Mark
Neblett, one of the many mechanical guru's that visit
and contribute to this site documented how to accomplish
this. Mark points out that he "wrote this up with the
idea of placing the relay within the fuse box for weather
protection; a fair amount of the work (drilling into the
fusebox, installing grommets, etc.) could be eliminated
by finding a weather protected spot outside the fusebox."
The
four wires you need to tap are (using the Haynes R1100 manual
wiring diagrams):
1. The
green/black stripe line from Fuse 1 (provides +12V, switched
on with the ignition, to relay terminal 85 - one of the
terminals that controls the pull-in coil in the relay to
connect terminals 30 and 87)
2. The
green/orange stripe line from one side of the sidestand
switch (connects to either relay terminal 30 or 87)
3. The
green/yellow stripe line from the other side of the sidestand
switch (connects to the remaining 30/87 relay terminal)
4. The
brown/black stripe line to the neutral switch (connects
to relay terminal 86)
Essentially
what happens with the relay is that when the neutral light
comes on (i.e., the neutral switch is closed), the +12V
from the ignition switch is applied to terminal 85, causing
current to flow through the relay pull-in coil to terminal
86 and through the brown/black line and the neutral switch
to ground. This causes the relay to connect terminals 30
and 87, so that the bike thinks the sidestand switch is
closed. Thus, if you put the sidestand down, the bike doesn't
know it. As soon as you put the bike in gear, however, the
relay opens (no path to ground through the neutral switch
anymore), the bike dies, and the starter won't run.
Here's
what I did on my bike. It's probably not for the faint of
heart because it involves tapping into the harness and drilling
holes into the side of the fuse box (anyone with reasonable
mechanical talent can do it, but you just have to be careful/thoughtful
and double check what you're about to do). As usual, planning
is the key here; know EXACTLY where you want to run each
line before doing any physical work on the bike. It gets
a little involved, but it's far less onerous than disassembling
the entire rear half of the bike to get the fusebox top
half off.
Of course,
all the following comes with the usual liability disclaimers
-- I'm not responsible for what you choose to do to your
bike or how you do it, etc.!
First
remove the left side fairing panel, the airbox lid, the
air intake tube leading into the airbox, and disconnect
the battery negative cable. Put something over the end of
the negative cable to ensure it can't touch anything metal
(I wrapped an old washcloth/shop rag over mine).
Here's
how I accessed the fuse box to get the four new lines to
the relay (note: I suppose you could place the relay outside
the fusebox and thus never have to drill into the box, but
I wanted my relay inside a weather-protected box):
First,
put three lengths of wire into a length of appropriate diameter
heat-shrink tubing (Radio Shack bag of various diameters).
I initially used wires at least four feet long each to ensure
they were long enough to reach where ever I wanted to route
them; I'd rather waste leftover wire than end up a couple
inches short. Next, find a rubber grommet (from a Radio
Shack bag of various size grommets) through which the wires/heat-shrink
tubing fit snugly. Snug is the key word here, as this assembly
will be the (hopefully) waterproof passage through the fuse
box wall.
Next
remove the black plastic left rear side panel and the bracket
holding the centerstand lifting handle to the subframe (two
6(?)mm Allen bolts). This gives access to the side of the
lower half of the fuse box. Looking inside the fuse box
from the top, there is an open section on the left side
(between the row of relays in the front of the box and the
row of fuses at the rear of the box). You want to drill
a hole into the side of the box into that open area. BE
SURE THERE ARE NO WIRES IN THE PATH OF THE DRILL BIT!! There
shouldn't be; there wasn't anything near the area in my
bike, but you MUST double check this!
Select
a drill bit that is the same size as the outer diameter
of the "barrel" portion of the grommet through
which the wires/heat shrink tubing pass (NOT the diameter
of the outer lips of the grommet!! If the hole's that big,
the grommet will pass right through the fusebox wall!).
