How about this idea ?

We all (well most) agree that it would be nice to have a coolant temp guauge .But really it should be built in which af coarse it isnt .
The fan comes on at 105 deg c .The red light (temp) comes on at 130 deg c .So when those two things happen we know the temp .
If you were to splice into the fan wires and run the wires to a nice light on the dash you would know when that light came ON the temp just hit 105 deg c
If the red light has not come on (as expected ) your temp is between 105 and 130 which is O.k.
Once you get out of traffic the fan light you have fitted should go OUT ,telling you temp is now dropping and bellow 105 .All is well
All for about $10 or less .

Any good ????

Yes it would work. just need a nice little led with high intensity so you do actually notice it

I reckon it needs to be Amber seeing the high temp light is red .

I like that idea Gus

A temp gauge is about 2 inches in diam .You can hardly hide that .What you want to know is that the temp is dropping which the amber light will tell you .
I'm making one tomorrow .I just carnt see a down side .Easy and cheap .I have a little metal tab on the LHS which holds the high-off-low grips switch .
I''ll make it a bit longer and put the light on it . If its handy i can drill below the clocks but thats a bit extream at first .

Will be interested how it works out .. you will be buff polishing it and then painting it black I presume ..

I think the idea is OK but unnecessary.
At anything above 20km/h the fan wouldn't be coming on as there would be enough airflow (approx) If stopped you will either hear the fan come on or feel a nice warm breeze on your legs somewhat simile to pissing your pants.

The need for a temperature gauge is to keep an eye on the full operating range and to be aware of anything out of the ordinary.

By all means rig it up and it will tell you what you have asked it to.

My 2c worth :-)

I wonder if you can use the external temp sensor and wire this sucker up

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=XC0116&keywords=XC0116&form=KEYWORD

gus wrote:A temp gauge is about 2 inches in diam .You can hardly hide that .What you want to know is that the temp is dropping which the amber light will tell you .
I'm making one tomorrow .I just carnt see a down side .Easy and cheap .I have a little metal tab on the LHS which holds the high-off-low grips switch .
I''ll make it a bit longer and put the light on it . If its handy i can drill below the clocks but thats a bit extream at first .

Some photos of your installation please when it's done... interesting...!

Just found this beauty

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Trail-Tech-TTO-Temperature-Meter-Digital-Gauge-19mm-EH1-/230651631819?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35b3e898cb

Gus, a word of caution if I may. Before I did what you are proposing I'd want to see the electrical circuit that activates the fan. Back down the circuit is a transducuer that is detecting the engine temperature and triggering an electrical event, presumably via an electrical switch (possibly a relay). That opens a 12v circuit to the fan.

In the absence of any knowledge of that (imortant) relay I would not put a light in parallel with the fan. This is a bit like wiring up spot lights to your car. The sensible thing to do is to use the high beam circuit to trigger a relay that opens the circuit to the spotties, ie don't put the spotties on the same wiring path as the high beam lights. There are reasons this analogy might not apply here and that is sure to generate some responses.

Without a wiring diagram of how Suzuki has wired the transducer to the fan, you'd be completely safe if you did what you are proposing but routed the 12v signal to the fan through a switch (relay) that activated a separate circuit to your light (or led). This may be overkill but unless I saw the original circuit I wouldn't do what you are proposing (even if you are using an LED). It adds a complication but it is what I'd do if I didn't see the original electrical circuits.

Some people will see this as rediculously risk averse but hey, 2c pieces are hard to come by.

Thats your tech. side coming out Ewok isnt it . I dont think i have a tech side and see it as just a light and what harm can it do .
You may well be right but you know i wont be able to resist dont you .
This is reminding me of the time i melted my electrics on my GT 750 Suz .

gus wrote:This is reminding me of the time i melted my electrics on my GT 750 Suz .

Ewok1958 wrote:Gus, a word of caution if I may. Before I did what you are proposing I'd want to see the electrical circuit that activates the fan. Back down the circuit is a transducuer that is detecting the engine temperature and triggering an electrical event, presumably via an electrical switch (possibly a relay). That opens a 12v circuit to the fan.

In the absence of any knowledge of that (imortant) relay I would not put a light in parallel with the fan. This is a bit like wiring up spot lights to your car. The sensible thing to do is to use the high beam circuit to trigger a relay that opens the circuit to the spotties, ie don't put the spotties on the same wiring path as the high beam lights. There are reasons this analogy might not apply here and that is sure to generate some responses.

