Electrical Stress

[GabrielGoes]

Guys i officially screwed myself big time...I put in my new battery today and the same problem continued... i thought the headlamps and guage would just turn on after some riding like it did several times so i went for a little run like 5 minutes around the block and came back in the garage and there was electrical smoke out of my headlight and tail section.... i checked my wires and many of them were literally melted and several of the copper is jsut exposed touching wahtever wires were grouped/taped close together... i mean when i shut off the bike some blinekrs were still on! continuing to fry my whole electrical system i had to unscew the power as fast as i could only to save noting.... does a main harness off ebay include everything i need? like headlamp + gauge connections as well? i have no idea what the #$%@ happened i am beyond upset at this point... what do you guys think i need to start over fresh? is there such a thing as starting over fresh?

[OldVet66]

Pull your battery out of the bike, plan on having it down for a while, repair the wiring harness and replace all the bad connectors before you do anything else. You can extend the wires that are burnt, or splice in a bridge to link the burnt wires together depending on the location of the damage. There are splice connectors made that are good, or you can solder the connections using heat shrink tubing to insulate the connections. I would find a wiring diagram for the bike if a psychical inspection doesn't tell you where the wires go. There are lots of places that sell the connectors (I would solder all of them after crimping). Use dielectric grease in all of the connectors. Then and only then, put the battery back in and start trouble shooting any possible damage. It might help if you just do one wire at a time so there is no confusion. they are all color coded. http://www.vintageconnections.com/

[posplayr]

A lot simpler and cheaper

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=148739

And i guess if Gabriel had used a Honda R/R his headlamp would not have smoked; Right?

[posplayr]

Pull your battery out of the bike, plan on having it down for a while, repair the wiring harness and replace all the bad connectors before you do anything else. You can extend the wires that are burnt, or splice in a bridge to link the burnt wires together depending on the location of the damage. There are splice connectors made that are good, or you can solder the connections using heat shrink tubing to insulate the connections. I would find a wiring diagram for the bike if a psychical inspection doesn't tell you where the wires go. There are lots of places that sell the connectors (I would solder all of them after crimping). Use dielectric grease in all of the connectors. Then and only then, put the battery back in and start trouble shooting any possible damage. It might help if you just do one wire at a time so there is no confusion. they are all color coded. http://www.vintageconnections.com/

I would try and figure out if possible is shorting. If you dont find it now you could go through alot of conenctor changes and then just some the whole thing again. With the battery out you can use the ohm meter to try and isolate where it is.

keep removing components, looking for shorts till you find it?

[OldVet66]

After removing the tape and obvious jury rigging under the tape, he is very likely to see all the shorts, the melted wire, etc. A good psychical inspection will usually reveal 99% of the problem. Following the wiring diagram to insure everything is connected as it should be should clear the rest. If the harness is not abraded or stressed, it will seldom be a problem area. If it is it will show itself up quickly if the rest is wired correctly. These things can be done by almost anyone with basic skills. Replacing connectors on an old bike will remove high contact resistances and make further trouble shooting, if necessary, much less complicated. He showed pictures of at least one large connector that needs to be replaced. The connector near the steering head could be cleaned, but any of the connectors under the seat that are blackened or discolored need replacement. The stator connectors seem to always need work. The fact that he had a meltdown after replacing the battery indicates the possibility of high contact resistance in at least some of the connectors.

[GabrielGoes]

Guys I started working on my Bike from 9:30 PM yesterday and i just finished about 5 minutes ago and its 9:07 AM.... Working through all through the night i was very determined... took the entire harness out and everything, i went over EVERYTHING!! Soldered Every little thing!!! o man im so tired right now im gona go put in the new battery real soon and if it does have the same problem them @#$! ME.... thank you for your support guys!!

