Givi Trunk

[peterbaron]

I have a Givi V46 (I think it is) on a Honda Rack. Mounted like Jambo shows. I bought the light kit directly from Givi in North Carolina (they also have a place out West) and it came with all the spring connectors. I don't like them but the connector for the rack to box works well. I had trouble with the one for the box to lid for the lights. So much trouble I finally just hard wired that one. The Givi on my ST works just as Givi designed it though. I will say I HATE those connectors. They are difficult to work with.

The lights themselves are LED. Each side on mine consists of an LED panel that has the LEDs wired in 2 groups with each group fused with a small surface mount fuse. So if one group of LEDs pops a fuse you still have at least half of the lights on that side.

That happened to me. The bad thing is that you cannot buy a Light by itself. You have to buy a new kit.

I wired mine as brake lights but there can be other options that they don't mention but the LED card is wired for.

Funny story. Being a tech and working with techs, I took the bad card in to work. One of the techs grabbed it and said he was going to figure out what was wrong. I said one of the LEDs is shorted and the fuse for that bank popped. Not good enough for him. So he jumpers the fuse and hooks up the card to a bench power supply, turns it on and a WHOLE LOT of magic smoke appeared. Burned the card up! Jeez dude, that blown fuse should have told you something. Maybe you had to be there but it was funny.

Lol... we had a guy in our shop, who used to use needle nose pliers to check for a circuit short.
He inserted pliers in place of a fuse and was checking where the circuit was smoking...making harness a fusible link...and resulting in burnt harness replacement..

He earned a nick name of mechanico-electrico and after two tests, we replaced him permanently!!

[Gone in 60]

Quote:Lol... we had a guy in our shop, who used to use needle nose pliers to check for a circuit short.
He inserted pliers in place of a fuse and was checking where the circuit was smoking...making harness a fusible link...and resulting in burnt harness replacement..
Along those lines, I worked as a mechanic at a Pep Boys in Anaheim during college. I changed the battery in a customer's Plymouth Reliant in the parking lot. After removing the old battery, I set it on the ground in front of his car.

After I was done with the installation, the customer thanked me, and instead of backing out of the parking spot, he drove forward, over the top of the old battery. When the car came down and the suspension compressed, the frame whacked the top of the battery, which had just enough juice left in it that the two terminals welded themselves to the bottom of his car. As he drove off, I was chasing him, waving my arms.

He drove off with the battery stuck to the bottom of his car. Never came back, either. I found that curious.

[Jambo_imp]

Hey, Jambo, since you asked about the details about the LED strip on the back edge of my GIVI mount plate, here ya go.

I used a Custom Dynamics TruFlex red strip. They are available in different lengths based on number of LEDs. I got the 45-LED strip in "smoke" finish, so it blends in to the back of the mount plate and you don't really see it until it lights up.

https://www.customdynamics.com/red-led-t...ng?cat=320

The LED strip has 3M mounting tape on the back side, and being flexible, molds to the slight V shape of the back of the mount plate.

To mount it, I cut up some scrap sheet metal and attached a bunch of tabs to the inside of the back edge of the mount plate, sticking down just enough for the LED strip to attach to. I could have just stuck the LED strip directly to the back edge of the mount plate, but that would leave the wire coming out of the end of the strip exposed to the possibility of being bumped and pulled out. By putting the strip under the plate, the wire is not visible or subject to damage.

With the strip mounted under the mount plate, the next step is running the wiring. The strip has two fragile strands of wire coming out of one end. I covered the wire in 3/16" shrink wrap to protect it and make it look nicer.

Here's where I took two different routes with my two bikes. On the CB, the rack only sits a few inches above the chrome "bridge" in front of the taillight that attaches to the fender. I ran the wire under the frame of the rack, then dropped it down and tucked it under the open bottom of the "bridge". It's hard to take photos under the rack, but you can see how I routed the wire in one of the photos.

On the Bonneville, the Givi rack is raised up and is well over the taillight. I didn't want a wire dangling down that distance to tuck into the taillight housing. Instead, I got some flexible U-channel chrome door edge molding, and cut a stip to fit along the inside of the rack, and attached it to the rack with a strip of 3M mounting tape. Unless you look up under the rack, you can't see the strip of molding, and the LED wiring can tuck inside the molding and run down and under the seat. It is fully concealed.

On both bikes, I just tapped the LED strip into the brake light wiring at the bulb. On the Bonneville, I had already installed the same LED strip on the bottom edge of my license plate. Adding a second strip up higher behind the Givi rack puts the second strip more at eye-level with a car behind me. With both LED strips flashing when I hit the brakes, it puts on quite a light show, and should provide some safety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38OSm3yZHq4

Jambo, I will give you one word of warning... since you bought your rack from a non-U.S. dealer, as I did, Givi USA will not give you warranty support. When I bought the rack for the Bonneville, the holes didn't quite line up. I have used Givi products for years, and have always received excellent customer service.

When I contacted Givi USA for warranty service on the Bonneville rack, they required proof of purchase. I sent them my Motostorm receipt. They very abruptly told me that since I didn't buy the rack from a U.S. distributor, they would not help me. It wasn't too big a deal - I just opened up the mounting holes a bit. But, if your rack has any problems, be ready for that...

Very cool! What modulates the light?

Fortunately, the rack installed without too much trouble. At first it did not look like it was going to fit, but I had to spread it and it made it. That was difficult with only two hands, and I did not want to scratch my baby. Hopefully there aren't some hidden scratches to the subframe paint where the rack attaches. I think I achieved that. As was mentioned, gotta watch out for those amateur welds. I have a hack though. Get some Turtle Wax Chrome Polish. I swear by that stuff. I have restored 40 yo fenders with it, and you would be surprised at how it takes off all but the most pitting type of rust formation. Let it sit, and then wipe with a rag. Only costs $3 a bottle at Walmart for a 12 ounce bottle.
Other than that, now that it is on, the likelihood of it failing is low. Welds look terrible, but they should hold. Kinda reminds me of my welding skills. "The bigger the blob, the better the job"....

[Gone in 60]

Jambo, for light modulators, I use GS-100A Flash Strobe Controllers. They can be had on Ebay for about five bucks each. I've used them for years and have never had one go bad. Just search that description. Easy Peasy.