Without a wiring diagram of how Suzuki has wired the transducer to the fan, you'd be completely safe if you did what you are proposing but routed the 12v signal to the fan through a switch (relay) that activated a separate circuit to your light (or led). This may be overkill but unless I saw the original circuit I wouldn't do what you are proposing (even if you are using an LED). It adds a complication but it is what I'd do if I didn't see the original electrical circuits.

Some people will see this as rediculously risk averse but hey, 2c pieces are hard to come by.

Listen to the man Gus.

Carnt ,must try .If it goes pair shaped you can all say ITYS .I'll add it to the melted plastic sarga .

brought 12v light ,amber $4.99 Atached two wires .Tested on a battery ,marked positive wire.


Instead of splicing wires i simply pushed wires into back of fan connector joint which is on the fan housing LHS..BLACK wire to positive on light .
Made little bracket larger that holds h .grip switch.


Started motor and waited for fan to come on.


Fan runs for 1 min or so stops and light goes out .
Now i know bugger all about auto eletrics but i carnt see how running a tiny light is going to cause any problems .But ,i melt plastic parts .
REmember i'm not running a fan housing so knowing how hard the fan is working will be handy .

Cool. One of those little car/bike alarm active led's is what I was thinking of.
as for the fan not working at speed, most fans in gage at the tamp point (105*) at any speed and the fan will free wheel at higher wind speed if your fly up the road. Does the Bandit work like that Gus?

I dont think the fan turns at all at speed.Its the not moveing thing that causes heat to build up .At 105 deg a magic part says phew its hot
and lets a currant past to start the fan .60 sec later it says 'thats better' and stops currant. So on so on .
My aprilia has a dig. read out and its nice when you see the temp dropping . This ligh tells you that is happening.
They had some nice lights for $15 but i just got a cheap one to "test the idea "$4.99 and amber .
They had smaller ones ,coloured ones,chrome ones .Kind of like the amber though seeing the high temp is red.

Can I play the devils advocate and ask what you know now that you didn't know before?
I like your mods Gus but can't see the point in this. Have I missed something?

I want to leave the fan shoud off but it may cause the coolant to overheat .i carnt tell when the fan comes on ,so i could be riding around with
the fan ON ALL DAY .With a light telling me if the fan is on or off it tells me if i need to replace the shoud .
I went for a run today ,no light so so far i can leave shoud off.
Other than that for some strange reason i like to know if the fan is On , dont know why though ,just like to know whats going on .

Fair enough.

The ECU monitors the engine coolant temp via the ECT sensor and associated wiring between the 2.
When the ECU sees a temp that is at the predetermined level to turn on the fan to aid cooling, the ECU sends a signal to the fan relay to turn on (like you turning the spots/fogs on in your car) and then smoke is transmitted from the battery thru the relay to the fan and the fan goes into cooling mode.
When the ECU sees a temp that is at the predetermined level to turn off the fan cause the engine coolant is now cool enough, the ECU sends a signal to the fan relay to turn off (like you turning the spots/fogs off in your car) and then smoke stops flowing from the battery thru the relay to the fan and the fan stops.

The circuit between the ECT sensor and the ECU is where you could tap into to get the info for a temp gauge of some description. Don't ask me how or if there would be any problems/trouble as I've not looked into it.
The jaycar jigger looks to be something that will show you inside temp and outside temp. I don't think it will do engine coolant temps.
The trailtech jigger is a better bet IMO as it is separate to the Fi system on the bandit so will not cause any probs but will give the info on coolant temps
Placing a LED indicating light as gus has should pose no probs as it shouldn't draw enough current to bother the running of the fan or overload the relay and is not between the ECT sensor and the ECU from the way gus described it.

Looks good to me Gus

The other day on my Aprilia the oil light came on 30 kays from home.
I was pretty sure it was a faulty pressure switch .Not wanting to truck it home ($ )
i keep an eye on the temp guage .As the temp was going DOWN i was more confident
it was only the switch .i got home to find water in the switch cover .3 sec fix .
Its a big call to keep riding and DO NOT recommend it in any way but i kind of know the
bike and had a switch go before ($22).Knowing how the temp is going did help, hence why i like the bandit fan light.

I like the idea of having a indicator for the temperature, that does not cost $200-$300

I ordered i nice chrome raised amber light today . $8.50 .Of cause they had every colour but the one i wanted .