A person can add a lot of electrical items to a Goldwing. Once you have more than a few your battery terminals may become an issue by developing power drain conditions or worse.

Preventing issues and keeping your accessories orderly, isolated and safe requires a bit of planning and a little time. For safety -all accessories should be on it’s own isolated fuse of the appropriate amperage. You can share sometimes but your goal should be independent circuits.

Another goal is to keep to absolute minimum the number of direct contacts to the terminals. This is accomplished by using a power distribution block and a grounding block. Either can be purchased and I recommend purchasing the power block because they are more difficult in design and manufacture than the grounding block need be. Certainly if you are not inclined to build your own, the grounding block can also be purchased.

The inherent complexity of the power block has to do with the ability to hold fuses. Some of the more full-featured units will have 1 or more relays and switched and non-switched power taps which come in handy for items such as an alarm system that you would want to have power to even when the key is off. I also appreciate the ability to have an always-on in my accessory storage in order to plugin my cell phone if the battery is flat… I can leave it in the locked compartment and know that it will be charge in while in the pocket without the key being on.

I warn against the possibility to drain ones battery if an always-on (possibly a trunk light or other) is left on unwittingly, so exercise caution with this option.

The relay feature can delay the connection of all the accessories until after the ignition is complete and/or delay disconnect of power to accessories for a short period after the key is positioned off.