I'm still here. Lurking more than posting. Work and life have been taking more and more time. Finally the good weather seems to be coming. Had the bike out once this March for a 20 mile run... it was ~30 F so I didn't bother going anywhere too exciting.

At the moment I'm farkling my bike. When I started touring I had an old gym bag that I'd wrap in clear garbage bags and bungee to the seat. I had printed maps and directions in a ziplock bag - that I'd dangle infront of the head light to read at night, and stuff "securely" between the seat and tank until the next major turn. That worked well and I enjoyed touring.

Then I brought bags and said - well - aren't these dandy. I can pack all of my stuff quickly and easily... lots of nice pockets. $200 well spent. That was Canadian dollars back when they were 3/4 the US.

Then I decided I didn't like to not be able to hear my passenger... and I started looking up com devices. I happened across a fellow admin in one thread who was considering selling his AutoCom unit. Done and done.

It arrived a few weeks ago. Since I still have snow on the ground here, I have plenty of time to tinker on the work bench.

So I've wired up my new helmet and my pillion helmet. They both have stereo headsets and a boom mic. According to web reviews and the website they work up to ~180mph. We should be fine!

Then I made up a new pigtail to connect the unit to my bikes battery. Apparently it can run off a 9v battery for 3 day's use... or you can wire it to the bike for an indefinite period of use.

So that leaves me at today. I'm shopping for two things. A set of FRS radios and a GPS unit. Gone are the days of zip lock bags!

With the autocom I can make a cable to directly connect the FRS radio in. That means I will have a nice PTT button. Incoming talking will mute my radio, and play on my speakers. To talk to another bike, I press the PTT, and talk. Simple as that. I've also learned that the midland radios are easy to modify to directly wire the bike.

The GPS unit I'm still waiting for. Just brought a Garmin Nuvi 360. I was looking for something cheap, expandable, usb connectable, and most importantly headphone out! I want to wire this in as my 3rd sound source. This way I won't have to look at the GPS unit while navigating strange cities. It'll just guide me as I need it. Again - I'll power it straight from the bike. The added bonus is this acts as mp3 player and came with the 12v car charger. Easy to tie into my fuse block.

So that bring's the next question. Power. I plan on adding a second fuse block that is directly connected to the battery. I'll put a relay on the power source - tapped to the daytime running rear tail light. The fuse block will then power on with the ignition.

I'll then fuse 3 pigtails with SAE 2 pin power plugs, and fuse 2 more switched SAE 2 pin powerplugs.

This way I can power the FRS radio, AutoCom, and GPS right from the bike. It leaves 2 aux plugs for my heated vest.

The next farkle is a voltometer. I found the datel unit for ~$50 pricey but seemingly the best out there... I'll try my local electronics shop before ordering. As I'd now have an easy switched powersource I'll tap my front fairing and install this below my clutch hand.

Then I'll have the most goldwinged track bike CBR east of the Mississippi

I'll try to keep notes and pictures... but that is what I'm up to. If anyone has GPS advice or wiring advice/comments please please chime in!

Woot.

 

Holy crap! That's a bunch of stuff! Once it's all on there... I'd love to see it. Especially when you've got it out on the track!

 

It will make for an interesting track experience... the autocom is also great for filming with as you can pump in various sound sources. I guess the only thing I don't have to go with it is a telemetry setup. Maybe some day

 

Here are some photos of my build - descriptions to follow...

Electronics:
http://gallery.atpic.com/18958

Cortech bags:
http://gallery.atpic.com/13812

 

It has been awhile, but I decided I'd draw the basic diagram, and explain how it works. Please see the attached image!

-

This is how I went about wiring my bikes auxiliary fuse block. I wanted it to be key switched so I didn't accidentally leave it on.

When I did it - I just did it... turns out you can buy the kit online for what I think is a very reasonable price.

http://easternbeaver.com/Main/Produc...FB-4/fb-4.html

Required supplies:
- red wire
- back wire
- blue wire (optional - I used this for the trigger wire so I'd remember)
- inline fuse (REMOVE THE FUSE NOW)
- sheathing (nice)
- dielectric grease
- FEMALE spade connectors (insulated type are best for avoiding moisture problems later)
- MALE spade connectors
- heat shrink, or your choice of wire splicing methods
- Automotive relay ( NAPA, Radio Shack, local electronics shop. Mine is 30a and I consider that far over kill)

DO NOT CONNECT TO THE BATTERY UNTIL THIS IS COMPLETE.

Locate a place on the bike to put the relay. No point going too far away from the battery.

