Well, shucks! I ordered it, early in December, 2007 and waited patiently (well, not too patiently) for it to arrive. It was purchased from http://shop.vendio.com/evan2002/
Their item # 961429012 "Deluxe Black MOTORCYCLE TRUNK LUGGAGE TOP CASE wLights" for $115.00. Adding shipping of $28 made it $143 total - not a bargain, but not too expensive either!
Looks pretty good, no? Then my sharp-eyed spouse said, "What's that crack ... right there?"
And sure enough it was busted.
Somewhere between Palo Alto, Cal. and Chattanooga, a corner of something heavy was thrown against the side of the flimsy cardboard box in which this trunk was shipped all the way from China.
OK: e-mail the vendor, and UPS arrived at our door with a "Damage Call Tag" and took away the trunk (re-packed by myself) in its original box .
Stand by for the next installment --
January 2008 passed - - and still waiting - - but after a number of "What's
going on?"
e-mails, one fine day early in February a replacement trunk arrived, this
time in good condition.
Installed, bolted down and wired (partially*) here's the box.
The round white disk covers the "VIP"
logo that comes on these boxes. I'm not a V.I.P., so why pretend? That's
a "Rounders" logo (of which I am a member.)
What's that? You never heard of the Rounders? Well, golly! Go
here to learn about this great organization.
The brake light LEDs in the "wing" are seen reflecting the
camera's flash. They are much brighter than they seem to be as
seen here.
Here's the right turn signal; it took a fast series of 5 photos to catch
the light blinking, nice little feature on this camera, no?
As noted below there is yet another clever feature; sequentially-flashing
brake lights. You can see
the Quick-time video here.
If you don't have Quicktime, it is available free from Apple, here.
These wiring directions are a bit puzzling -- no, not just because they
aren't English -- but because of what happens if you connect the "brown-back
small light" wire.
See
the small enclosure into which the wiring runs? One wonders why that is
needed, since all that's required by 12 volt LEDs is just a connection to
12 volts.Well, it is obvious that there are some logic components in that little box, because connecting the brown wire to the brake light power produces that sequential flashing of the "spoiler" brake LED lights! The yw-gn wire also lights the brake lights, but all at once, as does connecting both of these wires.
Now, I know that at some point while checking the wiring, I had the clear-upper lights above the turn signal lenses illuminated. I would have sworn that it was the brown wire that produced that result, but it certainly isn't working that way now!
Even more interesting: Why doesn't the seller tell us about this highly desirable feature? An e-mail asking the vendor about this got a "null response" -- apparently they don't know, or don't care about the lights!
The new trunk and the flag staff seem to get along okay.
As of February 9th. I'm still wearing long-johns under my mesh armor (with liner, of course) but that sunlight says that spring is not far away! (I pray!)
The bottom of the trunk was not a close fit to the top in the area now caulked with black sealant.
A gap of nearly 1/2 inch opened to the outside below the "passenger backrest" padding.
Closer look; okay - so it's not very neat!
I stuffed the bottom (outside) of the gap with a rolled up paper towel
to prevent the sealant from leaking through, then squeezed a generous
bead of sealant inside.
After the sealant cured overnight, the towel was removed, leaving a solid but flexible seal. What was a big gap is now water- and dust- tight.
While I was at it, I tightened all of the screws inside - half of them were loose!