Honda's 12volt socket - info please.

[wozza]

Hi

I have the Honda 12volt electrical socket fitted to my bike, which includes the relay which aftermarket cheaper versions don't have.
I was wondering if some of you more knowledgeable people could tell me if they're any benefits with having a relay fitted over cheaper 12volt versions of electrical socket?..

 

[bamamate]

A relay basically allows a low power (low amps) source to control, turn on/off, a higher power (more amps) circuit. In the case of the Honda aux harness and relay, a small load circuit the key switch, turns on/off the circuit for the aux relay, higher load circuit, which can have heated grips, fog lights, and the 12v socket on it.

With an aftermarket one without a relay you have to connect it directly to the battery and it would then always be live. If you wired the aftermarket one directly to the key switch, so it turned on/off with the switch, you would run a risk of pulling too much power through the key switch and burn it up.

 

[davidc83]

Also, numerous relays have fuses inside them and if there is too much of an electrical current, the fuse inside the relay will blow before either burning out the device or the fuse panel. My steubel air horn on my cruiser has a 20amp relay and I used this relay cable to hook up my 12volt electrical socket on my cruiser.

 

[wozza]

Gents, thank for the info. I feel enlightened.... It's good to know I didn't completely waste my money on having the Honda setup fitted...

 

[670cc]

Also, numerous relays have fuses inside them and if there is too much of an electrical current, the fuse inside the relay will blow before either burning out the device or the fuse panel. My steubel air horn on my cruiser has a 20amp relay and I used this relay cable to hook up my 12volt electrical socket on my cruiser.

On your 20 amp relay, 20 amps is the safe current rating of the relay contacts and enclosure. This is not a fuse and there is no fuse in the relay. If you put too much current through the relay it will be destroyed.

If you have no fuse in your horn circuit you should install one NOW. There may be such a thing as a relay with a built in fuse, but I do electronics for a living and I've never seen one. If there was one it would need to mount right on the fuse panel otherwise the wiring leading to the relay would also need to be fused for protection.

 

[Brillot2000]

A relay basically allows a low power (low amps) source to control, turn on/off, a higher power (more amps) circuit. In the case of the Honda aux harness and relay, a small load circuit the key switch, turns on/off the circuit for the aux relay, higher load circuit, which can have heated grips, fog lights, and the 12v socket on it.

With an aftermarket one without a relay you have to connect it directly to the battery and it would then always be live. If you wired the aftermarket one directly to the key switch, so it turned on/off with the switch, you would run a risk of pulling too much power through the key switch and burn it up.

I could have not explained it any better myself, let me expand on it though. The major difference is the current handling capacities.

The Honda setup is intended for "Light Loads" up to 5 Amps comfortable and a Max of 7.5 Amps before you blow the fuse. While the Aftermarket setup could do up to 20 Amps, if connected directly to the battery with a 25 Amp Fuse installed in-line. However, you run the "Risk" of draining the battery in short amounts of time when the Ignition is turned "OFF". The amount of time depend will depend on the load of the device connected to it.

The best method would be to install a control relay operated by the ignition switch with that particular setup. That would be my recommendation.

 

[bamamate]

I could have not explained it any better myself, let me expand on it though. The major difference is the current handling capacities.

The Honda setup is intended for "Light Loads" up to 5 Amps comfortable and a Max of 7.5 Amps before you blow the fuse. While the Aftermarket setup could do up to 20 Amps, if connected directly to the battery with a 25 Amp Fuse installed in-line. However, you run the "Risk" of draining the battery in short amounts of time when the Ignition is turned "OFF". The amount of time depend will depend on the load of the device connected to it.

The best method would be to install a control relay operated by the ignition switch with that particular setup. That would be my recommendation.

Very true. Aftermarket 12v sockets can be found that are rated for much higher amps than the Honda factory which I think has an inline fuse for only 1 or 1.5 amps. An aftermarket socket can easily be wired through an appropriately rated relay and fuse and so that it is controlled by the key switch. The 12v socket I have is rated for 15amps.

 

[Brillot2000]

If you have no fuse in your horn circuit you should install one NOW. There may be such a thing as a relay with a built in fuse, but I do electronics for a living and I've never seen one. If there was one it would need to mount right on the fuse panel otherwise the wiring leading to the relay would also need to be fused for protection.

I would recommend that you use a "Pre-Fab" relay harness, such as this one on Amazon, Kit Relay Wire Harness: Automotive. You can easily modify it to meet your your needs.

