The Venturers - Yamaha Venture Technical Support Library

Not a member? Join Today to see why so many say they are Proud to be a Venturer!

Library Home Page > 2nd Generation (1999 to current) > Electrical

Trailer Wiring

  Author: Archives
  Views: 12559     Votes: 3
  Print

Trailer Light Wiring

Contributed by Norms99

Generally, a motorcycle with self cancelling signals and four way flashers, like the Venture, are not mechanical. Therefore, they will not work properly when adding additional lights.

First off, it makes a big difference if your trailer has seperate turn signals or if it uses the brake light filament for the turn signals. Mine had seperate signal lights, so worked with that.

I first searched the internet and found a solid state adapter made for this problem. The price in Canada was over $150, or $100 US and I'm too cheap to pay that much for $20 worth of electronics. So I made my own from available parts. Relay - $8, wire connectors - $2.50.
I used 2 standard relays, like those used for putting fog lights on a car, available at most auto supply stores. I found the best place to mount these was under the metal frame plate, just below the seat, and back of the battery. Very handy for power and wiring as it's all right there. It's a little better than behind the license plate like most have used. Mount the relays, one to the left and one to the right, under the plate, as the seat fits close in this area.

Power is routed from the battery to a fuse, through the relays, to the trailer signal lights with a single wire. Power for the relay comes from the bike wiring harness, to the relay and then to ground. I know it sounds complicated, but it's very easy to set up and is well protected and out of sight.
The wiring diagram that comes with the relays will show their hookup. The bike system is green for right signal and brown for left signal. With this system, all the wires are right in the same location and simple to hook up to the trailer wiring harness. I didn't use the bike ground, but wired directly to battery ground.

I also feel that using four relays for the trailer lights is a safer way to go. That way, if anything goes wrong with the wiring or the lights on the trailer, the fuse will blow and lights on the bike will still work. I think the best location for the four relays would be under the trunk, with the wiring from behind the license plate.

All wire joints are soldered and sealed with Shrink Tite. This seals out moisture and prevents shorts to ground. The relay connections are made with ground proof spring clips. They are all available at Radio Shack.

Last update: 04:59 PM Sunday, September 26, 2004

All material on webpages under the domain venturers.org, is the property of The Venturers, Inc. These materials are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce or retransmit the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of The Venturers, Inc. The free information contained herein is offered in the spirit of helping others and any action or advice taken from these pages is the sole responsibility of the receiver.