Okay all you Corbin heated seat owners, I have a problem I need help solving. This particular "problem" has been bugging me since I bought this Solo Tour seat on eBay back in April. And yes, as I will elaborate about below, I knew about the "problem" prior to bidding, I've checked Corbin's site to ensure proper fitment and to find a solution and talked to their support folks to no avail. As for specific fitment, the main Harley Davidson Touring Models page breaks the touring bikes down by generation and does NOT list the Solo Tour in the Rushmore section, but the Solo Tour specific info page DOES list up to 2018 models.

Anyway, the I finally found a used Solo Tour seat on eBay. The seller stated that he was listing the seat for a friend who traded the bike it had been on, but that his friend left the bike-to-seat wire harness attached to the old bike, so the seat was lacking the the power harness to enable heat functionality. Last he was aware, the heat DID work, but again, the harness wasn't available with the seat. I emailed Corbin Customer Service about the availability of a replacement harness before bidding, and the tech who replied sent this:
Of course, he did not give any detail on which pins on the 6-pin connector on the base of the seat were to be populated with the power and ground leads. When I replied that I would like to know at least what connector type was required to connect to the seat itself (figuring I could test to find the correct pinout) and if there were any special connectors needed to connect to the bike, the rep replied simply:
Ummm, yeah...helpful.

I decided to buy the seat figuring I could get proper answers when I had a better look at the base. And despite the missing harness, I'm glad I bought it. I think the Solo Tour is a great seat, though I will warn that it's a bit of a PITA to access the rear screw to secure it to the fender because of the Tour Pak (and all the wiring outside the TP) and how much the tail section of this particular seat protrudes kind of "up and over" the tongue of the seat. Beyond that infrequently encountered issue, the Solo Tour feels much better to me than the Dual Tour I ran last year, and I'm happy with it. It moves me back at least another inch or so from where the Dual Tour did, and it seems to have a better "in the bike" rather than "on the bike" feel to it. Except...that damn heater switch (in all it's chrome and red-rocker-switch glory) is right there on the side of the seat mocking me! One note: this seat has one switch that controls both rider and passenger heating.

Sorry- back on point. Once I received the seat and could look it over more closely, it seemed silly that a couple of missing wires in a length of sheathing with a computer power supply-type connector on one end was the only thing keeping it from full functionality. I based my assumptions off Corbin's own install instructions (which are attached to this post): the HD-FLH-9-ST-E (the specific part number for the seat I have) install sheet specifically states that the pigtail install requires only two connections: one to the fuse box for power and one to the bike's ground stud. To me, this would indicate the female connector on the seat base is only looking for 2 of the 6 positions to have a connection. This SHOULD be easy! So on 19APR, I called Corbin Customer Service and a rep named Danielle called me back. I explained what I was looking for, and she stated that while she wasn't a technician, she'd have me send a couple pics of my seat base to show to the tech folks so they could see what I was working with. I promptly emailed a couple pics of the seat base (attached here) and in that email, I again asked that if Corbin couldn't sell me a harness, could they at least tell me what I would need to recreate the harness on my own. The reply was astonishing (IMO):
Wait, "work with my model"?? Corbin's website states this particular seat is "Designed specially to fit the 2009+ Electra-Glide, Road Glide and Street Glide models"...and one might think that includes the 2015 Electra-Glide Ultra Limited - so where did THAT come from?? Uhhh...no- there's not a chance in hell I'd be mailing my seat back and forth to CA from NY right at the beginning of the riding season here for a month-long process to change the heating elements "to work with my model", and all at the low, low price of roughly $515 total , but thanks for the "help"!

