Multistrada 1200 – fitting a Scorpio SR-1900 alarm system
You may find useful: Multistrada 1200 Owners manuals, wiring diagrams and torque settings lists
Comment by Pete Popovic (Nov2011) The generic harness used to wire into the bike does have four wires orange to positive of any wire that has 12v when ignition is on and black for earth but only the two grey ones are for the blinkers. Normally wired into the positive wire on left and right hand blinkers, I just omitted them on the install to my r1200gs but your led idea is tops.
Multistrada 1200 / MTS1200 Scorpio SR-i900 alarm system installation
A guide to fitting an after market alarm system.
By Ducati.MS member ‘TimOz’ 10Sep2010 (see forum discussion here)
Larger photos can be found here.
Due to a post here: mts1200 aftermarket alarm query and the confusion about CANBUS equipped bikes, I thought I would post a specific write up about fitting an alarm to my MTS1200.
I have fitted a Scorpio SR-i900 to my MTS1200 with no problems and I like it a lot!
See here: Scorpio Alarms SR-i900
The CANBUS issues are real but you can install most alarms very easily and have it fully functional. There is also plenty of room to fit alarms under the rear of the riders seat. The secret is not to cut wires or install electrical loads that CANBUS modules will detect and get annoyed about.
For those new to motorcycle electrics and alarms, the basics are this. The Scorpio SR-i900 (and most other motorcycle specific alarms) are a stand alone unit with motion, tilt and shock sensors built into the central unit. It also has a back up battery and siren built in. The manufacturer has some model specific wiring connectors but do not have one for the MTS1200 – yet. It doesn’t really matter as the wiring is pretty simple. The central unit needs a negative earth connection, +ve permanent power (ie on all the time) and +ve power when the ignition is turned on. I have fitted a Touratech TPS-15 to my bike that is a device that allows you to power various accessories from the battery but it only switches them on when the bike’s ignition is on. I used a feed from the MTS1200 standard GPS power wire under the Left front shroud to activate the TPS-15. This made it easy for me as I wired wired my unit up to the TPS-15 for earth and the ignition on and from the battery for the permanent power feed. That is the basic setup and the alarm is ready to go!
The SR-i900 comes with a Radio Frequency key fob that deactivates the alarm when you are close by. It displays on a little LCD screen the alarm status and you can use 2 buttons on the fob to change alarm settings.
Go here for wiring instructions. They are for the Scorpio but most other alarms will be similar: Scorpio Alarms Downloads
What else you can do:
The SR-i900 has the facility to fit a proximity sensor. This is a small unit about the size of the MTS1200 key and it just plugs into the central unit. I installed this under the riders seat and you adjust the sensitivity by a trimpot under a cover. The idea is that it detects someone near or on the bike and will chirp to warn them to “move away” and then will yell after about 15 seconds. You can adjust this sensor so it will detect anyone within about 5 metres. I have it turned down so it will only go off if you sit on or touch the seat as it went off every time I went to the beer fridge in my shed. You can leave it quite sensitive if you like and quickly deactivate this sensor with the key fob if you park in a crowded area.
What you cannot do:
The SR-i900 has a plug in box that is used to cut the ignition if the alarm activates. While I am sure you could work out a way to use this with a bike like the MTS1200, I have just not plugged or wired it in. The bike is fitted with ignition security via the key anyway and fitting this could screw up the CANBUS sensors. I am pretty sure you could wire it up to cut power to the starter circuit also but I have not bothered.
The standard alarm setup uses wires that are normally connected to the indicator circuit to flash all indicators when the alarm activates or when the alarm is triggered. This is likely to be an issue with the CANBUS wiring as the load may be detected and upset the module, so I did not wire it up this way. I fitted a small self adhesive white LED strip that is normally used as an aftermarket license plate light on off road bikes and cost $20. It is flexible and I stuck it on the left side of the bike just under the edge of the pillion seat. This will flash brightly when the alarm is activated and when the alarm goes off.
Other things:
The key fob needs a plug in charger but mine seems to hold a charge for at least a week.
You can deactivate the alarm on the bike and still have the key fob alert you to bike tampering.
The Alarm itself and the sensors seem to have no discernible effect on battery life. I have a plug in battery tender fitted but have left the bike for about 10 days with no tender plugged in and it fired up no problems. Not a definitive assessment of the effect of battery drain but I have noticed no change.
Alarm fitted:
Closer view of alarm:
Perimeter sensor:
LED Light that flashes to give visual arming signal and if alarm is activated:
Comments:
Re the LED strip. From memory, the Scorpio has 4 wires to go to each indicator. I just used 1 of these for the LED and “heat shrinked” the others to insulate them. Note that the flash is an active 12 V from the alarm so make sure the LEDs are rated to work at 12V or you will release the smoke they contain. This is why I used the numberplate light as they are designed to run full time direct on a 12V source. You could mount them somewhere on the dash if you preferred.