Need switched power

[pdes]

Team,

 

I need to pick up a switched (ignition) power feed to run my supplementary lights (only 3 watts!). I would prefer to make the connection under the seat. Can someone point me to a suitable feed? If not, I suppose I could pick up the side-light feed from under the dashboard but I am a little concerned about upsetting the CAN Bus. (The instructions said to connect to the tail light feed so I did and, you guessed it, the new lights go brighter every time I use the brakes !!)

[Bruce H]

you need to install a fuse block wired directly to the battery. pick a hot wire to trip the relay. wire your lights to the fuse block.

[krussell]

You can get about 60 watts switched here, the only issue being it remains on for up to about a minute after you turn the key off. You can splice into the cable shown sitting on the rear.

 

[pdes]

you need to install a fuse block wired directly to the battery. pick a hot wire to trip the relay. wire your lights to the fuse block.

But I would still need to find the switched feed.............

[pdes]

You can get about 60 watts switched here, the only issue being it remains on for up to about a minute after you turn the key off. You can splice into the cable shown sitting on the rear.

 

Great, thanks

[bobbybob]

What kind of supplemental lights are you installing? Any pics?

[pdes]

What kind of supplemental lights are you installing? Any pics?

 

Take a look here........... http://www.nippynormans.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LLP-PAC1001&variation=&aitem=85&mitem=163

[Chris H.]

quite neat. sadly 149 pounds is rich for me. maybe it's worth some experimentation

[pdes]

quite neat. sadly 149 pounds is rich for me. maybe it's worth some experimentation

To be honest I doubt whether I would have paid this but my wife was struggling to find me a Christmas Pressie!

[Lone_RT_rider]

Ok, so if you just splice into the main headlight power feed for 3 watts, it will freak out the CANBUS?

 

Sorry for the question. I have yet to play with accessories on the R1200RT yet.

 

Shawn

[BeemerLover]

Pedes, believe me, don't mess with the canbus except for taking power from the BMW outlet on the bike which will give you a max of about 5 amps or 60 watts before the canbus turns it off. You could attach the lights to this outlet if it pulls only 3 amps.

 

When the canbus senses any abnormal current flow in any of its circuits it freaks out and shuts down that circuit. For this reason canbus circuits do not need fuses. Thus, if you add 3 amps to the headlight circuit and the computer doesn't like it it will shut that down.

 

Since you want a more permanent installation under the seat, you should install a fuseblock as mentioned above. You will then be able to run things from both switched and unswitched circuits with no worry.

 

Building the wiring harness for this can be complicated as a relay and a diode (to protect the canbus) is needed.

 

My choice is to get what you need from Easternbeaver.com. Here is their webpage that has their fuze boxes and wiring harnesses. No, I don't work for them. Just a very satisfied customer.

 

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/Fuseboxes/AP-1/Details/details.html

 

The guy that runs this business really pays attention and does really good work. He will modify his standard harness to meet your needs. Just ask him. Their prices are good -- especially if you consider that you would need to buy spools of different size wire to get only a small amount for your harness. They also figure out which wire sizes are needed and which of the hundreds of available relays to use. No guessing on your part.

 

For several reasons, the preferred place to attach the relay trigger wire is the parking light hot wire in the fairing. While it is a bit hard to get to, it is not as sensitive as the other canbus circuits and will forgive the small amount of current needed to run the relay. There are several threads here that discuss this. That trigger wire needs a diode to prevent the freak situation where current might flow back into the canbus circuit.

 

Good luck,

 

Gael

[flyingreg]

What kind of supplemental lights are you installing? Any pics?

 

Take a look here........... http://www.nippynormans.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LLP-PAC1001&variation=&aitem=85&mitem=163

 

I about choked when I saw the price. There can't be more than a few dollars in materials and not much more in labor for such a thing.

 

I am curious what the safety feature is. Brain dead drivers pull out into the path of freight trains where I live. An LED light or two ain't going to help you get seen by them. And those drivers are the only ones to really worry about.

[pdes]

You can get about 60 watts switched here, the only issue being it remains on for up to about a minute after you turn the key off. You can splice into the cable shown sitting on the rear.

 

Great, thanks

 

Thanks all, nicely spliced in to the rear power take-off

[GS1200Man]

Another way of skinning this cat is run a plug into the BMW switched outlet. Then take this wire and run it though a relay to a Centech or similar fuse box. This way the CanBus system only recognizes it as a power draw from the switched outlet. It does no damage to any of the wiring or CanBus system.