12v Accesory Socket location?

[Curzon]

OK guys, for those of you that have them fitted, I would appreciate thoughts & comments on where you have yours.

I recently purchased the Honda quartet harness and 12 volt accesory socket from David Silvers, which I hope to get round to fitting this weekend. The accesory socket is for temporary lash up of sat nav etc until I get round to permanant hard wire solution for this, hence purchase of the quartet harness. (2008 VA08 Vara by the way!)

My question is, where to put the 12v accessory socket? The Honda reccomendation is to install in the storage cubby hole on the RHS inner fairing, but I'm not keen on this idea. My thinking is that this storage psace is potentially useful for storage of other items, whilst on the move, and don't want to compromise this by stuffing it with 12v chargers and power leads etc.

My thought is to cut a hole in the LHS inner fairing panel at @ 7 to 8 Oclock from the clocks and install the acc socket here. My thinking is that the Honda socket, appears to have a waterproof, or at least splash proof cover, it is accessible with left hand whilst on the move if needed. And only need to remove / refit LHS inner fairing cover, which you have to do to fit the quartet harness any way, rather than having to remove the RHS and storage compartment as well.

So where do you have yours? and why?

[Boris]

I have the power socket on the horizontal surface of the panel you describe. The (in use) multiway socket on the vertical surface takes power and sound to and from the SatNav.

Make sure wherever you put the socket you leave enough clearance for the forks and bars to get past when you have the charger etc plugged in.

[Monsieur]

My socket was a waterproof one from ebay - hard wired to battery and then I used a cable tie to attach to bars.
Powered my nuvi GPS with this for a year with no problmes.
Only too me 5 mins to fit

[Dee Duble Yuh]

Check clearance behind the panel for the body of the socket, and in front of the panel to ensure your plugs and chargers don't interfere with handlebars etc.


Ideas here:
Fitting heated grips - Honda Trail Bike Wiki
and here:
Fitting a power socket - Honda Trail Bike Wiki

[jasonbc]

OK guys, for those of you that have them fitted, I would appreciate thoughts & comments on where you have yours.

I recently purchased the Honda quartet harness and 12 volt accesory socket from David Silvers, which I hope to get round to fitting this weekend. The accesory socket is for temporary lash up of sat nav etc until I get round to permanant hard wire solution for this, hence purchase of the quartet harness. (2008 VA08 Vara by the way!)

My question is, where to put the 12v accessory socket? The Honda reccomendation is to install in the storage cubby hole on the RHS inner fairing, but I'm not keen on this idea. My thinking is that this storage psace is potentially useful for storage of other items, whilst on the move, and don't want to compromise this by stuffing it with 12v chargers and power leads etc.

My thought is to cut a hole in the LHS inner fairing panel at @ 7 to 8 Oclock from the clocks and install the acc socket here. My thinking is that the Honda socket, appears to have a waterproof, or at least splash proof cover, it is accessible with left hand whilst on the move if needed. And only need to remove / refit LHS inner fairing cover, which you have to do to fit the quartet harness any way, rather than having to remove the RHS and storage compartment as well.

So where do you have yours? and why?

I have one from a car cigarette socket cost me nothing mounted in a 35mm camera film pot to keep it waterproof under my rack easy for use with 12v compressor..



and one inside the left hand fairing cover to power the satnav..that one is powered via a relay which is ignition switched, the one at th e back of the bike is direct off the battery

[davsato]

click on the pics to make them bigger

i have one down here wired straight to the battery (so i can use it for the charger) with a 15A fuse for big stuff like the airpump


and one on the front left trim panel like your thinking about, with a 5A fuse for GPS and accessories. this is wired parallel with the heated grips into a switched live so it cant be left on

[francis_geoff]

I have just read the "Wiki" (whatever that is - computer literate i'm not!).
Why on earth would you want to put a relay in line for a ciggy socket?
I have wired mine direct from switched live to socket with a 10amp fuse - Simples!
I assume that the relay is in case you have a power cut and want to run the electric cooker!

[StumpyFingers]

I have just read the "Wiki" (whatever that is - computer literate i'm not!).
Why on earth would you want to put a relay in line for a ciggy socket?
I have wired mine direct from switched live to socket with a 10amp fuse - Simples!
I assume that the relay is in case you have a power cut and want to run the electric cooker!

The reason for using a relay is so the socket is drawing power direct from the battery, but is switched to operate with the ignition.
It also has the advantage of reducing the strain on the vehicle wiring.

[Boris]

The reason for using a relay is so the socket is drawing power direct from the battery, but is switched to operate with the ignition.
It also has the advantage of reducing the strain on the vehicle wiring.

A relay is always a good idea when you are drawing a fair bit of current and I would class a 10A fag lighter on a bike a fair bit of current. I suppose it all comes down to where on the existing loom you propose to draw the current from but anywhere downstream from the fusebox I wouldn't go much over a couple of amps.

I saying that I ran my accessory socket from the fan feed at the fusebox and then added another inline fuse rated at 5A for the socket (Fan is fused at 20A) Were I planning to run a compressor or heated clothing from it I would definitely use a relay but for low current use its just something else to go wrong.

[davsato]

my accessory fusebox relay (30A)


is switched by the same feed that switches the headlight relay, and powered straight from the battery. i agree low amperage stuff can probably plumb in anywhere, but theres no way im shoving heated grips, an accessory socket, and a stebel nautilus through another items wires!
i wanted an accessory point with fuses that i could just wire stuff to without any more hanging off the battery or any more wire chopping into the loom. also if it goes tits up i dont want to lose my headlights suddenly.