Part II - Top Box Light Wiring/Light InstallAfter the interior light is built, we want to take the top box apart to the extent that is possible to run our wires (from doing the measurements in part I, the outer shell of the top of the case should already be off, but if you’re only doing the running/brake light, remove the outer shell of the top of the top box by removing the five screws from the interior). For this installation, we will need more wires run into the top box than Triumph does from the factory: an always-on 12v run direct from the battery (or power distribution block), and your running/brake light tap. Luckily, the stock connector on the sliding carriage/top box has two unused slots.
Regarding the running/brake light, it is important to understand that the bike's native running and brake light are on two different wires, so they must be combined to be able to do what we want -- I will explain how to accomplish that in Part III (the combined wire is required by the LED itself, so it’s not useful to waste the connector pin on the two separate wires -- instead we combine them before the bike-side connector so that we 1) save space in the top box and 2) keep the maximum number of the 4 connector pins on the sliding carriage available for our use.)
1. The first thing to do is cut the hole for your interior light. The light will face the interior, so we just need a hole the size of the rectangular bit of the aluminum channel and the enclosing part of the endcap (the endcap round bits will fit inside the case), as seen from its back (see picture from step 33 for clarification). The light should be roughly centered left to right and top to bottom. The best way to do this that I found is to simply use the light itself as a guide, and use blue painter’s tape to mark a void where you want the hole. I highly recommend cutting the hole a bit smaller than you will need, and then trimming it out to the size required with a utility knife, plastic file, or sandpaper. To cut the hole, I used a dremel with a plastic cut-off wheel to do the two horizontal cuts, and a utility knife to do the vertical cuts (the wheel’s diameter is too large to do the verticals without cutting way beyond the height required). Turn the dremels speed down to the lowest so you’re not melting too much plastic and WORK SLOWLY. Be sure to do all of your cutting from the OUTSIDE of the case because it doesn’t matter what that looks like. Test fit your light from the INSIDE however, because the plastic is thick and you may not be cutting it perpendicular to its plane, making the inside hole slightly larger than the outside, or vice-versa. It’s a lot easier to remove material than add it back., so work slowly and come up to the size you need gradually, test fitting frequently.
2. Once the mounting hole is the size you need to fit your light, temporarily fit the light and mark the two holes on the case from the inside where you drilled the 3mm holes in the end caps in Part I, step 7. Remove the light and drill these two little holes through the case. Put the light to the side for now and continue with the wiring (we will mount the light after almost all the wiring is complete). You may want to drill these a holes a little larger than 3mm because it will make it easier to line them up, later.
3. Flip your top box over (such that the bottom is facing you) and you will notice a panel with six screws. This panel provides access to the sliding connector (and its wiring) that mates with the static connector on the sliding carriage on the bike. Remove the six screws securing this panel.
4. With the panel removed, you can see how the connector works: pushing the handle of the top box down moves the connector rearward, mating it with the static connector. We are going to add the two extra male connectors from Triumph part no. T2353262 into the connector. Begin by removing the self-tapping screw that holds the connector parts together.

5. Pry the retainer that holds down the pins up by using a small-bladed screwdriver. It is only held down by a dab of black adhesive.

6. Snip the zip tie that holds the wires to the assembly (be careful not to damage the wire!). With the retainer removed, you can insert the pins from the additional wires into the connector. I chose to keep the red and black wires together on the same side to make it easy to remember what was where.

7. In addition to the two wires we need for the running/brake light and interior light, we will also need a ground, so we need to tap the stock ground wire. To do so, carefully remove the tape to expose the insulation of the stock black wire back approximately where the wire curves into its slot.
8. Carefully remove approximately 1/4" insulation without nicking the wire using an X-Acto knife or other suitable tool. (in my pictures, I tapped both the existing switched power and negative wires; I don’t remember why I did this and I ended up just leaving my switched power extension unattached to anything, so ignore that)

9. Connect an 18 awg extension wire (the brown wire in the pictures) of approximately three feet by twisting an approximately 1/4" bare section of the extension wire around the exposed section of stock wire. Carefully solder this connection. Align the wire such that the extension will flow toward the front of the box so that when you tape it, there is not strain on the soldered connection.

