Best to Fix Any Half-Done Modifications that are Common to Outdated or Old Motorcycles

How to

It's a given that turning on the ignition key will turn on the neutral light and energize the electrical components of the motorcycle. However, used motorcycles that have passed through the hands of many users sometimes have modifications that you can't even imagine. Some of these modifications can lead to problems and accidents, so if you think "something is wrong? It is important to try to find the cause of the problem.

When vinyl tape is wrapped or wiring color is changed in the middle, it is suspicious.

The motorcycle itself is about 50 years old, so I don't know how many owners it's been through, but all the main switch wires were cut once and short wires were spliced in. All the wires are twisted together with fingertips, and the insulation tape has lost its effect.

Electrical work is required when installing USB power supplies and drive recorders that improve the usability and safety of your motorcycle. Although modern accessories and supplies are designed to be easy to work with during installation, both the constant power supply from the battery and the accessory power supply linked to the main switch require branching and wiring from somewhere on the vehicle body side.

The installation of such electrical accessories has been done for a long time, but in the days when general-purpose parts were the norm and the installation work was left to the user, it was not uncommon to install them in a rather rough manner, such as peeling off the wire sheathing, twisting the core wires, and wrapping them with vinyl tape.

When it comes to repairs and maintenance, it's now possible to wire up your motorcycle in a way that looks good and is safe, thanks to the availability of connectors, electric pliers, and heat shrink tubing at motorcycle supply stores. However, this doesn't mean that there are no examples of messy work.

In the case of electrical maintenance, you should not underestimate the risk of not only blown fuses and blown valves, but in the worst case, melted wiring and even burning the vehicle. Even the 12V battery we take for granted has enough energy to melt a tool as small as a screwdriver or pliers if the positive and negative terminals are directly connected.

The most dangerous work in tinkering with the electrical system that has such a risk is to add wiring and to select the wrong color of wiring to use. It is not uncommon to extend missing wires when using parts from another model, but if the wires are not connected properly and are easily disconnected, or if the power supply connected to the battery is connected in such a way that it touches the body of the motorcycle, it can cause an accident.

It is also dangerous to change the color of the wiring used to connect the wires from the original color. If you add blue wiring to red wiring, there is a risk that an accident may occur if you forget to do so. When extending the wiring at the coupler part, it is also common to use the same color wiring without multiple wiring colors, but there is a risk of accidental connection even with a 4-pin coupler. Therefore, when extending the wiring, be sure to use the original color.

POINT
  • Point 1・The battery on a motorcycle has a lot of energy that you can't imagine when it's in normal use.
  • Point 2・When you cut or connect the wiring, do the insulation treatment surely.

Half-done protection of the wiring parts can lead to a vehicle fire.

The round terminal under the main switch connects to the positive terminal of the battery, which goes through the fuse box and into the main switch. The wiring color is supposed to be red from the connector to the main switch, but there is a gray wire in the middle, which is unnatural.

The wires leading to the main switch are originally red, blue and brown, but they were cut just a few places from the main switch and are now gray. There was no solder on the connection part, and the brown wire had no covering, only the core wire was soldered to the main switch and wrapped with tape.

Here is an example of the main switch wiring on an old motorcycle from the 1960s. The main switch on this motorcycle has two stages, the first stage powers the ignition system, blinkers and horn for daytime riding and the second stage powers the headlight and taillight for nighttime riding. There are three wires leading to the main switch and the normal wiring colour is red for the battery, brown for daytime riding and blue for nighttime riding.

However, in the actual motorcycle, all three wires were extended with gray wires, and the connection parts were very poorly treated by just twisting the core wires by hand and wrapping them with tape. The electrical system functioned even in such a condition, but the tape, which I don't know when it was wrapped, was so tattered that the core wires were exposed just by touching it.

If the power wire directly connected to the battery, which was originally red, comes into contact with the motorcycle body, it will naturally short-circuit because the negative of the battery is connected to the motorcycle body. In this case, the fuse between the battery terminal and the main switch will cut off the electricity and prevent the short circuit condition from continuing. However, if the fuse is blown, the ignition system is also cut off, so the engine will not start. If a short circuit occurs while riding, the motorcycle will stop at that point.

The same thing can happen at the daytime riding and nighttime riding wiring joints after exiting the main switch. If the core wire of the brown wire of daytime riding touches the motorcycle body, it will stop even while riding. If the blue wire of the nighttime riding touches the body, the fuse will blow the moment the headlight is turned on.

In the case of this motorcycle, because there is only one main fuse and only two electrical components that pass through the key, if something goes wrong, all power is lost in an instant, and it is relatively easy to find the cause on it. However, with today's motorcycles, which have a large number of wires and fuses, it often takes a lot of time and effort to find the cause of a wiring error or blunder somewhere. It is better to do the work carefully at the beginning than to do it carelessly and get into trouble later.

POINT
  • Point 1・When you connect the stock wiring, use the same color wiring as the original wiring.
  • Point 2・In order to prevent the trouble later, work carefully when connecting new wiring.

It's important to understand how the electricity from the battery flows before working on it.

To ensure a stable soldering process, I removed just the circuit board from the main switch and soldered the three wires together. The Daytona has a number of harnesses that are the manufacturer's stock color equivalent, which comes in handy when performing electrical maintenance.

The color of the wiring is the same as the original, and the harness is taped together, so it was a perfect repair. However, there was a mistake. The wiring from the battery to the main switch needs to be female on the battery side and male on the main switch side.

At first glance, the area around the main switch is neat and tidy, but the red wire end on the switch side is a female connector, which is a big mistake. The end of the wiring on the fuse side that connects to the battery is a male connector, so if the wiring is disconnected in this state, not only will the engine stop, but the male connector will touch the frame and blow the fuse. I had to change the main switch side to male and the battery side to female.

The wiring was extended in a sloppy way by all accounts, but there is a possibility that the wiring was cut and spliced when only the key cylinder was transplanted from another vehicle. Even so, the finish is poor, so I will redo the wiring for both appearance and safety. The specific method is simple and radical: connect new generic wiring in the stock color.

Fortunately, the base of the main switch wiring is the type that is fixed to the terminals with solder, so you can apply heat to strip the old wiring from the terminals and connect the original color wiring to each of the three wires. As mentioned earlier, it is important to use a different color wire than the original because it will cause a misconnection.

More importantly, it is important to use the correct male and female guillotine terminals for the end of the wiring. Actually, the main switch connector in the picture is being used incorrectly. The female is used for the red wire connector that leads from the battery through the fuse, which is a big mistake.The fault is that the end of the wiring leading to the battery terminal is a male connector, to begin with. What would happen if the terminal came off in this condition? The end of the wire that connects to the positive terminal of the battery is a male connector with an exposed metal part, so as soon as it touches the frame, it will short out.

I made the mistake of using a female for the main switch side gibbet because I used the fuse box that should have been used from the battery first for direct battery connection. The correct answer is to make the fuse side female and the main switch side male.If you do this, the battery will not come into direct contact with the frame. This way, even if the connector part comes off, the female connector on the battery side has a protective cover, so it won't come in direct contact with the frame.

Even if you have done all the hard work to rewire the motorcycle neatly, the work itself will be ruined if you use the wrong male or female connector. On the contrary, it could be the source of a new problem, so it is important to understand the flow of electricity before working on the electrical system.

POINT
  • Point 1・It is possible to prevent problems such as poor contact by installing new wiring that has deteriorated.
  • Point 2・Use a female connector with a cover on the end of the wiring leading to the positive terminal of the battery to prevent short-circuiting even if it touches the motorcycle body.
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