Phil's Mods

[Phil]

I'm updating this post with a full list of mods, for ease of finding them as I get older and forget

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Phils Spyder Mods
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Additional front fuse panel
Mud Flap Lights
BrightSides front and rear
Kewlmetal Run-Turn-Brake light http://www.kewlmetalstore.com/product_info.php?products_id=633
Double Play Unit
12vdc dash convenience outlet
AEM Voltage Meter
TricLed TricFenderz - Amber / Red
Front DayRunners
RTGloRyder http://www.gloryder.com/can-am-spyder-accessories.php
Custom Dynamics - Various Stingerz LED sticks (Purple) http://www.customdynamics.com/
Black Magic Remote LED Control
DRL Cornering Lights with TDR control
Puddle Lights & switch
Master Accessory Power Switch & relay
LED Licenseplate light
LED Frunk Surround
LED Fendertip lights
LED Seatglow light
LED Trunk lights
LED Glove Box light
LED Under Dash light
Dimmers for Dash & TricFenderz lights
~~new 07/23/11~~
HID Headlights
LEDs under rear fender
LEDs (purple) as 'eye lashes' above headlights (01/02/12)
Backup/rear view Camera (01/02/12)
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Bluetooth Receivers
Bluetooth Transmitter
4 Channel Audio Mixer
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Extra WAGO LeverNuts (power distribution)
Billet Axel Covers Front end Dressup Kit
Green Filter
Swaybar
Elka Shocks (7/2011)
Utopia Backrest (6/2011)
Fog HIDs
Gizmo Mount Bracket
Küryakyn Widow Pegs
BRP Chrome Mirror Accents
BRP Chrome Exhaust Accent
~~~~~NEW 11/11/11 RT622 Trailer~~~~~~
Interior while LED halo of light
Front and back lid halo of Purple LEDs
GloRyders for trailer wheels(DIY, not stock)
Battery- 12ah to power trailer lights while not connected to bike (12/28/12)
~~~~~~~~ MISC ~~~~~~
Lambs Wool Gel Seats - http://www.amspecialtiesusa.com/gelpad.htm

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Here's a pic of my RT SE5 PE as it looked when I started the mods:

Some of the things I'm working on:

1. Redo the power distribution to power the current and additional LEDs.
2. Adding quick disconnect so frunk can be easily removed, even with all the extra LEDs.
3. Redo mounting of the Fog HID ballasts
4. Add many more purple LEDs to frunk
5. Add purple LED that accents fog housing
6. Add master on off switch & relay for new power buss (see #1)
7. Add TricFenderz LEDs
8. Add mud flap LEDs (wire into turn signals)
9. Add dimmer for TricFenderz
10. Add white LED strips in glove box and under dash
11. Add dimmer for glove box and dash lights
12. Add 'puddle lights' under mirrors
13. Add wiring and separate switch for puddle lights
14. Add RunBrakeTurn LED strip to back of bike
15. Redo previous Bluetooth work to 'mix' audio from all Bluetooth sources rather than having them fight for supremacy order.
16. Seems like there'd something else??!!!

I'm fortunate to be one of the guys to have a heated garage with good working lighting and tool boxes. Took me a bunch of years to get tot this point, but I'm very blessed. So, I can take my time and do things the right way.

Stay tuned....

 

[SpyderWolf]

Sounds like a great winter project list. I wish you the best in getting it all done, and being able to show it off.

 

[Phil]

Upper Wind Deflector LEDs

I'm almost finished with all of the mods. The list grew a bit. Again, I'm not a paint or mechanical guy and I do work for a living, so... the mods are mainly electrical and done on weekends. I'm proud to say that in 5 weeks of work, I only blew 2 fuses!! Yea me!! And when I blew them, I knew exactly what I did and knew exactly which fuse to replace.

Descriptions below pics....

This is garage bay #3 where the fun takes place. I've set up the workbench (all from Sam's Club) so I have plenty of outlets and power supply for my netbook. You'll see my Brother label printer. I find putting tags on the wiring helps me remember what I did after the fact. One of the early things I did was to get a battery tender and so I don't kill the bike battery while I'm working on it, I keep the tender plugged into the 12v accessory outlet in the trunk. Works VERY well.

After I get things cleaned up, I'll be adding slat board plastic hanging system. I have it in the rest of the garage for our gardening tools and its great stuff.

Part of the LED mods I did included adding Purple LEDS behind the upper wind deflectors. An accent I've done over the years is to light glass or plastic from an edge. Depending on the material, it then looks like it is glowing on its edges. I've used purple 95% of the places. All of the accent lights are tied into a Street Magic remote (love it)

After I get it out on the street, I may add a purple lighting gel in front of the LEDs to mute them a bit. I need to see them in comparison to all the other lights. I'll have to go back a figure out where I found these particular thin LEDs.

More to come......

 

[Slybird]

Certainly looks beautiful. I've often wondered how one could improve on the looks of a Timeless Black RT-S....but you sure hit the nail on the head, my friend. :thumbup: I'm jealous!!

