Ducati Multistrada V4

Some of the lights have individual wires but looks like the front lights are not this is increasingly common on modern vehicles where the power is supplied by a module directly attached to the lights and if your LED light is damaged or no longer works the whole thing needs to be replaced. 12v power is supplied only to the module and that determines what the light needs to work, a module might power multiple lights and is always powered when the ignition is on so using that source as a switch to the lights will not work. A common issue for example on the early 1 series BMW's which I had was the rear tail running lights would stop working, that is integrated into the whole taillight assembly as a single unit which was $1500 for each side to fix.

Some lights on the V4s are still powered by dedicated wires such as the rear tail light has a dedicated switched 12v wire which i tapped into for my aux brake light but its Canbus controlled and using it to drive an additional light but it produced a CANbus error on the dash due to the additional draw. I had to use the dedicated 12v in the tail in order to power the aux light instead. Its possible you put a sensor on the 12v brake light but I think it would also would need to work with PCM as I am pretty sure thats how the rear brake light works as its the same light for running and brake.

Not necessarily, no. First of all, CANbus has nothing to do with relays per se. CAN = Control Area Network. CANbus is basically a type of network used for machine control. Rather than having dedicated wires for every function, components are connected to simple printed circuit boards (PCBs) that receive addressable commands from a central controller. Every module on the bike receives the "High beam on" command, but since it's addressed to the headlight module it's the only one that does anything. The headlight PCB probably has solid state relays built into it to switch the lights on and off.

Sorry, I work with CANbus on industrial machines every day at work. It's not so mysterious once you understand it.

As Andy pointed out, there's a fair chance that the LEDs are actually soldered onto the headlight PCB. Furthermore, the LEDs themselves might not even run on 12 volts, that's just an assumption on everyone's part.

The moral of the story is, everyone needs to bug XBB to sell their CANbus dongle outside the EU, or light a fire under Hex and Clearwater to finish developing the solutions they claim are "coming soon."

My understanding is admittedly crude. I'm aware that the wires from canbus have multi functions, but aren't those functions to use a small signal to trigger a larger event? Essentially acting as a relay in that respect? Albeit, a very sophisticated relay. True on the assumption of 12 volts

Do you understand network architecture?

CANbus is simply a two-wire packetized data transfer protocol. Much like the ethernet on your computer. You can do two-wire ethernet, in either twisted pair or coaxial cable, its called 10base2 or 10 base T and it sucks, but it will network.

The big difference is CANbus means Controller Area Network, i.e. everything is addressed for and by a controller, vice a WAN (like your home Ethernet) which is cannonically addressed (long description)

So commonly you get four wires connected to a headlight module. 12v, 12v return, and the CAN+ and CAN- and the controller IN the headlight module does all of the headlight functions, alignment, dynamic aiming, turn angel adaptations, etc. So there is nothing to tap that 12vdc is always present to the PCB (printed circuit board) and distributed as needed from there throughout the headlight array.

Because CAN its entirely possible that there are no relays, and when you hit the switch on the bar, that is going to a controller (most likely the ECU) that does the work of the relay, basically telling the controller in the light "turn on" this is also how the turning lights work, as the bike tips, the headlight logic acts based on lean angle be it in the chassis controller or the headlight controller itself.

No -as I've implied in both posts - I have little understanding of the networking aspect, though I'm aware of it. I have to say that 3 times? What I'm saying is : something is acting in a similar manner to a relay: a small signal triggers a larger event. You are saying it is the ECU receiving info from canbus. Well, if I was looking for a wire to tap it would be the 12V you note. The issue isn't how a complex lighting scheme works, but which wire is hot when it happens.

That is the point the only power is SOURCE power it doesn't kick on and off, all of the control is done with logic messages, and these are packetized logic level messages that transfer at around 3.5 volts. There are no mechanical components beyond the swtich, and no switchable 12vdc, all of that happens on the PCB and internal to the headlight assembly, which is sealed.

The switch itself is likely just a standard open/short arrangement, open normal lighting, short is brights, the controller then sends the message out on the bus with tells the controller in the light to power up or down the high beam (or dip if you are Euro) and its done by message, not voltage, the voltage is always present.

See what I am saying?

The reason that I questioned @KeithU earlier is that my older MTS 1200 very much DID have H7 lights and I modified them heavily as well as added dual intensity aux lighting. That won't work with this bike you need a CANbus sniffer i.e. a controller for your aux lighting that sees the High beam message go by and kicks your aux lighting all the way up.

