Cafe wiring diagram... give me your thoughts

[JakeML]

I plan on doing a 78 GS550 cafe project on a newly purchased bike, but am currently out of the country. Since I can't work on the bike I came up with this. Disregard the location of connectors and splices as they were from the copied WD. It is going to be a bare bones project; kicks start only, no idiot lights, not turn signals but running a Dyna S ignitions with a relay mod for coil power. Give me some criticism and thoughts on this.

[cowboyup3371]

Why won't you want turn signals? Don't you plan on riding on the road or even maybe at night?

[TheCafeKid]

Depending on your states laws and whether or not you're required for inspection, in many states, if it came with turn signals from the factory, it has to have turn signals to be road legal. So you might check on that.

Couple that with the fact that 90% of the drivers on the road don't know what hand signals mean when used in lieu of signals, and it may not be such a good idea to go without. This hobby is already dangerous enough. The choice however is entirely yours

[JakeML]

I live in Colorado, which does not require turn signals. I know its probably a "good" idea to have them but honestly I have not seen a pair of turn signals I like. I think I'm willing to take the risk because although 90% of drivers don't know hand signals they are also to preoccupied to see a blinkers haha.

[cowboyup3371]

What part of denver are you in again?

[Octain]

I live in Colorado, which does not require turn signals. I know its probably a "good" idea to have them but honestly I have not seen a pair of turn signals I like. I think I'm willing to take the risk because although 90% of drivers don't know hand signals they are also to preoccupied to see a blinkers haha.

Lots of options for decent looking and safe signals. Many aftermarket LED tail lights have em incorporated in the unit. Nice and sleek and very visible.
For the fronts you can get the flush mount type or the type that have very little stem. They look good.
Do some research before ya just write off using signals at all. They may save your life.

[JakeML]

I am in the south Aurora area near Southlands Mall off E-470. I know there are plenty of blinkers out there and could always make my own it's just not in the plans as of now. I plan on building the harness myself and I will leave it open for a future option.

[posplayr]

I plan on doing a 78 GS550 cafe project on a newly purchased bike, but am currently out of the country. Since I can't work on the bike I came up with this. Disregard the location of connectors and splices as they were from the copied WD. It is going to be a bare bones project; kicks start only, no idiot lights, not turn signals but running a Dyna S ignitions with a relay mod for coil power. Give me some criticism and thoughts on this.

you can compare to this

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=153727&highlight=550+bobber+schematic

[verde]

Another thread for reference. Look at post 6 for my kill switch/oil dummy light recommendation. You can ignore the ignition switch stuff I say there since you want kick-only.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=184355

I run a tiny scooter battery on both my kick-only 750s. One still running points the other with a dyna s ignition. Post 13 here.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=184128&page=2

Make sure you do the carbs right -- A stubborn kick-only bike isn't fun.

I run without turn signals, but on my main ride I have red turn signal lights that are hooked up to the brake light circuit. It kinda wakes up the cages behind me with that much red coming at them when I hit the brakes, and makes it look more legit for the fuzz.

[JakeML]

Thank you for the links guys. So I've noticed I should add another breaker after the RR and before the loads of the lighting and ignition system in case something shorts out at some point. I plan on doing pwr and ground checks at the connectors before I hook things up. I also like the idea of taking out the front brake switch as verde mentioned in a post, just less wiring to the bars. I kind of like the the thought of having a horn but if I delete that too I can have zero wires to the bars and just have a switch panel with some micro switches for everything else.

[verde]

So I've noticed I should add another breaker after the RR and before the loads of the lighting and ignition system in case something shorts out at some point.

Yeah, it's a good idea to run a 30A in-line fuse on the hot lead from the reg/rec to the battery. Use the regular size blade fuse, not mini:

http://www.triumphrat.net/speed-triple-forum/104504-charging-system-diagnostics-rectifier-regulator-upgrade-2.html#post1345297

Then you'll want to run your main hot lead with another 30A fuse before it runs to the ignition switch. Past that point it's whatever size fuses, either in-lines or a panel, you want to use for your ignition, lights, and any other circuits you might run. If you're running a panel, you can have your main fuse in it too. I would still direct wire the charging system with an in-line though. I generally like to run 15A mini for ignition/coils and a 15A mini for lights. That way I only need to worry about two spares.

[JakeML]

Thank you for the help! I just have one question why would you run a 30 amp to the battery? Stock it has one fuse in the system which is a 15 amp between the R/R and the battery plus starter.

[Steve]

One other suggestion, based on your original diagram:

See where the three wires go out the right side of the statpr? Follow the top one, you will see that it goes forward to a connector, then loops back to the R/R. Re-route that wire, go directly to the R/R, just like the other two wires.

.

[verde]

Thank you for the help! I just have one question why would you run a 30 amp to the battery? Stock it has one fuse in the system which is a 15 amp between the R/R and the battery plus starter.

That's just what I've been exposed to on other bikes and chop wiring. Works for me and I figure if the reg/rec fails in a way that it's gonna take the battery with it, 30 amp should give out easily enough or it wasn't meant to be saved anyway. If you feel so inclined, run a lower rated fuse but keep an eye on it and carry spares.

Just to reiterate what Steve said, direct wire the charging system. In fact, I kinda figured you're planning on running all your own wires based on the "Disregard the location of connectors and splices as they were from the copied WD." If a ground-up harness wasn't the plan it should be I do use the 3 prong "metri-pac" connectors, recommended in that triumphrat link earlier, for the stator to reg/rec connection and love them. Whatever connectors you use, solder is a good idea. The old wives tale of soldered wires vibrating to death is not worth a poor connection on the charging circuit. Practice on some junk crimped connections so that you can get good wetting of everything in the crimp zone but have little or no capillary action past it.

Well thought out heat shrink is good thing, usually have to slip in on the wires prior to crimping. Assemble everything with generous amounts of dielectric grease.

[JakeML]

Okay I didn't know if there was a really measurement behind the 30 amps or not, but like you said if there is a failure it should save the battery. For the most part I will be building the harness using aircraft mil-spec wiring and connectors. I currently work in the avionics field and our bench stock should have almost everything I need. I was an aircraft electrician in the military and have painfully sat threw many harness repair classes so the soldering won't be an issue.