10. Tape the exposed wire with your electrical tape to seal the connection from weather. Usually, I go over twice, once in one direction, and then back in the other.

11. Replace the self-tapping screw into the connector cover and secure the wires to the assembly as they originally were with a small zip tie and snip the excess.

12. Replace the retainer by placing a dab of hot glue down where the RTV was and pushing it into place.


13. Run the new tap extension, as well as the two new wires into the wiring harness tubing, and tape the wiring harness tubing to the stock wiring bundle with electrical tape much as it was originally, such that the new wires run straight toward the front of the box (see pictures), being sure to leave slack for the connector to move back and forward freely, without binding. Everything should almost look back to stock at this point, with a few extra wires running off toward the front of the case.
14. Now the hard part... drilling holes in our expensive case. We need to drill an approximately 1/4" hole in the case where we want the wires to exit from the bottom into the space between the inner and outer shell of the bottom of the case (see pictures for exact location). Be sure when drilling to not run the drill bit through the outer shell. Drill a small hole first, then step up to the 1/4” bit or you may find your bit walking on you. I used a center punch to mark my hole, followed by a small drill bit of less than 1/8", then moved up to the 1/4" bit, but even that was really too aggressive and I found myself man-handling my drill because the plastic is quite thick. Use this technique for drilling all three of the large holes in the case.

15. After your hole is drilled, I recommend placing a band of adhesive-lined shrink tube around the part of the wire that will be in contact with the hole to cut down on the possibility of the plastic rubbing through the wiring (see pictures). Nothing bad will happen, but your lights will stop working after while if it ends up cutting all the way through. An alternative would be to use a grommet, but the plastic is quite thick and I couldn't find a grommet that fit.

16. Once your wire is protected, feed it through the hole. We'll feed it up to where we want it to go from the other (top) side.


17. We’re done with the bottom of the case now, so replace the cover and the six screws removed in step 3.
18. We have to drill another hole (of the same size) to feed the wire from the bottom of the case to the top. I drilled this hole just to the left of the right hinge in the fattest part of that area (there is a molding mark there and I pretty much centered my hole in that mark -- see pictures for exact placement). It is easiest to do this by separating the top and bottom of the case. Do that by removing the four screws from the hinges. Note which side has washers so you can put them back in the same place.

19. Now that you have the second hole drilled, feed the wire up through that hole. The outer case wall has a lot of give, so you can temporarily pry it away from the inner wall to reach between them to fish your wire up. I actually used some plastic auto body pry tools because I did the work myself, but if you have a helper they can probably hold the outer wall far enough apart for you to reach in and grab your wiring harness and feed it through the hole.

20. As with the other hole, either use a grommet or apply a length of adhesive-lined shrink tube to the section of wire that goes through the hole so it doesn't wear through. Be sure the shrink tube is long enough to also protect against chaffing in the opened case through the hole in the top of the case, which we will drill next.
21. Drill the same diameter hole in the top of the case, directly above where you put the prior one so that the wire can run up into the top of the case. (see pictures for exact location).

22. You can screw the hinges back together now. Be sure to check that the case closes completely, and easily. There is some play in the hinges, so I'd recommend snugging the screws up, closing the case and checking to make sure it opens and closes easily, and then fully tightening.



