are at 50%. When the high beam is on, the Duallys go to full brilliance regardless of the position of the auxiliary switch. This is ideal for making best use of add-on LED driving lights. I'd recommend spots rather than fogs if you are going to use this controller...

IQ-170 Intelligent Lighting Controller - Skene Design - Brands

EDITED TO ADD: Somewhere along the line Rigid changed the circuitry in the Dually so that they no longer work with aftermarket dimmers like the IQ series. To make it worse, there is no indication on the outside of the housing whether it is pre or post the change.

 

[gkgeiger]

I like your work. I did a wiring harness on my last hot rod (a '36 Ford) I used non insulated crimp connectors or solder and shrink sleeves everywhere I could. It make for a clean setup. Keep up the great work.

 

[Beemerphile]

I like your work. I did a wiring harness on my last hot rod (a '36 Ford) I used non insulated crimp connectors or solder and shrink sleeves everywhere I could. It make for a clean setup. Keep up the great work.

Thanks Gene. Have you got a ship date on your seat yet? I wish mine was being built now!

 

[dduelin]

Beautiful work shown here.

 

[TechiePilot]

Beemerphile, great job. Like your offset splicing. I've noticed that Honda was very efficient with their wiring, not much slack play...so any cutting would not be smart down the road. Good point about the vibration and chafing. I always have that in mind.

I appreciated seeing the pics of the wiring with the panels emoved. Seems there's a good bit of space to play around.

 

[L.B.S.]

"Here are the front amber lights I added from Strobes-n-More. They are wired through the NC contacts of a relay to alternate with the turn signals and otherwise to stay on as running lights. I disconnected the running light filaments from the Honda stalks as they didn't do as much and I wanted the 5 watts each to spend elsewhere."


*squinting*

So, is it my imagination, or are the Honda running lights on at the same time as the fork mounted lights in this picture, or...?

Front lighting "on"...
View attachment 849

 

[duk2n]

Great job, you're the master!

About the tools used, I believe I can see the solder in one of the pictures, in the ground at the left side of the bike, but can't see the crimper. Could you please post a picture of it?

 

[Beemerphile]

"Here are the front amber lights I added from Strobes-n-More. They are wired through the NC contacts of a relay to alternate with the turn signals and otherwise to stay on as running lights. I disconnected the running light filaments from the Honda stalks as they didn't do as much and I wanted the 5 watts each to spend elsewhere."


*squinting*

So, is it my imagination, or are the Honda running lights on at the same time as the fork mounted lights in this picture, or...?

I was doing "basic research". The famous rocket scientist Wernher von Braun (who lived in my hometown) said once that "basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing." I didn't think the 5w running lights in the front did enough daytime good - they were fine at night. I toyed with running the 21w elements as daytime running lights and blinking them with my LEDs through the alternating relays. Effectively the blink from the alternating relays is "off-on-off" instead of "on-off-on", so the brighter filaments would have normally run, blinked off for turn signals. I decided that was an inefficient use of 42w (10% of the generating capacity of the bike), so I went full reverse and just cut the running light leads from the front signals. My Strobes-n-more LEDs put out considerably more light with 90ma each of power than the stock turn signal elements did with 1.75 amps each (1,750ma!) and certainly more than the stock running lights did with 420 ma (each). Now, the stock units are just 21w conventional turn signals, the stock running lights were put to sleep, and the LEDs are normally on with alternated turn. The picture caught me in mid-revelation of all this.

 

[Beemerphile]

I like your work. I did a wiring harness on my last hot rod (a '36 Ford) I used non insulated crimp connectors or solder and shrink sleeves everywhere I could. It make for a clean setup. Keep up the great work.

Insulated crimp connectors are a bad (but common) short-cut. You cannot possibly do as good a crimp on them as on an uninsulated connector. If you try, you deform the insulation until it is useless (perforated, or big, fat, and wide). If I have to use crimps, they are un-insulated. Then I cover them with a short piece of heatshrink tubing. Often I fill them with solder afterwards - not enough that it will wick up the wire and make it brittle, but just a bit at the tip after crimping to fill the voids and firm it up.

I am often found pulling the insulation off of insulated terminals before installing them.

