Let's Talk DualSport Kit Wiring and Connectors

[Goofy Footer 539]

I need to replace my very worn-out Baja Designs dualsport kit with a totally new, fresh wiring harness.

I need help identifying the tools, wire, connectors and switches required for this project. Where do you get your wire from? Do you have a good website for connectors? What has been your experience in installing and/or designing dual sport kits? I've found a lot of info (almost too much info) and need some guidance. I am rather electric illiterate so Any tips/tricks for wiring are greatly appreciated!

Some connector/wire websites I have found:

http://vintageconnections.com/

http://www.cycleterminal.com/index.html

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/main.html

http://www.trailtech.net/electrical/electrical-accessories/crimp-kit

http://www.powerwerx.com/

Rigid Industries LED lights use these Deutsch connectors

Baja Designs LED lights use this Weatherpack connector

PreBuilt dualsport kits

http://www.procycle.us/dskits/dskit.htm

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/1156/26724/Tusk-Motorcycle-Enduro-Lighting-Kit?term=enduro%20lighting%20kit

http://sicassracing.com/store/products/lighting_kits

Switches

Tusk handlebar switch http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/1156/25861/Tusk-Compact-Control-Switch-With-Headlights

Sicass http://sicassracing.com/store/products/switches/sicass_switches

Highway Dirt Bike switches http://www.highwaydirtbikes.com/HDB_Shop/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=switch_mounts

Tools I think I'll need

Multimeter

Crimper

Wire stripper

Soldering Iron

Thank You in advance for any tips/insight/pointers!

[Boston Mangler 0]

Deutsch connectors are the best, hands down!

I don't care for the quality of the "dual sport" portion of the wiring on my new EXC, seems like it was just a lame afterthought. I will be replacing all the connectors with Deutsch and tidying it all up.

We did our entire Baja truck in Deutsch connectors. From what i remember, u need a special, fairly expensive tool. We borrowed ours from someone, i dont remember who.

If i were you... I would just buy a new Baja Designs kit and just replace the connectors with Deutsch units. Would probably save you a ton of time and aggravation.

Baja Designs stuff, especially the newer stuff is very well made... I think it would be hard to reproduce it for the $ doing it yourself.

Make sure to use the heavy duty shrink wrap on everything too.

Where are u located? I could probably lend a hand during the week.

My .02

[TrophyHunter 15]

I have all the tools including a heat gun with a limited supply of heat shrink tube. Open to borrow for ya.

[Bagstr 287]

GF,

You are asking for a trouble-shooting nightmare if you choose to learn to be an electrician on your bike.

Didn't someone say the North county Moto Electrical guy makes the harness for Baja Designs?

Sicass makes a complete set of good quality.

Riding around town is one thing, Riding in the wilderness requires more care.

[Vacman 0]

I bought a bag of weatherpack connectors off of Amazon and a bunch of waterproof butt connectors and tool from a motorcycle shop out east. If you want to borrow and replace any of them I'll be happy to share. If it was me I'd probably just replace the affected areas of your bike with better connectors rather than trying to redo the entire harness.

[Goofy Footer 539]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Boston Mangler - the Deutsch connectors are very nice indeed but might be a bit large to place in multiple joints around the bike. The main dualsport harness is a multi-pin connection and other connections like blinkers and horn could be sodered or bullet (with heat sink) connected. I do like the idea of using a Deutsch or Weatherpack connector for the headlight as I often switch headlights (might be tricky to wire a true hi/low into a single light though). I'm in PB.

Trophy - good call on the heat gun, I forgot to include that! Harbor Freight has some nice kits for heat shrink and sometimes their multi-meters are free with coupon. I'll post up the model of the sodering iron I have to see if it is a good model. I hear a quality soldering iron makes a big difference in the quality of the conncetion. Maybe I can check out your tools during a NSU screw tech day! I appreciate the offer.

