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GL1500 Radio Help. Any Professional Radio Installers Out Here?

29676 Views 66 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  Hey Load!!!
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Without going into too much detail, I would like to know if there is a female adapter for the main connector that plugs into the radio. I know that Scosche and Metra make all different configurations. The main harness is a white 18 pin connector. It is a two row setup with 2 notches in the bottom and the 2 top corners ar angled. Here is the configuration but it is not drawn to scale: http://www.gwrra-mi.org/chapter/B/Library/Honda%20Goldwing%20GL1500%20Radio%20External%20Wiring%20Diagram.pdf

I am trying to keep from hacking into the main harness. I want to keep the factory wiring intact. If anyone has any ideas, I would be grateful.
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Try to obtain an old, defect radio, and take it there out. Then you're having an exactly fitting male adapter.
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That would be a possibility, I guess. The only problem is that even the defective ones I have seen on ebay cost a little more than I am willing to spend just to get that piece. Female adapters can usually be bought for $10-20 and a lot more do-able for what I want. Also, are those inside the factory radios soldered to the board or do they have individual wires attached to them? If it is soldered to the electronic board, that will make it more difficult to do what I want. I'm not real handy with a soldering iron. The female adapters usually have the wires and make it real easy to mate with an aftermarket radio harness.
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Sierra Electronics

Phone: (800)338-6938

Ask for Wayne
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Agnogel, that is close but it is the male side and I believe that is only a 16 pin and was for creating a custom harness for the CB. I need the female side that it would plug into but I need an 18 pin. tfdeputydawg, I may just have to do that if I don't have any success here. Thanks.

I may just take a ride out to my local BestBuy because I know they stock a large variety of these.
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Well I found a connector that works perfectly. It fits very tight but it does fit. It is a Scosche DO01Bhttp://www.scosche.com/products/productID/222



It was designedfor a Daewoo 1999-up. I incorrectly called it a female connector. I assumed since the factory connector plugged into it it was female but because it has the prongs it is considered a male adapter. Checking with Metra, the part number would be 70-8405. http://www.metraonline.com/products.aspx?s=70-8405



I am not sure about the Metra one but the Scosche only has 13 wires in the harness instead of 18 wires. Thats ok because I will onlybe using7 of the wires( 12 volt hot, 12 volt accessory, ground, 2 for left speaker, and 2 for right speaker). Now I will be able to leave the factory wiring intact.
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fantastic! - Definitey a 'keeper' -- I've often thought to go "radio-darkside", but hacking the harness is not on my wanna-do list --

Thanks for posting this one pwhoever !
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I was just troubleshooting my handle bar channel changer this weekend. I can tell you don't trust the aftermarker books for wiring diagrams. The pin # identifiers do not match nor do the color codes of where they should be. The color codes are correct but the placement are not. Just pull off the switch you are looking at and use a meter to find it on the plug. Good luck...
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I inadvertently must have left part of my install plans out of the information. I had already planned on switching around the wires inside the adapter and had just assumed that they would be in the wrong places. I just wanted an adapter because it is easier to switch the wires and pins around on that then to hack up the factory wiring. The link I posted above for the wiring diagram was taken I believe from the factory service manual which I also have.

Jetmechs, are you saying that the above wiring diagram was wrong? I am only concerned about the speakers, power, aux and ground. I am not using anything else.
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Just like cutting wood, check twice before cutting. Check pin location in book to actual pin location on bike as well as colors. I had to use a meter to verify, I am pretty good with shooting wires so it was not hard for me. Once again, good luck shooting.
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Thanks. I may try and tackle it this week.
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I have thought about switching to an after market radio with a cd player in it. But am worried about losing the intercom.

Is there a way to do this?
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For background, I got the idea from this thread: http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=86866&forum_id=4&jump_to=952739#p952739By going with an aftermarket setup, you will most likely lose the intercom. I had already expected that and bought a new JMCB-2003 Dual version http://www.jmcorp.com/SeeProducts.asp?PF=38on Ebay for a good price. I bought one of the radio adapters mentioned by Marcellus Wallace on his thread from the guy on ebay.



