Cowls removed.

I got hooked on the idea of proper crimping shown on Jim’s Eastern Beaver site and decided to try to make all my connections with proper crimpers and open-barrel connectors, rather than the insulated smash connectors or soldering everything. I enjoy doing this stuff, but I’m learning as I go, so I planned for days and drew out rough schematics of how I thought everything would connect. It was a like a big puzzle.

Hand-drawn wiring diagram.

I had to revise my plans here and there (and made extra parts orders or trips to the electronics store) to account for ways to disconnect various harnesses and connections in order to remove the plastic for maintenance, etc. I ordered Hozan P707 crimpers off Amazon, and I think I made six separate orders to EB for various connectors and parts as I fine-tuned my plans. After seeing how neatly some riders have done their DIY electrical work, I was inspired to try to make things as neat and functional as possible.

As a pre-project, I printed out and laminated those wonderful fastener map worksheets someone on the st-owners forum created. Bought some thick lexan from Home Despot, laid over the worksheets, and drilled holes to keep the screws and pins from rolling away. Eventually I’ll sandwich the worksheets with a thinner lexan sheet on the back, so I can move them
around like parts trays.

Before Helibar install.

Helibar Risers
I still don’t like the amount of apparent strain on the cable bundle on the left side. I bent the wire retaining loop to the rear quite a bit to allow some slack and bent it down so it goes under the tank lip at full left lock. Hoping it will just work itself into the proper position with some use.

Helibar riser installed.

This wiring sheath used to route along the side of the handlebar base, directly behind the fork tube.

Osram bulbs
These went in without a fuss, with the plastic all off, so no pics. I did use the shim from MCL.

Honda 12V adapter installed with pigtail extension.

Quartet Harness and 12V Acc Socket
The Quartet was pretty easy to install. Lots of great info on st-owners re the pinouts and ideas for using the various connections! Used the red connector for the 12V and clear for the GPS.

The Honda 12V socket is in the right glove box, but connects to the Quartet harness over on the left side and there is no disconnect at the socket itself. So I created a 1.5′ harness extension using additional mail/female 3-pin 110 connectors, and took up the slack of the original harness in a simple loop hanging near the glove box. This allows me to remove just the right side middle cowl when needed by simply disconnecting the extension from the factory harness.

Stebel Horn

Followed the articles on st-owners pretty much to a T. Was a bit confused while planning it out, due to the two different horn button scenarios presented in the Stebel instructions, but I trusted the STOC knowledge and it just worked. Thing is LOUD.

Used an EB water resistant relay rather than the included red one, and zip-tied it to the mounting bar for the stock horn (which was removed). you can see the extension connector for the 12V socket hanging next to the stock temp sensor connector.

Stebel horn installed.

Connected original horn button wires to new relay to trigger Stebel.

Skene IQ-275

LEDRIDER LX5 Lights

This was the most complex farkle (for me) due to: the number of different connections needed to use the Skene controller; the planning required for easy disconnects during maintenance; and the addition of a lighted LED rocker switch installed on the meter panel. I used bullet connectors with plastic sheaths for most of the connections, including a couple 3-way bullet connectors to tie the two lamps together for power and ground.

Drilling the hole for the Hella switch in the meter panel was a bit daunting on a new bike, but no stopping now!

Hole drilled for aux light switch.

Bent the contacts a bit for smoother wire routing from below and to avoid any possible interference with the tupperware.

Mounted the lights under the mirrors with MCL brackets – had to go purchase slightly longer stainless bolts (Ace Hardware) to account for the bracket thickness. Found a great spot to mount the Skene on the inside of the front fairing panel, using strong velcro strips.

Wiring bundle for aux lights.

Headlight dongle with controller wire for Skene.

For the high-beam tap, I didn’t want to tap directly into the stock wiring if I didn’t have to and found this great info (http://www.st-owners.com/forums/show…-the-high-beam) here on creating a headlight connector pigtail harness for this very purpose. Here’s mine.

With the switch in the off position, I have the controller set to 0% brightness (off, essentially). Flick the switch on for 30%. When the high beams are on, the LX5’s go to 100%.

Gerbing Heated Gear Controls
I have grown to love my heated gear in the cooler weather of New England, but I’m sick of dangling the portable controller wires out of my pocket at stops and having to fiddle awkwardly with the controls to change temp while in motion. Decided to integrate the controls onto this bike, just below the left glove box. Once I had everything laid out, I decided on what I think is a unique (?) inner mounting location for the controller unit, stuck to the outside of the left hand glove box (with strong velcro) between it and the middle cowl plastic. This avoids taking up the storage space in the glove box itself. I couldn’t find any other locations mentioned for mounting the controller on an ST so this made sense to me.

Step 1: Stencil for Gerbing controller knobs/jacks.

Step2: Holes drilled!

Step 3: Controls installed.

Step 4: Intra-cowl cable management.

Step 5: Extend power connection with detachable crimp connectors.

I snipped off the ring connectors from the Gerbing harness (oops there goes the warranty?), crimped on a two pin connector, and created another extension harness running back to the PC-8, along the OEM wiring harness. This allows me to quickly disconnect and remove the left middle cowl when needed.

Garmin Zumo 350LM Cradle

The Honda quartet harness provides a perfect power source for the GPS right in the front of the bike, once I crimped on a matching 3-pin connector from EB. To keep things tidy, I drilled yet ANOTHER big hole in my meter panel, on the left side just in front of the mirror.

The Garmin harness transformer box is velcroed to the inside of the front cowl next to the Skene controller. The cradle cable comes out the side hole I drilled, through a rubber splashproof grommet (also from EB) and up to the GPS cradle, which is mounted on a 3-ball RBIS bracket.

Mounted Garmin power cord transformer box in nose cone.

Grommeted hole for external farkle cords.

PC-8 Fuse Box
At first I was going with a Fuzebox like I have on my VTX, but after comparing circuit capacity and the possible draw from the Stebel, I decided on the Eastern Beaver PC-8, mounted in standard location at rear of bike using the aluminum bracket from MCL.

I bought the pre-made EB harness for the PC-8 on the ST. 24″ almost wasn’t enough length but just managed to get the relay wedged in the proper spot so that it’s the exact perfect length. Jim does some great quality work with these harnesses. Tapped into switched power over by the bike’s fuse box per Mellow’s article, using a Posi-tap.

Wiring the PC-8 harness to battery.

PC-8 wiring harness w/relay installed under saddle.

I ran the 12ga wires for the Stebel and 18ga for the lights back to the PC-8 using 3/8″ plastic split cabling loom, along the left side of the bike, following routing recommendations from other projects I’ve read up on. Down under the front of the frame and alongside the airbox under the tank and out next to the factory electrical harness and up over the rear fender to the PC-8.

Corrugated plastic wiring loom.

PC-8 fuse block installed.

The ST-Owners site is an incredible wealth of information, so thanks to all whose ideas I used. Your time is much appreciated! Hopefully my photos will further help others with their projects too. Just waiting for my seat to come back now from RDL so I can RIDE this thing!