[flytrap]

Greetings,
After last night's nightmare in the garage, I learned a few things. How to remove and reinstall the plastic. How to remove and reinsert those pins without losing them. How to access the battery and main fuze box. Actually a local dealer had some pins today and he sold me a couple for a buck each. Surely need to get some extras of those. Now a question and appreciate Bob's suggestion for a relay and a single place to connect accessories. However, right now all I want to do is attach my Photon Blasters to the front for a little extra safety. They draw 0.2A and have a little converter box. On my Bonneville I just tapped into two wires in the headlight and was good to go. The CTX is much more complicated. I see two pairs of wires (each with a brown and green) going into the back side of the faring and I assume these are for the headlight. Can I just tap in? The photon blaster have these neat little taps that only make a small hole. And then there is the question of which one is positive and which one is the ground. And then there is the question of how this might affect current in the main LEDS. Any insight would be helpful.

 

[bob]

I would still suggest to refrain from tapping into wire, as in poking holes into, more than you have to. Even those taps that only poke a tiny hole still nick the wire itself and may lead to early failure of the wire. Don't know the amp rating of the headlight plus your added lights, but the factory definitely has it down to a science to keep the wire as thin as possible and yet big enough to carry only what they intended that wire to carry. Do you have the service manual? If you do then you can find that front option plug and one pair of that 4 pin plug is designated for the fog/driving lights from Honda. I would suggest that since that wire pair is already there and the fuse is likely also there (be sure to check the fuse box) to use that wire. I'm sure you can use a crimp-on (or solder) barrel connector into that plug... unless it's a spade type connector. I am just now into taking apart the plastic on my CTX to install the tall shield and a few other things and haven't looked at the connector yet other than in the electrical diagram in the service manual. I have the perfect place for the garage door opener transmitter (right in the center on top of the headlight!). I also plan to install the GPS and my 12v port. For now I plan to use the ACC pair in that front option plug for the GPS since it's there and unused. My 12v plug will be the only item on the battery with an inline fuse at this time... until I get around to installing my aux fuse box for other things. It may be possible I can simply use the existing unused fuses and plug connections for what I want to put in since I don't intend to install much and there are 4 circuits unused at this time from the factory. That will simplify things for me until I want to add more.

 

[flytrap]

Yes. I think I saw that plug yesterday while searching around under the plastic. And I never thought about the possibility of wire failure. Actually, those wires going to the headlight are really small in diameter and potential of breakage that you mention is probably correct. I'll check the plug to today. Thank you for the input.

 

[bob]

I did get to the front option plug late last night (took me awhile between getting the garden tilled and helping my wife with planting things she brought home in the afternoon). The pins are not a barrel pin as I hoped but "special" square pins I just happened to have two flat pin sockets from a computer mini plug that would just fit and "re-manufactured" the plug blank to take those. So far it seems to be working out. I would think you could tap into the wires in that plug safely if you don't intend to use the front option plug for other things from the factory. I would make one tap for one item only and run ground to the battery. Verified it is a 10 amp mini fuse for the ACC and same for the driving lights wire in that same plug. I would suggest using the driving light wire since that is turned on with the high beams. There is also a fog light wire there that is turned off with the high beams. Follow the wires in the electrical diagram to see which is which wire.

I also found I don't have the rear option plug under the seat! it's in the electrical diagram and plug location drawing but just not there. I do have the rear 12v accessory socket plug that is supposed to be only on Canadian and European models. It's the 2 pin plug with the cable folded back on itself a few times and taped just sitting there. May use that to turn on/off my 12v socket. The factory version is only 10 amps and I need 15 amps for my mini compressor so I'll just connect directly to the battery for now and tap into that plug at a later time to add a relay to control it.