FAQ - How to Install the Datel Volt Meter

[ActionStarCBRxx]

Here is my writeup on installing the Datel Volt Meter. I will attach pictures this evening...

Wiring the Datel DC Voltmeter

(Link to Datel - http://www.datelmeters.com/cgi-bin/webshop...t-dcvoltmeters)

Datel Meters

Have A Plan

The first step is to have a plan of attack. Know where you want to put Datel voltmeter. Know what wires your going to tie into to get power. Know what you’re going to ground to. Don’t just start pulling the fairings and wing it… your bike will be down for days instead of hours, and you will be making several trips to the parts store.

I started out without a plan and the dang project took three days! If I had to do it all over, my plan would be this.

1) I know I want to mount the Datel voltmeter in the flat spot right where the left/right plastic cover to the speedo bezel is. (#15 on the Ron Ayers micro fiche for upper cowel)

2) I know I need to make the connections so that it can come lose easily without pulling the wires off the Datel voltgauge

3) I know I want to tie into the factory wiring at the fuse connection. I would like to use the horn or lights as my tie in.

4) I want to tie my ground either to the back of the bike on the swing arm, or the factor ground where the battery ties.

5) I know the distance from the front to the rear is basically five to six feet… so I need that much wiring.

6) I know I want it to look factory stock, so I will need a wire loom, and black electrical tape

7) I know I want to solder as many connections as possible so I need to find connectors that allow me to solder or don’t have the protective plastic covering that makes the connection un-solderable.

Create A List of Supplies

So based on my requirements from my list I now need to gather supplies. I purchased the 3½ Digit RED LED (DMS-20PC-0-DCM) volt guage. The front of gauge is water resistant. I also bought the Mounting Bezel for all DMS-20 series meters (DMS-BZL3-C). Ok so that takes care of the meter.

Now the wiring… I choose to go with red wire for the positive (+) and black for the negative (-). I could have used green for the negative, as that is what Honda seems to use on their diagram. I bought two 30 ft rolls of 18-gauge wire (red & black). I bought two five-foot sections of 3/8 wire loom. If I could have found ¼ inch I would have gone with that since I will only be running two wires from front to rear.

That brings us to the connectors. This was a pain in the arse as I hadn’t planned properly and I made two trips to Radio Shack, and two trips to the auto store. It’s hard to find connectors that don’t have the plastic coverings. If you buy anything “weather proof” then it has the rubber that you melt with lighter/flame after you crimp your connection. So I either bought connections that were crimped but had enough exposure to the metal that I could solder them after lightly “crimping” the connection, or I bought un-insulated connectors. For each wire (red/black) I will need the following:

Red

1) One open wire that I will splice into the lights/horn

2) One quick disconnect male connector

3) One quick disconnect female connector

4) One ¼ ring terminal to connect to Datel voltmeter

Black

1) One 3/8 ring terminal to connect to ground or battery

2) One quick disconnect male connector

3) One quick disconnect female connector

4) One ¼ ring terminal to connect to Datel voltmeter

Misc List

1) 30 amp solder gun/wand

2) Sheathing/cutting/crimping pliers

3) 30 feet 18 gauge stranded copper wire (red sheathing)

4) 30 feet 18 gauge stranded copper wire (black sheathing)

5) steel wool – cleaning the solder of the gun

6) Black wire connectors (zip tie type)

The quick disconnect connectors were the only connectors that were crimped. If you could find a connector like what Honda uses for the front mirrors that would be the ideal.

Remove Fairings

Now the fun begins… I know from past experience that the left side of the bike (kick stand side) is where the electrical lines run. So based on that knowledge, I know that I want to run the new wiring loom down that side as well. Here is a list of what I pulled off.

1) Tail section – to get to the fuse box easily

2) Left side fairing off completely

3) Right side fairing loose

4) Nose/light off completely – this was more for ease of space than anything

5) Left, right mirrors, and wind shield (this needs to be done if you take off the nose)

6) Left upper panel and loosen right upper panel

7) Left/right cover (installing Datel voltmeter on the right panel)

8) Loosen tank bolts and raise tank – need to get hands inside and along left edge to run new wiring loom

Mounting the Datel

I am mounting my voltmeter on the right (brake side) side cover. It will go on the flat side facing up. (not the vertical side where the black plastic clip goes) I spaced it a centimeter over from the left/right covers connect, but centered by both edges. See picture. I traced voltmeter outline then used a drill press to drill out the corner holes. I then took a sharp knife (extractor, thin like razor blade) and whittled the box shape. I am a redneck with good whittling skills… feel free to cut with a dremel or any other tool of your choice to get the rectangle shape of the voltmeter. Note you need to be real slow and patient with this step. If your not going to use the black mounting bezel (DMS-BZL3-C) you need to keep your lines real straight! You want a snug fit with the voltmeter and the plastic cover with no gaps.

