Adding brake lights with 4-wire turn signals - Part 2

[woodlandsprite]

Originally Posted by Jay In Milpitas

Dining room, Sprite. I keep saying it.

*sigh* I guess I just haven't suffered enough wrenching in the garage yet

Also, I have just ordered parts and have checked to make sure I still have extra wire from my previous repair job if parts get here fast, this might be my weekend project!

[detours]

Sprite, my turn signals and triple bullet connector each arrived within a week. Hopefully it's as fast for you!

[woodlandsprite]

the turn signals are due by Thursday or Friday, hopefully I'll see a shipping notice for the connectors soon, but based on your fine tutorial, it seems the connecting the other wires can be done separately....

I had thought of also looking at some of those positap connectors in place of the splice connector, but I'm not sure of the gauges of the wire involved. Though I would guess the 12-18ga size would likely cover the spectrum.

[woodlandsprite]

meh, since I'm still contemplating ordering the positaps, I figured I'd call CSC to find out what gauge wire is in the bike. Will let you know (for the brake wire involved in any case)

ETA: Gerry recommends the 16-18 positaps - next time I'm under the tank I guess I'll see if I can replace my splice connectors that were installed to fix my issue of with my radiator fans with positaps - hopefully I left myself enough room to do so - I remember at least one of the connections being in a tight spot though....

[detours]

The posi tap will work great. I believe the brake wires are 16 gauge.

[woodlandsprite]

Hey Detours (or anyone else) is the clear boot supposed to be heated to shrink?

[detours]

I don't actually know. I didn't try to heat shrink mine.

[woodlandsprite]

Detours,
Thank you for your most excellent tutorial. All my parts arrived last week, so I started by prepping the connector for the running lights:



Your instructions were clear and easy to follow - and for those who have the panniers installed, I was able to carefully get the grab bar and rear plastics off without actually removing the racks/luggage.



I did seem to have a flaky connection issue with the bullet connectors for the new blinkers - I applied some pressure to the fittings afterwards and hopefully I have better contact now. Basically once I had them both wired up, I would flip the hazard switch and sometimes one of the blinkers would not kick on - I'd wiggle the wiring harness and voila.... After applying a little pressure to the connection points, gave the wiring harness a shake and repeated the hazard light test until I consistently had both blinkers come on. Hopefully I've sufficiently resolved the issue otherwise I might have to get back in there and mess with the connections again - at least I hope it was the connections and not a wiring issue with the new blinkers, because if it's wiring, I'm going to have to see what kind of "warranty" may or may not have been available with the parts.

[detours]

Great job, sprite! How do you like the new running/brake lights? Did it take you very long?

[woodlandsprite]

Overall I like them I was somewhat surprised that they were a fair bit shorter than the stock signals, but I they are more visible now that they are all wired up properly, especially since they have the running light/brake light built in. I just really hope I've chased out whatever "connection" gremlins I was having issues with that caused the blinkers to not turn on. I didn't seem to have any problems with the running light connection or the brake connection

I didn't time myself on this and I also spent time in the garage messing with my gas tank and the hose connection to the fuel filter and I took my time with all the work, but even with that said, the mod really didn't take very long to install, even with my constantly going back and forth and checking my work against the forum tutorial. I wish I could have figured out a way to get to the lock nuts on the inside of the tail section, but in once case I couldn't even get the wrench around the nut...even with the tail section loosened and tipped upwards, there was limited space to get in there and actually "turn" the wrench.

Thanks again for the most excellent tutorial. Now I just have my fingers crossed you manage to get a plug and play gearbrake option identified

[detours]

You're welcome! I'm glad it was helpful.

Your gremlin is probably a loose bullet connector. If it flickers again, try tightening the open end again and maybe sand the bullet in case it has oxidation on it.

[SpudRider]

Detours,

Thanks for posting another great tutorial with excellent photographs.

[detours]

Thanks, spud! My wife and riding buddies say the new brake lights are really bright and hard to miss now. And I like the security of having extra red running lights in the back. I can't recommend this mod enough to everyone.