Clearwater LED install w/Fuseblock - Wiring questions

[BLS]

So I am doing quite a few updates to the FJR (finally got my Erica's from Clearwater), including Heated Grips, Erica's, USB charging port, etc.

I'm ready to start wiring the Erica's up and I'm confused about a couple of things.

1. I have positive AND negative running up front from the fuseblock (relayed so they won't always be on). The installation guide says use a chassis ground. Is there any reason I can't use the negative lead instead?

1a. Do I really need to install the supplied switch since my power will be controlled by a relayed circuit? Has anybody just opted to not install it?

2. Installing a digital voltmeter so I can watch my alternator output. Can I run this off a relayed power as well and if so, will it TRULY affect my readout? (I assume this is similar to a Datel)

 

[900gc]

By "relayed" do you mean switched ( key on ) as opposed to un-switched ( always hot ) from the fuzeblock ?

1. You can always ground to the battery - since the chassis is grounded to it. Same thing.

1a. Are you going to wire them with the high beams or separate from the headlight circuit? Do you want independent control and a dim-able feature?

2. I don't have a volt meter so I may be wrong, but it seems to me that you should wire directly to the battery. You could search some of the Datel/voltmeter threads for more help. (Ref. Datel thread right above this one!)

Lastly, when things are up and running, post some night shots of those beasties blazing away!

 

[garyahouse]

The switch you're referring to picks up it's power from the relay contained in the control box that is shipped with the Ericas. There are two relays involved. One before the switch and one after it. The first relay is powered by the headlights on the FJR. This way, they don't come on until after the bike starts. When the headlights come on, the relay is tripped and sends voltage to the switch you're referring to. If the switch is turned on, or just left on, it then forwards the voltage back to the control box again, activating the second relay which in turn powers up the lights. At first, they come on full bright and then dim down to whatever setting your dimmer is at... this delay is about a quarter of a second, and is normal operation for the unit.

I learned this after talking with Glenn at Cearwater about the installation of my Kristas back in March.

Not sure if I did a very good job of explaining this, but you can always call Clearwater. They can do a better job of explaining than I can.

Concerning eliminating the switch, you might not want to do that. There may well be times when the bike is running that you want to turn off the Ericas. If you're worried about drilling holes in your plastic, you can always locate the switch someplace a little more inconspicuous. However, plan this out before drilling.

Hope you read up on what we posted about wiring and switch locations in the Clearwater group buy thread.

Any other questions about installing your wiring, call Clearwater. They're great!!!

By the way, YES you wan wire directly from the fuse block, both positive and negative. It's designed for this. In addition, you don't have to tap into the lowbeam wire coming from the relay up under the speedometer/tachometer if you don't want to. You can accomplish the same thing by hooking the wire that you are instructed to connect to the headlight relay.... to a switched power source at the fuse block, and simply turning them on and off with the switch that comes in the kit. It will work, but the lights will come on as soon as you turn your key on... unless you've turned off the switch. However, I would recommend you do it the way Clearwater suggests. It's actually pretty easy once you find the wire coming from the headlight relay.

By the way, your voltmeter is best hooked up straight to the battery. This way there is no voltage drop associated with current draw if you try to hook it up from the fuze block. It's not that big of a deal, obviously you can do it either way. It can indeed be hooked to the fuse block and it will serve you well. But several on this forum have advised against it in the past, FWIW.

Again, give Clearwater a call. They're happy to help.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[BLS]

By "relayed" do you mean switched ( key on ) as opposed to un-switched ( always hot ) from the fuzeblock ? YES (my terminology isn't the best in this realm)
1. You can always ground to the battery - since the chassis is grounded to it. Same thing. (That's what I thought...but with close to $1k of new stuff being wired, didn't want to risk anything)

1a. Are you going to wire them with the high beams or separate from the headlight circuit? Do you want independent control and a dim-able feature? I intend to hook up the relay for high beams (so the Erica's are fully lit on high beam). I guess I would like the option to dim the bulbs at any time...is this possible if I use the high beam relay?

2. I don't have a volt meter so I may be wrong, but it seems to me that you should wire directly to the battery. You could search some of the Datel/voltmeter threads for more help. (Ref. Datel thread right above this one!) Yeah, noticed it after posting this. Searching...it's not just for newbies.

Lastly, when things are up and running, post some night shots of those beasties blazing away! ABSOLUTELY. I CAN'T WAIT TO MELT SOMETHING. I'll be taking a video when I finally get this stuff wired up.

 

[BLS]

The switch you're referring to picks up it's power from the relay contained in the control box that is shipped with the Ericas. There are two relays involved. One before the switch and one after it. The first relay is powered by the headlights on the FJR. This way, they don't come on until after the bike starts. When the headlights come on, the relay is tripped and sends voltage to the switch you're referring to. If the switch is turned on, or just left on, it then forwards the voltage back to the control box again, activating the second relay which in turn powers up the lights. At first, they come on full bright and then dim down to whatever setting your dimmer is at... this delay is about a quarter of a second, and is normal operation for the unit. (my fuseblock is mounted underneath the passenger seat, and my switchable power source is the rear tail lights. Would this serve the same function (not powered on until bike starts) as it would if I connected them to the headlights?)
I learned this after talking with Glenn at Cearwater about the installation of my Kristas back in March.

Not sure if I did a very good job of explaining this, but you can always call Clearwater. They can do a better job of explaining than I can.

Concerning eliminating the switch, you might not want to do that. There may well be times when the bike is running that you want to turn off the Ericas. If you're worried about drilling holes in your plastic, you can always locate the switch someplace a little more inconspicuous. However, plan this out before drilling. Thanks for the tips. It does make sense to have the option of shutting them off.

