Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => Accessories and modifications - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: fsr402 on April 14, 2014, 10:09:28 AM
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Does anyone make a "plug n play" trailer wiring harness for the C14? Will be installing a hitch soon and will need to wire something up. If there is a way to do it without cutting that would be great.
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Not that I'm aware of. :(
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I figured as much but was hopping I was wrong. :'(
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Hey 402,
I bought mine through www.openroadoutfitters.com (http://www.openroadoutfitters.com). Was very easy to install. checkem out. they have some good stuff and info for the sport touring rider.
Mark
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I would wait to buy that harness, until you have the actual trailer.
They all vary in their use of signals vs signals and brake lights.
When I was doing my harbor freight trailer, I actually had to buy a 5 (or six??) pin connector setup, and also re-run extra wires and add additional led brake lights due to the C14 having separate circuits for all the lights on the bike.... specifically 3 wires for the tail light, and 2 wires each for each signal.
I didn't want to spend $130 for a harness I could make for $25 ;D ;D ::)
most trailer harnesses are wired for a dual usage on the brake light bulb, and that uses a typical common, won't wire correctly to the C14 like that.
Take my advice, it will save headaches.
With that said, making your own harness is really simple, and the interface plug sets with 6 feet of wire on each end are readily available at most autoparts stores.
You will have to figure out the wires in the tail section to splice into. I'll also warn that all those wires are small and I believe aluminum wire, iirc they are 20awg, and don't work well with the scotchlok splices. I took mine apart 3 times before simply snipping and stripping the wires to twist them all together.
I also wanted to run marker lights
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/194_zps16a7a402.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/194_zps16a7a402.jpg.html)
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/150_zps17663bd1.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/150_zps17663bd1.jpg.html)
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/727_zpsf7439e7e.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/727_zpsf7439e7e.jpg.html)
oh, I'll also caution you about the hitches out there for sale...
Kawacop bought a decent hitch, and has been using it for longer than me....
I would recommend the hitch he is using.
I made the mistake of buying the "made in USA" Bushtec hitch.... big mistake...
I had major fitment issues, and all they would offer me was to refund my money... not acceptable.
I basically had to cut it apart, machine it, re-weld it, and re-paint it to make it "fit"
You can read about it here;
http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=12627.msg171239;topicseen#msg171239 (http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=12627.msg171239;topicseen#msg171239)
starting at my post #42,
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Harbor Freight has several trailer harness options.
I agree about waiting to get a harness. See what the trailer needs before you buy anything.
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I found a trailer on Craiglist so I have that now. Last fall I bought a used Bushtec hitch thru this sight I think or maybe the other one. Don't remember. Man of blues is right. That is the most ill fitting POS I have ever seen. Thought getting it used I would get lucky and it was either a good one or the other guy modified it to make it fit. Either way I got it on yesterday now I just need to figure out the wiring. Anyone of you could tell me what wires to tap into?
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Red or Orange = Input brake signal
Yellow = Running light also known as “+12V”
Black = Ground
White = Modulated output
do these help at all?? not sure if the colors are the same, but this is from my modulator
http://www.vizi-tec.com/supabrake-2/ (http://www.vizi-tec.com/supabrake-2/)
unplug the brake light conector, one is 12v switched, on is with the brakes on, and one ground. don't recall bike colors, sorry.
that modulator can also be fitted with an extra harness lead, http://www.vizi-tec.com/supabrake-2h/ (http://www.vizi-tec.com/supabrake-2h/) (what i have)
have a discount code if interested!! works great ;D
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So you have that with a trailer wired to it?
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could easily, same as top case wiring isn't it ?? ???
no trailer here, just trying to help.
shoot, no turn signals, never mind sorry :-X
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You bring up a good point though. Some top boxes are wired for tail, brake and turn. I'll look into that too. Thanks.