The relay has 4 posts:
- Power IN (from the battery)
- Power OUT (for the fuse panel)
- Trigger power IN ( license plate light for example)
- Ground (to complete the trigger circuit)

Attach a ring connector to the ground wire.
Pull enough length off the roll to go past the relay. Don't cut it now as we've still got to figure out where we want the fuse box.

Attach a ring connector to the power wire.
Run that to the relay to measure for length, and then cut it off there.
Now on this length we have to install the inline fuse. This protects the whole system right at the power source.
Choose where you want the inline fuse to be... cut the power wire
I used an inline fuse that came built into a 6" length of wire. I connected the power wire to either end. I personally soldered and heat shrank this, but spade terminals will work here as well.

Confirm it is the right length with the addition of the inline fuse connector, cut off excess if needed.
Put a female spade connector on the end of it and then attach to the Power In pole of the relay.

Locate where you want the fuse panel. (put it somewhere accessible, but so that the wires can be hidden or out of the way)
Pull a fresh length of power wire from the spool.
Attach a spade connector.
Connect to the relay
Measure from the relay to the fuse block.
Cut the wire,

Going back to our ground wire. We need to make a Y, one for the relay and one for the fuse block. I personally made the Y near the relay because I didn't see the point of running the ground to the fuse panel, making the splice, then coming back to the relay.

Make the Y in the ground cable. The short end of the Y doubles back on itself and connects to the relay with a female spade connector. The long end of the Y should run up to the fuse panel.

The Trigger wire.
The relay needs to be turned on and off. The way that works is that it has a small electromagnetic switch. When power is applied to the switch it toggles on. When the power is off, the switch toggles off. If you listen you can even hear it click. That means it's working - we'll get there later.

Choosing our triggering power source takes some thought. Whatever you tap needs to be a switched power source. An indicator would be a bad option as all of your electronics would flick on and off as you made a left turn. For the same reason the brake light is a bad option. The next consideration I had was that if my wiring caused a fault, I didn't want it to be a show stopper. So I avoided the horn, the headlight and the brake light. That left the license plate light. If something goes wrong I don't mind losing my license plate light.

As the license plate light was past my relay and past the fuse box I decided I'd run my trigger wire through the same sheath as the power/ground wires going from the relay to the fuse box.

Attach a spade terminal to the blue wire, connect to the relay's triggered power source. Run from the relay, past the fuse box, back to the license plate. Leave a foot slack, cut it off. We will do this last. Multiple points of safety... if you do prematurely connect to the power, the inline fuse is out, and this isn't connected to the trigger power source.

Now we've got the wires ran from the relay to the fuse box, sheath them and route them along the frame (or wherever works for you). Cable tie the sheath at the relay end, and cut the sheath off at the fuse box. You'll have to push it back to finish work at the fuse box end so don't cable tie it yet. We needed to do the sheath now, as we won't be able to pass the fuse box through the sheath later... and yes I learned the hard way.

While we're at it, cable tie from the relay back as far toward the battery as you want. This is only for tidy purposes.

RIGHT HERE WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE FUSE BLOCK YOU'VE PICKED.
In the linked diagram it has a series of male terminals that our spade connectors would slide onto.
On my bike my fuse block has a common bus, so we don't need to create a daisy chain of female connections. I personally prefer my option.
One such product is made by bussman. I'm going to follow the picture in the link provided as their fuse block is very nice looking.


Create the power daisy chain by putting one end of a 2" wire into the FEMALE spade connector with the supply power. Continue this way until you have enough female connectors to satisfy the fuse box. {*** If you have a bussman style fuse block you do not need to daisy chain, as illustrated in the figure. Some fuse blocks don't have a bus, so you must make 4 inputs to get 4 outputs ***}

Do the same for the ground wire using MALE spade connectors. Make the same number of connections as the power. One to one pairings later.

NOW - we'll leave the fuse box alone for a minute and focus on the accessory power plugs.

I personally like to use SAE 2-pin trailer plugs for all of my accessories. You can use BWM style, or cigar style or the many other coax types. I like SAE as they're common, and relatively cheap and weather resistant.

One improvement I would make to my current system would be to mount the fuse box as far to the side or back as possible. I only need access to the fuses, not to the wiring. To do this we'll run the accessory leads through a sheath from the fuse box to a convent location under the seat.

This fuse box has 4 fuses, so you need 4 pairs of SAE trailer plugs. There is a male and female!!! The female is the one where the power pin is covered. Maintain the same colour scheme for all your work!

