1 Dashboard, lamp improvements Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:47 pm
scottiesharpe
Silver member
I have an old Garmin Streetpilot (monochrome). It has basically been retired from automobile use because we use our blackberry for normal navigation. However it is water resistant and I have decided to permanently mount it to the K100RT. It provides a nice status screen with a nautical compass, current speed and so forth. It also has all major primary and secondary roads in the US in its memory, so it is suitable for navigating just about anywhere I'd care to ride.
A few years ago I also purchased three VDO guages at a swap meet. I think they are from an old VW GTI: volt meter, oil pressure in bars, oil temperature in Celcius. I have decided to mount at least the volt meter and oil pressure, thinking it is probably more important to know oil pressure than oil temperature. However I am undecided as there is already an idiot light for oil pressure on the bike, but nothing for oil temperature.
I began this project by removing the knee panels, fairing pockets and windscreen. Once that is removed, the dash panel that wraps around the back of the fairing can be removed. It sticks a little from the press fit windscreen gasket. Be careful with it; it is very thin. I was excited to see that BMW has already marked where the factory installs guages. I drilled those out with a hole saw. Go slow and don't use a lot of pressure. The plastic is thin. I got a clean cut. My VDO guages mounted right up with no problems.
At this point, I realized that I should give some further consideration to any other projects I'd like to perform while the windscreen is out, so I decided to make a list. I'd like:
remote relays for the headlamp high and low beams
move the relay for the running / driving lamps out of the underseat box and into the fairing
a headlamp flasher
a dash mounted 12v power outlet for charging cell phone
I made up a wiring schematic:
The only question I have is about my headlamp flasher circuit. I thought I could use a standard 12v flasher assembly on the signal side of the high beam relay. Initial tests proved however that the signal side of the relay does not draw enough watts to engage the flasher. I'd have to use a resistor in line to make it work, and that seemed like a poor design idea. So I wonder, are there any ways to make the high beam flash without spending a ton of money on a brand name solid state flasher?
Also, is there a way to incorporate the high beam indicator on the dash so that it blinks along with my high beam (so that I know when the flasher circuit is enabled)??
As you can see from my schematic, I decided that I will need to run a pair of copper 12 guage wires to the fairing direclty from the battery to provide power to all of my lamp relays. I will use a 30 amp inline fuse near the battery as a failsafe. Any problems with this that you can see?
The project continued on with ideas for how I can mount the garmin GPS.
I studied the BMW factory dashboard for clues on how to make my design.
I realized that the BMW dash mounts as a squeeze fit between the windscreen and the fairing gasket. I figured I could use thin sheetmetal, pop rivets and perhaps some 1/8" aluminum sheet to construct a custom dash to hold the Garmin. I am uncertain exactly how to design the dash because I want the Garmin to be a permanent part of the dash, to deter theives. I also thought it would be nice to have some extra shelf space there where I could put some hook/loop fastening tape for a radar detector, ipod, or whatever suits my fancy.
Any input on your ideas to help this stage of the design is much appreciated. I will continue posting updates.
A few years ago I also purchased three VDO guages at a swap meet. I think they are from an old VW GTI: volt meter, oil pressure in bars, oil temperature in Celcius. I have decided to mount at least the volt meter and oil pressure, thinking it is probably more important to know oil pressure than oil temperature. However I am undecided as there is already an idiot light for oil pressure on the bike, but nothing for oil temperature.
I began this project by removing the knee panels, fairing pockets and windscreen. Once that is removed, the dash panel that wraps around the back of the fairing can be removed. It sticks a little from the press fit windscreen gasket. Be careful with it; it is very thin. I was excited to see that BMW has already marked where the factory installs guages. I drilled those out with a hole saw. Go slow and don't use a lot of pressure. The plastic is thin. I got a clean cut. My VDO guages mounted right up with no problems.
At this point, I realized that I should give some further consideration to any other projects I'd like to perform while the windscreen is out, so I decided to make a list. I'd like:
remote relays for the headlamp high and low beams
move the relay for the running / driving lamps out of the underseat box and into the fairing
a headlamp flasher
a dash mounted 12v power outlet for charging cell phone
I made up a wiring schematic:
The only question I have is about my headlamp flasher circuit. I thought I could use a standard 12v flasher assembly on the signal side of the high beam relay. Initial tests proved however that the signal side of the relay does not draw enough watts to engage the flasher. I'd have to use a resistor in line to make it work, and that seemed like a poor design idea. So I wonder, are there any ways to make the high beam flash without spending a ton of money on a brand name solid state flasher?
Also, is there a way to incorporate the high beam indicator on the dash so that it blinks along with my high beam (so that I know when the flasher circuit is enabled)??
As you can see from my schematic, I decided that I will need to run a pair of copper 12 guage wires to the fairing direclty from the battery to provide power to all of my lamp relays. I will use a 30 amp inline fuse near the battery as a failsafe. Any problems with this that you can see?
The project continued on with ideas for how I can mount the garmin GPS.
I studied the BMW factory dashboard for clues on how to make my design.
I realized that the BMW dash mounts as a squeeze fit between the windscreen and the fairing gasket. I figured I could use thin sheetmetal, pop rivets and perhaps some 1/8" aluminum sheet to construct a custom dash to hold the Garmin. I am uncertain exactly how to design the dash because I want the Garmin to be a permanent part of the dash, to deter theives. I also thought it would be nice to have some extra shelf space there where I could put some hook/loop fastening tape for a radar detector, ipod, or whatever suits my fancy.
Any input on your ideas to help this stage of the design is much appreciated. I will continue posting updates.
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Scottie Sharpe
1987 K100RT