Introduction
From factory, the CB500x doesn’t come with good USB charging, a mediocre light and lacks heated grips.
In this article, I talk about my experience and provide some tips that are not necessarily obvious.
Related YouTube video
This video is related to this article. Linked at timestamp where I talk about the rack.
Spot Lights
The LED headlight on the 2016 and newer CB500x is OK on low beam, but the high beam performance is lacklustre. So, I’ve added 4 x10w LED spot lights to improve my high beam to help me spot kangaroos when I do ride after dark in the Outback.
I’ve built this in 2017 using TMH branded 10W spot lights instead of 2 brighter but larger lights.
Having 4 lights allows finer adjustment of the final light spread. Besides appearance, their small size allowed me to fit them inside the outer edge of my Givi Crashbars using simple fence pole brackets.
Vibrations
An unfortunate dark secret of the A2 compliant 500cc Honda engines are the vibrations at about 100kmh in 6th gear. These are not felt much, through the handlebar rubbers, seat and rubber footpegs. However, they can affect accessories mounted on certain hard points!
Windscreen Brackets
The brackets which are holding the windscreen get the worst vibrations. You don’t see them, but if you touch them, you’ll feel a tingling sensation. That’s why I stopped mounting phones holders on this otherwise convenient location and instead installed a holder for my sunglasses and a heavily padded bag for my PLB.
Vibration-proofing Electronics
If you intend on installing anything permanently, consider rubber mounting. RAM mount balls have some padding, but it’s not good enough on the windscreen bracket.
I ended up removing fixed USB chargers and instead using those that fit into cigarette lighter outlets. That way, If one dies, it’s easy to replace. I’ve also been using 2, 12V outlets which allowed me to run other accessories like my DJI drone chargers. A backup is also useful in case an outlet fails (happens too). If you do intend on installing a hard-mounted USB charger, filling the internals with silicone is supposed to help with vibration-proofing.
Be extra careful with soft-mounting the relays.
In my case, I installed them under the front cowling. I had them wrapped in multiple layers of rubber from Motorcycle inner tubes with a few layers of plastic foil over the top, while keeping the bottom open, to allow any moisture to escape.
Heated Grips
I’ve been using and absolutely enjoying the Oxford heated Grips. It’s incredible what a difference just warm hands make when it’s cold.
I installed the controller using a blob of silicone onto the black plastic of the inner fairing. That stuff holds on nice and strong, while protecting the controller from the elements.
Wiring
Don’t get stranded because you left a phone charger plugged in! I
have a friend who had this happen with his MT-07. That goes further with my distrust for “smarts” like the charge controller of heated grips. Even a tiny amount of power draw can drain a bike’s battery if it sits for days, weeks if not months.
Accessory Ports
To make things easier, Honda fitted Accessory ports on the CB500x. This Reddit post describes some of them. See this forum post for the high beam connector.. Frustratingly, they are not labelled as such and not highlighted in the manual.
In my case I missed them and instead hacked into the connector coming off the left switchgear which has wires for high beam signalling and power on ignition. This is cheaper to replace in case something goes horribly wrong with my own addition. You can consider this if you’re doing similar mods on a bike that doesn’t have accessory ports.
Finding Pins
Finding / verifying the correct pins with is easily done using a mustimeter.
- Place negative electrode on the bikes frame / ground.
- Find Ground:
- Set the meter to continuity mode (beep mode).
- Find which pin has continuity with the bikes frame (ground).
- Find IGN (ignition):
- Set meter to voltage display (20V).
- Find which pin turns on and stays on when ignition is turned ON
- Ensure you toggle bike controls to verify it stays on!
- Find High Beam:
- Toggle high beam to see which pin changes state.
Relays and Power Draw
Even if you use the accessory plugs, they have a limited current output. That is particularly true with the high beam trigger wire as that’s only meant to trigger a relay!
Even the aux plug only has a few amps of max draw, unfortunately, it’s difficult to get any reliable numbers as they’re not mentioned in the manual. I’ve read between 3 and 10amps. If you take a heavy use example:
| Watts | Amps | Use |
| 40 | 4 | Spot Lights |
| 40 | 4 | Heated Grips |
| 20 | 2 | Fast charging Phone |
| 30 | 3 | Drone charging |
| 130 | 13 | Total |
That would even overload a 10A circuit.
Already a Mini Relay by Hella will provide 20amp and a basic automotive relay is rated to 30amps. That also provides bit of extra safety as it reduces strain on the factory wiring and components since all they’d run, is a small switch.
In my case, that accessory relay would also power my high/ low beam circuit.
Trigger of Inverted High Beam?
Don’t be lazy and wire a cheap ebay switch into the battery. Being able to trigger all beam at once off just one switch is so much nicer than toggling 2 switches.
Wire it into the high beam trigger wire in the accessory plug. I’ve read conflicting opinions about the output from the accessory plug (since it’s not mentioned in the manual). But, at least the direct output from the switchgear is “inverted”. Meaning, the signal is hot / live on low beam, and cold on high beam.
My solution was to run a “standard” automotive relay which has 87 and 87a output pins. That relay would be have its input power coming from the accessory relay that would trigger with ignition. The 87a pin turn on if the coil is not energized and cut power when the coil is energized.
Standard High beam only?
To add the ability to disable the spot lights (if that would ever be necessary), I added an additional handlebar switch. Since these cheap eBay switches use thin wiring and internal switching, I needed one last relay.
That should not be necessary if the high-beam signal is correct (not inverted) since you could just run the high beam trigger output through that switch, triggering the relay at the end.
Fuses
I’ve added 4 separate fuses.
| Location | Component | Note | Rating |
| Under Seat, via inline fuse. | Battery to Ignition Relay. | Master fuse for all Accessories added by me. | 25A |
| Under cowling using 3 fuse holder. | IGN to Lights relay IGN to12V Outlets IGN to Heated Grips | All separate to isolate failures. | 5A 10A 5A |
Wiring Diagram
Notes:
That setup lasted me for well over 6 years and >50,000km of riding through the Outback on dusty and corrugated dirt roads.
I’ve written this updated page after I sold the CB500x, which is why I cannot double-check certain items on here.
