Author Topic: Square to Foxeye Fairing Mod (Read 19095 times)

limax2 · « **Reply #25 on:** 26 November 2012, 07:57:13 pm »

Glad to be of help. My brother has that bike at the moment and I can't remember exactly how I connected the pilot wires. What you suggest sounds o.k. as long as it's all insulated. i.e. insulated connectors or wrap some insulation tape round it. For the live feed I connected the two relays together with a short wire (as per wiring diagram), and from one of those connectors ran a wire under the tank to an in-line fuse which I positioned near the battery.
Looking at the photo with the relays and lots of wires, I seem to have used some sort of socket to connect to some of the relay terminals?? Don't let that confuse you as it was probably something I had in my box, and simple female blade connectors will do. I think I put a short length of shrink rap on them for insulation and neatness. If you want to go really profesional you can get a proper socket that the relay plugs into. This supplier might be handy for you if you haven't already seen it http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php
Next time I go to my brothers I'll have a good look at the bike and refresh my memory a bit

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davec · « **Reply #26 on:** 26 November 2012, 08:22:15 pm »

I'll use insulated connectors,think it'll be a neater job in the end.I did notice that connector on the relay,it took me a minute to suss out what it was doing.So with the live feed wire you just put a connector on the end and bolted that onto the +ive terminal of the battery?I'll check out that site and see what they've got.It's all starting to make sense now I've seen some pictures.

limax2 · « **Reply #27 on:** 26 November 2012, 08:42:03 pm »

Quote from: limax2 on 26 November 2012, 07:57:13 pm

Looking at the photo with the relays and lots of wires, I seem to have used some sort of socket to connect to some of the relay terminals?? Don't let that confuse you as it was probably something I had in my box

Just realised that that socket is the original main beam light socket which must have fitted the relay terminals number 86 and 85. I think I must have cut off the redundant plastic bit that would normaly be used with a twin fillament bulb, but not used on a standard Mk1 Fazer light. Very handy that as the feed and earth wires that would normally control the main beam will now control the main beam relay instead.
Hope that makes sence.
On the live feed connect to the battery + with a ring (eyelet) terminal and a short length of wire to the line fuse.
A steep learning curve if you are not used to dealing with bike electrics, but as long as you take your time and double check before finally connecting to the battery you will be fine

davec · « **Reply #28 on:** 26 November 2012, 09:49:27 pm »

I can see that now you can just make out the black/yellow wire in the socket in the photo of the main relay.Are the 3 wires going to earth in the wiring diagram the ones attached to the frame near the main relay bracket in the 3rd photo?Hopefully no more questions for a while seems to be it pretty clear now.Nice one.

limax2 · « **Reply #29 on:** 27 November 2012, 09:05:19 am »

Yes they are the earth wires shown. The earth for the main beam relay is catered for by the original earth in the bulb socket that is clipped to that relay. Main thing is to get a good electrical connection to earth (i.e. frame) that's not insulated by paint.

davec · « **Reply #30 on:** 27 November 2012, 11:00:43 am »

Thanks again.
Did you use any particular gauge wire?Does the live wire feed from the battery need to be heavier than the other wiring or can it all be the same and if so what gauge do you recommend?
Also, If I use a pre-wired socket to connect to the relay, as you mentioned, could I connect two wires (ie the blue/white and the blue/red on the diagram) to the single wire coming out of the relay socket by using a bullet connector? Would this be safe or is there a danger it could overload the single wire?
Also, where the blue wires on the diagram come out of the dip beam relay, would it be possible to do the same with these two wires...ie have the two wires coming off the single wire on the socket?
Hope I'm explaining it ok and it's not too confusing for you to understand! I don't know whether running two wires off of one is practical or will cause problems, but I'm thinking if I get a ready wired socket it will be easier for me to connect the wires.
Thanks a lot

limax2 · « **Reply #31 on:** 27 November 2012, 09:59:21 pm »

I'm not an electrical expert so maybe one will step forward. However here is my opinion for now.
I can't remember what I used but my thinking would be max load on feed wire from battery to relay is two 60 watt bulbs. So 120 watts at 12 volts = 10 amps. From the "Vehicle Wiring Products" web page (earlier link) that would suggest using 28/0.30mm standard type cable which has a continuous rating of 17.5 amps. You could use a smaller wire size for the rest as each individual bulb is only taking half that load. The bulb holders I got had the wires attached and may have been a small size, but then they are only taking half that load each. No harm in using the thicker wire though.
I don't know what the operating current of the relays is but it will be much less. i.e. the green/yellow and the black/yellow on the wiring diagram.

limax2 · « **Reply #32 on:** 27 November 2012, 11:56:40 pm »

