| Author | Message | ||
     Glenn |
Hi, I just bought an 07 and planning to add some driving lights and heated grips. I noticed in the owner's manual that fuses #1 and #2 are spares with amperage that would work for these two accessories. Has anyone used these "spares" and what kind and type of wire terminals are required to use them? Thanks, Glenn | ||
| Windrider |
Glenn, I have my heated grips wired into the 12V accessory plug wiring. That way they are nicely fused and the wires are already run to the front of the bike. Check out how much current you plan to run with the heated grips + lights + whatever else you might want to plug into the accessory plug near the instrument cluster. IF you are under the accessory plug fuse rating with all of that then you can splice into the plug's wiring and power from there. Happy Trails. | ||
| Glenn |
Hi Windrider, Yeah, I thought about that and it is plenty for just the heated grips. I'm going to use the Polly type which are 36watts or: 36W/12v= 3A but the driving lights are going to be 70-100W or 70W/12V= 6A 100W/12V= 8 1/3A The lights and the heated grips could exceed the 10A of the accessory socket so I'm thinking of running new circuits for both the grips and the lights and keep the accessory socket free for a heated vest or whatever. Thanks, Glenn | ||
| Jackbequick |
On my M2 the two spare fuse holders were wired with a loop of wire (white I think) that was tucked down into the wiring harness a short distance. It just went from one contact to the other. You could pull that loop up, cut it, and put connectors on to use it for another accessory. I think it was probably 18 gauge wire, you could tell by comparing it to the other wires of the same size and looking them up on the wiring diagram. I would use bullet type inline connectors (blue for 18 Ga.) for that. Put a shrouded (female) socket on the end from the supply side and the exposed male bullet on the load side. That way if it is disconnected the hot end won't short out against anything. An 18 Gauge wire can, in theory, handle 16 Amps ( DC Ampacity examples here). But I'd prefer to be a little more conservative and put the lights or anything over a few Amps on a separate circuit. A good way to do it is use a relay to create a sort of "load center" off your battery for accessories. I put a switched 30A relay on my FXD that comes on with the ignition in the first or accessory position. The relay takes the 12V directly from battery (fused at 20A) via a 14 Ga. wire to my tank bag. I used a short run of marine grade duplex wire (in a sheath) to the tank bag and put the ground on one of the frame ground bolts. In the tank bag I have connectors for PDA/GPS receiver, XM radio, and a cell phone charger, each separately fused with inline fuses. I can quickly disconnect and remove the tank bag for security. Doing it that way avoids running any of the load through the bike's wiring harness, it puts the load directly on the battery. I can use the accessories in with the engine stopped and ignition off but it all goes off when I turn the key to off. That avoids an accidental dead battery. Right now, with everything at full draw (unlikely to happen), I'm using about 5-8 Amps in the tank bag. I'm still going to add an outlet for my electric vest (3.3A) and hand warmers (3 or 4A). I'll run those from the output side of the relay keeping track of the total load as I do that. In the end I think I'll wind up with a 15A max draw on the 30A relay. The loads will all be separately fused with inline fuse holders and the relay fused at 20A from the battery. Jack | ||
| Glenn |
Hi Jack, Thanks for the great and detailed response and your time to do it. I do like your idea of the separate "load center" relay and if I decide not to use the two spares, will likely take this approach. If I do have a loop of wire as you've mentioned, I may extract the terminals from the fuse block and solder a new heavier gauge wire to them after I open them up to remove the existing smaller gauge. I took this approach on my Beemer. Thanks, Glenn | ||
| Rhinowerx |
Although this is an early picture of when I first installed it, here is my "load center"  BSS Marine accessory fuse box. It currently runs/powers a GPS and Heated vest. Soon to be added, heated grips, auxiliary lights and a stiebel compact air horn. Cheers -Jack | ||
| Jackbequick |
I like that fuse box Jack, I wish I had a a nice spot like that to mount one. That Blue Seas electrical stuff is really nicely made and about a corrosion proof as can be found. Glenn, The electrics on H-D/Buell are a mix of Amp and Deutsch parts, with some diligent research you can figure out the parts used and get the crimp on terminals from places like mouser.com. Some H-D dealers stock the electrical contacts too but that seems to be more for the inline connectors. I found a Deutsch connector I needed recently at Batts Racing. Their home page says they have a Buell that is a Land Speed Record holder. Jack | ||
| Glenn |
Hi, I ended up finding a very well made and compact 4 position fuse block with relay and associated wiring from Jim at http://www.easternbeaver.com/. Jim is on a Beemer list that I belong to and wanted to mention his stuff here since you may not be aware of his wiring products. This panel is very compact and will switch on with switching power from an accessory tap. He also sells a similar setup with the Centech fuse panel too. No affiliation other than being a happy customer. Glenn | ||
| Glenn |
This is a picture of it.  | ||
| Xbimmer |
Jackbequick, thanks! Now I know where to go for the connectors to build my extension harness so I can move my ECM behind the battery where it belongs. Glenn, the Eastern Beaver FB4 harness looks good too. Depending on how long the battery leads are, this would be perfect to locate under my flyscreen, once I remove the horn. Thanks to you too!  | ||
| Jackbequick |
You're welcome, and I'll pass the thanks on to Glenn too for the Eastern Beaver link. Good stuff! Jack | ||
| Glenn |
Thanks Guys. Glad I could help. Glenn | ||
| Red_chili |
Seems I ran across a warning in the Buell tech stuff, not sure where, about making sure accessory ground wires are run all the way back to the battery, not just grounded to the frame, as the main frame serves as a gas tank, and is dissimilar metal to steel parts of the frame assembly. Not a bad habit under any circumstances. |