 

[Beemerphile]

Good point about the vibration and chafing.

In my travels, I cannot pass a stranded motorcyclist. Sometimes I am able to help, sometimes not, but I have always appreciated when someone stopped for me. Of the times that the problems were electrical, the cause has often been abraded owner-installed wiring. Some bikes have a tendency to abrade the OEM harnesses in particular locations as well. I have looked for places like this on the NC and found they did a most excellent job of protecting the wiring. I did not want to diminish their efforts by my work.

I appreciated seeing the pics of the wiring with the panels removed. Seems there's a good bit of space to play around.

There is lots of room under the skin, but it is not clear with the covers off (or on) where you have space. I had the covers off half the bike at a time (right side, then left side) to map the free space and to understand where to avoid. It is a royal pain to build up a big fat harness only to find that it bypassed a three inch clearance space and went right exactly where it would not fit. Murphy is an SOB.

 

[Beemerphile]

Great job, you're the master!

About the tools used, I believe I can see the solder in one of the pictures, in the ground at the left side of the bike, but can't see the crimper. Could you please post a picture of it?

The right crimper depends on the terminal being crimped. The open barrel terminals in the weather-proof connector must use a crimper meant for open barrel use. Often people try to bend and mangle the connectors with a conventional closed barrel crimp tool because it is the only tool that they have. There are inexpensive open barrel tools that work like the inexpensive standard crimp tools - essentially just pliers with the correct forming channels for different sized open barrel terminals. These work fine, properly used, but I prefer the ratcheting tools to the simple pliers. After collecting a drawer full of crimp tools for specific types of terminals, I now most often resort to my S & G Tool Aid 18920 ratcheting crimp tool with interchangable heads. It will work with most anything under 10 gauge in size.



Over that, I have impact forming and hydraulic forming tools. These would be used for battery cables or other large power cables. The 8 gauge supplemental ground that I ran to the ground bus was crimped with an impact tool and then filled with solder.

 

[happy]

In my travels, I cannot pass a stranded motorcyclist. Sometimes I am able to help, sometimes not, but I have always appreciated when someone stopped for me. (snip rest).

Bless your kind soul, we need more people like you.
Today I saw a Tmax (or some giant scooter) and he was "sleeping" at the stoplights after the highway exit. We made eye contact after the lights turned green, and he smiled wearily at me, signalling he was all right. I was cozy in my VW Sharan. Bikers need all the help they can get.

Ride on.

 

[Beemerphile]

I got tired of waiting on Web!ike to send me the official Honda red LED to annunciate my alarm system, so I rolled my own. I mounted it in an analogous manner to the CVS indicator - only on the opposite Cycra hand guard. I crafted a short and sweet message to the Ne'er-do-well who may think naught of touching something that wasn't his...

 

[duk2n]

What does the "sweet message" mean?

It's funny, in spanish "Nacho" is an alias for "Ignacio", a spanish first name

 

[draco_1967]

It's from a knock knock joke...nacho=not your

 

[Beemerphile]

What does the "sweet message" mean?

It's funny, in spanish "Nacho" is an alias for "Ignacio", a spanish first name

Draco got the joke. I'm constantly amused at how our "second language" readers puzzle over the informal language. We even get crossed up with the anglophones at times over local use differences. Once a language leaves the home country, it develops independently. It is the same as with español in say South America or the Caribbean islands. It is not castellano that they speak.

So, if Ignacio comes along, I hope he is an honest fellow.

 

[Beemerphile]

Today was spent on the lowly luggage box. I installed a Blue Sea cigarette lighter socket, a powerlet socket, and two Blue Sea double USB charging sockets, and a compartment light. I really like marine 12 volt equipment. They seem to take it a level or two above the auto and motorcycle folk with regard to circuit integrity and reliability. I guess because of the hostile environment in a boat, but it transfers well to motorcycles. There is cheaper equipment, but this stuff is very good.

This shows the Powerlet and the Blue Sea cig lighter socket on the left side of the luggage box...



On the right side are the two double USB charging outlets...



As you can see, there is plenty of depth here for the sockets and wiring...



I wired them all to a single switched 5 amp circuit on the PDM-60. The circuit has a 3-minute off delay when the bike is shut down...