New accessory wiring harness... (updated - with a question)...

[hubcapsc]

Out with the old (Centech) and in with the new (PDM60)...





The Centech accessory wiring concentrator has served me well since 2007, with no trouble
other than my bad wire routing skills... after about six years one of the wires to
the accessory power takeoff rubbed through and everything hooked to the
Centech fritzed out when I turned on my Gerbings... that story is in this link:

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php?topic=61803.0

This time I put all the wires in wire looms, and any wire exposed from the looms has 3M
vinyl tape wrapped on it.

When the Centech fritzed out, I had trouble working with it because of the place I put it... it
seemed  cool at the time... I got tons of help from the VRCC in 2007 when I first installed it:

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/forum/tech_archive.cgi?read=1113145

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/forum/tech_archive.cgi?read=1113751

Anywho... the PDM60 fit great right on top of the battery cover. My bike had a OEM CB there
when I got it, so I trapped the PDM60 leads under the old CB velcro holders. I mostly exchanged
one rat's nest of wires with another though. See those two shiny screw-heads up near where the
gas-tank bolt goes? They each hold a relay up under the frame.



The PDM60 is solid state, with circuit breakers instead of fuses. I thought I'd need no
relays, either, but relays are needed for some kinds of triggers.

The PDM60 can trigger on "ignition on" and "ground detected", and has programmable logic to
allow you to "and" and "or" those conditions for particular circuits.

I have four circuits, and after I de-installed the Centech I was left with:

Motolights
  2 positive leads
  2 ground wires
  2 switch wires (really, both ends of one wire with a switch in the middle)

Cobra lights
  2 positive leads
  1 trigger wire (goes hot when I hit high beam)

Misc power take off
  1 positive lead
  1 ground wire

BigBF horns
  2 positive leads
  2 ground wires
  1 trigger wire (goes hot when I hit the horn button)

I hooked the PDM60 up to my laptop with a USB cord and programmed three circuits to
go live on "ignition on", and one (for the motolights) to go live on "ignition on AND ground detect".
I had to use a relay for the horns and the Cobra lights, and the power take off is always
live whenever the bike is on. The motolight button-wire has one end hooked to ground,
so when the switch is not open, the motolights come on. The PDM60 itself comes online seven
seconds after the ignition is switched on to give you time to start the bike without any extra
power draw, the seven seconds is programmable too...

The max draw for each circuit is also programmable, I set 10 amps for both the light circuits and
15 amps for the horns and the power take off.

Everything worked when I got done and turned on the key!  I hope all my connections are
solid and that everything keeps on working...

There's been some of that tobacco spit stain at the base of a couple of my intake runners,
so I also changed out all the O-rings. There's only one bolt that holds the air filter box. If you
take that bolt out, and remove all the intake runner bolts at the same time, the whole
air-box/carburetor/intake-runner assembly is just free-floating above the motor. It is easy to
lift and move it around a little and pulling the runners (I just pull one at a time) is a breeze.

I also replaced one of the carb drain lines and the vacuum line to number six, and changed
my air filter. One of the holder downers for my smog-plugs was getting
kind of rusty, so I dropped it into a vat of oxalic acid, hope I don't forget about it...



I don't know if I had more fun than the Smokin' Joe Ride Group down in Florida, but
I sure did have some fun!

-Mike

[Big Al of Tennessee]

Oxalic Acid,,,,,,,,what does that do for rust. New one on me. Is it useful.

[hubcapsc]

Oxalic Acid,,,,,,,,what does that do for rust. New one on me. Is it useful.

I heard about it on here, and tried it... here's my first-try-report...

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,42164.0.html

Grumpy sez this stuff is the bomb:  http://www.evaporust.com/evaporust.html

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

I headed out for a test ride today... all the wiring seems good, and I swear the bike runs
great - perhaps there was some vacuum leak from the caps or the line I replaced...
plus the new spark plugs...

But... my vest and gloves stay on FULL BLAST all the time... it was only 50 degrees, I
didn't need them, but I was testing the circuits... anywho... it must be the fault of
the controller, not my new wiring, that the clothes are on all the time.

To recap, one of the wires to the accessory power socket had rubbed through, and
when I went to plug in my gerbings on a cold ride last month, it shorted out my
whole accessory wiring panel. I guess something inside the controller box fried
for good at that time?

It doesn't look like there's any user Mike serviceable parts inside the controller, that
circuit board is kind of glued in there:



Not only that but it kind of self destructed when I unscrewed the back:



I guess if my future includes having thermostatically controlled clothes I'm
going to have to buy a new controller?

-Mike

[MarkT]

Go to Warm N Safe for your controller.  He was the source for Gerbing's stuff until they reverse-engineered it and outsourced to China, thus ripping him off on his intellectual property.  His stuff is better, and so is his customer service.  Not affilated, just a happy customer for years, with a lot of his stuff.  And a believer in supporting the small guy, particularly those ripped off by a big company just because they can. 

http://www.warmnsafe.com/


BTW, I see they are now accepting trade-ins on other brand products - that will help pay your bill there - see http://www.warmnsafe.com/trade-ups-from-other-brands/

[hubcapsc]

Hmmm.... as best as I can tell Warm & Safe still supplies for Firstgear:





I was about to hit the Amazon Gerbing controller button, perhaps I'll hit the
Amazon Firstgear/Warm&Safe button instead and "buy local"...

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

I contacted the Warm & Safe folks:

Yes, we do make the Firstgear ones.  The only difference between ours
and theirs is quite literally the sticker on the box.

That's what I'll get 

-Mike