Introducing the Sparck Moto FB-11

You're welcome and thanks. I just acquired one of my favorite vintage bikes - a cb175. I'll use it as a test development bed for other things electronic. So, yeah, I hope to get active here again. This fuseblock project is pretty exciting stuff.
 
That is a cool bike. I had one when I was in high school.
The fuseblock is awesome!
My son and I have a few unmolested CB160s.
 
This is a cool project! Can you explain how relays are superior to microswitches so the village idiot here can understand?
 
datadavid said:
This is a cool project! Can you explain how relays are superior to microswitches so the village idiot here can understand?

Relays are basically high current switches. They provide a direct shot from the power source to the powered component (instead of having to pass through long sections of wire and multiple switches, as is the case in most setups). They also allow the use of microswitches to run things like the headlight or coils, which usually isn't possible with the switches, directly.
 
Question, when designing this did u take in to consideration a stock bike or one that's been modded? Can this be mounted in the stock location where the fuses r located now or will other mods need to be done to accommodate it
 
Nightpoison, it would totally depend on the bike. I used one of these and completely rewired my GL1000, used probably half the wire vs oem and was able to shorten a lot of circuits up etc. I found it really simple to create the circuits I needed off the FB-11 versus doing it with just a fuse block. Basically you power the board and ground it, then you can run the hot or + to the component then ground from the component to a ground spot close to it. I used about 4 frame grounds which cleaned up the wiring and made for a better ground in most cases. The board has an LED indicator for each fuse so if one goes you see it immediately. It would have mounted in my factory fuse location but I chose to move it for easier access and to run less wires. for a good example of what you can reduce, if you have ever seen inside an old bikes headlight bucket there is like 10 connectors and its stuffed with wires all going in and out for usually all the lights, and controls etc. I have the headlight plug, everything else is rin from the FB-11 to the control or light and then ground. way cleaner.

Cheers

Maritime
 
That makes complete sense. I guess I didn't really think about the question. I have a 74 CB750 and it would be different for every bike. Thanks for your insight.

Maritime said:
Nightpoison, it would totally depend on the bike. I used one of these and completely rewired my GL1000, used probably half the wire vs oem and was able to shorten a lot of circuits up etc. I found it really simple to create the circuits I needed off the FB-11 versus doing it with just a fuse block. Basically you power the board and ground it, then you can run the hot or + to the component then ground from the component to a ground spot close to it. I used about 4 frame grounds which cleaned up the wiring and made for a better ground in most cases. The board has an LED indicator for each fuse so if one goes you see it immediately. It would have mounted in my factory fuse location but I chose to move it for easier access and to run less wires. for a good example of what you can reduce, if you have ever seen inside an old bikes headlight bucket there is like 10 connectors and its stuffed with wires all going in and out for usually all the lights, and controls etc. I have the headlight plug, everything else is rin from the FB-11 to the control or light and then ground. way cleaner.

Cheers

Maritime
 
Maritime said:
Nightpoison, it would totally depend on the bike. I used one of these and completely rewired my GL1000, used probably half the wire vs oem and was able to shorten a lot of circuits up etc. I found it really simple to create the circuits I needed off the FB-11 versus doing it with just a fuse block. Basically you power the board and ground it, then you can run the hot or + to the component then ground from the component to a ground spot close to it. I used about 4 frame grounds which cleaned up the wiring and made for a better ground in most cases. The board has an LED indicator for each fuse so if one goes you see it immediately. It would have mounted in my factory fuse location but I chose to move it for easier access and to run less wires. for a good example of what you can reduce, if you have ever seen inside an old bikes headlight bucket there is like 10 connectors and its stuffed with wires all going in and out for usually all the lights, and controls etc. I have the headlight plug, everything else is rin from the FB-11 to the control or light and then ground. way cleaner.

Cheers

Maritime

I'm a bit late to check in here but it was cool reading how you installed the FB-11. Neat to see something I was part of being used! I'll be wiring one of my prototypes on my cb175 shortly. I'm still waiting for Vintage Connections to fix their website so I can order a new connector kit.

Eric
 
I liked it and I will have to go back and re-do my connections, not on the board, those are good but I used the store bought bullets and even though I used shrink tube etc, I should have spent the $$ on the good ones from vintage connections. So over the winter if I have the spare funds I will re-do my bullets.
 
Good idea. I don't really like the bullets but they are good for routing since it is a single connector. Better if you can switch to more modern reliable blade/pin connectors. Just cut and crimp. The crimper from VC is a good deal. BTW, the proto board is pretty thin as I see on your posting. For production, we can plan to go thicker.
 
Cool, I was careful to mount it on foam rubber and in one pic is was slightly bent, I fixed that and made it flat. got 2K on the bike since install and all my electrical is working fine. I was planning to get the vintage connectors kit with the crimper and the various bullets and blade pin connectors for where I have 3-4 wires together etc. Just needed to do it cheap for now, will spend the $$ over winter to make it better.
 
Weather resistant. Not weather proof. Best to mount them somewhere out of the elements. Final version will have an enclosure, which will help, but still best to keep as dry as possible.
 
Mine is out of direct weather, but it got a little dampness from 12 straight hours in the rain, didn't miss a beat, all my electrical was a ok. my poor plugs didn;t like it though and I was dropping cylinders on the last 2 hours. They are not powered through the FB-11 though LOL
 
Not quite. Having troubles with the enclosure. The company I originally was looking at won't be able to modify the enclosures the way we had hoped.

We have a couple of options at this point:
1.) Go with the original enclosure and end up with something larger than desired (about an inch too tall)
2.) Redo the board layout to fit a different enclosure
3.) Get some custom enclosures made (min quantity on this has been 1000 units in all the quotes I've received so far)

Currently looking for others ideas... :-\
 
You may want to take a look at the process. It has limitations but it may be an alternative.
 
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