Electrical gurus: am I planning this correctly?

[meeve]

While my wife's '11 Aero is in storage I am planning a few mods for it. I'm adding a 3brpowersports Tapp usb port and then a couple of Kuryakyn Silver bullet lights as driving lights.

I'm a noob at electrical so after searching this forum to see how others did it and assuming there is no unused power source on the '11 Aero, this is my plan:

I want both the usb port and the lights to power on with the key so I'm going to add a relay off the wire to the tail light for the usb port and then another relay off the headlight low-beam for the driving lights. Battery power to pin 30 of the relay, switched power source to 86, positive of lights/usb to 87 and 85 to ground.

Do I have it right?

Thanks for your help!

[finjoey]

Do some pictures while your doing it...

[marcham]

Is the Aero pre-wired for a highway light bar? The wiring for the headlight may not be designed for the additional load.

Another option is this:

http://www.kuryakyn.com/Products/399...ring-Relay-Kit

or this

http://www.kuryakyn.com/Products/760...ring-Relay-Kit

If you homebrew a solution, ensure the relays are rated for continuous us.

[jpr1968]

With out having a diagram of the relay as long as the switched source goes to coil of the relay and the other side of the coil going to ground and battery power goes to one side of open contact and other side of contact goes to the positive on what you are powering up it will work with a ground going to the negative or ground side of you device you are good to go. You don't need a wiring kit like those listed, just a few dollars worth of parts from Radio Shack or an auto parts store.

[verdeva]

meeve

your plans are good, except you need a fuse as the positive wire leaves the battery. 15 amp should do if you have the 20 watt lights.

I would use only one relay as the loads are well under the 30 amp relay rating. just parallel the two lights and the usb.

While you are making changes you may want to add a voltage monitor to keep tabs on the electrical health of your bike. this can be as simple as a single LED from Custom Dynamics ... at the bottom of this page.

Motorcycle Battery Gauges & Chargers

I have these monitors on all my bikes and it has saved me from being stranded.

[98Aero1100]

Not knowing the individual load (amp) requirements of the two accessories, I'd go with two separate relays the two separate circuits. I'd have separate 12VDC feeds from the battery and ground connections nearest the accessories to be installed.

You have the connections on the relay correct. I think that you're figuring the circuit won't mind the load of the two accessories combined. Running the separate circuit for the accessories guarantees that you won't overload the taillight circuit and burn the wire or fuse.

Here's a chart to help figure out the proper wire size:



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[davelisowski]

very useful info there^

i appreciate the chart

[98Aero1100]

Not a problem. Tons of images just a google away! I made sure it was a useful chart. Solid (house) wire and stranded (automotive) wire are different.


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[Scrapdog2grand]

Check out this set up I have, easy, just need to wire you accessories to the male connectors that come with the kit.
3 circuit switched fuse box, with a quality Japanese made relay, fuse box based on the metri pack 280 connector system, comes with 4 Cooper Bussman fuses, and a posi tap to tie the relay control into yout tail light without having to cut wires.
be glad to ship it for free to you as an HSN member.
Motorcycle Fuse box/Panel Relay Kits

[meeve]

Not knowing the individual load (amp) requirements of the two accessories, I'd go with two separate relays the two separate circuits. I'd have separate 12VDC feeds from the battery and ground connections nearest the accessories to be installed.

That's exactly the plan. Both 12V feeds from the battery will be fused and will be on two separate 30A auto relay's.

Re the load on the existing headlight or tail light circuit...perhaps I understand relays incorrectly, but aren't the switched power sources only providing power to the relay coil whereas the accessories themselves are drawing power from the battery with how I plan to wire it?