Good! The tail light circuit is a good one to use for a switched power relay feed. Just a somewhat poor one to supply extra power. You can tap into it without breaking the insulation, though.
Pull fuse A from your fuse box, then set your meter to the ohm or continuity test setting. Use that to find the side of the fuse holder with continuity to the battery positive. Setting the meter on the other side of that fuse position, poke at any unused slots on your fuse box. At least one of them will show good continuity to your fuse A position. I should have some leftover connectors for that panel, I'd be more than happy to crimp one on some wire and drop it in the mail to you if I do. Then you can use that wire to trigger your relay, for a clean, reliable mod. Kurt On May 3, 2016 20:48, "Jared Clifton" <[email protected]> wrote: > I do! The grips have a control unit, but I'm not sure if it still draws > power even when it is off. > > -Jared > > On Tuesday, May 3, 2016, Kurt Nolte <[email protected]> wrote: > >> You can still use that fuse, if you're going with a relay set-up. Relays >> are very low draw, milli-amps at most for the average 12V relay. >> >> Do you have a multimeter? >> >> -Kurt >> >> On Tue, May 3, 2016 at 8:39 PM, Jared Clifton <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Kurt, >>> Thanks for the advice. That's exactly what I was afraid of. That just >>> seemed to be what a lot of people did to connect these, but on different >>> bikes (probably with much better charging systems). >>> >>> I'd probably mostly use them on the freeway, so hopefully I'd be going >>> fast enough to keep up with the load. But, the bigger question is still >>> where the best place to splice them in would be, if not the taillight. >>> >>> -Jared >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tuesday, May 3, 2016, Kurt Nolte <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Draw directly from that tail-light wire for a 4-amp load? That light is >>>> on a fuse that is in common with all the instrument lights, on a 15A fuse. >>>> Your grips would chew up a good third of that capacity, and who knows what >>>> their initial start-up load is. >>>> >>>> >>>> If you have to do it that way, I would use your tap to trigger a relay >>>> (and please, PLEASE do not use an insulation piercing tap to do it with. >>>> That's begging for corrosion in the wires later) that is fed directly off >>>> the battery. >>>> >>>> Be mindful of the weakish charging system and your small battery, you >>>> aren't putting out energy from the alternator at low engine speeds, so an >>>> additional 50W of load may be a drain if you do a lot of low speed riding. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Tue, May 3, 2016 at 6:38 PM, Jared Clifton <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I am adding some heated grips to my '83 Nighthawk 650. They say they >>>>> draw 4 amps. I was going to splice into the positive to the taillight, but >>>>> I wondered if anyone else had done this and what their experience was with >>>>> it? I don't want to start blowing fuses. >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>>>> . >>>>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >>>> Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/nighthawk_lovers/qnYS_Y24k9s/unsubscribe >>>> . >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >>>> [email protected]. >>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/nighthawk_lovers/qnYS_Y24k9s/unsubscribe >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. 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