Electrical Gremlins....

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inkjunkie

inkjunkie

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Have a way of testing ones patience. Bike is having one of those very sporadic bugs. Running great and it quits. Blinkers/lights still work. Sometimes it will fire right up, sometimes the starter will not even engage. Sometimes the starter will engage but if you look at the primary drive belt the starters seems like it is cycling forwards-backwards. Was lucky where it crapped out I had cell service to call the Mrs. Got to use my ramp I made today......
 
Nothing is run thru the bars, except for the dimples to get the wiring by the lever mounts......and all is well there.....
 
I've found the little metal crimps inside the harness will fail where a wire will "Y" off. They'll look absolutely fine on the outside, nice, clean and tight, no corrosion or other mechanical defect but it will still fail to make good electrical contact. Bend the harness 10 degrees one way it's fine, 10 the other and no go.. A test light where the power is supposed to be (your case, the ignition power lead or power to the RH handle bar switch) and run up and down harness bending it and moving the handlebars until you can pin down the general area. Once you have a good idea where the issue is, slit the harness and remove the offending crimp, Solder and shrink wrap the wire.

I had one last year that took over an hour to find, but I did find the little bastard causing the issue. In my case it was a "Y" crimp in the harness for the power to the RH switch in the general vicinity of the steering head. The dead giveaway was the headlight would go off as well as the ignition. On the 70's jap bikes, the power for the headlight still went up to the RH switch even though there was no on/off switch anymore (as mandated by the DOT). It was a "vestigal" connection that was really no longer needed, like an appendix. The starter still worked though as the japanese are big on "grounding" with switches, rather than applying power, so that was a seperate circuit.
 
Connector at coils? Not plugged it all the way? I always get them plugged in tight make sure it starts and then put a small dab of silicone on them. Bikes vibrate alot, the silicone is invisible and holds the connector in place.
 
ramcharger said:
I've found the little metal crimps inside the harness will fail where a wire will "Y" off. They'll look absolutely fine on the outside, nice, clean and tight, no corrosion or other mechanical defect but it will still fail to make good electrical contact. Bend the harness 10 degrees one way it's fine, 10 the other and no go.. A test light where the power is supposed to be (your case, the ignition power lead or power to the RH handle bar switch) and run up and down harness bending it and moving the handlebars until you can pin down the general area. Once you have a good idea where the issue is, slit the harness and remove the offending crimp, Solder and shrink wrap the wire.

I had one last year that took over an hour to find, but I did find the little bastard causing the issue. In my case it was a "Y" crimp in the harness for the power to the RH switch in the general vicinity of the steering head. The dead giveaway was the headlight would go off as well as the ignition. On the 70's jap bikes, the power for the headlight still went up to the RH switch even though there was no on/off switch anymore (as mandated by the DOT). It was a "vestigal" connection that was really no longer needed, like an appendix. The starter still worked though as the japanese are big on "grounding" with switches, rather than applying power, so that was a seperate circuit.
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I will be stripping the harness over the weekend. I know it is not in the handlebar switch wiring, I have the kill switch by passed......Got a feeling it is in the disaster by the battery. Was going to rewire over next winter, might not be able to wait. Sometimes when it craps out, even with the kill switch jumped, the starter will not engage so I am thinking it very well might be in the kill switch wiring that is in the harness. Thing that is interesting is on the schematic the only place there is a grey wire is at the kill switch. Does not show it any where else....

Mad Dart said:
Connector at coils? Not plugged it all the way? I always get them plugged in tight make sure it starts and then put a small dab of silicone on them. Bikes vibrate alot, the silicone is invisible and holds the connector in place.
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No connector at the coils, other than the ring terminals that are connected to the coils. But I know they are tight, 2 star washers and a dab of LocTite on each screw....

Coil wires are on as well.

This thing has been plagued with electrical troubles since day one. Coil wires coming off, power to the circuit breaker fell off, short in the handlebar switch housing just to name a few. Vibration caused the HID headlight to break, have lost a mirror or two. Vibrated one of the bolts that holds the rear fender on.
 
Well if it was running and then just stopped I would think it is some sort of sperratic grounding issue. Your right though, those bikes will vibrate the fillings out your teeth!
 
Mad Dart said:
Well if it was running and then just stopped I would think it is some sort of sperratic grounding issue. Your right though, those bikes will vibrate the fillings out your teeth!
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Have checked all the ground points, actually took them apart and cleaned them up using a dab of dielectric grease when putting them back together. Not saying it could be a ground wire issue (cut/stressed wire) inside the harness. Seems like damn near every electrical problem I have ever had is ground related...Very frustrating.......it craps out, by the time I get pulled over and dig the test light out of my bag it will start.
 
