PDM60 wiring question

[airmed]

I'm wiring up my PDM60. It calls for the following: The Ground Trigger (GT) wire responds to any ground signal. Upon detection of an electrical ground signal on the GT, any/all circuits assigned a GT activation mode will go live.

Where would I find such a wire to tap? Would it be the 'black' ground wire found in the Aux Light harness (3 prong)? It sounds like it a ground that's only activated when a switch is tripped. Is this a characteristic of that specific aux harness? Or am I completely in left field?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[OldRider]

This says gray trigger wire to switched power source. ?????

 

[airmed]

Yes, I realize where the Gray wire goes (Trigger Wire), but would like to know what to tap for the "Ground Trigger."???

 

[fred-houston]

I am not familiar with this distribution block, but I did go to their site and look at the video they have posted.

http://pdm60.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVkTQUN_hyU

For the power source you have three connections. One to the trigger, one to battery positive, and the last to ground.

 

[OldRider]

"Ground trigger" ?? Can you post a shot of the instructions you have?

 

[AVGeek]

OK, I see "Ground Trigger" (found the install doc on their website). From what I can tell (they need more wiring diagrams!), you connect the the blue wire to an external switch, and anything programmed to switch on the GT signal will turn on. Seems this would be most useful for lights you want to have control over.

 

[airmed]

Thanks for that into. Now, what would be a good example of an external switch?

 

[AVGeek]

Something like this:

http://www.motostrano.com/Handlebar-On-Off-Switch-p/040-hbs-01.htm?dfw_tracker=12507-040-HBS-01&gclid=CIGev-Wkm84CFcSCfgod648J1w

A Google search for handle bar switch should turn up a lot of options.

 

[airmed]

I appreciate everyone's effort to help, but I guess I'm failing to make myself clear. The PDM60 has a "blue" ground trigger wire. This is an excerpt from the instructions: The Ground Trigger (GT) wire responds to any ground signal. Upon detection of an electrical ground signal on the GT, any/all circuits assigned a GT activation mode will go live.

So, here's my question about the "Blue" Ground trigger wire (if someone knows).... What would you physically hook that Blue Ground Trigger wire to in order for it to detect an electrical ground signal (for example) accessory lights? Does it get tapped into another ground wire from a complete different switch, a simple ground to the frame, the battery? Remember, this ground trigger on the PDM60 (once hooked up to whatever it is I have to hook up to), will activate any switchable circuit that is assigned to operate off the ground trigger.

 

[WJBertrand]

I think you have your answer. Run the blue wire to a switch, connect the other end of the switch to ground. Now you go into the PDM programming and assign one of the circuits to turn on or off when that switch completes the circuit to ground. If you don't plan to use a switch to control any of those 6 circuits it sounds like you can just leave it disconnected.


-Jeff

 

[Gigitt]

GROUND TRIGGER - BLUE WIRE
The Ground Trigger (GT) wire responds to any ground signal. Upon detection of an electrical ground signal on the GT, any/all circuits assigned a GT activation mode will go live. This feature is great for switching high amperage loads on/off, without the use of relays. The GT can control multiple circuits simultaneously. Simply connect the blue GT wire to any switch that leads to ground, and you can easily switch all GT activated circuits on/off.

SO you can run your normal things like GPS, extra Running lights, USB chargers, Power socket of the normal Trigger wire.

If you have a High current device like an Air Horn normally driven by a relay, you can replace relay and use PMD60 and Ground Trigger source to turn it on - normal horn switches are grounded so splice Ground Trigger into horn wire and then PMD60 will power your horn.
I would test with Multi-meter first.

If you need to manually turn on something else, you can run Ground Trigger wire to an On/Off Switch on you dash and the switch to a ground point... when you turn on the switch it grounds the connection and activates the Ground Trigger circuits programmed.

Don't need Ground trigger - don't connect it or program it to a circuit


edit:
Just had a look at the PDM60 Quick-Start Programming Guide

It is has example there:

In this example, 3 circuits are programmed to be used. One 15A and two 10A circuits are set up. (you can adjust amperages up or down) Two circuits are set to be ignition triggered (one with a 300 second delay off setting). A 6 second startup delay is programmed in, and it will apply to all circuits. A third circuit (lights) is programmed to be “ground triggered”. That circuit will be controlled by a handlebar mounted switch. The rest of the circuits are set as “inactive”.
See the simple wiring schematic below. With the PDM60, your wiring options are easily customizable, always reconfigurable, and simple to set up.

