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Let There Be Light


MichiganBob

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MichiganBob

Good late evening.

 

I figure that a little more light would be good. I bought some Twisted Throttle Denali Four's to mount on my beloved 2012 1200 RT. I need to connect the on/off light switch to a switched wire. Any suggestions on the best location/wire to tap into? Thanks in advance.

 

Michiganbob

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Good late evening.

 

I figure that a little more light would be good. I bought some Twisted Throttle Denali Four's to mount on my beloved 2012 1200 RT. I need to connect the on/off light switch to a switched wire. Any suggestions on the best location/wire to tap into? Thanks in advance.

 

Morning Michiganbob

 

Without a power relay to take the light load off the bikes electrical system about your only choice for direct wiring is to battery-direct & fused. (this works OK but you must remember to turn them off manually)

 

Or, for a sort of ignition control to possibly hook to the accessory outlet wires. Problem with using the accessory wires is that only works if your Denali Four's only draw less than 10 amps & that also means that you can't use your factory accessory outlets for heated clothing with the Denali Four's lights on.

 

My favorite way of wiring additional lighting is to use a fused power relay direct to the battery then trigger that relay from the side light wire with the on/off switch in that wire. They only come on with the key that way but still have an on/off switch.

 

 

There are also some add-on under seat fuse boxes available that give you a choice of full time fused battery power or ign-on fused 12v power to run your add-on accessories. (this is a good way to go IF you plan on adding additional ign controlled, or battery direct, devices in the future)

 

 

 

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My favorite way of wiring additional lighting is to use a fused power relay direct to the battery then trigger that relay from the side light wire with the on/off switch in that wire. They only come on with the key that way but still have an on/off switch.

 

One variation on this, is to tap the high beam wire (white) as a relay trigger, so the Denali's switch off with the high beam when encountering oncoming traffic. Obviously, this will not work if your aim is to increase daytime conspicuity.

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MichiganBob

Good Morning DR,

 

Looks like Twisted Throttle is ahead of the game. The harness has a wire to positive side battery with an inline 5 amp fuse and a wire to the negative side battery. There are five wires total, the two that power the lights, the two battery wires and the wire that needs to be spliced into either a switched wire or the high beam wire. All are running through a relay. Total draw is 3 amps which the 1200rt should handle fine.

 

I'm thinking of installing the lighted on-off switch that comes with the lights so that I am not dependent on running them with only the high beams on. All I need to do is find a switched wire to tap into. Any idea from your experience DR if there is some easily accessible wire lurking around under the left panel (I have the panels off)? Perhaps it is a dashboard or switch wire that I can tap into?

 

Thanks and ride safe,

 

Michiganbob

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MichiganBob

Thanks Larry but I'm going for both daytime conspicuous lighting and night time improved field of vision.

 

Michiganbob

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Good Morning DR,

 

Looks like Twisted Throttle is ahead of the game. The harness has a wire to positive side battery with an inline 5 amp fuse and a wire to the negative side battery. There are five wires total, the two that power the lights, the two battery wires and the wire that needs to be spliced into either a switched wire or the high beam wire. All are running through a relay. Total draw is 3 amps which the 1200rt should handle fine.

 

I'm thinking of installing the lighted on-off switch that comes with the lights so that I am not dependent on running them with only the high beams on. All I need to do is find a switched wire to tap into. Any idea from your experience DR if there is some easily accessible wire lurking around under the left panel (I have the panels off)? Perhaps it is a dashboard or switch wire that I can tap into?

 

 

Afternoon Michiganbob

 

I don't have a 2012 specific wiring diagram but on the older 1200RT's there was a green/blue wire running to the under-seat diagnostic connector & that green/blue wire was hot (12v) with the engine running.

 

Otherwise you can probably use the 12v wire going to the accessory outlet (that will stay on for a while after engine shut down though & will stay on if you use a CanBus type charger.

 

You can use the front side light wire for key-on 12v power, or use the low beam wire for key-on with engine running but off during engine cranking, or use the hi beam wire for key-on with high beam only & off during engine cranking.

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MichiganBob

Good afternoon DR. I tapped into the power outlet wire but now I'm thinking that this might not be the best idea since I do use a CanBus type charger. I'm thinking front side light. Pulled off cap, can see wire go by low beam and will see where it comes out to tap into it. It might be easier to tap into tail light wire. Will see.

 

Thanks and take care.

 

MB

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Hank R1200RT

As I recall, the CANBUS tail light wire is not a steady 12V - lower voltage when brakes not applied.

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Good afternoon DR. I tapped into the power outlet wire but now I'm thinking that this might not be the best idea since I do use a CanBus type charger. I'm thinking front side light. Pulled off cap, can see wire go by low beam and will see where it comes out to tap into it. It might be easier to tap into tail light wire. Will see.

 

Thanks and take care.

 

MB

 

Afternoon MichiganBob

 

You can't (well shouldn't anyhow) use the tail light wire as it is pulse width modulated for the tail light.

 

Personally I would leave your light wired to the power outlet then drop a pig tail off the battery & charge the battery that way.

 

I have never been a fan of keeping the ZFE computer powered up the entire time that the CanBus charger is hooked up & charging. Charging battery-direct doesn't power up anything on the bike with charger hooked up.

 

BUT!-- as long as you turn the aux light switch off during the charging then adding the added aux lights should have no effect on using the CanBus charger.

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MichiganBob

Good Evening DR,

 

I'm reminded of the guy who sits at the foot of the Buddha who says that while he can explain the meaning of life, he would not know where to begin explaining the CanBus system. Are you saying that when I am charging the battery in the winter with my trickle charger, that I am powering up components other than the battery? If so, I will absolutely go the pigtail route.

 

Take care,

 

MB

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Good Evening DR,

 

I'm reminded of the guy who sits at the foot of the Buddha who says that while he can explain the meaning of life, he would not know where to begin explaining the CanBus system. Are you saying that when I am charging the battery in the winter with my trickle charger, that I am powering up components other than the battery? If so, I will absolutely go the pigtail route.

 

 

Morning MichiganBob

 

Yes (IF) you are charging through the factory unaltered accessory socket you are keeping the ZFE computer alive as that has to keep the accessory power socket turned on & connected to the bike's electrical system.

 

If you are using a standard trickle charger to an altered (basically battery direct) accessory socket then no.

 

Do realize that even though it is called a CanBus charger it really has little to do with the bikes CanBus system. Most CanBus named accessories should really be called CanBus compatible, or CanBus friendly, or CanBus era as they have little or no actual interface with the CanBus system.

 

In any case, on my personal 1200RT & GS-A I actually disconnect the factory wires to the front factory accessory power socket then install a homemade battery-direct (15 amp fused) harness from the battery to the accessory power socket. (you can buy those from Powerlet if you don't want to make one).---

(basically makes the factory power socket work like on the old BMW 1100 or 1150 motorcycles)

 

This allows me to use my battery charger direct to the battery through the factory power socket, as well as up the power output of the factory power socket to 15 amps so I can use my electric air pump from the factory power socket. Or run a number of heated clothing items from the factory power socket.

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MichiganBob

Good Evening,

 

Success. Big difference in the lighting. I might change the configuration of the four lenses on each light as they are lighting the top of trees as well as the road. Always good to experiment a little.

 

Thanks for your excellent guidance DR. It's appreciated.

 

Michiganbob

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