Bagstr - I don't claim to be an electrician (although I know a certain pro). I will undertake this wiring project with the supervision of a wiring/cable expert with 35 years of experience. It is an incredible offer to learn from him. I hope to copy some of the designs of existing dualsport kits and include my favorite switches/lights etc. My main reason to tackle this project personally instead of outsourcing the labor is to learn the process so I can troubleshoot in the field. I felt pretty helpless in DV but was impressed as a few guys dove into my wiring harness, isolated and repaired the exisitng issues. I agree riding around town isn't the same as off-road. I took this bike solo to Vegas, if these issues had presented themselves a few rides earlier, I'd still be camped in the desert.

Vacman - do you have any links to the kits you bought? I assume you're using the Weatherpack connectors on my old lights? Can you run a hi/low with the Trail Tech X2 while using the Weatherpack? Post a pic if you can!

All - I have a Baja Designs kit on the bike currently. I am not a fan of conintuing with the kit for a few reasons. First the kit is in poor shape, its greatly damaged in the front. Secondly, the kit is a huge mess of wires and connectors. Baja Designs developed the kit to use 3 separate harnesses, a front, middle and rear. This was to cut production costs so they could mix and match different kits to different bikes (as opposed to a Tusk style kit which is "universal" but requires cutting and fitment to your bike). Between the 3 harnesses are connectors, I want to eliminate those extra connectors and run a simplified single harness (like the pic posted above which is a Sicass kit). Third, Baja changed the front end kit and switch from the original harness on my bike. My previous handlebar switch went bad (the replacement promptly went bad as well). In order to fit the new switch onto my old harness I had to get an adapter harness. Now, Baja is running a different switch again and who knows what new adapter it requires. I'd rather start off with a quality (replaceable) switch and wire it in myself so I know how it functions and how to replace it. Baja was the go-to dualsport kit for a number of years. They still are one of the only dualsport kits which offer a true DOT compliant kit (ie highbeam indicator light, DOT blinkers and brakelight) but the are priced considerably higher than other kits on the market. I still very much like BD for lights and I run their Squadron LED light but will not be using their dualsport kit.

This switch is known to fail.

If creating a new harness from scratch becomes too big of a hassle, I might buy a Tusk harness ($40) or another prebuilt harness (posted above) and customize the remaining components to my needs. I want the main ignition hot to be protected and isolated so that in the event of a hard crash which destroys turn signals, my handlebar switch etc I will still be able to start the bike. Headlight is my 2nd priority then estart, brakelight, turnsignals, horn etc. Currently my ignition hot is wired through a number of connectors and it actually pulled out of back of a 9 pin connector while in DV and totally cut power to my bike, leaving me dead in the sand. After an attempt (and subsequent crash) towing, we (hodnetjj and 1NaAdv) figured out the issue and we bypassed the connector by using bullet connectors to splice in a new wire section.

Does anybody have thoughts on hard solder connections vs sheelved bullet type connectors on bikes? What do you prefer to do? Let's use turn signals as an example - do you hardwire them in or bullet/crimp/heatshrink them?

What gauge wire is commonly used on bikes?

Thanks in advance for any additional info!

[Vacman 0]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Boston Mangler - the Deutsch connectors are very nice indeed but might be a bit large to place in multiple joints around the bike. The main dualsport harness is a multi-pin connection and other connections like blinkers and horn could be sodered or bullet (with heat sink) connected. I do like the idea of using a Deutsch or Weatherpack connector for the headlight as I often switch headlights (might be tricky to wire a true hi/low into a single light though). I'm in PB.

Trophy - good call on the heat gun, I forgot to include that! Harbor Freight has some nice kits for heat shrink and sometimes their multi-meters are free with coupon. I'll post up the model of the sodering iron I have to see if it is a good model. I hear a quality soldering iron makes a big difference in the quality of the conncetion. Maybe I can check out your tools during a NSU screw tech day! I appreciate the offer.