Take a look at such a harness that I modified to become the Horn Relay Harness on my bike, Brillot2000 Horn Relay Harness.

I personally make my own "Custom Relay Harnesses" normally, they are all made to meet the requirements of the task at hand.

 

[dduelin]

For touring or just long day rides away from a home a 12v power point wired directly to the battery as "unswitched" power can be very handy. If you carry the male connector with you appropriately wired with fittings you have a way to jump your or a buddy's bike off or to power an air compressor.

Of course you have to manage the devices and use common sense.......as has been pointed out leaving anything powered up with unswitched power can quickly discharge the battery. Then again, just leaving the key ON and engine off for 15 or 20 minutes will probably draw the battery down enough to strand you.

 

[silverhound]

Your set-up as I understand it is the Honda OEM 12V socket, with the Honda OEM Accessory harness that uses the Honda OEM auxiliary relay and fuse. I believe Bamamate has clarified that there is a 1amp in-line fuse (buried under the plastic side cover) in the 12V OEM socket so it is designed for VERY light loads i.e. cell phone or GPS charging. The 7.5 amp fuse on the relay is for the TOTAL circuit of the auxiliary harness as there are four separate connectors on it for other devices. If you plug something into the 12V socket that draws more than 1 amp it will almost certainly blow the fuse.

That being said, you can still connect an aftermarket (cheaper) 12V socket into the auxiliary harness and appreciate the benefit of the Honda OEM relay as some of us have done including me after buying the correct connectors. The Honda relay, harness and 12V socket are three separate products. So to clarify, the relay and harness work together but what you decide to plug in or connect to the harness is totally up to you assuming all the devices don't pull more than 7.5 amps at once and also with the suggestion that each auxiliary circuit have it's own fuse.

So to answer your real question which was did you waste your money? Do you feel you wasted your money? If not then no, it wasn't a waste. Could you have saved some money? Yes, but it would have required more effort and possible aggravation on your end in sourcing the parts and doing the wiring, installation etc. I'm at the point in my life now where instead of doing everything myself I now consider the time involved and am happy to pay someone else for certain things even with the knowledge that I could have done it myself for less if it means I'll save some stress and aggravation. However when it comes to working on the bikes, the more challenging the project, the more it actually seems to calm me or at least provide a distraction from other sources of stress...like two teenage daughters.

 

[mercurydog47]

I had a blown inline fuse in my 12V socket and it cost me two hours of shop time to get at the fuse which was a one amp (a hair) and I had the tech replace that fuse with a 5 amp (shhhh, don't tell anybody) just to prevent being blown out again. This could be easier if the fuse had been positioned so it could be easily accessed but that wasn't the case. I had my GPS leads soldered to the + and - of the socket so I was pretty important to get this thing going. That being said, I would only run the GPS and one charging item, like an iPad at any given time. This was an expensive lesson but I was lucky to get a shop to address it and put me back on the road.

 

[DCTFAN]

I understand your logic, but have you considered its not just the fuse?
When Honda sells an accessory item and puts a 1A fuse on it, the wire guage and even the connectors
are not spec'd to higher currents, let alone 5X higher; how long is that gonna last?
If you replace the fuse, it's best practice to replace ALL the wiring also.

So, if you want to run power hungry devices off of the AUX socket, get an aftermarket one;
don't waste your money on OEM, unless they came with it.

.

I had a blown inline fuse in my 12V socket and it cost me two hours of shop time to get at the fuse which was a one amp (a hair) and I had the tech replace that fuse with a 5 amp (shhhh, don't tell anybody) just to prevent being blown out again. This could be easier if the fuse had been positioned so it could be easily accessed but that wasn't the case. I had my GPS leads soldered to the + and - of the socket so I was pretty important to get this thing going. That being said, I would only run the GPS and one charging item, like an iPad at any given time. This was an expensive lesson but I was lucky to get a shop to address it and put me back on the road.

 

[Lee Dodge]

The Honda 1 amp fuse for the socket was the reason I installed an aftermarket one. I had a nice heavy duty marine grade socket and harness left over from my VStrom that I got from Eastern Beaver. I installed it in the frunk and wired it directly to the battery with the fuse right above the right above the battery so its easy to get to. Its fused at 15 amps so I can run a mini compressor for my flat kit and plug in my lithium ion jump pack in case of a dead battery.