Yamaha 1300 Tourer - The Yamaha 1300 Tourer Fansite

Over the years, believe it or not, I’ve found myself on the side of the road a few times. Not to worry, it was to help others, or make a phone call – my metrics have never failed me yet(OK, ok, once – I ran out of gas, not the bike’s fault) and every time I wished I had hazard flashers to make being on the roadside a little more visible. I know of others that have added this feature to various bikes, so I thought I would adapt it to our beloved 1300.

And once again I’ve taken the trivial and turned it into a Saga for the Ages.

So let’s begin!

This is what I needed (and probably most of what you’ll need):

DPST(Dual Pole, Single Throw) Switch. Preferably weather proof. A DPDT (Dual Pole Double Throw) will work as well, you’ll just have a pair of unused connections. Go crazy, connect your LED engine lights to em!

Weatherproof toggle cover (I’m paranoid)
Fuse holder
10 amp fuse
Flasher Can – Two terminal thermal
Electrical wire – I used 14 gauge since I had plenty on hand. 16 gauge will work fine.
Electrical tape
(4) female spade connectors - weatherproof ones, or at least the type that covers the connector.
(2) T-Taps
(1) Ring connector
Handful of tie wraps

Tools:

Wire crimper
4mm hex tool
T-27 Tamper-Proof key
12mm socket or wrench
1/2 inch drill bit. Or whatever size hole your switch needs.
Razor blade/box cutter
Pliers

Here’s a quick summary of how things will go together. Starting from the right: Power will come through the fuse to the No Load(X) side of the flasher. The Load(L) side of the flasher will connect to the toggle switch, bridging the connectors. The other two connectors of the toggle switch will connect to the left & right blinker circuit of the bike:

Hey! You’re asking, where is the ground to complete the circuit? Just keep in mind we are introducing another power connection to an existing circuit, so the ground is already there.

First, decide where you are going to mount your switch. Handlebar, body panel, etc. I plan on rarely using this, so I want it someplace unobtrusive. I’m going to mount it on the left(clutch) side in front of the gas tank:

Since I’m mounting my switch up front, that means I’m going to have to run my wires to the back to the battery/relay area. First remove the seat:

I’m going to be propping up the tank to get underneath it, so disconnect the Low Fuel indicator on the right side:

Remove the two 12mm bolts in the tank bracket:

Prop up the tank with something. You’re only going to need enough space to slide your fingers under:

Run the electrical wires. There will be three – one for power and one each for left & right:

Strip the wires for the female spade connectors:

Crimp the female spade connectors to the left & right switch wires:

The power wire will be a little different. The power wire will need to jumper across the switch connectors:

Drill 1/2 inch hole for the switch:

Connect the wires to the switch:

Remove the screw ring:

Remove the 4mm hex bolt from the panel. This will allow it flex out and give us some room to work:

Place the switch into the hole:

Replace the screw ring to secure the switch:

Switch in place:

Replace the 4mm hex bolt:

Everything in place:

The switch I’m using is weather proof, but since it’s going on a bike, I’m going to protect it a little more with a weather proof cover:

The cover just screws on like the screw ring of the switch:

Pull the excess wiring to the back of the bike. I secured them to the frame at the back of the tank with a zip tie:

INTERLUDE:
OK, time to decide where you are going to stash the flasher can and splice into the blinker circuit. You can do this all underneath the seat without ever taking the Relay Cover off. For me, this was not an option (for reasons you’ll see shortly), so I had to take off the Relay Cover.

The Relay Cover is the one on the left side with the funky looking bolt and the lock for the seat:

Here’s the tamper-proof bolt:

Here’s the #T-27 key to remove it:

Remove the bolt with the key:

Push the panel towards the front of the bike to remove it. It is held in place by two grommets that slide into notches on the panel:
NOTE: Some people have mounted their switches on the Relay Cover. Just a thought.

