Micro voltmeter in handlebar control housing

[TPEHAK]

Next thing you have to do it to make the voltmeter holder from 4-5 mm thickness foam. You can cut foam manually using blade. You can use foam with adhesive layer or you can put adhesive layer on the foam before cutting. I performed measurements and prepared the file for laser cutter to cut the foam. The hole in the foam should snugly fit the voltmeter. Do not forget to remove the protective film from the voltmeter display before trying to stick it into the foam.

I recommend you secure the wires on the voltmeter with hot glue so they will not come apart.

Remove the adhesive protective layer from the foam and carefully put the foam in the place in the housing. Do not push the foam to the bottom. Put the voltmeter in the foam hole and make sure the voltmeter display is aligned with the window properly, correct the foam and the voltmeter position if necessary and then push the foam to the bottom so the adhesive layer will stick in to the place.

Make sure the internal components fit into the front panel and do not interfere with the voltmeter. In my case the voltmeter slightly interfered with the plastic lug of the turn signal switch so I cut a chamfer on the lug using blade to clear the space.

Now shorten the metal legs on the back side of the voltmeter using small nippers so they will not stick into the wires in the harness.

Cut a protective layer for back side of the voltmeter from thick tape and put it on the back side of the voltmeter

Now you can start to assemble all together. Do not cut the voltmeter wired into the length yet.


Attach the light switch and secure it with screw

Attach the turn signal switch and secure the lower lug of the switch with screw. Also properly route the wires under the plastic shelf.

 

[TPEHAK]

Now you can cut the voltmeter wires to necessary length and solder them into the spots. You have to solder the red voltmeter wire with orange wire (horn power source) and the black voltmeter wire with the ground wire. Originally there is no ground wire in the left hand control housing, but you can route ground wire for the voltmeter from the black wire of the clutch switch (the clutch switch is close to the left hand control housing and the housing has a hole you can use to route the ground wire from the clutch switch). In my case I had already modified wiring in the left hand control wire harness and in my case the ground is connected to the one wire of the high beam flasher button because I use this button to control the motogadget instrument cluster.

Here is the wires you can use to connect the voltmeter.

Install all internal components back into the housing

Secure the wire harness with zip tie.

Attach the wire guide.

Cut a thick piece of soft foam, put adhesive on it and put the foam on the back side of the voltmeter. This foam will secure the voltmeter from moving back.

Attach the housing back on the handlebar and test it. Done!

 

[djs2k2]

Buell248 that's creepy, in your basement.....

 

[stellio78]

Nice job

I'd love one on my bike but that's to much work for me

 

[Cooter]

Very nice job!
Now, where's my lasers? I think I used them all for my sharks?

 

[Simplymichaeljr]

Looks good. I'm planning to install a mini rocker switch and minI push button for my angel eyes, devil eyes, high and low beam. I'll start the thread shortly, once my relay/socket harness arrives. How much room inside the control housing is there to work with?

 

[user_deleted]

prepping for incoming flurry of:
"Lunatic....do you or Paul stock any left handlebar switchgear control housings? i bitched mine up trying to install volt gauge."
"Lunatic....how do you reinstall left side handlebar switchgear? mine "kind of" went together but huge gap between the 2 halves when i go to tighten it down."

 

[BuellyBagger]

prepping for incoming flurry of:
"Lunatic....do you or Paul stock any left handlebar switchgear control housings? i bitched mine up trying to install volt gauge."
"Lunatic....how do you reinstall left side handlebar switchgear? mine "kind of" went together but huge gap between the 2 halves when i go to tighten it down."

well they are an SOB to put together.... I'd just wrap some black tape around it to fill the gap it'll be fine.

THEPAK thats a hell of an install, nicely done. Once again WAAAAYYY to complicated for my taste but very nice just the same!

 

[TPEHAK]

Looks good. I'm planning to install a mini rocker switch and minI push button for my angel eyes, devil eyes, high and low beam. I'll start the thread shortly, once my relay/socket harness arrives. How much room inside the control housing is there to work with?
View attachment 6546

I feel the big switch is too tall to be placed in the front panel of the housing. The distance between the handlebar tube and the top face of the front panel is less than one inch. Maybe shortening the switch legs will be enough to place it inside. The small button should be OK.

 

[HighwayHum72]

pretty cool. does it come with an 80's soundtrack?

 

[Simplymichaeljr]

Yeah I planned to trim the legs, eliminating connectors, and soldering the wires. Or if there's not enough room I'll just install 3 of the mini push buttons. Thanks for the info.

 

[Chili]

Very tastefully done.

Chili

 

[midway]

I like the little LED's size for a voltmeter but the locations not for me. I see room for it in the upper end of the fuse box cover and then just solder a lead to a fuse and plug it into one of several empty slots grounding the other. Your thoughts TPEHAK?

Not that there is anything wrong with your choice of location but I can find extra fuse box covers and using the box location would be like wiring for dummies easy leaving a little slack to remove the cover and still stay connected.

 

[TPEHAK]

If you mean to put the voltmeter on the fuse box under the seat it will be useless because of you will not see it. The whole idea of this modification is monitoring voltage while riding constantly for peace of mind and for detecting charging problems before it will be too late.

 

[midway]

If you mean to put the voltmeter on the fuse box under the seat it will be useless because of you will not see it. The whole idea of this modification is to monitor voltage while riding constantly.

Nope I have a firebolt, fuse box is visible from the drivers seat. Ordered the blue one I going to assume some of you boys must have your fuse box's under your seat.

 

[TPEHAK]

Then it should work just fine, just make sure you follow wiring diagram from service manual to connect your gauge properly. You can also put voltmeter inside instrument cluster, you need to disassemble it and cut an opening for the voltmeter screen.

http://www.buellxb.com/forum/showthread.php?37717-voltage-gauge-install-pics

 

[midway]

Then it should work just fine, just make sure you follow wiring diagram from service manual to connect your gauge properly.[/url]

It will look like this :up: to return to stock profile would only take a moment to unplug a fuse and replace with an OEM cap. Thanks for the idea!