maylar
VIP MEMBER
- Joined
- May 13, 2007
- Messages
- 4,214
Please allow me to ramble a bit...
I did some wiring mods on my 74 MKII this weekend. Reinstated the kill switch, which had been bypassed (soldered the contacts together) for the last 40 years. I did this by buying a Sparx switch cluster and swapping it into the Lucas housing. I also added a relay to the coil bracket, to isolate the switch from ignition current. Everything worked before attaching the switch assembly to the handlebars.
Started the bike (e-start) Saturday morning and it ran for about 10 seconds then quit. Electrics were dead. Blown main 20 amp fuse.
Took the tank off and inspected my wiring, all looked good. Measured resistance of the power wire to ground with ignition on, 80 ohms. Put an ammeter in the line and started the bike again, got just a couple amps. Hmmm. Replaced fuse, went for a ride with no issues - except - no blinkers.
Electronic blinker controller for LED's was toast. It's just 2 terminals, no ground. But it feeds 12V to the switch cluster when the ignition switch is on.
So, I'm thinking that the blinker power feed shorted to ground somewhere. Wiring under the tank looks OK - could the Sparx switch board short to the handlebars when mounted? It fit the housing perfectly.
/ramble mode off/
I did some wiring mods on my 74 MKII this weekend. Reinstated the kill switch, which had been bypassed (soldered the contacts together) for the last 40 years. I did this by buying a Sparx switch cluster and swapping it into the Lucas housing. I also added a relay to the coil bracket, to isolate the switch from ignition current. Everything worked before attaching the switch assembly to the handlebars.
Started the bike (e-start) Saturday morning and it ran for about 10 seconds then quit. Electrics were dead. Blown main 20 amp fuse.
Took the tank off and inspected my wiring, all looked good. Measured resistance of the power wire to ground with ignition on, 80 ohms. Put an ammeter in the line and started the bike again, got just a couple amps. Hmmm. Replaced fuse, went for a ride with no issues - except - no blinkers.
Electronic blinker controller for LED's was toast. It's just 2 terminals, no ground. But it feeds 12V to the switch cluster when the ignition switch is on.
So, I'm thinking that the blinker power feed shorted to ground somewhere. Wiring under the tank looks OK - could the Sparx switch board short to the handlebars when mounted? It fit the housing perfectly.
/ramble mode off/