23. Run the wire around the right side of the case, keeping it above the lip. I used some black Gorilla tape to keep it where I wanted it. Note that on the side, it has to run around the two square notches that the outer part of the top case mate with or else the outer shell won't sit correctly. (the outer shell has two tabs that sit in those notches)

24. Run the wire to the back where all the open space is. There is tons of room here, and this is where we will be mounting the interior light, mercury switch, and connector for the running/brake light. If you’re only mounting the running/brake light, skip to step 28.
25. Mount the interior light you built in Part I into its mounting hole and secure it with the two M3 screws, four washers, and two hex nuts (one washer inside the case, one outside the case, on both sides). The nuts should be on the outside of the case.
26. Mount the mercury switch next to the interior light on the same void. I mounted mine to the left of the light. Be sure to orient the switch correctly such that it is ON when the top of the case is at or near vertical, and OFF when it is horizontal (for the linked switch, this means mount it with the wires facing up). My switch mounts simply with two-sided tape, yours may vary. If it mounts with two-sided tape, be sure to clean the area where it’s mounting with an alcohol-soaked towel for better adhesion.
27. The ground wire coming from your wiring bundle needs to be run to both the interior and exterior light, so we need to connect a short run of wire to it. The easiest way to do this is with a 20awg butt connector, crimping the connection, however, if you don’t have one, you can fall back to simply twisting the wires together and soldering them (be sure to protect the connection with either shrink tube or electrical tape)
28. The interior light wiring can be made permanent, so run the positive wire from the LED strip to one of the wires on the mercury switch, and run the unswitched power wire from your wire bundle to the other wire of the mercury switch. As with the grounds, I prefer to use mechanically crimped butt connectors, but you can simply twist the wires together and solder them. You’ll want to cut the wires you’re dealing with to an appropriate length at this time to keep the mess to a minimum. You can use Gorilla tape to secure the wires to the case so they don’t move around while riding.
29. Lastly, connect the other ground wire you connected in step 25 (or the only ground wire, if you’re installing only the running/brake light) along with the running/brake light wire from your bundle to a two-pin connector. How you do this depends on the connector you use. Having a connector enables us to have short run of wire from the Radiantz LED so there isn’t a bunch of wire bouncing around, but still be able to get the outer shell of the top case off, if need be.
30. I specify the 10.10 inch Radiantz Z-Flex, but you can mount a longer light on the outside of the case if you choose by moving the light higher (the case dictates the maximum width of any light bar, obviously). The position and size I chose for both visibility and aesthetics. To mount the Radiantz LED, figure out where you want it to go and drill a small hole to run the wires through (I ran the wires on the right side of the light). The hole should be made such that you can’t see it when the light mounted.
31. Mount your light using the two-face tape. Be sure to wipe the case cover down with an alcohol-soaked towel in the area where the tape will adhere. If you have waxed or otherwise applied some manner of paint protectant to the case cover, be sure to completely remove it or else your light WILL eventually fall off. I measured where I wanted the light with a ruler and marked the bottom and left/right of the area with blue painter’s tape so that I only had to align the light with the tape and press -- all of the measuring was already done without any exposed sticky tape waiting to stick on something.
32. The leads from the Radiantz LED are quite long, so you’ll want to cut them down to something manageable and mount them to the opposite gender connector you used in step 26.
33. All of your wiring should be done now, the only thing left is to seal the lights. If you installed the interior light, using the RTV adhesive/sealant, run a bead all the way around the BACK of the interior light to seal it. Be sure to use enough to close the gap between the hole you cut and the aluminum housing of the light, as well as the screw holes.

34. You’ll also want to put a little bit of the RTV adhesive/sealant where the wires from the Radiantz LED come through the painted top case cover to seal that hole.
35. Before you put the top case cover back on, I highly recommend testing your installation at this point. If you have access to a 12v DC power supply, it will be relatively easy, however if you don’t, you can always pull the battery out of the bike and use it as your power source.
36. Allow about 24 hours for the sealant to dry and then plug in your LED connector and replace the top case cover using the five screws removed in Part I, step 2, keeping in mind that these are self-tapping screws so it’s easy to cross-thread and over-tighten them. I usually place the screw in the hole and turn it COUNTERCLOCKWISE until I can feel it hit the start of the thread (the screw will actually drop a millimeter or two), and then start the screw. Using this method I’ve never cross-threaded a self-tapping screw.