I just did an install of Fog Lights

I photographed the whole thing. Auxillary fuse box, switch, relay, and mounts on forks. Is anyone interested in a how-to? Just finished, and powered up, but no shake-down, yet. Should I wait and see if they work?:biggrin:
I saw two other threads on the pros and cons of installing extra lights and decided I wanted them for safety no matter what the looks. I've heard that they multiply your visibility to cagers. Did not install them for illuminating turns. Although if it happens, it happens.
Did not bother to look up or calculate spare wattage either. Does anyone know the number for a '96, off the back of an envelope? Again, I don't ride at night very often, I won't run any other accessories while they are on, and from what i understand about cycle wiring, it SHOULD be ok. I've run an electric vest for an hour, and it worked, and the battery has never dropped.

 

:smash: posts the pics........................:thumbsup:

 

I just had lunch with President Obama...

 

Well, Barack and I were suckin' em down....

My 96 had a SAE pigtail for the vest and the charger. The Garmin came with a nice line. The last thing was the power for a radar detector. It is a telephone cord and it went right down to the fuse panel. I wanted to add lights and thought, I can't keep putting rings under the batter terminal. My last bike was had 3 accessories, and it was a pita to keep putting them on and taking them off everytime I fiddled with the battery.

 

That dang hole in the middle

That's my pigtail coming out of the vent, the GPS hookup on the right handlbar (you can see the phone cord coming up through the dashboard in the background for the radar detector), and the hole in the middle of the steering head. That hole is 3/4 in and a 12volt cigarette lighter outlet is 1+inch. I really wanted to put one there. I have seen a plug, there, on other VFR's but I believe it is a BMW design plug that is more slender than a standard 12V auxillary plug.

 

So I ordered a set from JC Whitney

This is the Optilux 1100 made by Hella. 55 bucks. It came with an illuminated switch and a relay. I wanted black, round, and light. The housings are a little heavy. I shot the ingredients in the box.

 

The switch is surface mount

Didn't know what the switch would look like, but it is illuminated with an LED so I thought I was getting a helluva deal.

 

Wiring is for a car

The power leads for the lights themselves; one is 5 feet longer than the other so you you can span the front of a car. I had to cut it and put on a new spade connector. Three bundles of wires, some hardware, and the wiring diagram. There were some further instructions in the box, but they were pretty general. The wiring diagram is what you need. Match up the parts that come in the kit with the wiring diagram, and it is "self explanatory". Yeah, right.

 

Auto barn has them for $44.95 + 7.95 shipping
auto accessories for less at $39.95 + 9.99

 

Where to put them?

I've been looking at this light kit, and looking at my ride for about 2 months. Where can I put the dang lights? I really wanted them to be frame/fairing mount, but there is no decent flat surface that will look ok. I had seen pix of fork mounts and it didn't make me puke. The fender has a big bolt, but not a flat surface surrounding it. The brake calipers have an assortment of bolts, but I was not sure. Some PIAA kickass lighting kits (for BMW) mount on caliper bolts, but they are expensive. So I've got the cheap kit, and now I need to put it on there. On the rear half of the fender there is a bracket to hold the brake lines and a reflector. I like it! I take off the reflector and it has extra holes, and I wank on it with my hand- and it seems pretty stoudt! Good enough. If the light's inertia overwhelms the bracket's rigidity, I will make a new one. (more on that later)
The bracket that came with the kit has holes that need to be widened. I use a die grinder for the first time- if you can't tell. I made the straight slot curved for adjustment (if you can't tell)

 

The second one came out better

This is the underseat compartment, slanted. This the battery as it was. The two items jumped on it have in-line fuses and I left some length for adjustment. And here is a pic of of the Blue Sea auxillary fuse panel. JC Whitney had some others for under 20 but they did not have covers and looked a little cheap and brittle. The Blue Sea cost 35 bucks and it killed me to pay for metal and plastic, but it is the right configuration and compact. Got some stainless steel bolts (8-32) and washers to put on those brackets. Pretty sweet lookin', huh?

