Friday, April 3, 2009

Touratech Relay Unit

I have three additional electrical items on my Pan that are powered through this relay unit.

Heated grips. (Not Honda's but Oxford wrap around grips).

Plugs for Chilli heated jackets.

Power wiring for Garmin Zumo 550 GPS.

This little unit ensures all my extra wiring goes off with the ignition. The relay sits under the tail unit behind the rear seat. A much tidier solution than connecting all the wires to the battery terminals.

Touratech Relay Unit in position under rear seat on a Honda Pan European (ST1300)The unit has a main supply fuse (15 amp). There are five output terminal pairs, which means when I've decided how to mount my auxiliary socket wiring it will be easy as I have two spare connections available. I have fused the individual circuits as I previously did with their own in-line fuses. The output connections are all standard 'spade' connectors which makes connecting the wiring simple.

The trigger wire runs to the rear light. As my Pan turns it's lights on as soon as the ignition is on and I had to go in the rear light unit to connect the wiring for the the brake light repeater on my Givi top box. It was much easier to connect here than trying to trace an ignition controlled wire in the loom somewhere. If you have an earlier Pan who's lights are manually controlled you can use the supply to the auxiliary socket to switch on this relay unit. This is an easy wire to find too.

Music on the Move

Yesterday I tried the mp3 function of my Garmin Zumo. Music as I ride, I thought it would be fun.

I turned it off after about ten miles. I really tried to enjoy the experience, but it was just too distracting. The music directly into my ears seemed to affect my balance, maybe it was the stereo effect or just the 'inside my head feeling'. I can cope with brief mobile phone calls and instructions from the GPS, but music, no.

For me it seems my brain hasn't the capacity to deal with music and riding my bike.

How come I can't drive a car without music?