ST1100A - Electrical accessory connections

[jfheath]

My brother has acquired a new to him ST1100A. It is an ABSII with linked brakes, and Traction Control. 1998.

I'm going to build him a harness and hope to use these connectors as a trigger for a relay. Brother is about 3 hours away and has not yet found out how to take the fairing off - so until I can get my hands on it, I am working blind with a rapidly fading memory, no photos and a few notes which turn out to reveal nothing that I need to know.

I am (was) very familiar with this model and had one almost identical for 50,000 miles, but before that I had a 1996 ABS model. And this is where I have become confused.

I know that on one of these bikes there were a couple of connectors - an earth and a power connector that came on with the ignition. They were bullet connectors and they were tucked behind the fuse box.

Can anyone tell me whether or not the later ABS II model had these connectors please ?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Can anyone tell me whether or not the later ABS II model had these connectors please ?

Yes, according to Martin- Accessory Circuit.
Have a look at the attachment in post # 18 as well.

 

[jfheath]

Brilliant - Thanks @Andrew Shadow - I did search but didn't find anything that confirmed that it was the later model that has these connectors. I knew that they were there, I just couldn't remember which bike they were on. And the link to the diagram of said connectors ....

I love the Honda comment above the diagram in post #18. 'Connect accessory electrical leads securely and keep them insulted....'

I must admit that I throw a few choice words at the electrics when the leads get corroded; when the crimp tool does a better job on my finger than it does on the wires; when the positive and negative leads jump into the wrong side of the connector ... I didn't realise that it was an official Honda requirement.

 

[Larry Fine]

Yes, there is a 2-space fuse block (1 active, 1 spare) behind (to the rear of the bike) the main fuse block in a plastic boot with a yellow/black wire (hot from the active fuse) and a green (ground) wire.

Just pull them out and make your extension with matching bullet connectors. The recommended fuse size is only 5a, which is plenty for triggering a relay or two, or a GPS or phone charging.

I changed mine to 15a for my cigarette-lighter socket to run my compressor. It also supplies another socket for my GPS, and a dual-USB outlet for my TPMS and phone charging.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Just a thought -
What I did on all of my ST1100s is add a fuseblock in the tailpiece and used that 'spare' connection to fire a relay to turn on the fuseblock.
Once I did that, then anything I added that needed to be 'switch on' could come from the fuseblock.
I use one of the BlueSea fuseblocks (marine grade) and have been very happy with the setup (four times! ).
I run my heated gear, GPS, Fiamm horns, heated grips, etc. through the one fuseblock with no issues.
Don't know if you can get them across the Pond but I also use MotoBatt batteries which you can get with a second set of terminals.
That way on one side the only thing connected to the terminals are the 'original' cables.
On the back side set of terminals, I connect anything auxiliary I need.
This setup makes isolating electric 'gremlins' pretty easy as you can quickly kill/remove any added items.

 

[jfheath]

Thanks UP - my intention is to use one of these:



Powered from one pair of leads from the battery - although I like the idea of not having to do that. I'll take a look at your suggestion of a battery with a second set of terminals - I've not seen or heard of them before.

This device will hold a 40Amp relay and I'll wire it so that it's fed from a 35A fuse with cable to run provide a maximimum 20A, 10A and 10A. Up to him what he uses them for as long as the load doesn't exeed those figures and the total doesn't exceed 35A. So 5/10/20 would be possible (say). This will be secured somewhere in the tail.

I'll trigger the relay hopefully from the two accessory bullet connectors and have power leads going to the front to give him capacity for stanav, intercom, heated jacket, video camera, USB connector etc. Yet to be decided. Put Hitachi 2 or 3 pin connectors (like Hondas) at various places to connect the lowere powered stuff. And larger connectors for things like heated jacket / Powerlet style sockets.

He has zero experience of wiring and its a 2.5 hour ride to get to see him. We met up yesterday for the first time with our bikes and went for a ride. First fully sunny day for months. Dry roads (but ice in the gutters when I set off), and w were out all day. Its a long time since I have ridden that far in a day. It felt good.

But I need to build a harness with suitable connection points - and like you, I like a facility to disconnect everything with a single connector. On mine I have a single connector to which I connect my battery tender when the bike is in the garage. When I disconnect that, I plug in the connector for the accessories. So I expect to have a part complete harness with some over lenght wires, and it will be just a small job to cut the ends to length and crimp on the final connectors.

 

[finleysw]

If you dont have access to the MotoBatt batteries the ST1100/ST1300s have a pretty beefy starter relay post (basically the "other end" of the red battery cable) where you can pick up positive voltage. You can pick up the negitive from any frame ground. Always hate seeing and dealing with anything but the original cables on them battery posts.

 

[Larry Fine]

If you dont have access to the MotoBatt batteries the ST1100/ST1300s have a pretty beefy starter relay post (basically the "other end" of the red battery cable) where you can pick up positive voltage.

Also at the starter motor if it's accessible. I haven't looked.

 

[Smudgemo]

If you get that relay in the 5 pin version you can connect the battery tender cord to it and have one less connection going straight to the battery. You can also grab power from the starter relay for the block to avoid connecting directly to the battery.
This thread has the info and photos to jog your memory. http://www.st-riders.net/index.php?topic=12377.0