 

last pic didn't make it

These photos take 3+ minutes to upload, each. This post is going to take longer than the install.
Mounted lights first to check out brackets and look. I think they look top notch. They come with a power lead and the other is negative ground with the ring connector. That needed to be cut off and replaced with another spade connector. No nearby frame ground. Could I ground them to the caliper or fork? My ground goes all the way back to fuse panel.
The third shot is of the fuse panel. It is looking like a good investment. In order to clear the underside of the seat, and not have the removable cover blocked by the crossbar, I had to test fit and inspect it 10X. Seat on, seat off. Fingers poking, flashlight poking. Had to be sure there was clearance under there without crushing of even pressing. Could have gone another centimeter deeper into the well, but wanted some leeway or adjustment.

 

Temporary set up

I shot just common sheet rock screws into the mount just to see if it would work. The black plastic on the back is the rear fender well. If it was in the wrong spot it would only be a dot patch. It all stayed in the same spot, and I changed them over to stainless 8-32 bolts in the end.

 

Where to put the switch?

Forward on the dash because of the surface mount. Wanted it to be embedded in the fairing. Again, temporary self-tapping 1/4 in screws into the plastic just to start. If it is bad, I've got a little hole to fill. This is the left side, forward of the triple clamp if the pix are not clear.

 

Tough stuff

OK, now I want to put in the power outlet. Now, I need to cut the fairing. Very nervous because a new panel costs 300-400 dollars. Don't want to be too near the edge and cause a crack. Worried that tools will be too rough on my baby. Sink a 1in hole, slowly and gently. Use rotary tool to make hole 1/8th bigger for unit. Again, looked at it and test fit it 10X to pick my spot. Put outlet underneath, on top, took measurements for interference, over and over... Decided on spot, and it came out nice

 

one more thing

I was sticking my fingers into the rear of the fairing and worried if it would clear what's there. I drilled a pilot hole with a small 1/8th drill bit to double check I was in the same spot from top to bottom. If that makes any sense.

 

Test fit the power outlet

This was an e-bay item. Black plastic, with cover, for marine applications. Somebody told me they spent 30 bucks on one. This one was 10.50 with shipping. Just what I wanted.

 

My Plan

Is to get the hard parts mounted, and then start with the wiring. The two former items, GPS and Charger pigtail, were cut and ring terminals crimped on for the new fuse panel. They had ring terminals, but too big. They also had inline fuses, that were removed and put into the panel. The GPS was 2 amp fuse, and the charger was 7.5. One pic is of the ring terminals. They had a plastic collar but I was told that shrink wrap would make them more weather proof and vibration proof. (resistant?)
The other is of the relay. it is going under that bar, under the seat. Again, it is screwed in with a self tapper into the plastic. It stayed in the same spot in the end. Two wires in it already? I don't know. Maybe the wires from the factory kit were easy, the right length, and had terminals already.

 

8-10 terminals

I needed to replace some on the stock wiring, and I needed to run some to my new power outlet. These spade terminals have a built in heat shrink collar. I used several of them. The shot of the fuse panel shows the #10 I'm running to the battery (orange) and that already I've got 3 panel slots full. The GPS, the charger, and the red one goes to the relay for the lights.

 

wiring work

I thought I should show this.
The neg. leg to the lights needs to split into two for both lights. I've never done this, but I've heard it described. I twisted the three ends together tightly, I melted some solder over the connection, and then sealed it with some heat shrink insulation. It looks good.
The other shots are of the panel with some new wiring, and the routing on the left side of the cycle. I did one wire at a time. Took the wire from the kit, looked at it's length, looked at its terminal, and then installed it. One at a time. Made some mistakes. Put on a nice ring terminal with heat shrink and everything, and then realized I needed a spade terminal for the relay. Cut it off and started again.
The routing is a no-brainer. From device, to panel. I leave a little extra and loop it up with wire wraps, just in case I change my mind. Actually, everything at this point is a mock up. I have kept the cutting and crimping and terminals to a minimum.