From: GNBII
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 94 13:36:11 EDT
I rewired my bike during restoration, and used a lot of those white multi wire connectors (steal 'em from inside your computer if you need to...) and they are great. I think the wiring harness on the Commandos in particular was WAY to complicated, given to Interpol crap being there. Another neat thing I used, on a Guzzi (CV fuseboxes? Why not just tape the fuse in line?) was a product sold to me by John Hoffman of Cycle Specialties, which I am sure is available everywhere. It was a small plastic connector abouut 1 inch square and 1/4 think which held a standard new blade fuse, like in use on cars today. These blocks clip together and have loops on their edges so that you can use a tie wrap to connect them to the bike or secure them very well to one another. They are easy enough to get the fuses out, etc. Great things.
And speaking of wiring harnesses and fuses, the other week I went on a run on my 67 Goose and up in Chattanooga hit a pothole. Bike goes dead. Coast to stop, pull headlight, check fuses, all is well. Pull side cover. Battery is TOASTING hot. Seems it slipped in its hold-down, shorting positive side (this would of course have been negative on Brits.) At any rate, I pushed the battery back over, pushed her off and away I went, amazed. So, a few weeks pass and a friend and I go out one night on the bike. I often push the bike off first time opf the day, as the battery is older, but had to do so continually through this particular night, much to her embarrassment (she'll get used to it), so the next day through the old Battery Tender onto it. Wouldn't take a charge. Side cover off, battery had done same thing again. Moved it and insulated it this time. Good to go. Very strange, though. Reminds me of the time I ran into a fairly hardcore biker at the campground on my LeMans in Daytona. Looked at it, grunted, sez "Had a friend had one o' them.....Couldn't kill it." Same with Norts. How do you keep 'em running?
How do you kill 'em? Any of you know Kieth Bennett of the Atlanta club,
or Dave Ronco, and their bikes, you know what I mean
From: Stephen Hill
Date: Thu, 11 May 1995 14:34:00 -0700 (PDT)
Bob Cramb writes:
>I am going to attempt the rewiring of my Bonnie myself.
>I've got the original wiring diagram and am ordering harnesses rather
>than building them from scratch, so it shouldn't be too complicated.
>Now, I'd like some help from you generous souls.
What do I look for in the way of tools and a good soldering iron (I've only got a cheap, low wattage one now)? Also, what is the best solde ring technique to ensure good connections?"
Strikes me that if you are ordering a new harness (including the headlight and tail-light sections, they are usually extra) you don't have to do any soldering. There might be some adjustments you could do by soldering, but crimping is always an option, however imperfect. If you really want to learn how to solder, start with the hacked harness you have now, find another hacked one or some coloured wire, and rebuild your own. You have to value your time at zero and not mind burning yourself a few times, but you will know how to solder when you finish. A few golden (read lead and tin) rules:
1. Clean both pieces until they are shiny.
2. Get both pieces hot enough.
3. Heat the metal, not the solder. If the metal is not hot enough,
you need
a larger heat source.
4. If the joint is troublesome, try tinning the larger piece first.
4. Use resin core solder for electrical work.
5. If you use acid core solder or flux, you should neutralise.
6. For electrical work, you shouldn't need acid core solder or flux,
if you
are doing it right.
7. If you soldering to steel, acid core or flux is almost essential.
Stephen
From: Gregg Kricorissian
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 95 15:45:05 EDT
Bob,
Crimped joints, *if well designed* kept clean and tight, can be much better for motorcycles, due to the vibration. The trick is keeping them clean and tight! And, no one can accuse the pathetic push-together connectors under the tank of a MKIII commando of being well-designed. In this case, follow MikeT's advice and solder these connections together.
The thing to keep in mind is whether the connection is to something mounted relatively rigidly, like say a push-on terminal to the horn. This will result in a bit of 'whip' in the wire, which will cause it to flex near the joint. ( If you'd like more info, a couple of months ago, I wrote and posted an article about this) ... the problem with soldering a wire to a terminal is that the connection becomes solid, and loses its ability to flex without breaking. It is, however permissible to solder two wires together in a running splice; (ie, when the joint is in free air like under the tank), and not anchored to a rigidly-mounted terminal.
...Gregg
From: Peter Aslan
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 14:33:09 +0000 (GMT)
I recall someone asking a looong time back about the spec for the electrical cables required when re-wiring a bike. Last night I found the following in the November 1993 issue of the Classic Motorcycle:
>WHICH CABLE DO I NEED.
>The standard cable numbering system gives information on the number
of
>strands and their diameter. For example, a heavy cable, suitable for
>battery feed and ammeter connection would be a 44/0.30. This has 44
>strands of .30mm diameter wire, with a total cross sectional area
of
>3.0mm square Its current carrying capacity is 27.5 amps. For side
and tail
>lights use a 14/0.30 which has a capacity of 8.75 amps. Headlamps
need
>heavier cables like 28/0.30 with a capacity of 17.5 amps.
