I was amazed how few places there are on the bike to install the new fusebox and relay. This is the inside of the left "glove box" and I normally just carry bike related paperwork. It is nowhere near water tight and can't really be used to carry anything substantial (like a camera or even spare gloves) so it seemed like a reasonable place to run electrical wiring. The right "glove box" is where I have the wiring and relays for the Datel digital voltmeter and the fog and driving lights. Power for the fuse block and relay is provided through a 30 amp fuse and 12AWG wire protected by plastic split loom from the stock battery location.
The relay is on the left of the fuse block and is rated for 30 amps continuous duty and it is controlled by the ignition circuit. Right now, it is only switching power for the the tank bag SAE power, auxiliary lights and the GPS (1
st fuse) and the heated gear outlet (2
nd fuse). Nowhere near it's rating. The only non-switched circuit for now is the top-box outlet (3
rd fuse) to be primarily used for charging electronics. I do use the top-box outlet for the "smart battery charger" since it's convenient. The bottom two fuse positions will be used to eventually replace the stock fuses inside of the headlight shell. I need to pick up a couple more rubber grommets to protect the wires.
I had also forgotten to pick up DOT4 brake fluid while in town so I didn't replace the front brake lines. Maybe next weekend as I will be in Barrow for the latter part of this week. At least I got one bike project knocked off. We are still enjoying the clear and mostly sunny weather that typifies this time of year but no longer have the warm temperatures that we enjoyed last week. This morning (Monday), it was right around 0°F and the first day of Spring Break. The road seemed pretty deserted compared to normal on the ride in.
Monday Noon Update - It has already warmed up to +22°F. So nice to be getting some heat from the sun again. I ran a bunch of errands with the rig this morning and I'm starting to get used to the face mask on the Ski-Doo helmet. It sure is nice not to have any visor or glasses fogging or even having to mess with the visor. The built-in sunshade is easier to deploy as the lever is larger than on the Nolan but it lacks the spring-loaded instant retract feature.
Off subject, but I noticed your watermark. I certainly understand the intent of marking photos, but online it's so easy to smudge out a mark/name or simply cut it off.
ReplyDeleteYep, pretty easy and doing anything else seems like too much trouble. Placement of any watermark is a balance that I'm not sure I want to mess with. I've read some stuff posted by professional photographers and they say, placement should be in a complex part of the photo, large enough to be difficult to remove and in an "important" part of the photo. I.e. not in a location that can be cropped without losing the subject. I'm not a professional and my snapshots are just that, snapshots.
DeleteRichard, I'm so with you on the watermark ... I'm no professional, I just take snapshots to share with my friends ...I watermark mine as a formality.
DeleteYep, I'm not a professional, no lost income. Watermarking is just there as a subtle reminder to the casual Internet image downloader.
DeleteRichard:
DeleteNo watermarks for me either. To be effective they have to be manually placed in specific areas of each photo which is time consuming for no purpose. It would be different if you sold images
bob
A weekend photographer
or
Riding the Wet Coast
A nice "clean" install Richard, unlike my efforts involving wiring.....
ReplyDeleteThank you! The intent was to eliminate most of the terminals and fuse holders at the battery. But I still ended up with three of them. The Enduralast alternator, the 30 amp fuse for the fuse block and the "sense" wire for the Datel voltmeter. I have all of them connected and fused independently. I almost disconnected the car battery in the sidecar but it was promising to be below 0°F for a few more weeks.
DeleteNice install Richard, orderly and clean. My right glove box is mostly wasted, at least so far and the left side has my radio. Hopefully before Riding begins, I'll be taking a harder look at my connectors and connections.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I assembled the whole thing on the workbench then put it into the glove box after soldering and heat shrinking all of the connections. Much easier than working inside of a confined space.
DeleteWhoa - you and Coop both have left and right glove boxes ... might as well drive the family car (just kidding!)
ReplyDeleteYep, these RTs are just like driving the family car, especially with a sidecar. Two trunks, two glove boxes, but no heated seat...
DeleteMy glove box is my tank bag. You are lucky! I usually carry my insurance in my tank bag. I think I am going to take a puck of it & carry it in my phone, but first I have to find out if that's acceptable to ICBC. Richard you are pretty Impressive riding through your winters and all the cool things you do to your bike.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment. But the BMW or Airhead police don't seem to care for any kind of modifications to machines manufactured by their beloved marque. I frequently get comments such as "if the engineers at BMW thought that such and such should be done that way they would have done it at the factory" or "do you think you know how to do something better than the BMW engineers?". If you frequent some of the BMW Airhead forums or email lists, you'll find tons of such comments. Most just drive people away so you are soon left with a large group that bought into this. ADVrider is just as bad.
DeleteThere are quite a few who have said that I'm an accident waiting to happen since BMW hasn't approved a motorcycle for sidecar use since the /5 was introduced in 1969.
Richard:
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that I need one of these switchable panels as my battery terminal is jammed with connections. For my Vstrom there is already a factory supplied trigger wire but I don't want to attempt taking my gas tank off to find it. If you know where it is you can grab it with your fingers just behind the upper part of the radiator.
I can do the electrical work, but not the mechanical . . .
bob
A weekend photographer or Riding the Wet Coast
I thought about one of the PDM60 modules for power management or the nice PC8 fuse panels sold by Eastern Beaver but thought that they were overkill. The $6 fuse block seemed good enough but not as purpose built as the other units. Plus I had somewhere to install it that was somewhat out of the weather.
DeleteRichard:
DeleteThat's the one, from Eastern Beaver. I just forgot the name. They also sell a similar one from the BMW dealer but I like your $6. solution better
bob
A weekend photographer or Riding the Wet Coast
I really like the cleanness of the Eastern Beaver box though you would still need a relay to provide switched power. They offer a pre-made harness that includes the relay. I was looking for one that had a relay installed and that's where I ran into the PDM60 which seemed like a clean, waterproof installation. The $6 solution isn't optimal as there is no power bus bar and the spade connectors are less vibration proof than the screw connections of the PC8.
DeleteIn the process of preparing a pyrotechnics spectacle, just as much attention should be devoted to the brilliant fireworks as to the humble fuse. Although the glitters and the colors are the main attraction, the fuses that you use will determine the effectiveness of the entire display.
ReplyDeleteOmega Fuses