What have you done to your Himalayan today (or yesterday, or this week ...)

[Roy Gavin]

Yep, injected bikes have a few more relays, injection needs full, steady volts.
Circuits on injected bike seem a bit convoluted too, first check on these things should be for almost full battery volts where it counts, pump, control box, injector, etc.
My Subaru car has a relay, and fuse, for virtually every circuit, reliability seems more of a concern with auto manufacturers.
All the wiring is heavier grade too!
I ordered top quality bits from Eastern Beaver to fit a relay so the ignition switch only activates the relay, just haven't got round to fitting them yet.
Put me down as a what haven't you done today but should have post.

 

[RotorWrench]

I've re-wired the major circuits of the last four bikes I've owned, especially headlight and heavy draw circuits, including installing relays off the ignition switches. Manufacturers for years have used the minimum gauge wire for their circuits and while normally not much of an issue, when connections or circuit sections are compromised by corrosion, damage or wear, it will more likely cause problems.

On my rigs, including two Toyotas, the headlight circuit when replaced with larger gauge wire resulted in a noticeably brighter light.

 

[JSP]

Fitted a few new bits.
• Mika Pro Hybrid Bars
• Bulletproof Designs threaded inserts
• Protapper Pillowtop Grips
• Modded factory bar ends (beveled inner edge to ease transition from grip)
• FNCNC Control Levers (Best mod for the buck)
• Acerbis Rally Style Hanguards
• Sewed custom yoke mount for the mosko tank bag.
• SRC Crashbars

 

[Napom]

Looks good JSP! What mount did you use for your GPS?

 

[JSP]

Looks good JSP! What mount did you use for your GPS?

Thank you Napom.
Regarding the GPS mount it's a mount I first made when I got the bike but after the first ride with it off-pavement I couldn't stand the flex it had so I took it off and mounted to the handlebar clamp. So when I had some extra time I revisited the whole mount, I looked for ways to take the flex out of the OEM gauge cluster, I noticed the headlight bucket seemed solid so I had a small 1/2 double ball mount I used to connect the gauge cluster to the headlight bucket. This took about 85% of the shake out of it off-pavement and on pavement its good to go. I think I'm going to design and build a whole new gauge cluster mount when I get around to ordering a spare OEM gauge bracket/mount. Heres a photo of the mount.

 

[Roy Gavin]

Thank you Napom.
Regarding the GPS mount it's a mount I first made when I got the bike but after the first ride with it off-pavement I couldn't stand the flex it had so I took it off and mounted to the handlebar clamp. So when I had some extra time I revisited the whole mount, I looked for ways to take the flex out of the OEM gauge cluster, I noticed the headlight bucket seemed solid so I had a small 1/2 double ball mount I used to connect the gauge cluster to the headlight bucket. This took about 85% of the shake out of it off-pavement and on pavement its good to go. I think I'm going to design and build a whole new gauge cluster mount when I get around to ordering a spare OEM gauge bracket/mount. Heres a photo of the mount.
View attachment 6793

There already four tapped holes on the underside of the top triple to take your new brackets - wonder what RE had planned to fit there!

 

[davidteachey]

Mine's brand-new. I bastardized it with a small handful of stickers. Wait til I find a sticker of a Rolls-Royce flying lady, the Spirit of Ecstasy......will adorn the front fender.......300mi break-in service due in 70mi. $$$$$$ I'm sure.

 

[MikeM]

I did a DYI fender riser. $8 well spent

 

[Caspice]

It does make a quaint little beep.



But that quaint little beep doesn’t always produce the desired result of getting distracted cagers to look where they are going instead of at their phones.

Time for an inexpensive, quick, and easy safety upgrade




That is correct folks, you read that right, 125db at 4".




The top connector with the white wire is the positive feed. The lower connector with the black sheath goes to the horn button and ground/negative reference.

Used the stock mounting bracket even though the mounting post on the FIAMM is smaller than the factory horn mounting post. Added some Blue Loctite and a little extra torque on the nut.

 

[Roy Gavin]

Did the fitting kit include a relay?

 

[petespace1]

Have had the Fiamm dual (low and high tone) version of that sitting on my bench for few months for the Himmi.
I already have a dual set on my other bike - wired through relay to battery, and it sounds great.
I scared a cager once when he strayed onto my turning lane at the last minute, the horn forced him to swing back as he freaked out 'just a bit' and decided to go straight.

 

[Caspice]

I used the stock wiring harness and connectors. Installing the FIAMM 72002 horn is basically plug and play.

The stock horn is powered by a dedicated 10A fused circuit (F5). The FIAMM horn has a rated max current draw of 4.5 A. Modifying the wiring harness to accommodate a relay isolated circuit is, in this instance, unnecessary.

If I were adding auxiliary lights then a relay isolated circuit would be the first step

FIAMM data sheet link

https://www.fiammcomponents.com/media/387939/7200223.pdf

 

[Roy Gavin]

A 55 watt headlight bulb is near enough 4.5 amps and they are always powered through a relay - the relay protects the switch/ button, not the wiring.

