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I had located my garage door opener in the left fairing pocket. Tired of fumbling around to find it, I decided to Velcro it to the back of the inside of the left fairing pocket. This was much better but I still had to open the fairing pocket and reach to the back to push the button. Not so good when you hit the horn with your arm in the middle of the night.
I saw a post on the gl1800riders forum where some guys had connected their openers to a push button mounted on the handle bar. This seemed like a lot of work to me so I decided to use the idea but mounted the pushbutton in the Headlight Adjustment panel. It is the small black push button at the very bottom.
Parts List:
Garage Door Remote
Push Button - Mcmaster-Carr part #69755K62 General Purpose Push-Button Switch Spst-No, Momentary, 10A @ 24V, 5/8" Cutout, 1" Lg $ 6.85 Each
I originally used a Radio Shack 275-644 SPST - Momentary (Normally Open) I would not recommend this switch. It only lasted a few weeks. I have not had time to take new pics but I installed the McMaster-Carr switch and it has functioned very well for a while now.
36" Wire - I used Radio Shack 278-857 Rainbow Wire - 2 Conductor, 24 gauge. This wire is too thin. I redid it with speaker wire and used a phono plug so that I can remove it very easily.
1/6" Shrink Tube
Velcro
Remove the switch plate. Remove the plastic trim piece that runs along the left side of the left fairing, just to the left of the fairing pocket, by gently lifting at the bottom of the trim piece.
When the trim is removed a silver Allen Head bolt is exposed. Remove the bolt with a 5 mm Allen wrench. I blew the picture, but you can see the bolt and the Allen wrench at the top. This is the longer than any of the bolts removed from the cowling.
Just below the bolt there is a small slot. Place a small flat bladed screwdriver in this slot, aiming to the left side which, which allows the screwdriver blade to travel behind the the tab. Move the handle of the screwdriver to the left and swing the black panel out to the right.
Remove the retaining nut from the push button and hold it in
position on the back side of the panel. Use a marker and place a dot at the
center of the nut.
From the back drill a small hole through the panel. This
hole will serve as the center point for drilling the button hole from the
front.
The package for the push button says that the hole should be
1/2". I drilled a practice hole in another piece of material and found
that 1/2" was too large. I didn't have a 7/16" drill so I used a
3/8" drill and then used a Dremel tool to grind the hole to size.
Caution: The push button does not have much of an edge. If you drill the
hole too big you will have to add a washer. If you drill the hole to small
and try to force the pushbutton into the hole, the push button may stick.
The hole should be just large enough to allow the pushbutton to fit through.
Install the push button and lock down with the retaining
nut.
Disassemble the garage door opener. You should see the push
button on the circuit board. On the back of the circuit board you will see a
circuit run to each side of the push button. Strip back about 1/8" of
each of the two wires. Hold one of the wires linear with one of the runs and
use a soldering iron to solder the wire to the run. Repeat for the other
wire. Reassemble the opener with the wire extending through the case. You
may have to drill a small hole or grind a notch to run the wire out of the
case.
Strip back about 1/4" of each of the two wires on the
other end. Touch the two wires. Your garage door should operate. If it does
not, you may not have the wires solidly connected, may not have wired to the
right location, or may not have your battery installed. Apply a small piece
of electrical tape over the end of one of the wires to avoid accidental
contact during assembly.
Once you have verified that the opener is working, use some
sticky back Velcro to attach the garage door opener to the inside of the
left fairing pocket. I installed my on the vertical surface of the back
wall.
Route the wire through one of the holes in the bottom of the
fairing pocket and down to the switch. I coiled a small amount of wire
inside the pocket to allow me to change the battery in the opener. I used
black electrical tape to to tape it to the back wall. You might want to
remove the fairing pocket. You will see a snap connector in each corner.
Push down on the center of the snap connectors and you can lift the pocket
right out. To reinstall, pull the center of the snap connector above the
head, insert the snap connector into the hole and push the center pin flush
with the head.
Split the wire back far enough to allow one inch of
1/16" shrink tube to be placed over each wire (about 2"). Install
the shrink tube on each wire and then touch the two wires together as a
final test.
Bend a hook in each wire and solder one wire to each side of
the switch. It doesn't matter which wire goes to which side. When cool, pull
the shrink tube up over the terminal and exposed wire and heat until tight.
Test with the push button. Everything should be working.
Reassemble the fairing pocket (if removed), the headlight adjustment panel, and the fairing trim. Enjoy the convenience of your work.