Sheesh... Well, at this point in the saga, riding weather was slowly starting to appear in Upstate NY (albeit after seemingly a month straight of rain), so I stopped the pursuit of heat for my seat. I eventually got in about 6500 miles this year (around more rain, TDY periods and work limitations), but now that it's getting to be cooler weather, the "this thing should be functional" bug bit me again. So today I called Corbin Tech Support (not generic Customer Service) and talked to a tech named Derrick. I explained I had a Solo Tour seat with heat, but that I needed the bike-to-seat harness for it. He said that they do in fact sell such a harness, it would cost about $15 plus $8 to ship. Then he asked what the seat is currently installed on, and when I stated 2015 Ultra, he started to backpedal about the harness, saying "oh, well, we changed our heater elements and controls, so I'd need to see pics of your seat's connectors to know if we might have anything that works." He gave me a phone number to text some pics of the seat to and I texted the previously emailed pics to him at 2pm EST/11am PST. As of 2am EST (the next day now), I haven't gotten even an acknowledgement of receipt.

I'm getting closer to my questions (soon, I promise!), but for the moment, I want you to compare the Parts Lists for both the HD-FLH-9-DT-E and the HD-FLH-14-DT-E.

Here is the parts list from the instructions for installing the Solo Tour (found under the 'notes' tab on the 2009-2018 Solo Tour page). This install sheet states it covers Corbin part numbers HD-FLH-9-DT-E-2 & HD-FLH-9-ST-E. Oddly this currently posted install sheet states a fitment of "2009-2011 Harley-Davidson Touring Models". However, the Parts List includes:

• #FACC-05 Small Fuse Adapter
• #Ph-CB-HL Wiring Harness
• 1 Mini Fuse 7.5 Amp
• 3 Zip ties

The instructions found on the notes tab of the 2014-2018 Dual Tour page states it covers part numbers HD-FLH-14-DT-E & HD-FLH-14-DT-HE. This currently posted install sheet lists fitment for "2014 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, Ultra Limited & CVO Limited". Interestingly, that sheet's Parts List includes:

• #FACC-05 Small Fuse Adapter
• #Ph-CB-HL Wiring Harness (HD-FLH-14-DT-E)
• #SP01652 Wiring Harness (HD-FLH-14-DT-HE)
• 1 Mini Fuse 7.5 Amp
• 1 Small Rain Cover
• 3 Zip ties

What's this? Despite totally revamped heating elements, both generations of these seats use the same part numbers for the fuse adapter and non-HD specific wire harness? Nowhere on either install sheet does Corbin annotate anything special or unique to installing these seats on Rushmore bikes in general, nor the '15 Ultra Limited in particular. And note that both the FLH-9 and FLH-14 parts list both include the "#FACC-05 Small Fuse Adapter," the "#Ph-CB-HL Wiring Harness" the "1 Mini Fuse 7.5 Amp" and the "3 Zip ties". Both instruction sheets describe the Corbin pigtail installation the same way: "Installing the pigtail is simple and only requires two connections. The red wire will plug into the System jack of your fuse box, while the black wire connects to the ground terminal on the battery." Both sheets describe setting up and connecting the power lead at the fuse box in a couple of numbered steps. The only difference between the -9 and -14 install sheets regarding these steps is the numbering: the -14 pushes these to steps 6 and 7 as opposed to 3 and 4 due to the addition of the step for the -HE model. The -9 sheet does include a pic of the underside of the seat, whereas the -14 sheet does not...but the -9 seat pan in the pic looks amazingly like my seat! One of the "figures" referenced in the document has a tiny inset pic (it's FIG 6 on page 2 if you're morbidly curious) of the harness-to-seat connection being simulated, but the quality of the image isn't good enough to tell where the red and black wires are in relation to the seat connector. Damn. But really, it would appear to me that this should be a SIMPLE harness for Corbin to quickly make, or better yet, to have in stock for situations where it's removed from a bike then lost (seen a thread along those lines), or a bike is traded and the harness was left behind, and yes, when a seat is resold, etc. There is no need to tie into the CANBUS, there isn't a factory installed heated seat switch to try to work with, so why is this such a difficult endeavor!? I get it; they're probably less than thrilled that the seat was re-sold privately (and Mike Corbin didn't get another payday out of it), but I will say I would have bought new from Corbin, albeit not heated, if they allowed something like a 7-day tryout period (similar to buying directly from Mustang- though you have 10 days with them). And it's not like I'm asking for free parts or trying to make a ridiculous (and fraudulent) Warranty claim- I repeatedly offered to buy the damn harness!

