Finally went ahead and did this

[Adler]

Yes, the second one is correct for the coil relay mod. If you use the first relay and connect coils to 87a and 87, when the relay latches, only the coil connected to 87 will receive 12V. So either you will be running only on 1 & 4 or 2 & 3, and this can cause headaches to troubleshoot.

I suppose I could just connect 2 wires to 87 and leave 87a unused but honestly I feel that I overpaid for the relay I got ($26.31 for the relay and the harness).

[2BRacing]

Yes, 2 wires on 87 to each coil will work. Do not connect anything to 87a. But be aware that 87a will always have +12 V on it (as it is connected directly to 30 which is connected to +12 V battery via a fuse), so cover it with insulation to prevent a possible short if it touches some part of the frame etc.

Don't know prices in your country, but that price does sound rather steep. I recently bought a Bosch relay (with two 87 terminals - the part number is 0 332 019 150) here for the equivalent of about 4 US$.

[dueller]

Yes, 2 wires on 87 to each coil will work. Do not connect anything to 87a. But be aware that 87a will always have +12 V on it (as it is connected directly to 30 which is connected to +12 V battery via a fuse), so cover it with insulation to prevent a possible short if it touches some part of the frame etc.

Actually, will only be powered when the ignition is off but ya same idea powered when it doesn't need to be. I was gonna say the same thing. Make sure it is insulated. Could just put an insulated spade crimp connector on it with nothing attached.

[Adler]

A little more progress happened today, if you can call it that.

I ran a new wire that connects the ground on the starter relay and the main ground.

My latest question is if I should worry about the last ground near the fuel sending wires.

Here is a wiring diagram for my bike

In blue - things I think are grounds.
In red - my changes

It looks to me as though the 2 grounds in question are connected in the harness.

EDIT: here is a bit of a cleaner picture of the way the grounds currently stand.

[Souske]

I would,as it appears to be shared by the front switch as well as the rear lamps in the diagram (hard to see on a phone) if so, you could add that grounding leg anywhere convenient.

[pete]

You can if you want, but it's directly connected to the ground you have covered off at the bottom of the diagram there (can't read the numbers to tell you what it's near), so you should be ok as is.

[Adler]

I couldn't wait for my relays to arrive in the mail so I decided to test how the bike would run when I get the relays now.

I did this by wiring in the following temporary circuit (in red)



This keeps the coils powered but bear in mind that I don't have a battery so all I am really losing is the kill switch functionality.

I found that the bike started a lot easier than when I began this whole battery elimination thing. I am not sure what to attribute that to, the ground improvements or the coil "relay" mod. It still won't run without choke and dies when I turn the headlight on high beam (the low beam is dead so I can't be sure about it).

Do you think 14,000uF is too little for the capacitor? I thought it would be more than enough!

[Adler]

Looked into this a little more, found that the bike was only firing on 3 cylinders with my temporary setup. "Oh no!", says I, fearing the worst.

So I went to pull a plug to see what the deal was. Glancing over at the plug here's what I see...


Well, kids... Can you point to the problem?
(everyone points at me)

Very good!!!
I am the problem.

[cowboyup3371]

Are you talking about the acorn nut? Where did it come from?

Course I see the unplugged wire but not sure if you did that.

[Adler]

Are you talking about the acorn nut? Where did it come from?

Course I see the unplugged wire but not sure if you did that.

An acorn nut tree, of course.

I sure did unplug the wire, and forgot to plug it back in. Shockingly, it prevented that cylinder from firing!

[Adler]

I need some direction,

The bike will now idle with the capacitor, no problem. I can rev beautifully and everything appears lovely. If I turn on the headlight, however, instant death. So is the bike not generating enough electricity to power the lights? Do I need a bigger capacitor? the one I am using is 14,000uF and I thought that would be enough.

When I rev the neutral light does change brightness quite a lot. Maybe that is a clue.

[SVSooke]

Yeah it's the clue you need a battery

[pete]

Stupid question time... have you verified your charging circuit is good since putting the capacitor in?

Have you verified the capacitor is holding some charge?

It sounds to me like there's just enough current being generated to run the coils, but added load exceeds the ability of the system.

That really says R/R to me...

[Adler]

Stupid question time... have you verified your charging circuit is good since putting the capacitor in?

Have you verified the capacitor is holding some charge?

It sounds to me like there's just enough current being generated to run the coils, but added load exceeds the ability of the system.

That really says R/R to me...

Honestly I have only done preliminary tests on the charging system because I never seemed to have a problem with it. You are, of course, right. I will do some more in depth tests.

The capacitor seems to be holding SOME charge. I see that when I turn the key to off when it is running when I turn it back on the lights flash. I'm not sure if it is holding enough though.

I did some more testing after I posted and I found that if I rev the bike and then turn on the lights it will settle back to idle and stay running. I assume the system spikes when the lights are turned on initially.

Well, seems R/R testing is next on the agenda.

[pete]

Definitely check it out!

I always thought my charging system ok, so I'm not sure now if it's the almost 10 years sitting or if it was faulty all along, but I get the 12.5v decreasing to 12.3v when I rev... definitely new R/R time for me.