Double check where the drill bit will pass, then drill a
hole in the side of the box. I placed my hole about 3/4-1
inch below the joint between the upper and lower halves
of the fusebox, toward the front of the available space
between the subframe rails, with just enough room for the
chuck of my drill to barely clear the short vertical section
of subframe rail toward the front of the available space.
Remember to leave yourself enough room between the hole
and the subframe to be able to push the lips of the grommet
into the hole with a small screwdriver from any angle. Footnote:
As I drilled, I encountered a 1/2" (?) wide band of
1/16" reinforcing metal under the joint where the upper
and lower halves of the fusebox meet. If you hit it, just
continue to slowly drill through. BTW, if your drill chuck
scratches the subframe while making this hole, apply some
touch up paint to prevent future rust.
Next
clean up the edges of the hole, then insert the new harness
and pull about 6 inches of the three wires up through the
open area of the box. Only about an inch or so of the heat
shrink needs to stick through the grommet into the fusebox;
you don't need any more inside the box than this, and the
more outside the box the more weatherproofing/cosmetic coverage
of the wires you'll have.
Now
here's the fun part -- getting the @#$&*(() lip of the
grommet to properly seat to provide the waterproof seal.
The trick is to gently push the inner lip into the hole
all the way around the grommet a little bit at a time. The
hard part is not puncturing/tearing the lip as you do this
in tight quarters. I used a long, small tipped regular screwdriver
whose tip was not terribly sharp, and a lot of patient working
of the grommet lips to gradually work them through the hole.
I stopped when the outer lip of the grommet sat flush against
the side of the fusebox all the way around the grommet.
That
takes care of the three wires (sidestand and neutral switch)
on the left side of the bike. After studying the Haynes
schematic, I concluded that the most convenient place to
tap the green/black Fuse 1 circuit was the green/black lead
to the rear brake light switch. Accordingly, I decided to
drill into the right side of the lower fusebox. The place
I chose to enter the box is a little tricky, but doable
if you're careful. Toward the rear of the fusebox, under
the holder for the fuse/relay puller, is a nearly empty
area. I say nearly empty because right up under the holder
runs the rear main wiring harness! You can see where it
enters the right rear of the fusebox; obviously, you must
stay below the harness when you drill. The hole should also
be toward the rear of the box, but not too far back, because
if you reach/look up under the rear fender, you'll find
the box tapers to an edge at the back corner -- you don't
want to drill through both the side and the back of the
box at the same time!
Follow
the general method for penetrating the box on the left side;
the only differences are the grommet/heat-shrink tubing
only needs to be big enough for one wire, and you need to
route this last new wire over to where the first three are
sticking out of the upper half of the fusebox. That should
be it in the fuse box until the final connections are made
to the relay.
Here's
how I tapped into the four lines:
First,
wire tapping technique: I never cut any wires; instead I
used an X-acto knife to carefully slice open the outer cover
of each harness along its length -- just a long enough slit
to be able to pull the target wire out far enough to work
on it (2-3 inches, max). I then used the X-acto knife to
remove a short section (1/2-3/4 in) of insulation from the
target wire (without cutting the wire itself), wrapped the
end of the wire I was adding (the new wire that will go
to the relay in the fusebox) around the exposed portion
of target wire, and then soldered the wires together. After
the joint cooled, I wrapped the joint in electrician's tape.
When all the joints in a given harness were done, I pushed
the target wire(s) back into the harness and tried to get
the outer cover as closed as possible as I wrapped it with
electrician's tape. Also, before joining the target wire
to the added wire, I slipped a piece of heat shrink tubing
over the new wire, so that later before taping the outer
cover closed, I could push the shrink wrap up to the soldered
joint to ensure that the shrink wrap would be captured by
the tape when the outer cover was resealed.