For the electrically challenged, Watts = Volts x Amps or Amps = Watts/Volts.
By the way, if I were to construct a loom from scratch, and I am seriously thinking about it, I would cover all the wires in Spi-Wrap. This is a nylon spiral tube, available in black or white, which you wind round the wire bundles. It is extremely tough and would allow alterations to be made without cutting the outer cover off completely and starting again. Anything but PVC tape where the adhesive goes all gooey after a year of so.
Peter Aslan (aka Captain Norton).
From: Mike Taglieri
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 1995 02:02:08 -0500
I found a product today that people rewiring their bikes might be interested in, made by Reid Tool Supply, 2265 Black Creek Road, Muskegon, MI 49444-2684. (1-800-253-0421; 616-777-3951) (This company is an industrial tooling supplier, but they will sell to individuals with no minimum order in US, $25 minimum foreign; Visa, Mastercard OK). The following is a quote from the brochure:
WRAP AND SEAL -- Forms A Solid Rubber Covering
- Seals on dirty, greasy and wet surfaces
- Air and water tight
- Works from -5 F to 212 F
- Easy to use
Forms a strong, solid rubber covering in minutes with no adhesives. Use to seal out water or air, electrically insulate (meets ASTM D-69). Make emergency repairs, bundle wires and cab.es, etc. Simply peel back from roll and wrap, overlapping for desired thickness. Rolls are 1" x 16' (stretching to three times its length). Black. Max holding pressure 100 PSI.
Cat. No.: SW-2
Description: Wrap and Seal
Price Each: 1-9 $5.90"
This would seem to be the ideal solution for the sticky mess that oozes out of electrical tape onto wiring harnesses.
Mike Taglieri
From: CHLit
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 23:23:03 EDT
OK I finally got to play with that problem. I charged the battery and promptly blew a fuse! The brake switch is flakey, and the tail light has a broken wire at the connection, but I don't think that's the problem. Is there a good place to look for a direct short? I checked for a short at the z/diode, and it wasn't there,but the wire to it was reading to ground. I don't know where to start looking, and thought there may be someone who knows what secrets the Lord of Darkness keeps.
Thanks in advance
Little
From: Robert Smits
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 94 23:25:03 EDT
CHLit writes:
>OK I finally got to play with that problem. I charged the battery and
>promptly blew a fuse! [Snip]
Somewhere in the wiring harness between the fuse and the frame you have a short circuit. This may be a wire that has had the insulation rubbed off, a broken wire that lets the copper touch the frame somewhere, or a wire inside the harness somewhere that has had the insulation melted off by a previous short circuit overload. It may be a faulty switch, or lamp, too, but that isn't as likely.
In order to find it, you're just going to have to progressively disconnect wires, one circuit at a time, until you find the faulty circuit, and then trace the faulty component in that circuit. In this kind of problem there aren't any short cuts to finding the solution unless you can visually spotthe broken or uninsulated wire. :-)
(Robert Smits, Ladysmith B.C.)
Hellers Law
The first myth of management is that it exists.
From: Mike Lake
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 10:44 EST
CHLit
> OK I finally got to play with that problem. I charged the battery
and
> promptly blew a fuse! [Snip]
The strangest (and most embarrassing) electrical problem that my '71 T120RV ever bestowed upon me was very similar. I had the battery out for some reason, and when I re-installed it the fuse blew. Upon replacing it, it promptly blew again. Instantly, my steel-trap like mind said "dead short, grab VOM and go to work". This degenerated into a couple hours of wire tracing, schematic searching, bitching, cussing, etc. Final conclusion? The bike is positive ground. I knew that. I just forgot. Diodes *really do* only flow juice one way. Hooking the battery up correctly solved my problem. What kept throwing me was the little 1.5V battery in my VOM. As I checked for continuity between the frame and any of the supposedly open circuits, I should have hooked the positive VOM lead to the frame, not the negative one.
Anyway, I'm sure you have the battery hooked up right. If not, change it and never tell a soul.
From: Michael Schippling
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:28:07 PDT
>> Is there a good place to look for a direct short?
Anywhere a wire passes near a piece of frame metal.... especially if its a sheet-metal edge.
Ugly problem, no easy solution.
Start disconnecting things and wiggling others until whatever you are using to indicate the short wavers.
Check for pinched wires in the switchgear.
I found one of Edward's little shorts in a wire to a turn signal that had been streached over the opening to the signal stem....I also found a short in Max, my old truck, that was, literally, in the wire from the fusebox to the regulator....I still don't know how that happened.
MS