I just spotted that you must have edited your last question while I was writting a reply. So to answer the bit about using pre-wired relay sockets.
No harm in connecting the two blue/white wires together and then connecting to a single wire from the relay. But the single wire needs to be of a suitable size to take the load of two bulbs. i.e. 10 amps. (You could connect them together just behind the headlamp if you want and run a single wire to the relay). Same goes for the blue/red wires of course. Given that the relays are rated at 40amp I guess the wires from a pre-wired socket should be the same, but I don't know.
If you are using pre-wired relay sockets then you would connect the wires from the two 87 teminals together and then to the main feed wire. The relay wires would be taking 10 amps each, but as the relays are never both live (on) at the same time the main feed is also only ever taking 10 amps.
The reason I have two wires going to each relay terminal 30 is because I used pre-wired bulb sockets and it was easy to solder/crimp the two wires into a single female blade connector at the relay end.
Hope that helps and let us know how you get on.

davec · « **Reply #33 on:** 28 November 2012, 06:41:09 pm »

Yeah.I keep coming up with different ideas,I think I will buy the components from VWP and make the sockets up myself. I'll know the wire is man enough for the job then.Do you see a load problem with connecting the pilot wires from the headlight to the single wires on the harness or should it be man enough to do the job?Hopefully this is all the info I need.It's all making sense now.

limax2 · « **Reply #34 on:** 28 November 2012, 08:32:08 pm »

Good choice. The pilot light current is very small so I can't see it being a problem. It's what I did.
In case you don't know, the relay blade terminals are 6.3mm. So that's the size of blade connectors you want. I'm always a sucker for that sort of thing when I see an interesting box of bits in Aldi or Lidl.
I tend to favour soldering the wires into the connectors, but plenty just use the crimping pliers to secure the wire without a problem.
I would also get some shrink wrap, as it make a good need job of insulating the terminals and only needs a hot air gun or an air drier for the heat to make it shrink.
Good news and bad news about the bike I did this mod on. Bad news is it blew over the other week when we were parked up and damaged the fairing. The good news is the fairing is now off the bike for a bit of repairing so when I next go to my brothers I can have a good look at the wiring etc. I'll report back if I see anything we have missed. Must remember to take my camera

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davec · « **Reply #35 on:** 28 November 2012, 08:59:24 pm »

It's definitely more satisfying doing it yourself and once it's straight in my head I'm happy to do it.The pilot light should be an easy fix then.I'll make a list of what I need and put an order into VWP next week I reckon. I've just got my fairing back it needed a smallish repair ,it had a crack up through the indicator socket, It's been resprayed black and is looking very nice and shiny. Mine blew over a couple of years back, off of the side stand,the wind caught the cover and lifted the whole bike up and over.Only caused a small crack,about 3/4", just below the indicator. It's now secured to the ground so shouldn't happen again.Once again thanks for you time and if you do spot anything you've forgotten to mention I'd be glad to hear about it.

davec · « **Reply #36 on:** 05 December 2012, 08:26:33 pm »

Just waiting on the electrical bits from VWP. So should be able to start putting it all together next week.

limax2 · « **Reply #37 on:** 18 December 2012, 10:03:56 pm »

Finally got round to having a look at the other Fazer. Not much to add to what has already been said but a couple of things I noticed.
1) The original left headlight socket, which is no longer used, I left attached to the harness and insulated it with a rubber sleeve and tucked it behind the clocks. You could snip it off and insulate the wires, but from working on classic bikes I have a thing about being able to put things back to standard spec. No other reason $:\$ .
2)I seem to have used the original Mk1 pilot bulb holder (black) on the R.H. side and a Mk2 holder (grey) on the left. I have connected the wires from the Mk2 holder to the wires from the Mk1 holder at the plug end of those wires. (Although the holders are different the fitting into the light unit must be the same). On the photo below you can see the black socket on the main harness and the white plug with black tape round it where I made the connection. It's probably easier to snip the socket of and use a connector block as you said, but again I didn't want to alter the original harness.
For good measure another view of the relays as well.

davec · « **Reply #38 on:** 20 December 2012, 02:38:22 pm »

I've started to put it all together now,still waiting on a couple of bits. I've snipped the wires on the original harness close up to the bulb on the side light and will be connecting the mk 2 side light wires into the harness with spade connectors,they will obviously go from the 2 wires on the side light side into 1 wire on the harness side.I will keep the original headlight block on the left hand side and just tuck it away. I was wondering whether it was possible to put the relays further back on the bike, like under the seat or near to the flasher relay,as there is more room, and run the wires up to the headlights or do they need to sit close to the headlight unit? Also did you choose a 40 amp relay for a reason or could you have used a 30 amp?I'm asking this purely out of interest as to how you came to to choose the 40 amp. Thanks for the pictures having gone over everything I understand how it all works and it now makes sense. Eurika!I'm just trying to fine tune it now.

limax2 · « **Reply #39 on:** 20 December 2012, 07:05:14 pm »

You can mount the relays anywhere there is room for them, the dryer the better. If you were increasing the length of wire greatly there would be a slight power drop. But by mounting the relays nearer to the battery you will have a shorter run from battery to the relays and a longer run to the headlamps, so more or less no change. You will probably have a longer run for the wires controling the main beam relay from the original main beam light socket (R.H. side), but as this is only carrying a very small current it won't matter anyway.
The reason I used 40 amp relays is because that is what I could easily get hold off. (From Maplin). Each relay is handling nominaly about 10 amps, maybe a bit more on switching, when the filaments are cold, so anything from 15 amps capacity would probably have been o.k.