Bagstr - I don't claim to be an electrician (although I know a certain pro). I will undertake this wiring project with the supervision of a wiring/cable expert with 35 years of experience. It is an incredible offer to learn from him. I hope to copy some of the designs of existing dualsport kits and include my favorite switches/lights etc. My main reason to tackle this project personally instead of outsourcing the labor is to learn the process so I can troubleshoot in the field. I felt pretty helpless in DV but was impressed as a few guys dove into my wiring harness, isolated and repaired the exisitng issues. I agree riding around town isn't the same as off-road. I took this bike solo to Vegas, if these issues had presented themselves a few rides earlier, I'd still be camped in the desert.

Vacman - do you have any links to the kits you bought? I assume you're using the Weatherpack connectors on my old lights? Can you run a hi/low with the Trail Tech X2 while using the Weatherpack? Post a pic if you can!

All - I have a Baja Designs kit on the bike currently. I am not a fan of conintuing with the kit for a few reasons. First the kit is in poor shape, its greatly damaged in the front. Secondly, the kit is a huge mess of wires and connectors. Baja Designs developed the kit to use 3 separate harnesses, a front, middle and rear. This was to cut production costs so they could mix and match different kits to different bikes (as opposed to a Tusk style kit which is "universal" but requires cutting and fitment to your bike). Between the 3 harnesses are connectors, I want to eliminate those extra connectors and run a simplified single harness (like the pic posted above which is a Sicass kit). Third, Baja changed the front end kit and switch from the original harness on my bike. My previous handlebar switch went bad (the replacement promptly went bad as well). In order to fit the new switch onto my old harness I had to get an adapter harness. Now, Baja is running a different switch again and who knows what new adapter it requires. I'd rather start off with a quality (replaceable) switch and wire it in myself so I know how it functions and how to replace it. Baja was the go-to dualsport kit for a number of years. They still are one of the only dualsport kits which offer a true DOT compliant kit (ie highbeam indicator light, DOT blinkers and brakelight) but the are priced considerably higher than other kits on the market. I still very much like BD for lights and I run their Squadron LED light but will not be using their dualsport kit.

This switch is known to fail.

If creating a new harness from scratch becomes too big of a hassle, I might buy a Tusk harness ($40) or another prebuilt harness (posted above) and customize the remaining components to my needs. I want the main ignition hot to be protected and isolated so that in the event of a hard crash which destroys turn signals, my handlebar switch etc I will still be able to start the bike. Headlight is my 2nd priority then estart, brakelight, turnsignals, horn etc. Currently my ignition hot is wired through a number of connectors and it actually pulled out of back of a 9 pin connector while in DV and totally cut power to my bike, leaving me dead in the sand. After an attempt (and subsequent crash) towing, we (hodnetjj and 1NaAdv) figured out the issue and we bypassed the connector by using bullet connectors to splice in a new wire section.

Does anybody have thoughts on hard solder connections vs sheelved bullet type connectors on bikes? What do you prefer to do? Let's use turn signals as an example - do you hardwire them in or bullet/crimp/heatshrink them?

What gauge wire is commonly used on bikes?

Thanks in advance for any additional info!

Yes, I set it up so I can swap out the 8" and the X2 within seconds. Takes longer to remove them than it does to connect the wiring. I'll shoot some pics for you tonight and link you to the stuff.

[Bagstr 287]

Well, That is Horse of a different Color.

[Goofy Footer 539]

Yes, I set it up so I can swap out the 8" and the X2 within seconds. Takes longer to remove them than it does to connect the wiring. I'll shoot some pics for you tonight and link you to the stuff.

Just curious: The X2 has both high and low beam. Do you run a 3 or 4 pin Weatherpack connector to toggle between high and low power from a switch? I assume of you have a switch, the HID runs on high correct?

[Boston Mangler 0]

If you are set on doing one from scratch and don't mind some downtime, maybe remove the entire BD harness and use it as a template for the new one. Would save some trial an error..

As for the Deutsch being too big.. I agree 100% on that.. BUT... What we did, was consolidate 3-4 different connectors into one big one. Made it much easier to remove light bar on roof, and in the front.

