If the main harness has (say for instance) female gender connectors, you may be able to build your dashboard harness with discreet male spade contacts and simply forego the connector housing.

And too, Motorrad Elektrik does stock some of the German housings.

As far as prevention of a re-occurrence, the stock German design leaves a lot to want for in the area of fuses and harness protection. Please read This Thread Right Here

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info on where to fuse those circuits. I have the old harness almost out, taking my time. The replacement harness has some extra wiring like for a relay an buzzer somewhere in the back of the bike. I'm guessing the harness is for the European version, mine is a US version.
Thanks
redhorse

If you are adept at harness building, then the very best place for fuse placement is in place of the ring lug at the positive battery post. Typically that's where the RED wires starts, but it does require soldering and should have heat shrink over the joint.

The referenced article places the fuses at the ignition switch end, which is simply easier to implement for most people, but leaves the length of RED wire between the battery and ignition switch unprotected.

As you and I both found out, the 2 fuses BMW placed are laughable in their effectivity.

Amen to that. I'll put a fuse in at the battery too, 20 amp should handle it. Thanks for the in put.

Yes, 20A is an excellent size in that position. You may still want separate 2A fuses on the clock and GPS/phone charger ports. Nothing gained by having your phone knock out the ignition !

Be sure and use the modern "flat pack" type fuse holders (2 sizes to choose from) and NOT the older cylindrical glass style fuse. The flat pack fuse holders have a "hooded" version that offers complete weather protection.

when I bought my 74 R90 and did a (wreck) / restoration work ....... I added an RS fairing back in 1980 , I remoted the 2 fuses to the dash. i used a 4 wire trailer connector to keep that weather/ waterproof. never had any issues yet.

i made my own harness for the whole dash and added a second dc volt meter to the system along w/ LED blinker lamps. this is all a plug in and play harness so if needed i can easily remove the fairing when needed.

All are crimped, soldered and heat shrunk connections. clock/ volt meter x 2 LEDs etc. i used a couple 2-3-4 wire trailer connectors or molex type in my harness for the other additions.

I also have a GPS, XM, and Starcom and many other additions wired to & the bike's dash area . if the plugs are NLA then change them out with a modern waterproof type connection.

Harry, what you need is more gizmos to distract your attention from the road !

👿

you should see my long distance rider mera /iba bike. :silly:
my other 4 bikes are 30-50's and are bare bones machines.

the gps has xm and i listen to music while riding. i don't just ride 40-50 miles NO different than looking at a mobile phone for traffic which i think is dumb. this GPS is waterproof and made for M/Cs. everything else is by feel mostly.

as you say Ride Em !

After rebuilding the new sub-harness for the dash area i found the culprit of the short. The 12v. accessory plug, old cigarette lighter type, shorted at the back due to corrosion. Used for GPS and phone re-charger. Will replace with a marine quality receptacle, quality aluminum and sealed. Also add that fused link. Found the the red feed line from the starter relay also melted.
Is anyone familiar with the buzzer and relay circuit on these bikes? I'm guessing it's for the directional lights, no back up alarm on these bikes.
thanks,
redhorse

Also add that fused link

a fused link will burn creates heat under the plastic ???

After rebuilding the new sub-harness for the dash area i found the culprit of the short. The 12v. accessory plug, old cigarette lighter type, shorted at the back due to corrosion. Used for GPS and phone re-charger. Will replace with a marine quality receptacle, quality aluminum and sealed.

Hey, congrats on a successful investigation. Not to beat a dead horse, but to underline this for other readers... a simple 2A fuse on this outlet would have saved your harness and you a LOT of trouble. There are NO fuses in the stock BMW harness to cover your accessories !!

Also add that fused link.

Semantics !! You really meant add the "link with a 2A fuse". A "fused link" is a term used to denote the main fuse on an automobile harness, typically with a fuse value of 40-50A !!

Found the the red feed line from the starter relay also melted.

That's probably the other end of the RED wire going up to the ignition switch. In a BMW harness RED wires are "hot" all the time, and do not lose power when the ignition switch is turned OFF. Damage at one end of the wire will be equal to damage at the other. You might want to pull a whole new RED wire as you pull out the old.

Is anyone familiar with the buzzer and relay circuit on these bikes? I'm guessing it's for the directional lights, no back up alarm on these bikes.

I have a '79 and an '88 (which bracket your model) and there is no "buzzer" anywhere. ???

The BMW flasher unit looks like and is priced like a relay, but is merely a simple flasher unit. (The reason for the complex flasher design is that under German law, the rate of flash has to be constant until the battery dies.) Since these blinkers aren't self canceling, someone may have added a beeper or buzzer, but that would probably be aftermarket stuff.

All the best !

Thanks for the break down of issues on my dilemma. I believe you're right about the flasher part in the harness. EME sells this harness as a European version which would account for the extra wiring which is not included on my original harness, US version. The schematic that came with the harness shows the wiring and labels the relay and buzzer, all incorporated in with the directional circuitry. I wondering if i leave the relay, or flasher, out of the circuit will that effect the rest of the directional circuit? Still working on installing the new harness and hope to have it completed shortly, no pun intended.
redhorse