It was advertised as handmade. I don't know how many he made or if he is going to make anymore. The seller user name is trayk-by: http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/trayk-by/The item took a few weeks to arrive because it came from Minsk, Belarus. The item isn't a perfect fit in the old radio shelter but pretty close. Also the opening where the bracket for the new radio goes wasn't quite large enough and had to be slightly tweaked but now the radio fits fine. The radio I went with was a refurbished Sony CDX-M30 marine radio that was on sale from Sonystyle.com but it looks like the sale is over: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665801225 This also gives me an indash CD player and an AUX connector for my MP3 player. I have not finished the installation yet. I did connect the speakers and power to the radio using the Scosche DO01B adapter. So far it works.I did have to switch the pins and wires around in that adapter but the wiring diagram I mentioned in my first post was spot on on the pin locations. I'd rather mess up the adapter then the factory wiring. I only used the left and right speakers, 12V positive, backup power, and ground pins. When I get the J&M CB mounted, I will have a CB and an intercom. I always listened to the radio on the dash speakers and I always use headset speakers for CB and intercom. There is a harness that can be bought to connect the radio to the J&M CB so the radio could play through the helmet speakers but but I didn't see the need. The only thing I was worried about was losing info on the LCD display, especially the clock. It will no longer show the info from the radio but it still displays the time/clock and info from the air compressor. The new radio now gives me adjustments for bass, mid range, and treble. It also has a fader which would allow me to add rear speakers by just running extra speaker wires to the rear. No extra harness or extra fader is needed. This radio also has the ability to add a HD radio module that will give me HD radio stations. The headsets I have were HS-CD9174 and I only had to change out the lower cords from 5 pin to 6 pin cords.

The sound is now a lot closer to what I want. The only thing I want to experiment with are the foam speaker baffles made by XTC. I have seen them at Crutchfield. Has anyone else tried these? It seems like on the GL1500's there is, at highway speeds, a lot of air pressure inside the fairing that doesn't allow the speakers to move as they should and the audio quality suffers. By using the baffles, it might help seal off the speakers a bit and allow them to move more as they should. What is the general opinion on this?
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I thought the speakers on my '98 were blown, the audio was so bad while riding it.

Then after I got home, I started fooling with it in the garage and it sounds good. The CD is working good, and I have local stations that don't fade away while I am moving.

So, yesterday off I went for a road test... And yep, got up over about 50 mph and zonk! no more nice audio, it went all to pot. Turned up the volume and still a mess.

I don't know what kind of speakers I had in my '94 1500, but I listened to that radio at speeds up to 80 mph without any problems. Not so with this '98 1500.

So, something surely is different with the speakers, and just maybe with the wrong radio that is in it now.

I just received last evening the SE radio from you, and I need now to go about installing it and see if that fixes the problem.

If not, then a new speaker setup is in order.
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Hi I used thextc baffles on my 89GL ( wow) it's the way to go. More mid bass, bass, and more power.:bow:
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I have the baffles ordered and on the way. Base, did you leave them as is or did you cut any holes in them to port them?
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Sorry for the delay. I didnt put a whole in it for port. I just put a tiny whole in just to run the wires through it. An then put silicone around that. It was definately air tight. I enjoyed the sound so much I am now trying something a little different. I took the boots out. I am now in the process of using sound matt which is used in alot of professional insulations to insulate door panels, trunks and etc. It is very thin easy to use just cut it with a regular pair of scissors, no adhesive in necessary and it sticks like glue. Where my winshield release is I put a piece of cardboard over it to keep it moving freely. An then layered it with the sound matt. The reason I decided to try this because it doubles my air space which should allow my speakers to perform even better. And this is something that can be easily taken out if necessary and its not messy at all. I'll let you know how it turns out. I am taking pictures of this project.
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AZgl1500 wrote:
I thought the speakers on my '98 were blown, the audio was so bad while riding it.

Then after I got home, I started fooling with it in the garage and it sounds good. The CD is working good, and I have local stations that don't fade away while I am moving.

So, yesterday off I went for a road test... And yep, got up over about 50 mph and zonk! no more nice audio, it went all to pot. Turned up the volume and still a mess.

I don't know what kind of speakers I had in my '94 1500, but I listened to that radio at speeds up to 80 mph without any problems. Not so with this '98 1500.

So, something surely is different with the speakers, and just maybe with the wrong radio that is in it now.

I just received last evening the SE radio from you, and I need now to go about installing it and see if that fixes the problem.

If not, then a new speaker setup is in order.
Not necessarily it could be the AVC that is pooched on your radio the switch out will verify this
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Neal, distortion has nothing to do with the AVC function.

What I said, and what is happening, is at speeds above 50 mph or so, the speakers go into distortion if I turn the volume up loud enough to hear the audio.

Were an AVC available in this particular radio, the distortion would occur automatically with an increase in speed because the AVC circuits would be turning up the volume to compensation for wind noise.

I will be finding out what is wrong here very soon now. I've been working on radios and audio amplifiers and speaker systems since 1958. I don't think I am confused as to what is going on.
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