That is the bus part in CANbus, every message from every controller is put on a common data bus so everything sees it, whether or not the controllers need to use it.

Right, which is why something like the XBB dongle works without touching a single wire on the bike. It connects to the Euro5 data port (similar to an OBD port on a car) and listens to commands broadcast on the CANbus. The dongle switches on aux light voltage whenever it sees the "High beam On" command.

To the point that I think @appliance57 is trying to make, yes there might be a wire supplying switched DC voltage to the high beam LEDs. The problems are:

1. To find that wire you would need to crack open the very expensive headlight assembly.

2. After you carefully open up the headlight assembly, there's a pretty good chance the wire you seek doesn't even exist because the LED is part of the PCB.

3. If the wire does exist, there's a slight chance that it's something other than 12 volts. LEDs are sensitive to overvoltage.

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I went with the Denali’s with the DialDim knob switch. Pretty happy with them so far. Definitely bright enough on full. Here, they are at their dimmest setting just to be a visible yellow light. I do wish a plug & play canbus was available for the V4 MS so I can have them linked to go 100% with the high beams trigger ( like my old BMW with clearwaters).

On to another topic... has anyone found a better chain guard? Mine is warped a bit at the tail and doesn't fully cover the chain. So on long rides I get chain schmutz all over the back of the bike.




Those black spots are blobs of chain oil flung up onto the back of the left saddlebag. It also gets up onto the trunk, the aux fuel tank, and probably my Aerostich (fortunately it's black).

Someone in a FB group suggested shimming the plastic guard, which I may try. But I can't believe someone doesn't offer a fancy-schmancy carbon fiber guard or something for this bike.

Are you Nevada ? I know of a company that makes guards in Pahrump. I'll try to find a name for ya.

Hot Foot Moto was the name and it looks like they sold to a Michigan company and does not offer Ducati. However, a quick google search revealed carbon fiber options out of Italy.

i finally managed to do it. So i soldered the pigtail to the USB C cable of the quadlock wireless charger. Basically connected the quad lock charger straight to the NAV connector, as you mentioned you did.
For me it works when i turn on the ignition - charges the phone fine.
However, when i turn on the engine, charger stops charging and it intermitently tries to resume it; goes on and off over and over.
My hunch is that the charger accepts 12V (like quad lock support told me) and that’s fine-that connector provides 12V while ignition is ON.
However, when i start the engine and alternator kicks in (like for any vehicle), i get 14V on that circuit. I think that messes the charger as it may not accept high voltage (14V).

how did you get yours working without an adapter?

Oregon, though I visit NV frequently. My Dad lives outside of Reno, and I ride some LD events there periodically.

The Quadlock charger I bought has a USB power lead, so I just plugged it into the USB port inside the otherwise useless phone cubby on the tank. I cut a small hole in the rubber cubby for the cable to pass through.

I don't think the charger is designed to accept 12 volts because USB is only 5 volts. You are probably over-volting the charger the way you have it hooked up.

Yes, i was thinking to that also, but i don t want to pull out cables, cut the rubber and besides that, i want to use an already provided circuit (the NAV one) which sits and does notheing (an it is close to the cashboard).

Yes, so you are saying same as my hunches.
The charger accepts 12V, i ve said it above, also Quad Lock support confirmed. USB is not only 5 volts but it is MINIMUM 5V.
Minimum recommended input from 5V/2A USB-A port
There is another colleague here in the forum (to which message i replied) that hooked it up like me. actually i hooked it up like him and for me it is not working, but for him it is. That's the question i have.

I have seen situations where two seemingly identical devices responded differently to overvoltage situations. 12 volts is already much higher than the USB spec, so the 14+ VDC present when the engine is running is likely to trigger overvoltage protection or maybe damage. The fact that someone got lucky and made it work doesn't change the fact that it would be better to power the Quadlock device with the proper voltage.

yeah, that's true, but as i said, 12V is oficially suported.
14V though....i don't know.

Hmm... if Quadlock claims their charger will work directly from 12VDC, then 14VDC should be fine. Pretty much every 12VDC vehicle in the world actually produces 14.0-14.8VDC under normal operation, and Quadlock would obviously know that if they claim 12 volt compatibility.

Exactly that s why i asked the first question.

@panicos I had to look because I can't remember how I did this but I used this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083XB8T7T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 hardwired to the aux power and that has a USB C which plugs directly into the Quadlock.