HK Glow license plate holder

1041 Views 18 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Emil, 12 d ago

rickybug

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2022

hi guys,- has anyone bought, installed the HK Glow license plate holder? I'm not good w/ electric anything. it seems i have to go under the fender, up again, under seat, into the harness! I got one for xmas, but at this point i'm thinking i should have a mechanic do it while doing other work. help!

store.xkglow.com

Motorcycle LED License Plate Frame with Running Turn and Brake

5 function motorcycle LED License Plate Frame. Fully integrated with Running, Turn, Brake, and white LEDs for plate illumination. Available in gloss black and chrome finish. Perfect motorcycle LED lights addition to add more visibility. Get seen with XKGLOW!

store.xkglow.com

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

Emil

· #2 · Jan 20, 2022 (Edited)

Under the back of the fender there is a splice box. You can get in directly behind the license plate holder to the marker light circuit. Green for ground and brown for marker/running light circuit.

rickybug

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 20, 2022

Emil said:
Under the back of the fender there is a splice box. You can get in directly behind the license plate holder to the marker light circuit. Green for ground and brown for marker light circuit.

purple- left turn,
brown- right turn,
red- brake,
black- ground,
blue- running

Emil

· #4 · Jan 20, 2022

Colors might be different on 2nd Gen. I'm describing 1st Gen. Left is Orange, right is Lt. Blue, brake is green w/yellow stripe.

Reactions: 1

SoakedKarma

· #5 · Jan 20, 2022

3

pita to access rear junction box with rear wheel installed but all needed wiring can be accessed..
looking up at junction box cover, the retaining bolt in cover center has been removed

Automotive tire Hood Motor vehicle Automotive design Tread

you will find rubber boots covering wiring.. one will pull off the mass of wires you'll have to slide the other boot back to access the connectors. Use care as connectors can be mighty tight..

Organism Automotive lighting Fender Personal protective equipment Amphibian

I've found taking the license plate off and removing the 3 bolts holding junction box to fender allows box to be twisted allowing better access..

First decide how you are going to tap into each circuit as there are no unused bullet connectors in the box..

Rectangle Slope Schematic Font Parallel

Colors are the same for all Rebels they also all use the same sub wiring harness part..

PS try to disconnect one circuit at a time so you don't get lost as to what connects to where..

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Reactions: 1

rickybug

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 20, 2022

Thank you guys!!!
It seems simpler than I thought 🤔. I should tap into connections, rather than into wires, correct?

Emil

· #7 · Jan 20, 2022

The connections are rubberized & waterproof. That area is prone to lots of corrosion if things aren't sealed completely.

flitecontrol

· #8 · Jan 20, 2022

I like to dip the male connectors in dielectric grease before reconnecting. If there is corrosion on the connectors, remove it before applying grease. The grease helps keep moisture out.

Reactions: 2

SoakedKarma

· #9 · Jan 20, 2022

if you want a clean install consider building short adapters for each circuit consisting of 3.9/4.0mm male bullet connector short wired to double 3.9/4.0mm female bullet connector.. Attach ends of license plate frame wires to 3.9/4.0mm male bullet connector..
You can find parts here.

Motorcycle Bullet Terminals

These are high quality Motorcycle Bullet Terminals,We have 3.5mm Bullet terminals for Honda's, and the the 3.9mm - 4mm bullet Teminals will do up to 12 AWG easily. The insulating sleeves are heavy duty, and provide a nice water proof seal when using 12-14 AWG wiring, Double Female Bullet...

www.cycleterminal.com

In this manner installation can be quickly reversed damage free..

Reactions: 3

rickybug

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 20, 2022

Thank you SK, I think... That's a lot of electronics for me to digest 😳

flitecontrol

· #11 · Jan 20, 2022

If you follow SK's suggestion to just do one connection at a time, and use the suggested connectors, it really isn't all that hard. Even I can do it, and that's saying a lot!

Reactions: 1

SoakedKarma

· #12 · Jan 20, 2022

it's simply constructing a Y so you can connect an additional wire to each circuit..
It would take 10 male connectors and 5 double female connectors..
if there is more than 1 ground wire to the license plate frame crimp/solder them all together to a single male bullet connector..

Rectangle Slope Font Parallel Diagram

As I think about creating the Y connectors each should have a longer wire between male and female bullet connector so that the female ends are spread out from one another rather than a wad of connectors that won't fit in junction box..

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rickybug

Discussion Starter · #13 · 13 d ago

Update: XK Glow license plate frame.

If anyone is still interested...
I had help (an electrical engineer), we did everything as you said, we did everything right (we think). We certainly did not rush.
We hooked one up and tried it - nothing... We tried another, nothing. We tried again and again. My friend said "I give up! I'll put it back together, I hope I didn't break your bike."
I said the product must be broken! So... For sh*ts and giggles we tried jumping one turn signal directly from the battery - nothing!
Oh well, it is been so long I doubt if the company will stand behind it's product. And to make matters worse it was a gift, so of course I have no receipt. 😂😂😂
The moral of the story? -
OH WELL 🥴

Reactions: 1

Emil

· #14 · 13 d ago

Thank you for getting back with the update. It is really appreciated by many who are trying to do the same thing.

SoakedKarma

· #15 · 12 d ago

At this point i'd be tearing into frame housing..
if no feature works look at ground circuit as all functions have that one thing in common

Emil

· #16 · 12 d ago

This is 1 reason that I always test them before installation. I've received bad parts too many times.
At work, when we got some new fiber optic receivers, they had a 25% failure rate right from the box. The old Syncronous receivers worked almost perfectly. In the 12 years that we used them, I only had one that "needed to be replaced" & that was due to a test point failure. Otherwise it still worked great. The lasers were better, but still had a much higher rate of problems that the old ones.
First to market (regardless of quality), gets the lions share of the sales.😞

rickybug

Discussion Starter · #17 · 12 d ago (Edited)

@Emil
We did test before installing. We couldn't get anything to work.

rickybug

Discussion Starter · #18 · 12 d ago

SoakedKarma said:
At this point i'd be tearing into frame housing..

Yes SK, I would too, but that is quite impossible without destroying the entire product.
Firstly the frame is plastic! (Ugh)
Secondly everything is sealed in some sort of plasticized, siliconized, something.
Oh Well

Emil

· #19 · 12 d ago

I've contemplated getting one of those, or one like it, myself. But I've done so much rewiring on my Rebels that I don't want to complicate things further.
Oops! I (think that I remember that I), do have one somewhere.
Wonderful getting older.

Reactions: 1

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