Anyway, I am asking these questions (geez: finally!): to anyone running a Solo Tour or Dual Tour with heat (the 9-E or 14-E models, NOT the 14-HE part), is your Bike-to-Seat harness actually only two wires, or are there other wires that terminate in the male plug that connects to the small, white 6-pin connector in addition to power and ground? If there are other wires present in that particular harness, where do those other wires end up going? As for the 6-pin female connector on the seat itself: which pins on the seat side are the power and ground pins? How long is the harness overall? What gauge wire is the harness using? And if you happen to know, might you be able give a part number or type for the specific male connector I would need to plug into the seat itself? I'm guessing it's Molex, though more computer-like than the automotive type variants HD usually uses, but I am not sure.

Thanks in advance, and sorry to those who don't like reading a ton of drivel when a simple question will do! However, I'm trying to negate the "Well, does it even say it fits" or "Read the installation sheet" or "What does Corbin support have to say" comments and questions before they're thrown out to me by writing all the above. Please advise if you can!!

 

It does appear from the instructions that there are only two wires, a hot and a ground. Why would you need additional wires? I assume, since it's got two heating levels (high and low) that the switch in the seat handles that part, so all you have to do is supply 12V to the switch. The hard part is going to be finding Molex connectors (male & female) to install on the seat and to your homemade wiring harness with an inline 7.5A fuse. Wire size looks to be #12. Other than that, it looks like a fairly easy install.

Edit - I found another instruction sheet specifically for 2014 Ultra Classic, Ultra Limited and CVO Limited, which should basically be the same as your '15 Limited. It's a little different than the instructions for the saddle in your link. I would go ahead and order the $15 harness with the fuse adapter that Derrick mentioned, that way it'll save you from having to find suitable male and female Molex connectors. If you do decide to go with the homemade wiring harness, I would just wire it directly to the battery and forget trying to plug it into the fuse block. Just be sure to install a 7.5A inline fuse.

http://www.corbin.com/harley/baggers...lh-14-dt-e.pdf

 

So an update (10/11/17- or the next day after the original post!):

After ALL that typing, I was expecting to have no luck from Corbin and little luck from the forums. I still have not gotten any response regarding the pics I texted to Corbin, and honestly wasn't really expecting much luck from their Tech Support, either with an option to buy a harness or connector and pin location info.

Anyway, I decided to call Corbin again today, but this time I decided to just ask for the harness straight away- and not expecting anything to come of that. I called the main number this afternoon, and told the girl who answered that I need a new harness for my seat, which I lost. She transferred me to "someone who could help me with that", and that's when I expected to get back into the morass of "well we don't sell the harness" and "yeah, you'll have to send us the seat" like I got back in April.

However, Chris got on the line, and when I told him what seat I had and that I needed the bike-to-seat harness, he asked what it was going to be installed on. This time, I decided to go with my 2011 Street Glide as the model. He stated immediately that they could set me up with a new harness, it would cost $25 plus $5 for the ride. Wait- what?? Uh, yeah- hook me up!!

He began the order process for me, got the payment info from me, and said okay- we're all set. Then he asked if I could remember the type of plug: was it a black connector or the small white connector that looks kind of like a computer connection? When I answered that it is indeed the white 6 pin connector, he said "okay- that will take us a couple extra days to set that up, since we don't use that connector anymore, but we'll get you set up." Freakin' excellent!! So now the harness is ordered, and hopefully will be here soon. Once I get it, I WILL update the post again with pics of both the harness and the seat connector, and I'll point out the pins and such that need to be populated to make a harness if someone else needs it.

One funny thing: when I got the order confirmation email with the invoice, the email was sent by Chris (the dude I talked to on the phone). Turns out, he was the same person who told me back in April that Corbin no longer makes that harness but I could do it on my own via an auto parts store!!! To think: if he gave me the same answers then as he had today, this thread wouldn't be here!! Odd. But kind of funny too.