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Wow! That is determination! I get stupider when I'm really tired so I usually don't pull all-nighters. Let us know how it turns out, after you've had some rest.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[GabrielGoes]

Hi,

Wow! That is determination! I get stupider when I'm really tired so I usually don't pull all-nighters. Let us know how it turns out, after you've had some rest.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

well i had to work today so i didnt sleep yet but what i can tell you is that it looks like a complete success!! I honestly dont even know how my bike RAN with the state it was in!!! 3 wires werent even grounded at all and some wires seemed like they were just "guessed" together!!, several twisted ends with just electrical tape!!! and when i say "twisted ends" i mean the two wires were twisted ONCE with an inch of electrical tape!! im guessing a small child did the electrical work! it was such a disaster words cant explain the mess the P/O did...

my Coil Wire was a "twisted end" with an inch of electrical tape on it!! my brown wire that runs from the key ingnition all the way to the rear brake light was the melted one and luckily it only melted itself and not through other other wires that severely... My harness is beautifully soldered in SEVERAL spots and now and i understand it all! Its about 500x neater than the prev. owners ! MY favorite part was the Grounds!! for some reason creating a single point ground was sort of "exciting" for me! so many grounds all going into one area!

Anyways after 10-11 straight hours of work it was time to put the battery in!! Dough! 3 more spots needed soldering!.. Anyways after all the hard work i was really afraid to see the results it was 9am by now and i turned it all on and BAM perfect bike! it was REALLY upsetting when i had the meltdown because my bike has New everything! 3 day old tires etc.. I am so happy that this website exists... everyone had great advice.. My bike is 100000x more dependable! i feel disgusted riding with the p/o's disgusting harness with several contacts toching etc... I have one question for anyone that can answer.. Each (aftermarket) yellow stator wire's (3) from my new R/R has to connected to each if the 3 OEM stat wires along with the 3 wires from the main harness right?

[posplayr]

well i had to work today so i didnt sleep yet but what i can tell you is that it looks like a complete success!! I honestly dont even know how my bike RAN with the state it was in!!! 3 wires werent even grounded at all and some wires seemed like they were just "guessed" together!!, several twisted ends with just electrical tape!!! and when i say "twisted ends" i mean the two wires were twisted ONCE with an inch of electrical tape!! im guessing a small child did the electrical work! it was such a disaster words cant explain the mess the P/O did...

my Coil Wire was a "twisted end" with an inch of electrical tape on it!! my brown wire that runs from the key ingnition all the way to the rear brake light was the melted one and luckily it only melted itself and not through other other wires that severely... My harness is beautifully soldered in SEVERAL spots and now and i understand it all! Its about 500x neater than the prev. owners ! MY favorite part was the Grounds!! for some reason creating a single point ground was sort of "exciting" for me! so many grounds all going into one area!

Anyways after 10-11 straight hours of work it was time to put the battery in!! Dough! 3 more spots needed soldering!.. Anyways after all the hard work i was really afraid to see the results it was 9am by now and i turned it all on and BAM perfect bike! it was REALLY upsetting when i had the meltdown because my bike has New everything! 3 day old tires etc.. I am so happy that this website exists... everyone had great advice.. My bike is 100000x more dependable! i feel disgusted riding with the p/o's disgusting harness with several contacts toching etc... I have one question for anyone that can answer.. Each (aftermarket) yellow stator wire's (3) from my new R/R has to connected to each if the 3 OEM stat wires along with the 3 wires from the main harness right?

Congrats, great perseverance and positive attitude. You should now be able to enjoy the bike with more reliability and the confidence that inspires.

When I originally say those big balls of electrical tape, I just shook my head as you have now found out some people are clueless about wiring and basically treat it like as much string balled up into a knot.


No need to connect the original wires from the harness. Only need the 3 yellow stator wires connected right to the three yellow wires(??) on the R/R. Just tape back or heat shrink the ends of the others.

[OldVet66]

Great job GO GABRIEL!

[GabrielGoes]

Great job GO GABRIEL!

son of a gun now we'll have some fun on the concrete bayou!

[Redman]

Gab,

Congratulations.
So the problem was bad connections or connections that had come apart in the PO's wiring.

The 3 wires from the stator are all the same, any one can go in place of an other. Stock stators have different color wires, but aftermarket stators usllay have all yellow wires.

You have a head light on/off switch. Original design is that one of the stator wires goes to headlight switch (a seperate contact on the headlight switch) to be swtiched off and on and then back to the R/R. The other two stator wires to the other two R/R wires.

.