Measure Twice Cut Once

With the hole cut for the voltmeter, you’re ready to start the wiring. I used quick disconnects so I would have some wiring length and ease of maintenance when pulling the panel out during maintenance. So I cut six inches of red and black wire and set them aside. Then I cut six feet or red and black wire to go in the loom (front of bike to rear of bike). Take your two six foot sections of wire and shove them in the loom. Do this now and not later… as it’s a bitch trying to push wire through the looms once it’s on the bike. Remember the “have a plan” section and know where your going to attach you’re ground and hot wire?? Pushing wire through a loom that’s already in place sucks big time! Next tape of the loom with your black electrical tape… this is just like Honda does it right!!

Solder-Crimp Connections

At this point, I found it easier to not install the loom on the bike and go to the installation of the connectors first. You get put at weird angles when it’s on the bike, so for me it was easier to work at a desk, or on the ground. We will start by soldering the ¼ ring connector on one end of the red six inch cut wire and on one black six inch cut wire.

For those of you that have never soldered… it’s real easy. Strip the wire so that less than a centimeter of copper is showing. Attach the connector. I would lightly crimp the connector so that it would stay in place and not move about when soldering. Now using the 30 amp solder gun/wand with a small tip. Turn solder gun on and give it a chance to heat up (about a minute). Then holding the copper wire about an inch down from the connector with your fingers, place the solder tip on the spot where you want the solder to go. The connector has two sides, one that you shove the bare copper in, and the other that has the male/female end. From the male/female end, touch the solder wand to the strands of the copper wire. You want the gun at a 45-degree angle so you’re not using the tip. Remember the idea is to heat the wire and connector so hot that the solder melts. Once you feel the heat on the copper wire through your fingers, you then start applying solder. Just touch next to the solder tip. If it is hot enough, the solder will immediately melt and you start feeding the solder into the connector so that it drips/covers the copper wire strands. If the solder makes a bubble and sticks… the copper wire and connector are not hot enough.

Solder both ¼ ring connectors as stated above, then solder the male quick disconnects on both the black and red six inch wires. Both six-inch wires should be done at this point. Now take the long six-foot red and black and install the female quick disconnects. At this point I installed the wire loom on the bike.

Final Installation

Starting from the back of the bike on the left side (kick stand side) locate the main fuse box. Its got a red cap on it and is about two inches. Trace the wires and note that they go under the tank, up the left side along the frame, and come out the frame right in front beside the steering stem. In your new loom, leave most of the wire slack at the battery end, you don’t need but a few inches for the quick disconnect connectors. You want to install your loom right on top/beside the existing factory loom. So push and shove the loom through the existing tubes and wires. It will be a snug fit on the left side when you get close to the carbs/coils. I used a few wire ties under the tank, and up above the steering stem to keep the new loom next to the existing loom. When you get to the steering stem, you will see three separate strands of wires. Use the zip tie connectors to attach to those lines. You will see that they all come out the very center and attach to the steering head via Honda’s special adjustable ties.

At this point you should be able to connect the six-inch wires to volt gauge, and attach the quick disconnect connectors as well. If your installation is good so far, you can test it by touching the battery, as you don’t have connectors on the rear of the lines yet. If it doesn’t work at this point… double check you have red to red and black to black on the quick disconnects and you put red to the + and black to the (-) of the battery. If it still doesn’t work, disconnect the ¼ inch ring connectors at the voltmeter and take two loose wires (cut new ones from your 30ft stock)… attaching one to each terminal of the voltmeter. With the other ends, touch the battery, the voltmeter should light up and give voltage. If it doesn’t still, then you have a bad volt gauge. If it does, then you have a problem in the wiring you just installed.