 

I skipped through your post, didn't read it word for word, I didn't see where/how you are going to tap into the power on the bike to supply the seat with power, I put a heated Corbin Solo on my wife's 16 SGS, imo the way Corbin wants you to tap into the fuse box is poor at best! Anyway I used one of these to supply the seat with power, just thought I would pass this on,

https://www.harley-davidson.com/stor...ion-update-kit

Good luck, Corbin is kinda quirky so keep that in mind!

The fuse box on the Rushmore's is sealed with a Weatherpack type seal, Corbin wants you to compromise that seal with a wire to supply power for the seat! Not going to happen on any of my bikes! Unless I misunderstood there directions!

 

In all fairness, they do supply a 'small rain cover", whatever the heck that means. LOL

 

Ok, well they didn't send me one, I just installed her seat the first of July.

 

Thanks for the heads-up jdw1! I wasn't sure I would be doing anything special regarding the connections to power and ground other than following the Corbin instructions.

So with your seat and the Electrical Connection Update kit, did you use the Deutsch connector, or did you splice power and ground to the indicated wires on the Connection kit's harness (the loose wires shown)? I'm guessing that the FLH-14-DT-HE model of Dual Tour is set up to use the 4 pin Deutsch connector since the included pigtail "that integrates with the HD harness on bikes that included a heated seat from the factory (HD-FLH-14-DT-HE)". The install sheet mainly covers making the connections for the FLH-14-DT-E version, which is wired the same way as the FLH-9-DT-E: one red wire is fed to the fuse box, the black wire connected to the battery (-).

Regarding the fuse box/rain cover: the instructions for the FLH-14-DT-E/-HE version of the Dual Tour (the version Corbin lists under the '14-'18 Touring section of their bagger seat page) DOES show they include "rain cover" that you have to install after drilling into the fuse box...but if your seat has the FLH-9-DT-E part number, it wouldn't have been included. The cover isn't mentioned in the install sheet for the older version of the Dual Tour. The two versions of the install sheets are attached to my original post if you want to compare and contrast.

I have to assume 15amps (the electrical connection update kit's instructions state the harness will be 15amps fused through the accessory circuit) is adequate for running the heat on your seat? I wonder if there is additional draw on that circuit with stock heated grips and driving lights also being present, or if those two items are on a different circuit. I suppose I'll have to look through the electrical section of the service manual to get an answer.

 

Ok I think I understand your questions,

First of all, I used the the lose wires so I could still plug into the Deutsch connector at any HD shop for diagnostic purposes as needed.

Second, without digging up the invoice I don't remember witch seat I ordered, when I placed the order I stated it was a 16 FLHXS, I never received this cover you speak of, I called Corbin and talked to someone about where to draw power from and they told me under the fuse block cover with some funky kind of spad plug/pigtail and just run the wire around the end of the cover, that was unacceptable to me!

Third, my wife has a 16 FLHXS as mentioned above, she also has hand grip warmers and auxiliary passing lights on her MC, we have LED lights so they don't have a lot of power demands, I know she has had the seat warmer on, hand grip warmers on and we always travel with all our lights on and have not had any fuse or power issues in 8000 miles to this point.

Hope this helps

 

jdw1: I installed the Electrical Connection Update kit today. Do you recall if you connected the power of the seat to the violet/blue wire or to the red/blue wire on the update kit?

The instructions for the connection update kit state that the accessory wire "that would otherwise connect to the fuse block must be spliced to the violet/blue (ignition/accessory power) wire in the Electrical Connection Harness. This seems like the wire that I'd need to splice the power lead from the seat to.

The red/blue (battery power) wire is for an accessory wire that would otherwise connect to the B+. The description of this wire's function doesn't correspond to Corbin's instructions which call for using the fuse box, so I'm assuming the violet/blue might be the wire you used (and therefore the one which I should use.)

Thanks for the info. I also have LED driving lights, and since my heated grips are factory, I wouldn't think they'd add to this accessory circuit, so I figure I'll be GTG.

 

I used the violet/blue so the seat heater would be switched as to not inadvertently get left on and drain the battery.

Let's see a pic of your ride when your done!
Thanks