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Admore has a C14 plug in harness that connects to its light bar. I bought one when I installed their lightbar. It was $25, IIRC. $29.99 now. The Admore harness could very easily be adapted to plug into a trailer circiut, instead of the light bar, which would avoid having to make multiple splices into the C14 circuits. I would recommend taking a look at it. It specifies any accessory with <two amp draw...don't understand that, tho.
http://admorelighting.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=137 (http://admorelighting.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=137)
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Sweet, ordered one up. Will get an isolator and use this to connect to the bike.
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Sweet, ordered one up. Will get an isolator and use this to connect to the bike.
care to tell us the actual wires and circuit existing on the trailer you bought?
as I noted in my o/p, buying harness' without knowing fully what you are powering is.... kinda silly.
heed my word on the C14 tail light /brake/ signal needs above also...
they don't use combined commons.
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care to tell us the actual wires and circuit existing on the trailer you bought?
as I noted in my o/p, buying harness' without knowing fully what you are powering is.... kinda silly.
heed my word on the C14 tail light /brake/ signal needs above also...
they don't use combined commons.
Ok so what I have is two LED pods, one on each side. It has the standard 4 pin pigtail.
One wire is ground.
One wire is LH stop/turn.
One wire is RH stop/turn.
The last wire is marker/tail lamp and license plate.
My thought was I would use that harness that I ordered to plug into the bike, then into an isolator then to the pigtail.
Last time I wired up a trailer plug on a bike was in the 80's. Thing are a bit more complicated now it seems.
MAN OF BLUES, any info would be appreciated.
I am considering adding some LED strips to the trailer for more light but would just run them the same as the lights that are on there now. Don't think that would be a problem but maybe I'm wrong. :)
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I was thinking this isolator.
http://www.customcruiserchrome.com/files/1909488/uploaded/converter.jpg (http://www.customcruiserchrome.com/files/1909488/uploaded/converter.jpg)
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Ok so what I have is two LED pods, one on each side. It has the standard 4 pin pigtail.
One wire is ground.
One wire is LH stop/turn.
One wire is RH stop/turn.
The last wire is marker/tail lamp and license plate.
My thought was I would use that harness that I ordered to plug into the bike, then into an isolator then to the pigtail.
Last time I wired up a trailer plug on a bike was in the 80's. Thing are a bit more complicated now it seems.
MAN OF BLUES, any info would be appreciated.
I am considering adding some LED strips to the trailer for more light but would just run them the same as the lights that are on there now. Don't think that would be a problem but maybe I'm wrong. :)
the problem is the stop/turn function...
you don't have the capacity to run these correctly iiac.
signals are +/- each, running is +/-, and stop is + run, +brake, and -neg
that totals 4 + (pos) wires, and 1 - (neg)
it's a 5 wire circuit, and canbus systems need to be obeyed. ;)
I've never run one of those converters, and would not be inclined to myself, you may wish to tho.
I feel loosing the double brake lights while the turn signal is activated is a shortcoming... jmho.
I'd simply add 2 led high/low tail lights to the system, Harbor freight, and run those as dedicated running/brake only, and use the existing trailer lights as running/turn lighting.
More light, less hassle, and a simple 5 wire trailer harness from Autozone.
kinda like this
I wired the outboard big lights as running (and license plate) & signals, as they have side marker and signal bulbs also for visibilty, and the middle LED ones as running/brake
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/863_zps2ceb0186.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/863_zps2ceb0186.jpg.html)
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/727_zpsf7439e7e.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/727_zpsf7439e7e.jpg.html)
(http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/u672/MAN_OF_BLUES/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/194_zps16a7a402.jpg) (http://s1327.photobucket.com/user/MAN_OF_BLUES/media/old%201/COG%20TECHNICAL%20PHOTOS/H-F%20TRAILER/194_zps16a7a402.jpg.html)
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Did you run any kind of isolator (relay system)? Or did you just tap right into the bike and call it good?
Worried about lover loading the bikes wires.
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I'm also looking to add a hitch and wiring harness to my C-14 and was wondering if there was a consensus regarding whether or not a relay isolator is a good idea or if it's fine to just wire directly in to the harness.
Thanks,
MW