And the 125 db sound rating is at 4 inches, others give similar results at 20 feet.

 

[RotorWrench]

A 55 watt headlight bulb is near enough 4.5 amps and they are always powered through a relay - the relay protects the switch/ button, not the wiring.

And the 125 db sound rating is at 4 inches, others give similar results at 20 feet.

Agreed. Switches are almost like a resistor in a circuit and the weak link in the line. The higher the amperage the higher the temps the switch has to deal with. Frequent cycling and arcing causes wear which raises resistance, which raises switch temperatures. Relays protect switches and allow longer runs of smaller Gauge switch wires.

I've had two headlight switch failures on my KLR. After the last one I installed a relay for the lights and put another 40,000+ miles on the bike with no switch issues.

 

[Caspice]

And the 125 db sound rating is at 4 inches, others give similar results at 20 feet.

Thank you for noticing my typo ' instead of "

 

[Caspice]

@Roy Gavin and @RotorWrench Based on both of your comments above, is it fair to state that you equate the current draw of a momentary load to that of a constant load in terms of thermal loading?

I as noted in my post "If I were adding auxiliary lights then a relay isolated circuit would be the first step" due to the constant load factor and associated heat generated. All auxiliary circuits I have added in my Jeep use relay isolated circuits due to the loads of the components being powered.

Yes the switch/button adds resistance to the circuit, as does the gauge and length of the wire. Below is a chart that shows typical resistance per 1000' pair of commonly used wire sizes. This is one the charts that I reference while performing circuit load and voltage loss calculations at work.

The thinner the wire - the higher the resistance. More heat is generated as current increases.

Eventually the switch will fail, just like every other electrical and mechanical component. If I still had a daily commute through Washington DC then the longevity of the horn button would be dramatically reduced and of greater concern.

By all means - add all the relays you want to the circuits on your motorcycles and other vehicles. Upgrade all the wiring and connectors if that is what you feel is necessary to achieve the level of performance and reliability sought.

For my uses, on my motorcycle, modifying the wiring harness to accommodate a relay isolated circuit is, in this instance, unnecessary.

Enjoy your motorcycles and ride safe gentlemen.

 

[Roy Gavin]

Look under the bonnet of your car, every circuit is switched with a relay, it is just a better way.
And all the wires are heavier gauge than the Hima's.
My 017 bike has only a headlamp relay, and in 58,000 km I have had to replace the main ignition and starter/ kill switches, the car switches are fine after 320,000 km.
Rotor Wrench does know what he is talking about!
I have been riding for 65 years/1,300,000 km so riding safe is second nature to me, and most others, that is how we are able to post here!

 

[Caspice]

Look under the bonnet of your car, every circuit is switched with a relay, it is just a better way.
And all the wires are heavier gauge than the Hima's.
My 017 bike has only a headlamp relay, and in 58,000 km I have had to replace the main ignition and starter/ kill switches, the car switches are fine after 320,000 km.
Rotor Wrench does know what he is talking about!
I have been riding for 65 years/1,300,000 km so riding safe is second nature to me, and most others, that is how we are able to post here!

Wow Roy!! This must really bother you that someone else does not agree 100% with your preferred method of modifying personal property.

Not arguing that a relay isolated circuit is not a better way. Yet you seem to be avoiding the practicality and reality that every circuit on a Royal Enfield manufactured motorcycle does not come from the factory relay isolated…and not every owner feels compelled to remedy that design. Honestly don’t recall seeing many relays on my last two Bullet 500’s.

I know that I am a faceless nobody across the WWW, so forgive my meager several decades on two wheels and electronic engineering education for not agreeing that I should install a relay isolated circuit when replacing the stock horn with an aftermarket horn.

You had your sayand I had mine. Agree to disagree. I see no need to add a relay isolated circuit for a replacement horn and obviously you do.

If that is too difficult for you to accept there is an IGNORE function on this forum that will spare you the anguish of being exposed to my future follies.

Would be a shame to do so as some actually benefit from a differing or contrary perspective every once in while.

100%agree with riding safe. Already been killed once in the 1980’s by a distracted cager. The Old Man didn’t want yet and kicked me out.

Enjoy your weekend and ride safe Roy.

 

[Roy Gavin]

It was actually you who initially tried to correct my post with your post that seemed to infer that the relay protected the wiring and not the switch.

We have a duty of care to others on the forum , so I simply posted what I consider was a more accurate post.

If you are adding more electrical equipment there are load centres around where all the extra circuits are operated through a individual relay, and given the minimal sizing of the Hima wires some might consider using them sound practice.
You do not - fine- but try not to get too excited when folks have different opinions to yours.
Particularly when you are trying to be clever but actually talking tosh!
Like RW I have taken bikes out to high mileages, 500,000 km on my R80 GS/PD , and yes it has been totally rewired with relayed circuits and every switch replaced, experience is a wonderful teacher.
The internet, not so much!

 

[Laserman]

Haha horns is srs biz according to Roy! You went off on another guy in another horn thread for the same thing. You're definitely not wrong tho

Just maybe a bit jumpy. I'll wager a proper pint that @Caspice will be fine lol