The SAE plugs I buy come with a 8" length of wire in a loop. Cut the pair in half so each plug has a 4" tail. Put the male in one pile, the female in the other. If you want more length away from your fuse box extend the tail as long as you want.

With the 4 female plugs - dope and crimp FEMALE spade connectors into it Run all of the wires through a sheath, and connect the power leads to the fuse box male connectors and the ground to the male grounds.

With a multimeter find out which plug is associated with which fuse. (Alternatively you can later plug in a device, and pull fuses until it turns off.) Mark each SAE plug with the fuse number it corresponds to.

Cable tie the sheath to the wires.

BACK TO THE TRIGGER WIRE

Now - we need to find the license plate light. If found it easier to follow the wire from the light than to look in the book. Find the license plates power wire, and either tap or splice it. If you choose to do a splice and solder make sure you dope it and cover it with a liberal amount of electrical tape OR better yet some paint on heat shrink. Otherwise you can use a vampire tap - I see some Posi-Tap online... look very nice to work with.

INSTALLATION AND TESTING

Ignition OFF!
Connect to the battery.
Install inline fuse.
Install a fuse into position 1.
Plug in a device. (My GPS charger has a nice green LED dumbie light)
The device should be off. [**]
Turn the ignition off. The device should power on. You might depending on the relay hear a nice positive click.

Turn the ignition off, remove the inline fuse. Finish cable tyeing to the bike.

You are done... I have described it in such detail to make it sound difficult. This is a couple hours work the first time... especially if you want to make it very tidy.

Woot.

[** If the device powers on with the ignition off, you tapped an always on circuit. If the device won't power on, then you didn't tap the trigger wire to a switched power source, you have a bad ground to the relay, no power to the relay, a blown fuse, or a bad terminal.]

 

NOTE:

The blue wire is tapping into a switched power source. In this example the license plate light. When the bike's key is turned on, the license plate light comes on. This wire I have illustrated being tapped, is therefore ONLY on when the key is on.

Looking at the relay, the relay only allows power from the battery to flow to the fuse box IF there is power applied to the trigger position ( The blue wire)

I show my power flowing as if it were water. It makes sense to me this way, but is probably not technically correct.

Comments more than welcome, original PPT available to those who want to improve it.

 

Why the fuse before the relay?


If that wire were to rub on the frame and get damaged it could short. The shorter the length of unprotected wire, the less likely you are to have an interesting short that is uncontrolled.

Also - if you know how much overhead you have on your bike, you can intentionally put a fuse in that will allow that amount, or slightly more. IF you pop that fuse you get a cheap warning that you're pushing the limit.

If you put a 30A fuse in you'd be technically correct, as that is what the relay is rated for, and the rest of the wiring I'm sure is more than capable of that.... but I like to use as small as possible.

 

Links to the topic over in 250 land:
http://forums.ninja250.org/viewtopic.php?t=71276
http://forums.ninja250.org/viewtopic.php?t=71061

 

UPDATE:

I've since switched to a new fused box and redone all of the previous work. Why? Partly tidying up, partly switching to the same type of fuse the bike runs on, and partly because I can't leave well enough alone.

I had thought I had a loose connection - that turns out to be incorrect. It now seems that something is screwy with my battery or reg/rec. It's a honda so it could be both now. We shall see.

I opted this time to daisy chain.


I had used a common bus last time, and that worked. The bussman fuse box I picked up had a tall non-shielded post. I didn't like it being exposed... and I wanted to try my new crimper out.


Starting from the battery I made a new fused lead with 2-prong insulated plug:


I then ran the power/ground (bright red/white in this photo) down the frame.


I then attached the power to the relay (see FAQ about relays). Cut the ground wire, and crimped the tail of the spool with the battery ground into a yellow connector... and connected that to the relay.

Next I screwed a bolt through one of the holes in the fuse box. This is my ground post. I crimped a ring terminal onto the ground wire from previous photo (you can see it coming in from the top left). I then attached the power to the daisy chained fuse box.

Finally I crimped a female terminal onto the power line going to a 2-prong plug, and a ring terminal onto the ground line and hooped it onto the ground post.



That's the short version - but I think we've covered this all in the FAQ

(More photos here: http://gallery.atpic.com/18958 )

 

Hey Woot,
I know it has been a while since you started this thread, but how is the comm system working for you? I am looking at systems and trying to decide what to go with. I have kids(5 and7), and would like to talk to them while riding. Any advice off of what you have done?

Thanks, cman