 

[airmed]

Thanks guys. I think a lot of my confusion lies in the word usage - ground trigger wire. That blue wire is not necessarily a ground wire, but rather a positive power wire.

 

[Gigitt]

Thanks guys. I think a lot of my confusion lies in the word usage - ground trigger wire. That blue wire is not necessarily a ground wire, but rather a positive power wire.

NOOOOOO it is not a power wire!!!!!!!

It is a trigger wire...

Grey Wire : touch 12V+ and it triggers the circuits to be on

Blue Wire : touch -ve/ground then it will trigger programmed circuits to be on

The Trigger wire do NOT drive or power any device at all... it acts like a switch.

 

[WJBertrand]

DO NOT connect that blue wire to + or bad things may happen. It should ONLY go from the PDM60 directly to ground via a switch.


-Jeff

 

[.]

Hi there,

When I got mine PDM60 to be installed I had the same question, so I know about all the feelings (like where should I put this one Ground Trigger).
So, Gigitt gives just perfect explanation, as for me. That ground trigger works just like relay (you can use thing wire and small switch to make 20 Amps circuit live).
I don't use it for now, just no need so far. When in need it will go through a switch to a frame (which is basically the ground or it can go to battery's negative black wire).
Regards,

 

[airmed]

OK, I think I'm finally understanding this. Thanks for your patience. Here's my plan with my PIAA530 install with the PDM60. The lights are the Super T kit, but I'm going to chuck the wiring (so to speak) since it comes prewired with a fuse and relay. I don't need those with the PDM. I'm going to wire the white + wires from the lights to circuit 2 on the PDM. I'll take the ground wires for each light to a ground block which is in turn is grounded to the frame and negative post of the battery. If I did nothing else and programmed the PDM60 to energize circuit #2 after a 15 second delay from my Ignition trigger, the lights would turn on.

However, I want them to operate off my Ground trigger as well (I'm going to program it to operate on Ignition Trigger and Ground Trigger). The handlebar mounted switch I'll use doesn't even have to be hooked to the PIAA lights since this device is programmed to turn accessories on and off via this switch. So, my new question is this: Do I splice into the Blue wire (Ground Trigger wire), run that up to the switch on the handlebar, then have the black wire from the handlebar switch go to my ground block? Essentially, that would be a way to interrupt the signal of the Ground Trigger, thereby either turning on or off my lights. Yes?

Next question, would that Blue wire be attached to the contact in the switch that is opposite the switches ground wire?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[WJBertrand]

You will have to run the blue wire to the switch but you have the option of running a ground back to your ground block or just ground it somewhere to the frame close to the switch. Your choice.

 

[airmed]

OK, great. But I just thought of something that may cause an issue. Since you can program different circuits and accessories to also operate on a Ground Trigger, wouldn't my one switch which I have the blue wire running to also operate those other accessories assigned to go off when programmed to the ground trigger? If I want to install another set of lights and want them to operate independently of the PIAAs, wouldn't turning on the PIAAs also turn on the new lights? How would I get around that issue?

 

[WJBertrand]

OK, great. But I just thought of something that may cause an issue. Since you can program different circuits and accessories to also operate on a Ground Trigger, wouldn't my one switch which I have the blue wire running to also operate those other accessories assigned to go off when programmed to the ground trigger? If I want to install another set of lights and want them to operate independently of the PIAAs, wouldn't turning on the PIAAs also turn on the new lights? How would I get around that issue?

I'm not familiar with the details of the PDM60 programming but will it even let you assign more than one circuit to the ground trigger switch? If so, it sounds like they must then all operate in unison. You could add individual in-line switches for the additional accessories but it sounds like they would still not operate until the ground trigger switch is turned on. The extra switches would give you the ability to turn off the additional stuff independently though.

 

[Gigitt]

As the PDM60 as like a relay, then the trigger will turn on all circuits programmed for that trigger.

So if you add 2 sets of lights run from ground trigger then the one switch will as like a master ground switch and when switched ON both lights would turn on.

If you want more than one switch to work different circuit - it cannot be done with the PDM60

In saying this...
the PDM60 has 2 trigger circuits - this is one more circuit than all other basic fused boxes (except for I think Motobrain - i cannot remember if it is multi trigger as well)

If you want to be switching multiple high power circuits with individual switches you need a relay for each circuit so each switch controls one relay trigger.

It can be done using a second PDM60... but the cost of another PDM60 makes this expensive. BUT it is water proof, very small fused and programmable. If this fits your needs then that is a solution. Space is tight and ugly wiring is not need on a motorbike.

I hope this explain things.