This is what’s behind the panel. Not too impressive. The actual relays are the black boxes behind the plugs:

Pull the wiring down into the Relay area and crimp the male spade connectors from the T-Taps to the left & right wires:

Crimp a female spade connector to the power wire:

You can splice into the blinker circuit from the wiring harness that runs along the left side of the battery:
NOTE: I didn’t want to cut into the harness here, as I didn’t want to expose any more than I had to, to the elements. I could have wrapped it all back up with electrical tape, I guess.

Or, splice down by the rear blinker connector(which is what I did). It’s the one in the middle:

Hey! You ask. If this is the rear blinker connector, how are we going to connect to the front blinkers? Well, they’re all on the same circuit, so applying power here will flow back to the front blinkers as well.

Disconnect the plug by pushing in on the tab and pulling up:

Pull the wiring harness out from behind the frame. It will make working on it easier:

Unwrap the electrical tape from the end:

The cover already has a slit in it, so just fold it back:

Use the box cutter to cut the tape holding the wires together:

The wires we are interested in are the dark green and chocolate ones. Connect one of the T-Taps to the dark green wire. The spline of the T-Tap will cut through the insulation and make the connection:

Use pliers to snap the T-Tap together:

Do the same thing for the chocolate wire:

Afterwards, I wrapped a little more electrical tape around the wiring harness and secured it together with a tie wrap.

Run the wire harness back down to the plug and connect it:

Plug the left & right wires to the T-Taps. It doesn’t matter which wire goes where, but by coincidence I ran a green wire, so I connected it to green:

Now to work on the flasher can. You can see an ‘X’(No Load) and an ‘L’(Load) by their respective posts:

Connect the power wire from the switch to the (L)oad side:

INTERLUDE PART II:
How do you want the flasher to work? Do you want to be able to turn it on regardless of whether the key is on? Then run the power straight to the battery. Want it to work only when the key is on? You will have to splice into a switched power wire somewhere. I ran to the battery.

Crimp a female spade connector to one end of the fuse holder and crimp a ring connector (for the battery) on the other end:

Connect the fuse line to the (X) No Load side of the flasher can:

Connect the fuse wire to the battery:

This is why I can’t stuff the flasher can under the seat. I have an aux fuse block there which takes up all the spare room. I connected the power line from the flasher can to my aux fuse block:

The connections on the flasher can are pretty exposed. To keep it from shorting out on something else, I wrapped the connections in electrical tape secured them with tie wraps:

There’s an empty space in the back of the Relay Cover that the flasher can fits in nicely:

Before we button everything back up, let’s flip the switch and see if it works:

WOOHOO! !! SUCCESS!!

Put the Relay Cover back on:

Bolt the gas tank back down:

Re-connect the Low Fuel indicator:

Put the seat back on:

Now, whenever you get the Harley Sneer from someone, just smile and flip on your hazards.

Enjoy!

Afterwards:

There are different types of switches available that you can use. I picked a toggle switch because they are the easiest to find. Check the boating stores for the weather resistant ones. Or, use one of the toggle covers to help protect a regular one. There are some nice switches that clamp to the bars if you want it convenient to use.

Flasher cans are cheap. Check the auto parts stores like Advance Auto. Oddly, or funny, enough, the one I used was for a Harley Davidson. There are two types of flasher cans – thermal and electronic. The thermal one will work just fine. It doesn't matter if the can says it is for a car or bike - it's 12 volt either way and will work.

I connected my flasher can to the battery, so I wouldn't be adding any additional load to an existing power circuit. The down side is that anyone can come along and flip the switch, activating the flashers which could would run the battery down.

I like using T-Taps to splice into wires. It's an easy connection, plus the male connector fits over the tap spine, holding the whole thing together, rather than a splice-tap which just snaps together and can come apart.

All told, this would take around $15 - $20 in parts, if you had to buy everything.

Oh yah, you can pick up a set of tamper-proof keys at an auto store as well, if you don't want to hunt on line.

Boomer Sooner
Potestatem obscuri lateris nescis