Ok almost done. The tricky part comes next. You want to pull out the fuse box so it is no longer attached to bike via the rubber holder. Untwist the wires so you can see where each one goes in the back. The top cover has a label of each fuse and where it goes to. Select one of the 20 amp circuits. Ideally the horn or blinkers works good. Note there are two wires… one 14 gauge red one, and one 16/18 gauge colored wire with a stripe. With a voltmeter (not the Datel one) you should be able to touch the larger 14-gauge wire with the red, and the black to a ground and it will show voltage. We don’t want that one! Next check the 16 gauge wire with the stripe. It should not show any voltage. Now turn the key on and check again… you should get voltage. This is the wire we want. From the fuse plug back off a few inches… with enough room to pull the wire out from its brethren you want to remove about a centimeter of the sheathing. With the wire sheathing/cutting pliers you want to remove just the sheathing. Do NOT cut the wire… do NOT cut strands of the wire. Just remove the sheathing. If you need more room to work, remove the black electrical tape that keeps the wires tied together.

You should have about eight inches or so of excess red wire. Cut the red wire to fit the length so that it can attach to the exposed wire you just removed the sheathing from. Next heat up your solder gun and when the gun is hot, apply the heat to where the two wires twist together. When the wires get hot enough, than apply the solder. The solder should melt all over the bare wires and coat them. Turn the wires over and make sure you get the backside as well. Cover every exposed copper with solder. When the wires cool to touch, then apply black tape and cover everything. That covers the power source, now onto the ground.

The ground you can do three ways. You can attach it to the battery. You can ground it to the rear subframe, or you can ground it to where the negative battery terminal is grounded around the shock tower. I don’t think the battery is the best source of ground… others with more knowledge than I suggested not to do that. Ideally you should use the same ground as the battery uses, but I couldn’t find it easily. I currently don’t use the rear set foot pegs or the mounting bracket, so I opted for the sub frame route. I did leave enough slack in my black wire, that once I do locate the battery ground, I can switch to that without having to splice in a new wire. So your last connector, you will need to cut it to size to either go to the battery ground or the subframe. Again you want to strip the black wire to expose about a centimeter of copper, and using the 3/8 ring terminal solder the connection. Then attach the connection to your ground. Turn the key on, and test your connections. You should have a working volt gauge!

Now comes the cleanup… put all the fairings back on, clean up your tools and go riding!

[g1ray2001]

Any Pics you care to share yet?

[ZRX1100JIM]

I did this

Mounts right under speedo with velcro. Wired straight to battery with inline fuse.

I also incorporated a plug for easy removal. I purchased the box & switch at

Radio Shack. The voltmeter I got here voltmeter

Sure looks like a Datel. The box is approximately 2.78"x1.78"x1".

[Zero Knievel]

I should remember to snap some pics of mine and post them.

[RXX]

I put mine in my LH mirror. Well, I am currewntly doing it. The reflective coating is off, but due to my recent gimposity I have not completed the project.

[Zero Knievel]

Okay. Sorry I took so long to do this, but so you can see what I did with my Datel....

For all the ways to hook it in, I ultimately went with the FZ-1 from Fuseblocks.com. It was $80, but since I had several electrical devices I wanted switched power for, this was a smarter move over splicing into the wiring harness wherever I found a place to do so.

I spent the money on several spools of colored wire, and for the Datel I used Green for hot and Black for ground. The feed for the Datel comes right off the battery through the FZ-1. The unit hooks directly to the battery, and the wire you connect to a switched circuit serves only to toggle the relay that closes the circuit for switched power accessories.

I also bought special connectors from Vintage Connectors (or something spelled like that [verify]). I used one of their two-wire unlatched connectors to be a "break away" point for the connection to the FZ-1 (done behind the right cowling). This makes it easier to remove the trim panel the Datel is mounted to as I don't mess with detaching wires from the Datel each time. This also helps to protect the wiring should an accident make the panel fly off. The unlatched connectors hold tight enough that they won't work loose, while allowing a sufficient force will pull the connection apart rather than rip the wires out.

While the Datel looks good in the picture, you should know that it is somewhere from 1/4" to 1/2" too high up (it should be more towards the aft of the bike). I measured but either marked the trim panel wrong or didn't compensate for its curved surface properly. Once the Datel was on, the trim panel couldn't go back on without the Datel hitting the duct feeding the airbox. I had no choice but to carve out a notch from the duct until the panel could go back on easily. Then, I sealed the hole in the duct with aluminum tape. It works fine, but I wish I got it right the first time. This is one of those, measure 5 times and cut once situations.

As far as placement goes, this is the best I could do with the stock surfaces on the XX. It's not a great location if you want to watch your voltage all the time or at easy glance, but you really don't need to watch voltage that closely. I liked the blue more than the red, but it is BRIGHT at night, so if you want to place your Datel somewhere more in your line of sight, be advised. I can move my forearm or just momentarily release the throttle to glance at the meter. At worst, when the sun's at a unfavorable angle, I have to shade the display to read it.