I just purchased an after market fairing with stereo for long rides on my Heritage. Can anybody tell me where the best place is to draw the power from? The manufacturer says to connect directly to the battery. Problem is it's a pain to run the wiring under the gas tank and 2nd the stereo has a draw on it even when it's off and I don't want to remember to unplug it every time.
I'd like to tap into the headlight but I don't know if the circuit could handle the extra draw? Any thoughts?
I'll post more pic's of my scoot when I can.

 

I heard there is a couple wires inside the headlight housing you can tap into. I went straight off the battery and ran the wiring under the tank to the front, but I think I would have done it how you want to do it if I knew which wires to tap. Hopefully someone will chime in and set you straight.

 

not a lot of choices, since your bike only has 4 fuses. i think it would be easiet to tap into the front fender light behind the headlight tin. orange w/white tracer is positive. black is neg. steve.

 

I didn't want to have to remember either so I have my system on a switched wire. It's been a while so I'm not sure which wire off hand. If you do a little checking you should find one to use. If you can't let me know and I'll go out and see if I can see what I did.

 

Silver Fox:
I would greatly appreciate any thing you can give me such as to where, what colors are what etc. I'm worried if I Tap into the headlight and blow a fuse at night or overheat the wiring...I don't want to screw things up.

 

Hey NWJim, I went out and had a look. Are you ready I installed a 12v 30amp relay. As I remember that was the smallest one I could get. It is fed from the battery but the wire that switches the relay on and off I have tied into the tail light wiring harness. I'm not sure what light , I think must be the tail light. When the bike is turned off the relay is shut down, no power to the amps or serius radio. I forgot how it was hooked up until I had a look, but it works good. I got the relay at our local auto parts store.

 

Would there be any concerns with overloading that power source? I'm not a 12 volt guru so how would you know if you were flirting with a meltdown?

 

if your just running a regular stereo, it should'nt be a problem. on the otherhand if your running some kind of large amp....no go. the relay from the battery would be the better option, and use the fender light wire as the triger wire (easy access, behind the tins on the rear of the triple tree) does the stereo give any info on amp consumption? if your planning on adding anything later, say a radar detector, or a gps unit, the relay is the only way to go. steve

 

snip0721, here are the specs on the radio..
Operating Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DC 12 Volts
Grounding System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Negative Ground
Speaker Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-8 ohms per channel
Tone Controls:
Bass (at 100 Hz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ±10 dB
Treble (at 10 kHz). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ±10 dB
Power Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40W x 4
Current Drain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Ampere (max.)
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 (W) x 183 (D) x 58 (H)

 

install the relay. steve