Deej - your solution doesn't solve the issue of switching accessories off when you switch off the ignition to avoid inadvertent draining the battery. It's not good engineering practise.

Rob

 

let me guess, the $1 switch location was left out? ie fan switch related kinda stuff?

 

I am interested in doing this as well - I was wondering Deej if you could fix the images that you posted - Or Blazzin would you mind taking a couple of pics of what you did? I have an 09 too and would love to be able to run the GPS so I can just take off and ride the back roads!

Thanks

 

I'd be glad to. Right now I have it hard wired into the battery its-self but am looking to rewire it through the relay switch. I'll be doing that soon. Once that happens, I'll take some pictures and post them here.

 

Here's a diagram, the remote turn-on lead is the tail light wire you used before. The other is your battery for the 12V, and then the battery ground. Pretty simple, compared to some of the stuff I've worked with. Check out the12volt.com for some wiring questions. I have used a lot of their diagrams.


I had a helluva time wiring these lights up. They had the wrong connectors and I had to just hard-wire them. A couple zener diodes and two 150ohm resistors later, I got it working.


This was still one of the easier ones. I made one about three times this size:


Looks hard, but I've still done worse:

 

Hi williamr, newbie here.
Please forgive the dummy questions, I understand how it works in principle, but I have a few practical questions:
My EX500D have 3 wires coming from a white connector box and then splitting to go to the tail lights: Red, Blue and Black/Yellow:
1) Which do I use for the tap?
2) How do I actually do it? Do I cut the cable and then twist it three way (the third being the wire that goes to the relay?) or is there a better way to do it?
3) To which terminal of the relay do I attach the tap? The relay I am looking at (Radio Shack: 12VDC/40A SPST Automotive Relay : Relays & transformers | RadioShack.com ) has 2 parallel blade terminals and 2 perpendicular ones.
4) Where do I attach the ground? Negative terminal of the battery?
5) If I set up this relay switched sistem, will I be able to charge my battery through the 12V port (If the key is on P)?

Thanks


Luca

2009 EX500D (USA)

 

OK. I'll try to help.

Your three wires are tail light, brake light and ground. Without a circuit diagram I don't know the colours, but I'd guess that the black/yellow is ground and the red is the tail light. You can use a multimeter to make sure that is a good guess.

Your relay should be connected across the tail light and ground. The best way to do this is to use a pair of Scotchlock connectors which clamp on to the wires and clamp an extra wire that you can take to the relay. Somepeople don't like these connectors, but they're good as long as you choose the right size for your wires, and dead easy to use. Pick one that's too big and the contact will be intermittent. Pick one that's too small and you risk cutting through the wires.

Never twist wires together. If you have to, solder them and cover with heatshrink tubing. Better to use a screw type terminal block and after making the connections cover then with grease and wrap the block in tape.

The relay will almost certainly have a little diagram etched on to its base to show the connections. One pair of contacts will show a little picture of a coil. That's the pair to connect to the lighting wires. Yours has the little picture on the side, with terminal numbers. You should see the numbers on the terminals on the underside of the relay. The bottom pair on the picture are the ones to use. The other pair are the switching contacts for the accessory socket.

The ground for the socket can be any good frame ground or directly back to the battery.

In theory you could use this socket to charge the battery with the key on, but that would mean leaving the ignition on which isn't a good idea and as it would be taking power the battery would only charge very slowly. Better to fit a separate charging port or just lift the seat and connect a charger with the usual crocodile clips.

Rob

 

You centerly did! I think I am ready to do it.
I am uploading the electrical schematic of the 2008 EX500D (mine is 2009) and according to this (if I understood correctly) the red wire is indeed the tail light and the black/yellow is ground.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks

Luca

 

Just a quick feedback.

I followed your instructions, placed the relay under the seat and mounted the 12V socket it on the front of the bike, just below the GPS mount and it has been working like charm for a few months now.

Thanks again!