davec · « **Reply #40 on:** 20 December 2012, 08:05:46 pm »

That's good.I will have a look under the seat and see if there is a good mounting point for the relays.I'll run all of the new wiring alongside the existing loom if it seems suitable to do it this way and I'll extent the original main beam wires back along the the original loom under the tank to the relays.If it works it will keep the area around the fairing clear and tidy.After offering the fairing up the other day I realised just how little space there was to mount the relays and the sockets.I bought some 30 and 40 amp relays from VWP so I could use the 30amp relays if I wanted.I'll let you know how it goes if I go ahead with doing it this way.

davec · « **Reply #41 on:** 30 December 2012, 02:24:00 pm »

Fairing so far.

limax2 · « **Reply #42 on:** 30 December 2012, 05:44:44 pm »

That's a very nice looking bike you have there with a few other useful mods on it

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I see you have gone for mounting at least one relay under the fairing panel rather than under the seat.
Is the new bracket firm enough with only being mounted from one of the frame brackets? I'm not saying it isn't, but I also used the rear frame bracket as a mounting point to give it more rigidity due to the extra overhang.
Wiring looks good.

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davec · « **Reply #43 on:** 30 December 2012, 06:19:25 pm »

Thanks Limax. Both relays will be mounted on that bracket under the fairing, once I'd looked at it properly I could see there was going to be enough space .The other relay is wired up I just haven't put it on yet.I'm still waiting on the headlight connectors,they should be here soon hopefully. I've got some of that heat shrink wrap to put around the wires once everything's sorted and cut to length so that will tidy it up under there.The strength of the brackets remains to be seen, the whole thing feels pretty rigid but if it needs more support I will add the extra bracket .I've used locking nuts on the bolts holding the brackets in place which will hopefully stop them from coming loose. As you know somethings may need altering as I go along but they can be sorted as and if they arise.I'll add more pictures as I go.

His Dudeness · « **Reply #44 on:** 30 December 2012, 07:00:58 pm »

looks great well done

haven't read the whole thread but would it be possible to use the original bulbs and loom in the newer fairing and do away with all the rest of the modifications? would make things a lot easier

davec · « **Reply #45 on:** 30 December 2012, 08:06:23 pm »

Thanks. I've wondered that myself. With the headlight mod both lights are wired with 3 pin.The sidelights would need rewiring as there are 2 of them.But I'm only a novice when it comes to electrics so I've followed a tried and tested route which Limax used, and advised me on, when he did the modification.So I think he could probably answer that question.The 2 relays are used separately one powers the dip and the other the main beam both running off of a wire from the battery whilst the dip makes use of the redundant feed from the main beam switch on the handlebars which is used in the mk1 headlight mod.

limax2 · « **Reply #46 on:** 30 December 2012, 08:41:25 pm »

Quote from: His Dudeness on 30 December 2012, 07:00:58 pm

would it be possible to use the original bulbs and loom in the newer fairing and do away with all the rest of the modifications? would make things a lot easier

Interesting observation Dude. Must be possible to fit the H1 (dip) bulb in the H4 holder but I don't know what the beam pattern would be like. You would miss a big advantage of the foxeye of being able to have two main beams on together or two dips on together.
Alternatively you could alter the connection on the left headlight so you could still use that for dip beam (but with H4 bulb) and use the existing connection on the right for high beam. Lights would then work as the standard square eye set up. i.e. for dip only left light on, and for high beam right light on (high beam) with left still on dip. You could also do the standard square eye mod and have both dips on together.
Either way you still miss a big advantage of the foxeye of being able to have two main beams on together.
I guess you could just use the one pilot light instead of two.
Not only will Davec end up with better lights but he is fast becoming an expert on the theory and practice of Fazer electrics

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davec · « **Reply #47 on:** 02 January 2013, 06:13:28 pm »

Better lights,yes,expert on Fazer electrics,ummm,Anyway I have one more question I have just ordered the inline fuse, and I see the fuses have a continuous and a fusing rating,I have gone for the 10 amps continuous, 20 amps fusing is this ok? or should I have gone for the 20 amps continuous, 40 amps fusing?

limax2 · « **Reply #48 on:** 02 January 2013, 08:20:11 pm »

The 10 amp continuous fuse will probably be o.k but will be working at its full rating. There is a brief higher surge when you switch on (or switch from high to low beam) but I don't think that will be enough to blow the fuse. You'll soon find out when you try it. The standard headlight fuse on the bike is 20 amps, but to be on the safe side I would go for 15 amps if the 10 amp doesn't last very long. Also tape a spare fuse somewhere under the seat just in case you need it.

davec · « **Reply #49 on:** 02 January 2013, 09:49:50 pm »

Thanks Limax.I assumed a 20 amp fuse was just that. But looking at the VWP site the fuses have 2 ratings and the 20 amp fuse has a 40 amp fusing rating,which I assumed was the point at which it would blow,this seemed quite high to me,so I went for the 10 amps which are fused at 20 amps so I reckon I will get a couple of 15 amps as well as they have a fusing rate of 30 amps and being in the middle might be the best compromise.