I was hooking up the power cable to my new GPS and having a lot of trouble getting the battery bolts to catch. I have the GPS cord, my electric vest cord, and my battery tender cord. I had to shim the nut with folded electrical tape to raise it high enough. It makes me wonder about putting in a terminal block. Next electrical thing I want to do is put in a relay for a pair of FIAAM horns.

Fortunately, my bicycle computer doesn't need a power cable, although I lost a couple of magnets before I found something that would fit AND work on the brake rotor. There's a pretty tight clearance between the rotor and fork leg on this bike.

One thing I lerned from the GPS: my speedo is waaaay off. I was wondering why I was always going 85-90 on my bike but only 75 in my car. An indicated 85 is actually 72. The tach did show about 5K at 75 MPH but now I know it wasn't really 75 MPH. Now I can calibrate my bike computer better for when I'm just riding around and come into a town with a low speed limit. I've ordered stock size sprockets 17/42 to replace what I have. I know the rear is 44 but it seemed like too much trouble to check what the front might be.

 

I'm getting closer to doing something with power.

I would do something like, run only one extra cable to the battery,run it into afuse box.
run one to the front and have a block with servel 12v out connectors, you could also run a couple of 5v via usb plug for phones and ****

many way to do it, just make sure everything is fused somewhere

 

Guys - a word of warning - be careful running a lot more electrical stuff than the bike comes with, like heated jackets, GPS's, airhorns etc if you ride a lot in traffic. These bikes, as we all know, don't charge well under 3000RPM, so you may well end up with a flat battery, with the bike running......http://foodman123.com/gallery.htm
see Tony Dilworth's posts on this. Nothing worse than being stuck with a flat battery in cold weather......could be a killer......A reg/rec that charges at low revs, like my Electrex model, which gives me 13.8V at 1400RPM, may be an addition you could consider.

 

I tested the charge rate on mine, 2500rpm to break even, so yer 3000rpm to charge.
I built a volage display kit from Jaycar, havn't fitted it yet, has a 10-Led display, can be trim to different requirements.
I would proberbly have a master switch for you accessories.

It's all good, as long as you make a good job of it and get a voltage display of some kind, so you can see potential problems before they hurt.

When I had a charging fault with mine due to a F@$#Wit Bike Shop adapting the wrong r/r to my bike.
I pull the H/Light fuse to extend my range

 

I have this on mine - cost about $25 - Has a low voltage alarm too.......

 

shadow
where did you get it and what is it called? i was about to stick a 99 cent digital clock to the gauge panel on mine but this looks moch better and more usefull

 

Here are 4 links for various types - mine was bought from the last one - casporttouring.com
http://www.customdynamics.com/LED_battery_gauge.htm
www.zr5sdb.co.za/things/Projects/Dashboard%20Digital%20Voltmeter.pdf -It may be a bit cheaper than the Datel one.....
Screen=PROD&Product_Code=14124&Category_Co de=Electronics http://fjr1300.info/howto/datel.html

http://www.casporttouring.com/store/merchant.mvc?Has Voltmeter, low voltage alarm, lap timer, clock, and two temp sensors. Works like a charm !

 

My advice FWIW would be to keep an eye on the battery fluid level... my gizmos tend to drain the fluid.

 

Well, well well - look who's decided to grace our humble abode with his presence !
Welcome back, Flogger mate ![sm=groupwave.gif][sm=icon_guiness.gif][sm=smiley20.gif]
Good to see you're still up and running.............
There're a whole new bunch around the Forum, but our guys are much the same..............

 

I didn't know about the charging issue under 3000 RPM. The GPS can't draw much current since it has a 1 amp fuse. I really don't know what the electric vest draws but I never had a problem with it on an FJ1200 or Interceptor 500. I hook up the bike to the battery tender if I haven't ridden for a while. Do you think the battery could be drained in a single day's around town riding?