I just received a Boom Audio powered antenna (new) with no instructions and a cigarette lighter (used) from an old inner fairing a buddy of mine purchased. I drilled the mounting hole in the fairing, hooked up the leads and the radio and lighter work great with the ignition on but while in Accessory mode I have no power to the lighter.

Inside the fairing there are 5 connector points with 2 attachment spots on each. I seem to remember my Buddy's was hooked up to the front screw on the far right when looking at the fairing from in front of the bike.

Is this the right spot to wire from? I checked my manual and searched posts here in the forum and couldn't find anything on it.

Thanks for any help...

Glenn

 

I wired my cigarette lighter direct to the battery with a fused wire.
I think I used a 15 amp fuse.

You just need to find a constant hot under your faring and wire it to that.

 

It's not that I need power to the lighter while the ignition is shut off, I just thought that it should be powered with ignition on and in accessory mode. Checking to see if I had it connected right or not.

Another question though... does the cig lighter need to be grounded if mounted in the plastic inner fairing? I temporarily ran a ground from the lighter ground to the back mount on the stereo. The Boom Audio has a hot and ground wire which I connected to the lighter hot and ground. Reception seems to be pretty good. Picking up a classic rock station from a town about 45 miles away while the bike is sitting in my shed,

 

Then find a spot that is hot in accessory mode.
It really doesn't matter where you run it as a Harley is a 12 volt system.
Meaning if a spot is hot it is running 12 volts.

Yes you need a ground.
All electronic circuits require a power source and a ground.

I ran mine to the battery just because that was easiest for me.

 

Cool. Thank you very much. I can button everything back up after a good cleaning. Lots of dust accumulated inside the fairing. Don't know if it's ever been taken apart.

 

Sounds like you wired into a light circuit. Which is probably fine, but if you want the lighter to work in accessory mode, you'll need to change it.

Look at the wires going to the radio. There are both "always on" and "switched" power sources there.

 

I found that I had it connected to a switched circuit but not the right one. It powered on and off with the ignition but not accessory. Finally found my electrical meter (I have too much junk that hides things ) Checked all the connections and found that the middle one of 5 will power on with ignition and accessory and powers off when ignition switch is off. 12V on both. There is one that's powered all the time but I don't want to drain my battery accidently.

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Greatly appreciated. I just need to pick up a couple more heavy duty connectors and I'm good to go. Heading to work now for the evening shift and will check back in tomorrow with my final results...

Glenn

 

Don't forget an inline fuse. You won't regret it.

 

Good idea... but I'd have to make it accessible, instead of removing the fairing to change a fuse... Could possibly run the wire below the bottom... easy to get at. Thanks.

 

Got it finished and it works really well. Haven't had it out for a test ride yet due to the steady rain we're having. Picks up every available channel around, even one from 45 miles away and one from 60 miles away.
Thanks for the help and suggestions. Great forum here...

Glenn