Same idea would work for dual sport, set it up so that you have one plug in the front for turn signals, and headlight, when not needed, unplug.. Same with rear.

Anyway.. That's my warped way of thinking! And what i am going to do for mine...

[Vacman 0]

Yes, I set it up so I can swap out the 8" and the X2 within seconds. Takes longer to remove them than it does to connect the wiring. I'll shoot some pics for you tonight and link you to the stuff.

Just curious: The X2 has both high and low beam. Do you run a 3 or 4 pin Weatherpack connector to toggle between high and low power from a switch? I assume of you have a switch, the HID runs on high correct?

No I run two two pin weather packs, one carries high and ground, the other carries low. You really only need a two and a one and a if you're starting from scratch 3 would be ideal. I just worked with what I had since the 8" was already on a 2.

With the 8" light it just plugs into high and ground. Low is on a separate plug and isn't used. With the x2 both are plugged in with ground/high in one, low in the other. You are correct that high runs the hid.

I have considered the option of adding a small led bar on top of the 8" utilizing the low connector for an around town light. So far I haven't done anything with it because I have a new project to feed my addiction.

[Goofy Footer 539]

Here are some pics of my current Baja Designs Dualsport Kit. I still haven't ordered any connectors/wires yet. I plan on running 18 guage wire unless somebody says otherwise.

Does anybody know of a good source for an assortment of multi-colored wire? I found some bundles on Amazon but they are 50 feet of one color - I don't need that much.

It's a freaking mess of wires and plugs! The 9 piece black connector is from the updated main switch so it will fit to my original middle harness. The white connector is from the original harness. Some of the wires go to the new switch, some continue forward. In the pic is the original wiring for the stock headlight (I have a more detailed picture posted below).

I belive this is the original power for my stock E model headlight. I need to confirm with the manual. These wires are on the left side of the bike when sitting on it. I belive the stock power for the key comes from the right side. Again, I will verify via the Clymers manual I have.

This is with my headlight removed. Here I am highlighting the yellow & green wire which I am holding. Looking right to left starting at the headtube, I count 4 separate connections, splices, funky things before it connects with the orange wire at the 2 plug black clip connector.

Another pic of the main multipin connector. Baja used separate harnesses to save money during production (front/middle/rear harnesses). This in turn creates more connections and possible failure points for the user. This plug (and the multipin black plug posted in picture 1) are cumbersome and sometimes act as premature steering stops during hard left turns - no bueno.

Any advice is much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

[Vacman 0]

Tim, Erik and I put the finishing touches on his sons drz plated conversion last night. He ended up doing the tusk kit and seems pretty thrilled with the results. We did some custom stuff like integrating the stock switch but it's pretty straightforward. Just the led turns and taillight are worth the upgrade IMO. Tusk stuff is 10% off right now at Rocky Mountain so I think the whole setup was like $170 delivered.

[Goofy Footer 539]

Coming back to this thread:

Vacman - do you by chance have a link to the weatherpack tool that you purchased online?

Boston Mangler - I just checked prices for the OEM Deutsch hand crimp tool HDT-48-00 ... Woa! It looks great but I think a knockoff tool will work just fine for my use. Rigid Industries and Cylops Adventure Lights / Vision X use Deutsch connectors.

HDT-48-00-crimp-instructions.pdf

Baja Designs uses Delphi Weatherpack connectors. I have two of their lights that use the 2 prong weatherpack connectors. When I went to the factory last week to ask about dispersion filters, they gave me a couple of male weatherpack connectors so I could setup my bike.

I think having a good crimp is important for a solid connection. What do you guys think about these crimping tools?

