Fire4Effect's Lessons Learned
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2009
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From: San Antonio, TX
Fire4Effect's Lessons Learned
Fire4Effect's lessons learned while creating a new audio system:
Rule 1: Plan everything out. Have your manuals available and know how your additions are going to interact with what you already have. The Harley instructions are free and can give you an idea as to what you are up against, even if you aren't using their products. Ask questions before you open your wallet. I wound up ordering a bunch of stuff I didn't really need.
Rule 2: See the big picture. Know what you are taking apart and what you might want to upgrade while you're doing it. If you have the fairing apart, you might want to upgrade to LED backlighting for the gauges. It's cheap and a big improvement over stock. If you do a complete system like I did, labeling the connectors is a good idea. I had two connectors swapped and couldn't figure out why the radio didn't work. I got a wire labeler off eBay for about $20 after that incident.
Rule 3: Don't be cheap. Understand there is a difference between being a cheapskate and saving money. If you cut corners, it may very well bite you in the rear. Buying parts at a discount is good, not buying what you actually need to do the job right is bad. I cheaped out and didn't spend the money to get preouts installed in my head unit for the front channels. That turned out to cost me a lot of time and aggravation.
Rule 4: Know what you know and know what you don't know. I had no idea what I was getting into, so I tried to be meticulous in how I researched everything. I realized though, there was a lot I couldn't figure out from manuals and instructions. One example is fabricating Deutsch connectors for a cleaner install. There are a ton of variations available and only certain ones were appropriate for my needs. You'd think a Deutsch 6-pin connector is a Deutsch 6-pin connector, right? Nope. I wound up buying a few connectors that I couldn't use because I didn't know about the variations. That cost me money and time.
Rule 5: The manuals aren't perfect; your results may differ. I didn't realize that the speaker output for my factory radio came from a separate harness that was only glossed over in the manual. Fortunately, a forum member took the time to educate me.
Rule 6: Don't make the same mistakes of others. Google the crap out of what you are doing to see what others have done. Most of my searches came back to posts of Harleypingman. Carl has been a tremendous help by posting his experiences.
Rule 1: Plan everything out. Have your manuals available and know how your additions are going to interact with what you already have. The Harley instructions are free and can give you an idea as to what you are up against, even if you aren't using their products. Ask questions before you open your wallet. I wound up ordering a bunch of stuff I didn't really need.
Rule 2: See the big picture. Know what you are taking apart and what you might want to upgrade while you're doing it. If you have the fairing apart, you might want to upgrade to LED backlighting for the gauges. It's cheap and a big improvement over stock. If you do a complete system like I did, labeling the connectors is a good idea. I had two connectors swapped and couldn't figure out why the radio didn't work. I got a wire labeler off eBay for about $20 after that incident.
Rule 3: Don't be cheap. Understand there is a difference between being a cheapskate and saving money. If you cut corners, it may very well bite you in the rear. Buying parts at a discount is good, not buying what you actually need to do the job right is bad. I cheaped out and didn't spend the money to get preouts installed in my head unit for the front channels. That turned out to cost me a lot of time and aggravation.
Rule 4: Know what you know and know what you don't know. I had no idea what I was getting into, so I tried to be meticulous in how I researched everything. I realized though, there was a lot I couldn't figure out from manuals and instructions. One example is fabricating Deutsch connectors for a cleaner install. There are a ton of variations available and only certain ones were appropriate for my needs. You'd think a Deutsch 6-pin connector is a Deutsch 6-pin connector, right? Nope. I wound up buying a few connectors that I couldn't use because I didn't know about the variations. That cost me money and time.
Rule 5: The manuals aren't perfect; your results may differ. I didn't realize that the speaker output for my factory radio came from a separate harness that was only glossed over in the manual. Fortunately, a forum member took the time to educate me.
Rule 6: Don't make the same mistakes of others. Google the crap out of what you are doing to see what others have done. Most of my searches came back to posts of Harleypingman. Carl has been a tremendous help by posting his experiences.
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