Greetings,
Ok, I have been ridding the side car for about a hundred miles now. I am relaxing a bit more,,, everything is groovy! I would like to go ahead and hook up the wiring now. What is the best, simplist, most user friendly way to get those nice little lights on the velorex twinkling. I am using the Sportster for a mule.
signed, Preacher
Interesting question as I will have the same question soon... Ural/BMW GS 1100... as my new rig should be here the 24th or around... so... I will keep an eye on your thread...
For simplicity of wiring I am ordering a fuse box for all the connections as GPS/Valentine/ 2 sets of Hellas are now going to the Battery and adding more wires there will just get messy and will not have a quick disconnect when needed... just a thought...
Thanks for asking that question...
Be well... Ara
Every bike is different, obviously, but I've usually found the best option to be finding the wires coming from the rear fender forward. In the case of my Valkyrie, they are on the right side under the seat.
I spent too many years repairing cobbled wiring to ever use crimp connectors, I solder everything. I run the wiring down the rear strut, then under the body and along the frame. I fuse an accesory plug, but not the rest.
I then use a flat Wesbar connector (Trailer light plug) While wiring it, I wired in a second one to go to a trailer hitch. If I decide to drop the sidecar, they both roll up nicely and store under the seat.
I can't help with wiring colors, they're different for each bike. I also use a 5 pin for the trailer so I don't need a convertor, I wire the turn signals and brake lights separately.
Like Mike said,
Flat 4 trailer connector works well so you can dismount the car for maintenance without having to rewire.
On the Velorex wires it's White to ground (to battery), Black is running and taillight, Red is brake light and Yellow for right turn signal. Tap into the short rear fender accessory loom so you won't be disturbing the main wire loom and looking for trouble down the road.
If you put the connector close but outside of the seat one can disconnect without pulling the seat. On some Sportys that use the solo seat with pillion, this can be a chore.
I let the owners decide whether to disable the bikes right turn signal.
The rear is easy since it has only a one filament socket. Just pull the bulb. The front, having a two filament lamp will leave you without one front running light on the bike if you do this. I have blocked one contact with vinyl electricians tape on my own bikes successfully and retained the bikes front running light without the turn signal activating. Simple fix without messing with the wiring. Or you can unplug that wire if the connectors are easily accessible.
By the way, I have a new (unused) set of 13.5" Progressive sidecar shocks that I had mounted on my '94 Sporty/562C rig for my own use. $100.00 plus shpg. They've been mounted and road tested, that's all. Big savings.
The new owner is picking it up today and wanted the Hugger shocks reinstalled (?). Says his daughter is short and wants the rig low.
Lonnie
Thank you for the quick replys. I will be making a decision pretty soon. Thank you for the good deal on the progressive shocks. But they are not in the budget right now. 🙁
Preacher
Looking in where the tail light lens was,, there is a place to plug in some sort of three prong diddy in the upper left hand side of my rear tail light electric housing/assembly. Anyone know what this is on my 01 sportster??
