After seeing how others have done their
light bars with threaded rod and a few nuts, I thought I'd give it a try. This part will only be the physical install, I'll wire it soon.
Here's what I'm working with: 2 Grote security lights, nicely chrome plated and complete with 2-piece mounts. I also bought a few assorted nuts and washers. The hardware came to $4.00, the lights were around $24.00 each. The
light on the left is turned around to show how the mount is attached.
Note also there's only a single wire. It's the power one. Ground (earth) is by mechanical connection.
The first thing to do is remove the headlight shell, two screws does it. Disconnect the headlight plug then remove the nut holding each turn signal stalk. When you do this, put a piece of tape on one set of wires (there are two sets per turn signal) when you diisconnect the first signal. If not you run the risk of hooking up backwards eg: right is left, left is right. Minor annoyance but avoidable. Sorry for the blur, but I think you can pick out the greyish duct tape on the two wires.
The next thing was to check out the mount. Note that there is a slight hump to this. The idea being if you use this lower part (as I am), you tighten this down and the tension keeps it there. Nice idea, but not workable for this install as the turn signal is going vertical thru this hole.
Notice in the following two photos how it interferes with the nut/signal shaft before flattening. The second photo shows how it fits with no interference after a few surgical whacks with the 2 lb persuader...
This one shows how the bolt (photo purposes only as I'm using threaded rod of the same diameter) interferes with the nut
This shot is after flattening the mount. It now fits snugly even with the kit supplied spacer installed.
...another view
This is a mockup of how it's going to look on the front of the bike. Note it will mount vertically. I"ll post more when I get it attached to the front of the motorcycle. Comments/observations welcome.
The install is going to proceed from left to right. Note the threaded rod (3/8") is left it's full length to be cut later. I've calculated thru trial and error that 7 3/4" out from outside of the turn signal mount is the right length for me. It gives me a small but adequate clearance between the turn signal and fork tube.
A little detail is in order. Note that I'm using a 2" coupling nut, jammed with a regular 3/8" hex nut. This coupler nut is not necessary as 2 - 3/8" nuts will do the same job, but massive impresses me. I saw this done on another thread and think it's a good idea. On the other
side of the signal mount are three regular 3/8" hex nuts jammed against the mount. They measure out to 1" wide. I could have used a coupling
nut, but if 1 is good, 3 must be better! It's barely noticeable. I'll probably cover it with a small piece of wire loom to complete the look.
After this 1" of nuts are the additional 6 3/4" that make up the rest of the
light/signal mount with washers applied at all mating nut/surfaces. A 3/8" chrome acorn nut finishes off the end piece.
Here is the mount in it's finished form. I used a hacksaw to cut the rod to the same length as the other side so all should match up. Looking at
one side from the inside out it goes (for both sides):
3/8" nut - 2" coupler nut - 3/8" washer - signal mount - washer - 3 3/8" nuts - washer -
light mount - kit spacer -
light mount - washer - acorn nut = 7 & 3/4".
The finished mechanical install. Wiring is next.
See the attached drawing and additional photos. The drawcard to this type of
light is the shallowness at the back as it doesn't interfere with any part of the windscreen. Incidentally, www.grote.com has a European site.
The
light is part 64111, 35 watts. I'e included a couple of extra photos to show the rear clearance and mount assembly.
I got a start on the wiring this evening, here are a couple of photos. Firstly, the components: Electrical connectors, 16g wire, relay, fuses and weatherproof inline fuse carrier.
I didn't see the need to remove the tank completely so I simply removed the passenger/rider seats and propped up the tank with a small can of
dubious contents...
The only lead down here will be to the positive side of the battery leading to the relay. All I have connected are two negative leads for the cruise control. Even if I decide to ground the lights to the battery there should be no problems.
This is the inline fuse holder. From what I've read on different sites, when coming off the battery, fused power lines should have the fuse as close to the battery as possible -- or practical. I've installed a round connector for the pole.
The
light baronly requires a spst (single pole single throw)relay, note that I'm using a spdt (double throw). It's no big deal. All it means is that I have the option of connecting two devices using post 87 and 87A. 87A is a closed circuit when no power is being applied. Don't use that connector and its essentially a spst. Can't think of any use for it, maybe switched led's when the key is off? Why do I have this type?
Didn't pay attention when I bought it. Guilty.
The process of wiring up the lights is pretty straightforward -- even for me -- with one small exception. I wanted the lights interrupted during start up, same as the headlight so all current goes to the starter and is not shared by the lights. I found a very long, oft times very confusing thread(s) that all had their arguments/ideas/repetitions.
Eventually, I found that the wire required is a yellow one with a white stripe. This one in particular is in a rubber sleeve leading to a large yellow plastic connector from the left side of the handlebar, not too hard to find. As this photo shows, all I did was use a scotch-lock connector. I put a connector on the other wire to connect to the relay.
Everything worked fine.
I did not follow go back to battery for ground. It's probably good practice but it works fine this way too, at least for me. I used the ground for the relay switch from the oem white connector that's in the headlight shell. Use the black wire with white stripe if you do. So
why not use the connector directly to power your lights and forget about relays? I found a whole lot of posts that made reference to all the
current going thru the ignition switch and that it would eventually cause it to fail. Good enough for me. This explains the power coming directly from the battery.
My memory for number retention is poor (I had a real good time in the 70's) so I write things down. When it came to the relay, the embossed numbers were not super visible so I wrapped a piece of duct tape around the relay and wrote the contact numbers of the side. Made life a little easier.
So without further ado, here's how i wired my lights: 1) I connected the
fused power wire from the battery to post #30. 2) The interrupt wire coming from the yellow wire/white stripe connects to post #86. 3) I connected the ground from the white aux connector in the headlight shell to post #85. I did not go back to the battery and did not wire the lights to ground. 4) I joined the two power leads from the two lights together and connected to post #87.
And this is how it ended up...
thanks for looking in. Hope it was of interest. Comments and observations welcome.
Subject: Home grown light bar install C50T 
by MTB59 Today at 6:29 pm