Ok,
on to the wires. After installing the three wires into the
fusebox, I routed the harness (adding lengths of heat-shrink
tubing for cosmetic coverage as necessary) forward under
the existing wiring/hoses on the side of the bike to reach
the following: (note that one of the advantages of using
separate sections of heat shrink tubing was being able to
lead the wire for the neutral switch away from the other
two wires at a joint between sections of heat shrink)
Neutral
switch wire: Trace the two wire neutral switch harness from
inside the left rear transmission flange (leading from the
neutral/gear position switch) from the transmission up toward
the airbox, where it meets a quick-disconnect plug that
leads into the bowels of the bike. Be sure not to confuse
the two-wire neutral switch harness with the three (or more?)
wire harness from the gear position indicator. At a convenient
portion of the harness (in my case the vertical section
just below the point at which the harness turns back toward
the quick-disconnect), slice open the harness and joint
one of the new wires to the brown/black wire (make sure
you don't tap into the brown (no stripe) wire -- they're
easily confused), and reseal the harness with electrician's
tape. If you plan ahead, you can probably make the connection
at a point which allows you to push most or all of the taped
section of the harness out of sight behind other wires when
you're done.
Sidestand
wires: Trace the sidestand harness from the sidestand switch
up past the back of the left cylinder to the point where
the engine and subframe meet, then along the subframe back
toward the fuse box to another quick disconnect plug. I
made my harness incision in the relatively long straight
section of the harness along the horizontal subframe tube
between the telelever pivot and the airbox. This section
can be freed (i.e., remove the wire ties securing it), modified,
and then pushed back under the subframe to hide the new
joint. The two wires in this harness are joined to the remaining
two new wires (one to each of sidestand switch wire), and
the harness is then resealed and retied to the subframe
with plastic wire ties. That does it for the left side wiring.
On to
the right side. For the +12V ignition-switched wire: Remove
the black plastic right rear side panel. For convenience,
I also removed the aluminum-colored footpeg/brake pedal
panel from the bike. If you do so too, don't forget to disconnect
the rear brake master cylinder from the panel *before* removing
the panel by disconnecting the actuating rod from the brake
pedal and removing the two Allen bolts holding the master
cylinder to the panel (you don't need to remove the master
cylinder from the bike). You can let the panel dangle on
the brake switch wire harness or remove the bolt holding
the switch to the panel and free the harness. You just have
to properly adjust the switch when you reinstall it so that
the brake light comes on as the brake pedal is depressed.
In order
to minimize the visibility of the added wire on the right
side, I tapped the harness up close to the subframe where
the harness comes down from the fusebox area (I removed
the last wire tie before the harness goes down to the switch
to gain a little extra room to work with). Once the splice
is made and the harness resealed, you can reinstall the
brake light switch/master cylinder/footpeg panel. That's
it for harness abuse.
Finally:
the relay. Add female spade connectors (sized to fit your
relay) to each of the four wires. I both crimped and soldered
mine into place. Wrap each individual wire spade connector
with electrician's tape, and plug the spades onto the relay's
male spades in the following order (you did remember to
use different color wires to keep track of which wire is
which, right???):
+12V
wire from rear brake light to terminal 85; wire from neutral
switch to terminal 86; one sidestand wire to terminal 30,
the other to terminal 87 (*NOT* terminal 87a, if you have
a relay with five-spades). Wrap the entire relay/wire collection
with electrician's tape. Other than testing/reassembly,
"that's all folks!"
Double-check
your work, reconnect the negative cable to the battery,
verify no hot wires/fires(!), then check relay operation:
with
ignition on (engine need not be running), kill switch in
run, in gear, sidestand down: no power to ignition (the
Rider's display will be blank); same with side stand up;
with ignition on, in neutral, side stand up: power to RID
display; side stand down, also power to RID -- shift into
gear and RID should go blank).
If all
is well, push the relay down into the open area of the left
side of the fusebox, wire-tie down all the harnesses neatly,
and reinstall the fusebox cover/air intake tube/body panels,
etc.
