Link to all my Gen II mods
Many of you know how to disable the windshield auto retract feature - it’s a simple matter of unplugging a 2-pin connector under the meter cluster. But you may not know this connector leads to nothing more than a jumper wire completing the circuit. So I thought if I added a switch in the jumper wire loop, I could easily choose whether the auto-retract feature was active or not.
Why would I bother doing this? Well, for short daily rides to the office when I’m going to put my bike cover on, the cover fits better with the shield down. I’m getting more forgetful as I get older so the auto-retract saves me the trouble of having to remember to run the shield down when I park.
On long highway rides when the shield can stay up all day long however, it’s convenient not having the shield go down every time I stop for gas or something. With the auto-retract active, it seems I’m not reminded of the shield being down until I start getting up to speed on the on-ramp, and that’s usually when I need full concentration for merging. So it’s great to de-activate the OEM feature and just leave it up for the trip.
One could probably cut into the jumper and add the switch, but I chose not to modify the OEM harness in any way. I had a spare connector half in my parts bins (bought earlier from Eastern Beaver) so I made up a quick switch assembly as shown in the picture. It plugs into the harness replacing the jumper connecter. The switch is a SPST type I found at Radio Shack.
I made a small bracket from a scrap of aluminum strap and it mounts from the lower right side meter screw. Here’s a side view to give you a better idea where it is. A couple of dash panels are removed for clarity.
Many of you know how to disable the windshield auto retract feature - it’s a simple matter of unplugging a 2-pin connector under the meter cluster. But you may not know this connector leads to nothing more than a jumper wire completing the circuit. So I thought if I added a switch in the jumper wire loop, I could easily choose whether the auto-retract feature was active or not.
Why would I bother doing this? Well, for short daily rides to the office when I’m going to put my bike cover on, the cover fits better with the shield down. I’m getting more forgetful as I get older so the auto-retract saves me the trouble of having to remember to run the shield down when I park.
On long highway rides when the shield can stay up all day long however, it’s convenient not having the shield go down every time I stop for gas or something. With the auto-retract active, it seems I’m not reminded of the shield being down until I start getting up to speed on the on-ramp, and that’s usually when I need full concentration for merging. So it’s great to de-activate the OEM feature and just leave it up for the trip.
One could probably cut into the jumper and add the switch, but I chose not to modify the OEM harness in any way. I had a spare connector half in my parts bins (bought earlier from Eastern Beaver) so I made up a quick switch assembly as shown in the picture. It plugs into the harness replacing the jumper connecter. The switch is a SPST type I found at Radio Shack.
I made a small bracket from a scrap of aluminum strap and it mounts from the lower right side meter screw. Here’s a side view to give you a better idea where it is. A couple of dash panels are removed for clarity.