Generic 4 indent crimper Amazon (for Deutsch) ~$35

http://www.amazon.com/Closed-Barrel-Contact-4-indent-Crimper/dp/B002CCISPS/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A39ZZJ3OT79TI

Delphi Packard Weatherpack tool ~$37

http://www.amazon.com/Delphi-Packard-Weatherpack-Crimper-Tool/dp/B002CCAEJ6/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1404670022&sr=1-2&keywords=delphi+weatherpack+tool

[Vacman 0]

http://m.economycycle.com/site/mobile?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.economycycle.com%252Fservlet%252Fthe-463%252FProfessional-Bullet-Connector-Crimper%252FDetail

They have a kit that comes with connectors and the tool for around $60. There's also a 10% off code if you google economy cycle code.

[Goofy Footer 539]

http://m.economycycle.com/site/mobile?url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.economycycle.com%252Fservlet%252Fthe-463%252FProfessional-Bullet-Connector-Crimper%252FDetail

They have a kit that comes with connectors and the tool for around $60. There's also a 10% off code if you google economy cycle code.

Thanks for the link, it looks like a good kit. Have you used that tool to crimp weatherpack connectors by chance?

edit: I added a video of weatherpack crimping my previous post

[dirt dame 559]

I had poor luck with the Baja Designs switch too, but had good luck with the switch from Tusk.

[Goofy Footer 539]

I had poor luck with the Baja Designs switch too, but had good luck with the switch from Tusk.

I'm glad to hear the Tusk switch has been working well for you. I recently picked one up too so I'm hopeful for success.

[Goofy Footer 539]

I found a great local company / resource for wiring and connectors - ProWireUSA.com . I bought some Deutsch connectors from them on ebay and they arrived the next day - I'm very happy with the purchase. Check htem out.

Address: 9260 Isaac St, Santee, CA 92071

Phone:(619) 440-9473

I bought the connector/crimp tool kit from Economy Cycle that Vacman posted in the links above - it's a good kit and I was happy once I learned the patience needed for solid crimping. I picked up some wire (standard 18 guage and some rubber coated 18/2 which is pretty nice) and heat shrink at Marshall's Hardware then picked up a cheap heat gun and a big heat shrink kit from HF.

After some trial and error, I successfully completed my first wiring job - quick SAE disconnect to an auxiliary / helmet light. I sacrificed a Battery Tender harness to get the SAE pigtail.

Learning how to crimp. I destroyed a few weatherpack crimps before I got those right.

Learned to heat wrap positive and negative connectors seperately before you heat shrink them together - it took a few blown fuses for me to realize my mistake.

Finished product - it will plug into a battery tender pigtail and disconnect during a crash. I'll test this setup before making another one.

I'm still don't think I'm ready to attack/fix my dualsport kit but this light connector was a fun/frustrating project to start.

[paulmbowers 236]

Great resource, thanks.

[TrophyHunter 15]

Always at it, Tim. Very nice and thx for a local shop.

[Goofy Footer 539]

I spliced in a weatherpack connector to my stock WR headlight wiring so I could run my BD Squadron headlight. It's on anytime the key is turned on (even when the bike isn't running) so I know it's using DC power since I just installed a Trail Tech stator with regulator. No oil leaks from the stator install and no electrical hiccups on the initial night ride around the neighborhood.

The Squadron (spot) is too bright for street use and since I do not have a dimmer box (yet), I'm forced to point the Squadron down as not to blind traffic. An SII (half the Squadron) would probably be a better light for the WR considering I'll use it more for trail riding (not high speed) but we'll see how this works after a few rides. One issue I had was that I'm using BD's EZ Tecate Race Mount kit which replaces the Polisport rubber straps with metal brackets to secure the light to the forks; the brackets push the light forward (off the forks - more space for wiring/computer etc) but a ram mounted auxiliary light as I have shown in this pic now illuminates the backside of the blue headlight shell. On my initial install with a stock WR light, it was much closer to the forks and the auxiliary light shot light directly over it with no interference.

This is a pretty potent setup. The SII auxiliary light is using my first attempt at a quick disconnect harness. I intend to improve the design over time.

I still haven't tackled the dualsport kit on my DRZ - I'm not confident enough to do that on my own yet.