Autocom Wiring Question

[Guest Jerry_75_Guy]

I'm installing an Autocom ProM1; it's primary purpose will be pipe through the audio warning from my V1 radar detector (this is the system I use on my RT, and it works very well).

There are two power leads coming out of the unit; a red lead, and a red/black lead. I assumed the red lead went to the positive on the battery, and the red/black went to the neg. on the battery (?).

I hooked it up this way, now the unit is 'on' even with the bike off; clearly not the right way to wire it.

I'm guessing (?) that having the red/black lead on the neg. battery terminal is fine, but I'm also guessing that the solid red lead should attached to switched power (?). If so, how to find this lead?, start tapping into wires at random with a volt meter?

Any suggestions?

[Birdman]

I like having the ability to quickly connect/disconnect, so I installed a Powerlet right in the fork crown. It required me to buy the plug-in adapter from them, as well.

Be patient, somebody on here will give you the solution you're looking for. Good luck.

[Guest]

If you conected straight to the battery terminals it will be live at all times. If you ride with the lights on all the time, conect the supply into the rear light leads just before they go into the light unit. If you don't ride with your lights on, then you will have to find a power supply that comes via the ignition switch.

[Guest]

I guess there are a million ways of going about this. Some guys in here go all out and install a fuse box under their seat with all sorts of power outlets.

A simple setup goes like this:

- Tap into the two wires that go to your licencse plate light bulb. You can either splice the wires, put a connector in each wire, or do away with the light bul all together.

- Run these wires to a relay. - you can get a 12V aotomotive relay from Radioshack or Autozone for $6.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...p;tab=techSpecs

- The relay will have 4 terminals on it. 2 of them should go to the wires mentioned above, and one of the other terminal should go to the positive terminal of your battery, preferably through a ~10A fuse. They have the fused wires at Autozone too.

- Finally the last terminal on the relay goes to whatever you want to power. (red lead of your Autocom)

- the black lead of your Autocom is connected directly to the battery.

Basically the relay is a switch that gets closed or open based on current flowing across the control terminals. This way your Autocom will only be powered when the ignition is turned on.

[Guest]

Sounds good, although from the pic in the link, I guess I'd have to attach spade connectors to the wires going to and coming from the relay?

Also (here's where I show my electrical igonrance), why use a relay, since the licence light wires are only hot when the key is in the ignition anyway?; why not just attach the Autocom wires to the licence plate wires, including the 10A fuse wire, and be done with it?

And just to muddy the waters further, I'll also have to find a way to power the V1, so I'll have to think about that too, but I'm thinking (hoping) that the wiring harness V1 sent me can just be connected directly to the Batt. terminals: the wires will be hot all the time, but this won't matter (I hope) since there's an 'on, off' switch on the unit it's self.

Comments?

[Q-Dawg]

You don't have to use the relay when tapping into the rear light. As you stated it is only hot when ignition on.

What goldVFR was suggesting (correct me if I'm outa line here) was that you can use this location as a "trigger" for a more elaborate set-up (auxilliary fuse block) which would allow you to run multiple other items (heated clothing or grips, driving or accent lights, cooling fans, snow cone maker, etc) from your bike without placing as much additional stress on your bike's electrical system.

Please read the electrical FAQ's and threads as well; there is a ton of good information in them about the weak electrical systems our bike have, with some simple fixes listed. It would be prudent to do some minor upgrades to the stock system to try to prevent the dreaded 30A fuse wiring system meltdown.

Personally I would use the same power source for both the V1 and the Autocom. I used my bike's rear light as my power source for both my Starcom1 and Kenwood radio, as they drew minimal power anyhow.

When I discovered that the previous owner of my bike had allowed the Honda dealer to direct wire heated grips to battery (a switch is all that prevents the battery from going dead), I decided I would re-wire all of my bike using an accessory fuse block. This allows clean wiring, and very easy install / removal of future electrical mods.

Hope this helps you decide on your preferred install method!