Hi all, working on the headlight popping situation per tech bulletin M5-084. Want to minimize my chance of damaging anything by drilling the headlight shell to mount it. I found it seems to fit nicely on either side of the headlight shell per the pic. The shell bolt looks like a solid ground to my single wire regulator. Searching posts I didn't see any hits on mounting it here. Is this a decent location or is there a good reason no one else seems to have mounted it there? . Recommendations on how to make a pigtail so I don't  need to cut into a blue wire would also be appreciated. Tried to order a regulator from DEET which comes with a pigtail, but he has none in stock. Admission: Electronics isn't my strong point, willing to listen to advice and move slowly on this. Bike runs good, don't want to create more problems instead of fixing existing ones 

A simple pigtail can be made with a double female bullet socket wired to a single male bullet plug.  I would also strongly recommend a ground wire to one of the mounting bolts that goes to a solid FRAME (not steering head) ground or splices into the headlight ground wire. 

DEET probably can make a pigtail or connectors are available from Vintage Connections.

+1 to Mark's comments on making a pigtail.

You don't really need any specialist tools, although a crimper makes things easy.

I mounted my regulator on one of the horn mounting bolts. From memory, I made an extension for the single wire from the regulator, to enable it to reach into the headlight bucket.

Remove one of the blue males from the existing double female (males will be from tacho and speedo illumination lights) and replace with the male from your homemade pigtail. Put the wire/extension wire from the regulator and the single male blue that you removed, into the double female of your pigtail.

I put mine under the tank by bending a bracket to center it under the top tube, and used this blue splice connector to tie into the blue wire in the headlight bucket. It's grounded through the bracket, and I ran a black wire to the frame as well.





www.amazon.com/Solderless-Splice-Connect...w/dp/B0CLL8CHYN?th=1

I still cringe every time I see a Scotchlok connector...  quick and easy to use initially but in my experience maintaining a fleet of Class 8 tractors and semi-trailers they were the source of most of the electrical gremlins I encountered.  Lots of intermittent connection issues that were tough to find after a couple of years of weather and vibration on the road.  Sometimes we even had to replace a section of wire due to the corrosion that got inside from the Scotchlok splice. 

They weren't just used as a "quick fix"...  some of the trailer manufacturers used them exclusively to wire the lights.

I probably shouldn't have used the 3M "Scotchlok" name for those "solderless splice connectors" even though they were exclusively made by 3M decades ago. 

I don't think 3M makes that type anymore...  tons of knockoffs out there though.    The current 3M Scotchlok line is allegedly much improved and many have some sort of gel inside to seal out moisture. 

Mark, it's not a connector I'd use extensively either, but for this application it worked well, and I had them on hand. Plus it's inside the bucket, not exposed to moisture. Making a short single to double bullet connector would be simple and more secure, but I didn't have any double connectors on hand when I did it.

I wasn't criticizing... just remembering all the trouble those things caused us. My old 4WD Suburban has an aftermarket radio installed exclusively with Scotchloks... previous owner or his installer used nothing but... and it's been working fine for at least 15 years including many miles of washboard roads and other off road excursions that would rattle your fillings loose!