SH775 install on a 450T

[John Park]

Finally got around to installing the Shindengen marvel RR on my '82 450T. I put it where the tool kit used to live on the RHS side cover. I didn't have another use for the space as I carry a pouch at the rear for tools and bits.

P1010545.jpg

I fabbed a .100" aluminum plate and spliced the connectors into the harness from an old and dead RR. I grounded it to the battery, which seemed like a reasonable option considering the distance. Seems to work; the lights get brighter when I rev it.

The original harness is still intact so I can always use a stock RR if I'm stuck; was going to leave the old one in place, but I kinda like the room over on the right without it. Still some tidy work to go…. the alternator leads go over the air box and hook up on the other side.

[Nessism]

Nice! Looks like you got yourself the Triumph harness to go with the R/R.

I can see a physical ground on the R/R mounting plate. You better dawn your flameproof suit before Jim Pos opens fire and starts lecturing you on their evil. Good luck with that.

[Runeight]

On my to do list down the road.

[John Park]

Nice! Looks like you got yourself the Triumph harness to go with the R/R.

I can see a physical ground on the R/R mounting plate. You better dawn your flameproof suit before Jim Pos opens fire and starts lecturing you on their evil. Good luck with that.

I think that's just the ground for the tail lights. The RR goes direct to the battery. I'm more concerned about the skinny little red positive lead that disappears into the loom and eventually finds the battery, but it's been feeding the thing since '82 so the juice probably knows the way by now. Guess I should check its resistance; I think it goes through the fuse..??

The wires coming out of the Triumph connectors are massive so splicing them into the original harness seemed pretty goofy. I always like to wire things heavy but they must have been trying to make up for Lucas jokes.

[posplayr]

A couple of points:

1.) you seem to have hard mounted that aluminum plate to the frame; generally electronics is mounted in rubber of something to isolate the electronics from engine vibration. Vibration tends to kill electronics.

2.) You did not mention putting an inline fuse in the Red(+) wire from the R/R to the battery. If you did not do that that is a really bad situation if the R/R were to short.

3.) I see what looks like a B/W wire connected to the battery terminal behind the plate. I'm guessing this is the battery negative? I don't know if that is the R/R ground or a second harness harness ground. It has some bearing on the function of the ground you attached to the plate. realize that if there is any current flowing from that B/W ground it has to get to the R/R (-). Without knowing the other connections it is hard to tell if it is doing anything or nothing.

You could always put an ammeter in line with it and see if anything is actually flowing through it

[John Park]

A couple of points:

1.) you seem to have hard mounted that aluminum plate to the frame; generally electronics is mounted in rubber of something to isolate the electronics from engine vibration. Vibration tends to kill electronics.

2.) You did not mention putting an inline fuse in the Red(+) wire from the R/R to the battery. If you did not do that that is a really bad situation if the R/R were to short.

3.) I see what looks like a B/W wire connected to the battery terminal behind the plate. I'm guessing this is the battery negative? I don't know if that is the R/R ground or a second harness harness ground. It has some bearing on the function of the ground you attached to the plate. realize that if there is any current flowing from that B/W ground it has to get to the R/R (-). Without knowing the other connections it is hard to tell if it is doing anything or nothing.

You could always put an ammeter in line with it and see if anything is actually flowing through it

The original unit is mounted on the plate on the other side which has two bolts into the air box and the other into a frame tab. This is no worse, but also no better. I'm going to to get a grommet to isolate that mount as well.

I think there is already a fuse in the + to the battery, but will check that. I haven't functionally changed a thing other than grounding the R/R directly to the battery - that's the other wire behind the engine/battery ground - rather than to the frame, as it was originally. The rest of the system is original.

This thread was about how the mount plate fits and what it looks like. I used a 5mm standoff and a longer bolt at the rear air box mount which gives room for the R/R mounting bolt nuts, and put a bend in the plate to accommodate the lower frame tab mount. You could use a standoff there also if you didn't want to bend it but this saved finding one and looks nicer. I used .100" plate because it was handy, but it could be thinner, but I hate that thin warpy stuff.

You can wire it however you see fit, and there are lots of changes I'm planning for the other [rusty] side plate now that I have the R/R out of there. Compared to how the bike was when I got it - the 'from something else' R/R was hanging by one self tapping screw into the toolkit plate and so on - this is deluxe.

I don't see any better or easier options for mounting an SH775 on a twin. It's just so much bigger. This should give reasonable airflow, given that the air box intake isn't far away. Now I can stop worrying about frying the stator in July, like happened last year. National Stator Month.

[posplayr]

With respect to the electrical conenctions and especially the grounding, ultimately the thing that matters the most is the voltages that you have in your bike (that is assuming you even care).

From your answer I understand that you are trying to minimize changes and are largely following the original bikes design, however without making some measurement you may be inadvertently creating less than desirable situations. Assuming you have not changed much other than the way you have connected the R/R and that single ground to the plate.

I would be very interested to see a voltage reading from Battery(-) to the voltage at the mounting bolt where the B/W is connected (bike at idle). I would be even more interested in what that voltage is when you rubber mount that plate.

The reason this would be of interest is because there is no direct way for the B/W wire grounds to get to the Battery (-). In effect you have a partial SPG at the battery (-), it is partial because the B/W harness grounds have to travel through frame, engine block and starter ground strap to get there.

Running the revised Phase A tests would be measuring the same thing although those are better at 5K RPM.

[John Park]

With respect to the electrical conenctions and especially the grounding, ultimately the thing that matters the most is the voltages that you have in your bike (that is assuming you even care).

From your answer I understand that you are trying to minimize changes and are largely following the original bikes design, however without making some measurement you may be inadvertently creating less than desirable situations. Assuming you have not changed much other than the way you have connected the R/R and that single ground to the plate.

I would be very interested to see a voltage reading from Battery(-) to the voltage at the mounting bolt where the B/W is connected (bike at idle). I would be even more interested in what that voltage is when you rubber mount that plate.

The reason this would be of interest is because there is no direct way for the B/W wire grounds to get to the Battery (-). In effect you have a partial SPG at the battery (-), it is partial because the B/W harness grounds have to travel through frame, engine block and starter ground strap to get there.

Running the revised Phase A tests would be measuring the same thing although those are better at 5K RPM.

I just went for a long and fast ride and everything works fine. I'm not concerned about whatever extra resistance there is to the tail light. The resistance in the + line to the battery is zero and the other side of the R/R is directly grounded. The rest works, and the fuse is fine. I'm not trying to minimize changes; I just don't see that it's all that crucial compared to a dozen other things that seem more important to fix at this time.

[posplayr]

I just went for a long and fast ride and everything works fine. I'm not concerned about whatever extra resistance there is to the tail light. The resistance in the + line to the battery is zero and the other side of the R/R is directly grounded. The rest works, and the fuse is fine. I'm not trying to minimize changes; I just don't see that it's all that crucial compared to a dozen other things that seem more important to fix at this time.

So you know you should not use an ohmmeter to do the tests because it will not work; resistance is too low.
I tried, but can see you have little interest.