Joined
·
399 Posts
I just spent two LONG days (ugly weather ones, so I couldn't ride anyway) installing all of the electrical stuff on my 1300. I added a Scorpio RIDE Core alarm system, Skene Design conspicuity lights (front and rear), and a garage door opener. Since I had to disassemble various parts of the bike to run all of the wiring I needed, I have a few comments.
First, I lucked out in that there was a PERFECT spot for the alarm system and its associated GPS antenna right under the seat. When I removed the left inner cover (between the speaker and the useless "storage compartment") to access the battery, I discovered that my dealer had already added a pigtail for a Battery Tender to the bike. I was able to fit most of the other components I needed under the seat or in the fairing near the battery. I thought I might have to remove most of the left side of the bike and the entire top of the fairing to get to everything, but with a stiff wire for fishing hookup wire through the fairing I was able to avoid removing more than two pieces.
The main item I could NOT fit anywhere without some MAJOR disassembly was the Blue Sea fuse block--it was just too big and would have had masses of wires running everywhere. So yes, I reverted to tapping in with Posi-Lock connectors. Not my ideal plan, but I would have had to use a bunch of those anyway for connecting to the brake light and turn signals, as the Skene lights need those connections to do their job. Underneath the seat kind of looks like spaghetti now, but I purposely left a lot of extra wire until I was sure everything was working properly. I plan to go back in and cut down a bunch of the wires lately and tidy up a few things as well.
For the garage door opener, I got a small pushbutton switch with a black button from Radio Shack. It fit perfectly in a hole in a plate mounted to the handlebars (the other hole in that plate is used to hold hoses and cables for the brakes, clutch, etc.). I already had the garage door opener with the button wires extended outside of it, so I just Velcroed it to the inside of the left side of the fairing, behind the battery. It works great and is barely visible.
Everything works great. I'm going to try to post a video of the lights working, if I can, but past experience shows that videos of this stuff do not do it justice. The effect has to be seen in person to be appreciated.
My main gripe was that the left side cover (over the battery) did not seem to want to go back together very well. I suspect that Gold Wing owners have the same issue with plastic pieces--they just do not fit back together like they did at the factory. I have gaps between the edge of the fairing and the cover, and they seem to pop up every time the cover is moved, or even if the bike shifts a bit. Everything goes together with those plastic "pop rivets" that you find on cars. I already managed to lose one of them, so I suspect I may have to buy a few of them. I think Honda should have made it MUCH easier to get to the battery compartment, since it is likely to get opened more than anything else. Hopefully I will not have to replace the battery for a long time, though.
First, I lucked out in that there was a PERFECT spot for the alarm system and its associated GPS antenna right under the seat. When I removed the left inner cover (between the speaker and the useless "storage compartment") to access the battery, I discovered that my dealer had already added a pigtail for a Battery Tender to the bike. I was able to fit most of the other components I needed under the seat or in the fairing near the battery. I thought I might have to remove most of the left side of the bike and the entire top of the fairing to get to everything, but with a stiff wire for fishing hookup wire through the fairing I was able to avoid removing more than two pieces.
The main item I could NOT fit anywhere without some MAJOR disassembly was the Blue Sea fuse block--it was just too big and would have had masses of wires running everywhere. So yes, I reverted to tapping in with Posi-Lock connectors. Not my ideal plan, but I would have had to use a bunch of those anyway for connecting to the brake light and turn signals, as the Skene lights need those connections to do their job. Underneath the seat kind of looks like spaghetti now, but I purposely left a lot of extra wire until I was sure everything was working properly. I plan to go back in and cut down a bunch of the wires lately and tidy up a few things as well.
For the garage door opener, I got a small pushbutton switch with a black button from Radio Shack. It fit perfectly in a hole in a plate mounted to the handlebars (the other hole in that plate is used to hold hoses and cables for the brakes, clutch, etc.). I already had the garage door opener with the button wires extended outside of it, so I just Velcroed it to the inside of the left side of the fairing, behind the battery. It works great and is barely visible.
Everything works great. I'm going to try to post a video of the lights working, if I can, but past experience shows that videos of this stuff do not do it justice. The effect has to be seen in person to be appreciated.
My main gripe was that the left side cover (over the battery) did not seem to want to go back together very well. I suspect that Gold Wing owners have the same issue with plastic pieces--they just do not fit back together like they did at the factory. I have gaps between the edge of the fairing and the cover, and they seem to pop up every time the cover is moved, or even if the bike shifts a bit. Everything goes together with those plastic "pop rivets" that you find on cars. I already managed to lose one of them, so I suspect I may have to buy a few of them. I think Honda should have made it MUCH easier to get to the battery compartment, since it is likely to get opened more than anything else. Hopefully I will not have to replace the battery for a long time, though.
