Hi fellas,

I've been picking through the forums to find answers to my wiring questions, and while I've found some very useful information, I've been unable to find the answers to all of my silly questions. I think I just need to talk it through with you gentlemen.

I've removed the fairing (and donated it to a K owner in need) on my LT and I'm looking to clean up the wiring situation while I also have my tank off. I've got a new headlight, an Eastern Beaver H4 Single Relay Kit, and new handle bar indicators all waiting to be installed by me…a guy who has trouble putting batteries in TV remote the right way.

I guess what I want to know is, if YOU decided to remove your fairing for a simpler look, how would you approach electrical on YOUR bike? I'd love to know your tips, tricks, and thing to look out for. And if you have any good vibes for newbie electricians, please send them my way!

What is it about the wiring under the tank that needs tidying up? Do you have any problems?

What year is it?

I would be just doing some maintenance. Clean the 'earth' connections. There's a main earth point on the frame under the tank. Also deoxidise all the connectors. There're quite a few under the tank.

Handlebar indicators... have you looked into how these will fit? I really don't have a clue on that but I imagine the end weights might present a problem.

If you are going naked you may want to install lower bars. This will present other issues such as changing cables and brake lines.

Cheers

I think he may be talking about indicator , parking light , and headlamp wiring ...just to name a few
and all forward of the fairing tree .

to my way of thinking ...none of these present an issue .....one could draw back the lengths somewhat so they follow a neater appearance and closer to the frame .

additional indicators like temperature and fuel gauges wiring could well be removed from the accessories - additional wiring connections under the tank as well .

but you are right captain ...maintenance of electrical things is often woefully forgotten in the main .

sometimes a cable tie or two can help the appearance of these things .

charlie99 wrote:I think he may be talking about indicator , parking light , and headlamp wiring ...just to name a few
and all forward of the fairing tree .

to my way of thinking ...none of these present an issue

That was my thinking as well. All of that should be fairly straight forward.
If its simply the length of the wiring that's a concern, I would be shortening any wiring as required making sure to allow for movement in the steering. Use a connector and shrink tube if needed and try to position any connectors under the tank where they will be better prodected.

Argh!!! I LOATHE those foul pre-insulated connectors - they're an abomination that should be banned to the darkest recesses of wiring hell. It is absolutely not possible to get a good crimp on those -things- without a genuine professional crimp tool that costs $$$£££ (insert AU$ and NZ$ here) and the so-called insulation has a habit of cracking and falling off. Always use non-insulated crimp terminals (bullet and spade) and fit the correct male/female insulation cover. For bullet connectors you need what's usually referred to as Japanese bullet connectors (3.9mm dia) and for spade terminals use Lucar (1/4") terminals. This is a UK site:

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/

-but the pictures should allow you to figure out what you need to buy locally. I haven't yet managed to locate OEM BMW connector blocks but just about everyone else of that period uses Molex 0.093" (ninety-three thou) series multiway connectors. They're relatively easy to get hold of from any big distributor; in the UK I use Farnell and I understand they have a US and APAC presence too.

As far as I'm aware (and I do stand to be corrected here) you can just unplug the temp and fuel gauges and that's it.

In some ways I'm not a good person to ask about modifying wiring looms because my reaction is to dump the original in the bin, redesign the inconsistances out of the factory original and build from scratch. In your case it sounds as if it's a case of cut-back and add new connectors which shouldn't be a problem if you have the right tools (cutter, stripper and the correct type of crimper(s)). To clean the wiring up at the end, use self-amalgamating (self-vulcanising) tape. Unlike insulating tape it's non-sticky, doesn't unwind itself and coalesces into a fully-waterproof seal. Cut off a piece that's about one-quarter the length you think you need, peel off the backing and stretch it to about twice its length to activate it. Now wind it tightly around the wiring loom, then leave it for about thirty minutes to start curing. If you need to get it off later, run a Stanley blade down the length of it and peel it back.

some good points there dai

I agree with the self amalgamating tape , its great stuff ... for anybody with a wettish atmosphere , or particularly sensitive circuits  

we also use farnell  now element 14

but be aware they have all the products . but not always at good prices ,,,, I find them quite expensive in many cases but convenient none the less  

like always, shop around before you click that "buy" button 

 "RS" ( I believe they trade under a different name in united kingdom ) and many others provide good alternatives to quality products but as always check the price  .

Funnily enough Charlie, I find Radio Spares (http://www.rs-online.com/) to be overly expensive and Farnell/Element 14 (http://www.farnell.com/) to be far more reasonable. Then again, I buy quantities that could be classed as 'bulk' because I wire a lot of bikes and that brings the prices down considerably.

For anyone interested, my saved search for Molex plugs:

http://uk.farnell.com/plug-socket-housings/pitch-spacing/5-03mm/pg/110171340

These are the pins:

Female:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=1827523

Male:
http://uk.farnell.com/molex/02-09-2103/contact-pin-20-14-awg-crimp/dp/9773827

Ignore the photo of the male pin - it's the wrong item. The rear pair of crimp ears are the same size as the female; check the engineering drawing pdf.

I rewired my K75 when I customized it and chose to use AMP Superseal connectors where possible.  These are waterproof automotive grade connectors.  I found an Ebay seller (hiteche) who supplied me with 10 piece kits of AMP Superseal 1.5 series connector pairs in 2-pin, 3-pin, 4-pin, 5-pin and 6-pin configurations.

Bullet connectors will be necessary for the bar-end indicators so that they can be removed to allow for servicing the throttle and clutch assemblies.

You can read about how I tackled the rewiring on my K75 by viewing my blog, the address is in my signature.

robmack wrote:You can read about how I tackled the rewiring on my K75 by viewing my blog, the address is in my signature.

Impressive rewire job! Those Super seals are great. I noticed my first one on the Eastern Beaver kit. A breeze to use. Just so ya know, the url in your sig has 75 flipped to 57. 

I guess whenever I see the wiring, it stresses me out that I don't know what's what. I think I might go the Motogadget M-unit2 in the future. I like being able to wrap my mind around what's going on in electrical. Anyone have any experience with that?