 

[JimAlpha]

RT Looking good. Love the garage too!

 

[Hawk Eye]

Mods

Nice looking mods, and great looking garage.:2thumbs:

Pete

 

[SpyderWolf]

Wow! If I had a place like that to work on my Spyder I might not ever get it put back together. Great job on the mods so far. :thumbup:

 

[Motavar]

Nice man nice! Good to see a tricked out RT.

 

[Phil]

Wow! If I had a place like that to work on my Spyder I might not ever get it put back together.

HA! Well, I finally got everything finished tonight and got it all back together. NO leftover screwshyea: and only one push pin left. Only took 6 weeks. AND... it started and ran just great. I ran it around the block to be sure all was functioning and that nothing would fall off :roflblack:

Every house we had owned for 23 years had zero or near zero garage space. We moved into this home about 14 months ago and when we first saw the garage, I was in love! 1500 sqft. We've been blessed.ray: I'm very thankful.

I'll work on posting all of the other mods and final pics ASAP.

 

[TicketBait]

very nice Phil, gosh 1500 sq ft is the same size as my entire place, that's just your garage:bowdown: Did I hear Garage party at Phils :yes:
oh and nice lighting on the spyder too! hyea:

 

[Phil]

Bluetooth for the masses (ok... just my Spyder)

I spent HOURS researching this. I now know more about Bluetooth than I ever wanted to know. And I realize that I now know less than I thought I knew. This solution is about the only way I could figure out how to make this work. I AM interested in any other ways to make this happen!! I want to also give a HUGE thanks and deep appreciation here to all of those that have gone before. The pioneers like Lamonster, Scotty, Mark, others. You guys figured out lots on the RT and gave me the confidence that me, a software geek, might be able to do the mod thing. THANKS!! :clap::clap:

My requirements were to be able to SIMULTANEOUSLY listen to the bike audio (I'll call it the FM), audio from my TomTom, listen for iPhone things like incoming TXTs and email, AND have intercom to my wife's helmet. I know... I'm in a 12 step program for being picky. I first tried to use the Bluetooth in each helmet as the connection point. Nope. It has to do with there being a Bluetooth priority order that is fixed and cannot be adjusted. My iPhone would always link to the helmets first when I really wanted the bike FM first. That meant seeking a different solution.

The helmet system I purchased several months ago was the SENA SMH10-

Some don't like it due to the size. I LIKE is because of its size. REALLY intuitive and easy to use 'jog wheel'. Anyway... back to the story.

I laid out this solution-

So I ordered all of the pieces, hoping it would work. I finally got the courage one day to open all the boxes and dig in. After several hours, I had this:

Big mess, but it was the experiment that worked. To make this work, I needed Bluetooth units that could be powered from the bike's 12v so I wouldn't have to keep charging, replacing batteries, etc. I also needed a mixer that would power the same way. The ONE item that I could not find (believe me I tried) was a Bluetooth TRANSMITTER working from 12v to take the mixer output and send it to the helmets. PLENTY of receivers, but only 2 transmitters. I already had the Sony guy, so Sony it is... for now. Here's the Transmitter:

I decided to mount the Bluetooth receivers under the seat:

I really thought a lot about this location for the receivers. The units are pretty well sealed so there's no issue being close to the tank. I wanted them somewhat accessible in case of needing to re-pair with another GPS, etc. They are held in place by Velcro, AND... my best friend- black Gaffer tape! Kinda like duct tape, but MUCH prettier and nicer to handle. REALLY strong stuff. It's used by audio guys to keep mic wires in place on floors, etc. I used it a lot for quick, easy ways to tack wires in place on the bike.


After lots of trial, here's the mounting I selected for the audio mixer:

The inputs are on the left, the volume controls (faders) in the middle, output on the top right and power mid-right. I drilled a 3/4" hole in the top of the side trunk to get all of the cables to and from the mixer. The hole leads to the relatively empty space near the battery. THAT's where the real cable mess is. I really tried to make it neat, but....

Costs-
Mixer- about $79
Bluetooth receivers- about $89 each
Bluetooth Sony transmitter- about $50
Fun designing it then seeing it work- priceless.

I still have SOME things that I'm not sure about but willing to live with. Like, if I get a call, I can't answer from the headset. No issues for me. I don't really take l-o-n-g trips on the bike and so this is not an issue. IF I need it, I can quickly pair the iPhone directly to the SENA unit. 95%+ of the time, I'm interested in music or my Sirius/XM app on my iPhone.
LOTS more details, but we'll stop here.

More pics of more mods to come!

 

[Phil]

FRUNK- Eschew Obfuscation

AKA- Cleaning up the wiring.

When I first added LEDs to the front of the bike, I made a big rookie mistake. I ran each light wire back to the main bike. That would be about 8 of them. THEN I read more here in SpyderLovers and realized that the frunk can come off easily for service needs. Cha... right I thought. Easy for the big pro guys, not me.