Hope you read up on what we posted about wiring and switch locations in the Clearwater group buy thread. I've read the entire thread about 15 times now, looking for ideas, etc.

Any other questions about installing your wiring, call Clearwater. They're great!!!

By the way, YES you wan wire directly from the fuse block, both positive and negative. It's designed for this. In addition, you don't have to tap into the lowbeam wire coming from the relay up under the speedometer/tachometer if you don't want to. You can accomplish the same thing by hooking the wire that you are instructed to connect to the headlight relay.... to a switched power source at the fuse block, and simply turning them on and off with the switch that comes in the kit. It will work, but the lights will come on as soon as you turn your key on... unless you've turned off the switch. However, I would recommend you do it the way Clearwater suggests. It's actually pretty easy once you find the wire coming from the headlight relay. This makes sense and basically addresses my first response in RED up above. Thanks for the clarification!

By the way, your voltmeter is best hooked up straight to the battery. This way there is no voltage drop associated with current draw if you try to hook it up from the fuze block. It's not that big of a deal, obviously you can do it either way. It can indeed be hooked to the fuse block and it will serve you well. But several on this forum have advised against it in the past, FWIW.

Again, give Clearwater a call. They're happy to help.

Gary

darksider #44

Thanks for all the input Gary. I appreciate it!

 

[900gc]

Sounds like you're on track now. Combined with the headlights, you'll have about 15,000 lumens frying the country side! Bring a fire extinguisher when you make the video!

 

[BLS]

lights are working. switch with high beam works as well.

Can't figure out how to connect to horn relay (sounds like there isn't one......confused).

Bigger issue....my switch LED doesn't light up when I turn the Erica's on. Thought it was a bad switch. New switch does exact same thing.

Hooked it up to an incandescent switch....light works fine with same leads.....color me confused as all get up.

ETA:

Turns out I had 2 bad switches. one from Clearwater and one from Napa.

Must be a bad batch........(waiting for someone to accuse me of 'doing it wrong')

 

[Linc]

Just as a follow up, curious how your setup has worked the past month? Planning on installing my Erica's this weekend, hoping it goes smoothly... planning about 5 hrs for the install of the Erica's and my Eastern Beaver PC8!

 

[BLS]

Just as a follow up, curious how your setup has worked the past month? Planning on installing my Erica's this weekend, hoping it goes smoothly... planning about 5 hrs for the install of the Erica's and my Eastern Beaver PC8!

Works like a charm. No electrical issues at all. Most time consuming part of installing the lights was actually modifying the mounting bracket to fit with my new FZ1 mirrors.

I rode with them the first night I finished it. It was raining rather hard that evening, but I didn't care; all that wiring and drilling, soldering and grinding...I wanted to see what I have created!

I got onto a country road, nailed the high beams and was simply flabbergasted at how much light gets thrown 'down range'. And it's not all into a pencil. Road signs look like a Las Vegas Casino at 2am. It's friggin ridiculous. I literally could see individual rain drops 50ft+ in front of me (as far as my current vision could see that much detail).

I want to go out riding at midnight just to see exactly how much distance I just bought myself.

2 weeks back, a buddy and I meet for a 11am lunch. Nice, bright sunny day. He says "follow me, we'll eat at this new mexican place I found". I follow him in his suburban, me and my FJR.

We get there, he gets out and says, "holy crap dude, are those new lights?"

Me: Yeah

Him: Do me a favor and turn them on low beam when you're behind me.

Me: It was on low beam. In fact, it was only at 20% and I angled the lights downward at 5 degrees when I mounted them".

Him:

I couldn't see anything in my rear view but your lights.

Me: [thinking to self]wonder what other drivers think when I drive past at night?

 

[Justin]

Me: [thinking to self]wonder what other drivers think when I drive past at night?

Sound like you better turn them down to 5% or off with your low beam. If you annoyed him during the day, imagine what people see at night. 20% of 12000 is still 2400 Lumens. With these lights come responsibility lol.

 

[garyahouse]

Had my Kristas on the other night while following a fellow forum member. Later he told me that he couldn't get over into the right lane because he couldn't see anything in his rearview mirror exept those STUPID lights. OOPS. I should have thought that being second in line meant that I should turn them down a little for the guy in front of me. I was hoping to light the road a little in front of both of us... but oops. Gotta be careful with those things.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[TWTourist]

lights are working. switch with high beam works as well.
Can't figure out how to connect to horn relay (sounds like there isn't one......confused).

Bigger issue....my switch LED doesn't light up when I turn the Erica's on. Thought it was a bad switch. New switch does exact same thing.

Hooked it up to an incandescent switch....light works fine with same leads.....color me confused as all get up.

ETA:

Turns out I had 2 bad switches. one from Clearwater and one from Napa.

Must be a bad batch........(waiting for someone to accuse me of 'doing it wrong')

Did you ever get the horn option to work?

I'm having the same problem.

 

[J Paul]

You have to use a relay with the coil connected across the horn terminals as the horn is always energized.

 

[TWTourist]

You have to use a relay with the coil connected across the horn terminals as the horn is always energized.

Can you explain this in laymen's term. Where do I get this coil you are talking about? Clear water sent a relay but does not work. If I tap the horn lightly several times the light might flash on every 5 or 6 taps.

 

[J Paul]

I have to look at the schematic on the relay to ID the coil terminals. Just connect the coil terminals to the 2 horn terminals,I then made a small harness that brought power from the battery side horn terminal (the wire with power when disconnected) to the relay common terminal and connected the Clearwater signal wire to the relay normally open terminal. Hope this helps. Jeff

 

[Chuck35]

This is a generic "Bosch" relay. For your needs pins 85 and 86 would go to horn wires, pin 30 goes to a 12v fused power supply and pin 87 to the load (farkle)