new tall shield, GPS power, garage door button, 12v power

As the title of this thread says I spent some time yesterday and this morning installing a bunch of stuff. The tall windshield arrived from the dealer Tuesday (today is Sunday). I have the RAM handlebar mount on its way from Amazon.com (eta next Tuesday). The electrical stuff I had to custom design wire length and connectors and a plate after I had some plastic removed from the bike. I uploaded photos on my flickr album:

CTX1300 add-ons

The windshield actually ended up being the last item installed.

I found the perfect place for my garage door transmitter. Used a Dual-Lock strip to attach it to the top center of the headlight assembly and just below the mounting bracket for the windshield where there is room under the front garnish. I ran a wire pair to a new button (old button from my ST broke as I removed it from the ST) and made a new aluminum plate for it mounted by the top reservoir clamp bolt. The factory bolt there is a M6 22 mm socket head stainless bolt. I already bought a M6 30 mm socket head stainless bolt to account for a spacer to bring the bolt head out of the recessed hole it was in. I used a stainless T-nut that was just big enough for the M6 bolt to slide into and yet was no bigger round than the bolt head and cut off the flange to make the spacer. I made the aluminum plate for the button from some scrap I had laying around.

I then checked out the available connector situation. I noticed in the electrical diagrams there are a few circuits not used but on the bike and they already have fuses in the fuse box dedicated just to those connections. The problem was how to connect to those pins in the plugs. I found an old computer mini power connector from my stash of junk that had some very small pins that would do the trick. The unused plugs on the bike have a dummy plug capping off the pins, but these dummies are actually complete plugs just missing the pins. I only needed to find a connection for my Garmin GPS power cord that was on only when the bike was on. What better connection than the unused factory ACC line in the front option plug? It is 2 pins of the lower 4 pin plug just to the right of the ignition switch under the top shelter. I disassembled the plug and inserted my pins and tested the connection. It works! There is also a space just behind the ignition switch that was perfect for the adaptor box for the GPS cable. That one done.

I ran the garage door wires and the GPS cable together on the left side of the triple tree following existing cables that ran up the left handle bar and used spiral cable wrap to hold and protect them (I like spiral wrap better than the corrugated wrap with the slit down one side).

Now for the 12v power socket. Just under the seat in the center there is a red connector and a white connector, and also a few black connectors. One of the black connectors, a 2 pin, is for the Canadian and European 12v socket that comes standard with those models. The cable and fuse (10 amp) are on our U.S.A. models but just wrapped/taped up and sitting there under the center of the seat next to those other plugs. I decided not to use that at this time. Maybe in a future second 12v socket that I would put in the right saddle bag for charging things on the road but not this time. I need a 15 amp socket to run my Slime mini air compressor if a need arises to air up the tires if low or after plugging. I already had a weather proof 12v socket with a sealed cap for the bed of a pickup so it would be perfect for on the bike. I ran that plug directly off the battery with an inline 15 amp fuse. While I had the battery disconnected I also added my Accumate Battery Maintainer pigtail. It has a different connector than what some of the bikes have been supplied with. BTW- I guess that battery tender connector that some of you have is not from the factory but a bonus from the dealer. Mine didn't come with that connector and when I asked about it my dealer told me it was not a factory item.

Now, finally the windshield install. I actually reinstalled all the side panels first other than the front garnish and mirror covers. The photos I uploaded show some things to careful about not loosing and also the location to move the center 2 expansion nuts for the windshield mount. Don't tighten those windshield bolts too tight. These are the same kind of mounting as on my ST and I know a few riders of older ST1100s who stripped the rubber bushing and at least one who now uses Velcro to fasten her shield on the bike (along with a few other panels). Here is a photo of the bike with tall shield and also the garage door button. Other photos are on the album link above.

100_4363 by 100_4365 by rshwery, on Flickr