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I just bought an "S" fairing wire harness and I made notes so I can make my next one. Here is a worded version of what it takes to make the harness. The harness consists of five wires. These wires connect the volt meter and clock and their respective light bulbs to the headlight bucket. The overall length of the harness is about 26.5 inches.

I will use the term "flag" for spade connectors that are at 90 degrees to the wire. Connectors that have a rubber jacket will say "insul." Bare ones will say "bare". The end of the harness that goes into the headlight bucket and attach to the terminal board will say "board". The other end will not be specified, but I will start with the "board" end for each wire.

1. Board: two violet with black stripe wires connected into one flag connector (insul). One is 26.5" and the other is 24.5" and each has a light bulb socket on the end.

2. Board: brown wire (ground) with a bare flag connector. It is two inches longer than the other wires at the board end. At the gauge (fairing) end, another brown wire joins it in a bare (male) spade connector. That wire is 6.5" and also terminates in a bare (male) spade connector. That is, it is siamesed with a wire that makes it a 'Y'.

3. Board: green wire with (insul) flag connector. At the board end, it has (insul) flag connector.

4. Board: red wire with (insul) flag connector. At the board end, it has (insul) flag connector.

There is a flexible plastic sheath around the wires for most of their length. The sheath is just fat enough for the wires to run through it. It is 18.5" long. At the board end, it starts at 4" from the end of the wires. Note that the brown wire is two inches longer at the board end and it is not the one from which the 4" measurement is made.

There is a grommet for one of the smaller holes in the headlight bucket at the board end of the harness. It is 4.75" from the board end of the wires. Note that the brown wire is two inches longer at the board end and it is not the one from which the 4.75" measurement is made.

All wires are of the lightest gauge that BMW uses. I think that is 16g. If you look in your headlight bucket, it will match the lightest wires. Different countries use different names for wire gauges. It would be a useful addition for someone to chime in with if they know the technical names for the wire sizes.

The "S" fairing is a popular accessory for airhead motorcycles. I hope this "how to" will be search-able and be helpful to someone who is trying to add a fairing to his or her bike. Any suggestions as to how to make it more search-able will be welcome.

Chuey

On my S bike wiring harness I cut it in two and added a connector to join it back together. That way, when you need to remove your fairing (and you will) you simply pull the harness in two, rather than fiddle with the gages which are hidden behind the dash and a little hard to get to.



Ken

Chuey, thanks for sharing this info. I have copied it and put it into a folder along with a thousand others, eventually to be used on my website.

Often, a question comes up and gets answers, right and wrong, so I keep the question so that I can later elaborate on my website.

Also, time has provided new information and solutions that we just didn't have back in my day. I appreciate the many contributions that so many have made, unknown to you, that will, I hope, end up on my website.

If a question is asked once, it may be foolish, or another may wonder the same thing. Basically, the BMW world of today has helped build my website. Thanks.

Thanks for that Chuey - could have done with it a couple of years ago, but better late than never!

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:On my S bike wiring harness I cut it in two and added a connector to join it back together. That way, when you need to remove your fairing (and you will) you simply pull the harness in two, rather than fiddle with the gages which are hidden behind the dash and a little hard to get to.

Ken

Ken - this makes all kinds of sense...

The plug idea is good, but one must select a waterproof plug, or grunge is gonna mess it up.

Duane Ausherman wrote:The plug idea is good, but one must select a waterproof plug, or grunge is gonna mess it up.

The plug I chose (only a 4 conductor needed) came from a NAPA store. It is molded from black rubber and I believe it to be more or less waterproof. The plug itself, IIRC, is about 3/8 inch in diameter, just over an inch long, and has round contacts.

Another alternative might be to cover the plug with electricians tape. I don't like that idea because electricians tape, over time and exposure, will unwind a bit and the adhesive will be sticky.

Yet another alternative might be to extend the cable (if necessary) such that the connector could be affixed behind the dash with, say, a zip tie.

Gee, did I just now sound a bit defensive?


Ken

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:Another alternative might be to cover the plug with electricians tape. I don't like that idea because electricians tape, over time and exposure, will unwind a bit and the adhesive will be sticky.
Ken

I find those cone shaped rubber boots, used on turn signals inside the RS fairing, to be usefull for shielding connectors.

In my business we go to great lengths to protect our connectors from water. Consider that one run of coax can cost thousands of dollars to buy and as much to install.

Electrical tape will only temporairly protect from water and not very good even then. We wrap with a special rubber tape and then cover it with electrical tape. I even inspect to make sure that the tape is wound on in the correct direction. One must start at the lower end and wrap it upwards to prevent the edge from trying to funnel water under it. To start at the top, we call that "shingling" and is rejected. The contractor must drive back out, maybe rent a crane and fix it.

With it being so important and expensive to fix, you would think that the installers would be very careful. You would be wrong. Probably 5-10% are shingled.

This gushie rubber wrap is not nice stuff. It molds on very well and is quite hard to remove. For my own work, I first use a layer of electrical tape and then the rubber stuff that just goes a bit past the electrical tape. Then I cover that with another layer of electrical tape that just goes past the rubber. You can get the cheap stuff and is called Coax Seal. It is about 1/2" to 3/4" wide. For Cellular work on our large coax, we have rolls that are inches wide and I think costly.

Flat connector trailer plugs. They come in 4 wire and 5 wire, with 4 wire being more common. They are build for the weather and last forever. Some have a rubber skirt that makes them water tight, which would be good in this application. I always end up cutting the skirt off for trailers as it makes them more difficult to plug in. I use them for lots of things.

And don't forget!