Accessory Outlets

My new 2015 Kawasaki Versys 1000 LT has a couple precut ports in the dash for accessory outlets, switches, gauges, or whatever you'd want to do with them. One of the ports (left side) is specifically for an accessory outlet and the other (right side) is for a gear indicator. While not interested in a gear indicator, I do want an accessory outlet for my GPS (Garmin Nuvi 550), cell phone and perhaps a low-wattage power inverter.

Kawasaki offers an Accessory Outlet, but they want a whopping $85. That's simply a ridiculous price, so I started a search for some reasonably priced alternatives. The main thing that we look for in our motorcycle accessories is how they stand up to weather. I landed on a place in California called 12vtechnology that sells waterproof, marine-grade accessory outlets, powerlet-type outlets, USB outlets and related accessories. While 12vtechnology has a wide range of accessory outlets, the model I purchased were $5.99 each. I bought two and with shipping the total came to under $16.00. That's quite a bit cheaper than Kawasaki's offering and these seem like very good quality outlets.

First thing that I needed to do was get the caps off the ports in the dash. These caps are held on by brackets under the dash. Prior to purchasing the two outlets, I removed the left cap that revealed a 1 1/8 inch (28mm) hole. While the caps on each side of the dash are the same, I found that the port under the right cap was 1 3/8 inches (35 inches) when I removed the cap today. I'd assumed that both ports were the same sized; obviously not, and that port is too big for the outlet ... a problem I was able to address and will describe later.

On a positive note, Kawasaki pre-wired the left accessory outlet so I didn't have to do any special wiring back to the battery. I decided to use that power source for both sides of the dash. The pre-wired connectors are simple snap connectors that are tucked way up in the left corner under the front cowl above the subframe. It was very difficult to both find them and get them wired, but I was able to do it without any major dismantling of the front. Here's a photo looking up from under the left-side of the bike along the fork tube. It looks cavernous in the photo; trust me, it's not.

I first ran the pre-wired snap connectors into a common two-pin connector. The reason I did this was because I wanted to build a discrete harness for the two dash outlets and have the powersource available for other types of accessories without dismantling everything. I don't have anything specific in mind; just trying to keep the solution as flexible as possible.

Then I finished the harness to support both the left and right accessory outlet. This harness will also allow me to change the types of outlets that I use in the ports. 12vtechnologies also has a USB outlet and even a voltmeter that I might like to put in the right port.

The next steps were to connect the spade connectors to the outlets and install the outlets in the ports. The left side was fairly simple. Both port diameters needed to be 1 1/8 inch (28mm). The left port was just a fraction smaller and that was adjusted with a light amount of Dremel grinding. The right port, on the other hand, was way too big at 1 3/8 inch (35mm). As mentioned earlier, I'd made a bad assumption that the port diameter would be the same as the left side considering that it had a cap the same size as the left. Wrong.

The solution was to make a base plate and a securing plate, each with the proper 1 1/8 inch diameter hole. For the material, I found an old CD-Rom case that seemed to be of the proper thickness. From there I measured and cut the plates. 

That pretty much completed the accessory outlet install. The outlets are a very good quality and the plug for my GPS plugs in with a secure little snap. We'll see how they hold up out on the road, but overall I'm very satisfied with these products from 12vtechnology.