Voltmeter install question

I have a kuryakin meter that I'm trying to install on my 86 VFR700. I popped off the right-side black cover on the inside of the fairing, and found the rats-nest of wiring there. I've been trying to trace circuits, but that's always LOADS of fun.

The Honda manual is on it's way from Helm, but will be a few days yet. For those that have installed one of these (or similar), which circuit did you tap for it, and where at?

Maybe should be in the Modifications forum (go ahead and move if that's the case, mods).

Thanks much,

 

When I instaled mine, I ran a black wire to ground and the red wire I ran to the ignition part of the fuse box. That way the meter was on a switched circuit.

 

I'm not sure what kind of volt meter you have, but I just installed one myself on my '97.

I used a Lascar model volt meter... it's very tiny and very no-frills. All it is is a 4-digit LCD display. I made a simple little bracket and attached it to one of the the front brake reservoir bolts, so it's right next to the throttle. I spliced it's wires into the + and - leads for my battery tender, which is connected directly to the battery.

Yeah, it's always on, but it draws like 3 milliamps or something insanely low like that. (And the digital clock on the dashboard is always on, too.) If 0.003 amps is making or breaking me, I've got other problems. Besides, I like having it on all the time... it will let me know "at a glance" how the battery's doing without having to turn on the ignition. Also, if the ignition is on, so is the headlight, so you wont' be getting a "true" reading of the batteries "at rest" voltage. Another advantage (for me) was that I wasn't doing anything to the bike's stock wiring.

Check the draw on your unit... it might be so low that it's worth just letting it be on all the time.

Edit: Hm. Yours has all kinds of blinky lights and such... still, check the amp draw, you might be surprised at how low it is.

 

Yeah, I went with something that would be easy to see if I kept it tucked back on the instrument panel. Looks like it draws 21mA when dim, and probably twice that when bright (it auto-adjusts for ambient light).

So I definitely want to tap a switched circuit that's off the fuse-box, but I'm just not looking forward to pulling fuses and using the DMM to trace to the connectors under the right access-panel inside the fairing. Plus, figuring out which fuses do what (like I don't want it on the headlight circuit) is a bit difficult until the service manual arrives. I wanted it on a nice steady-draw circuit without much load (like the instrument panel lights).

The fun problem is figuring out which wire is which... And it's still <50*F out in the garage. This is california, it's not supposed to be this cold.

 

Yeah, this is why I opted for the low-power, direct-to-battery option... good luck!

What's wrong with tapping it into the headlight? When I googled your model of voltmeter, the installation I looked at had it wired into the headlight.

 

The headlight being a high-draw item, I didn't know how much voltage drop would be in the system before the point where I tapped it for the meter. The wiring is pretty thin for a 4-amp draw. Maybe as much as a 0.5V depending on the amount of wire and the gauge (10' of 18g wiring).

Best would be direct to the battery with a small relay off a switched circuit to turn it on, but that's excessive, I think. :smile:

Anyway, the headlight is probably fine. and probably easy to locate, to. I can measure the drop, if any, and then just keep that in my head as a fudge factor.

 

I ended up tapping one of the switched circuits, but I'm not sure what it is. Gave up on trying to trace the circuits for now. I'll wait for the service manual to figure out what circuit it's on, and if it's not a good choice, then I'll change it

I used a fairly non-invasive T-tap vs. trying to splice it into the harness. All the switched circuits coming off the fuse-box seemed to be about 0.4V down from the feed to the ignition switch. Although once running, it lights up about where I expect it to, given my current regulator (13.0V when running at rpm, 13.5 at idle). As such, I get one green LED most of the time, and the second one flickers at idle.

The unit's pretty bright. Not sure how much I like that. I might put a tinted film over it to darken it up a bit.

And it just started raining, so no lunch-time ride for me.

 

I installed a small 4 digit voltmeter I purchased for about $40 from i4C Products about 3-4 years ago after my R/R fried on me during a ride. The meter is probably 1"x2" long, completely weather proof, and wired direct to the battery. The only time I ever dissconnect it is when I put the bike away for winter. The battery in the bike right now is running on 3-4 years also and I've never had a problem starting the bike. The meter is located just underneath the speedo tach area, very easy to see while I'm riding.

I'd have give this little meter very high marks for how little it draws on the battery, ease of installation and durability. The only improvement I would care for on this meter would be a lighted panel for night time rides.