Well, listen up newbies.... it IS easy. You unplug about 4 cables (except in my case it was a LOT more complicated), take out 6 (yes SIX) bolts, take out about 4 phillips screws from the skid pan, and LIFT it off as one unit. Ok... it really helps to have a way to lift the front end to get to the 2 bolts and the skid pan screws. I lifted it off with just me, so I'd put its weight at about 40-50 pounds.

Here's the way it looked right after I removed it and put it on a work table for 'the operation':

Kinda hard to see but there are wires from LEDs everywhere, like bad hair. My goal was to get it down to one, weatherproof plug. While in there, I converted the fog lights HID about a month earlier, the hard way without taking off any parts. Kinda like changing the plugs through the tail pipe . Anyway, with the frunk on the bench, it was really easy to clean up the mounting of the ballasts and wiring:

IF you want to do this, be REALLY careful removing the big black dust cover. I broke the little plastic tab at the bottom TWO times at great cost. I ended up changing how the covers mounted to get around the issue.

Next job was to rerun all of the LED wires to one side of the frunk and connect the single plug:

As you might guess, I also took the opportunity to add more LEDs. Like the upper wind deflectors, I used the small LED strips and attached one to the front edge of each fog light. Again, the idea is to get them touching something transparant and let the LED light 'flow'. It also reflects VERY nicely off of the chrome in the fog lights and adds a glow that you ask- where's that coming from?!

As I progressed, I tested all wiring and lights. Here's how:

The battery is from my leaf blower. I probably used this method 150 times as I made all of the mods. You can kind of see the LEDs making the fog lights glow purple. EXACTLY what I wanted. Here's the bike side plug:

Taking the frunk on and off, is NOW a 20 minute job, not 60.

More pics of more mods to come...

 

[NancysToy]

Impressive! Great job. :thumbup:

 

[Roger]

WOW!! now i am embarrassed with my wiring job cause i usually take any extra lenght of wire and wad it up an zip tie it out of the way in case i need extra for later but i don't think i need an extra 3' of it. Like Scotty said very impressed.

 

[Phil]

12VDC Outlet

Thanks for the comments guys. I am humbled given what all you guys have accomplished. I'm really having fun and doing this for me and my bride. A local guy suggested that I enter it in a show or two. Eh... ya never know.

This mod was to fix what I saw as a BRP design issue. The funky place they put the front 12v convenience outlet wasn't all that convenient. Given the recommendation of several here on SpyderLovers, I disconnected the analogue gages and am really pleased with what shows on the LCD screen. So... what to do with the empty holes. Again, I scoured the Internet and ended up putting various parts together and got this--

The item filling the hole where the gauge was, is a sliding door pull! So happens it's the same diameter as the hole. Then.. but how do I make it stay IN the hole because the forces of putting things in and out of the outlet are not trivial. That answer came from the left over parts from the old gauge. The screws are ones used for electrical outlets when the box is REALLY recessed compared to the outlet. I ground off part of the heads, painted them black, and it all fit.

To balance out the other side:

Here's the family portrate of the dash:

More mods and pics to come...

 

[Phil]

GloveBox - The Results

I'll have another post that shows the LED dimmers I mounted.

But I wanted to show the end results of adding LED strip light to the glove box. It really helps at night:

And the 'formal view':

The glove box lights, the under dash lights and the trunk LED lights are all controlled from the dimmer that says DASH. The dimmer is also a switch if I wish to turn them completely off. While I was at it, I added a little blue accent light in a place I had never seen used and also attached them to the DASH dimmer. But the effect is like an under cabinet light!

This shows the actual LED strip under the dash (mounted under the pull out safety card). It also shows a glimpse of the Puddle Lights that I'll detail in another post.

More pics of more mods to come...

 

[SpyderWolf]

Very nice, extremely clean, work. :congrats:

 

[Lamonster]

You are a wildman :2thumbs: :bowdown:

 

[IWN2RYD]

Good God... They Found Scotty!!! He is alive!............... Sorry... Star Trek joke... To far? lol :roflblack:hyea:

Love it... Man oh man that took a lot of thought and planning... Great job man!

 

[Phil]

Run Brake Turn Mod

To quote Sally Field when she won her Oscar-- "You love me... you really love me!" :roflblack: Thanks guys. Like I said, its humbling.

Ok... this really was a simple mod. It was billed as such, but trust me, once you've drilled a couple of holes, hoping you did them right, it's no big deal. What's the worst? Buy a new piece of tupperware! I really looked at a way to mount it higher on the trunk, but I really couldn't find a way to make it look right due to the curves. Here's the end result:

I love the look of the SOLID light, like a neon tube. It IS descrete LEDS, but they are packed tightly so it looks like one light. Some have written that they had issues with the curve of the light- it was 'peeling up' at the ends. When I opened the package I cound see that might be a problem. I didn't use a heat source, but I did set a toolbox on the very end and let most of the light hang off a work bench for several days then did the same on the opposite end. In the end, I did have one end that wanted to curve out. The answer for me was a very little bit of JB Weld. The kind that is like putty. It dried grey, so I broke out the Sharpie (aka black paint touch up tool) and here's that result. You have to know what to look for to notice it:

Coming up next- Cornering Lights