Mad Dart said:
Well if it was running and then just stopped I would think it is some sort of sperratic grounding issue. Your right though, those bikes will vibrate the fillings out your teeth!
Click to expand...

I am on board with ground issues. They can be real finnicky and can drive you nuts.
 
Going to cut/pull the sheath off of the harness and see where the ignition is powered from as well as locate the ground for the ignition itself. In the past I went as far as using LocTite on the battery bolts as they were vibrating loose.

On a separate note does anyone know of any long range portable 2 way radios? Cell service up this way is sketchy at best. Yesterday I was walking along the road way looking for the one spot where I got service. We have Verizon for a provider now, when we had AT&T there was 0 coverage until we were 20 miles from home.
 
inkjunkie said:
anyone know of any long range portable 2 way radios?
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Here Doug, read this

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/personal-radio-services-prs-keeping-touch


I haven't kept up on all the radio spec/ licensing changes, IE at least some radios have recently been required to go "narrow band" which means that many older/ used radios you might find, ebay, etc, are no longer legal, so you have to be careful.

FRS is a joke. These are very low power, require integrated antennas so you cannot use better ones, and very limited range. One way to slightly improve FRS radios is to use specially made radios for mobile or on your roof. Since FCC rules prohibit antenna improvements, these oddball designs put the transmitter and antenna in a remote unit so you can stick them up higher, remote operated with the cabling which goes into the car to the mike/ speaker.

CB is OK so long as "the skip isn't in" but but in years when propagation is high, CB also becomes a joke. Advantage is, they are CHEAP, and if you can have a base station at the home front, you can improve range with a better antenna

MURS uses higher power commercial quality radios, but there are only 5 channels available. I have no idea how "crowded" things are over that way. You MUST legally use radios approved specifically for that service

The other thing you might consider is for you and your sidekick to get your amateur licenses and use vhf/ uhf, where power is no problem. You are limited in what you can discuss, per FCC. This might not be a really big deal, because even on commercial freqs, "it's a party line" and anyone can scan and receive whatever you say.

I would avoid various "pirate" solutions. People have been caught using Marine band VHF gear "on land", and the fines aren't pretty. Likewise, being "out of band" or using commercial unlicensed gear might be ugly if you get caught, especially in range of the airport and Fairchild. Causing interference to any of "that stuff" would be bad news

Only other thing I can suggest is to motivate the locals to ***** about poor cell service. Years ago when I was workin' for Motorola, we were on our way to Othello, and I called to complain about the (then) cell service, and got dropped while doing so!!!
 
Doug,

You could also get a GMRS license that allows you up to 50 watts of power and your family is covered by that licence. No test, just cash BUT.... you'll hear tons of people/kids talking on freqs they are SUPPOSED to have a license for. You can filter that crappola out using CTCSS codes. Those codes allow you and your wife to only receive calls from each other but keep in mind, everyone can hear you. Radios with the correct FCC certification are very hard to find, but they are serious, commercial quality stuff.

The other option, like 67Dart273 mentioned is Amatuer Radio. If there is a repeater nearby you can sometimes get out in a 70 mile radius with just a 5 watt radio. Many hams would also be happy to make a phone call for you too. Lot's of guys live for that stuff, just for bragging rights, lol. I know I'd do it.... There's even a few local guys who've managed to set up some kind of bluetooth connection into thier helmet so they can ride and talk at the same time.
 
Something to look into.....thanks guys.

Did not find any broken, chafed or loose wires. While I have it apart I am going to fix some of the mess. Have an email in to the company that produced the harness to try to get a manual for it. Only problem is we are unsure of which harness it is based solely on the picture of the "brains" of it all. They need a picture of the connector of it and it does not have one.......
 
Gryzynx said:
Might want to check out satellite text service using your smartphone. Here's a sample.

http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php
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Problem with any type of text service is we do not have any cell service at the house. If you are standing out by the one gate you MAY get enough of a signal to receive a text.

Because we do not have cell service at the house neither one of us has a smart phone.....
 
Bad Sport said:
Does it have the run switch? Have you looked at that?
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It does indeed have a Run switch....it is currently bypassed. Just replaced all the handlebar switches. The new Run switch started out working smoothly, it now feels like it has grit of some sort in it. The bike gets its ignition power form this switch which is why I bypassed it. I wanted to make sure that the switch was not the issue...and it was not.
 
Are you coils in the center of your engine? I had something like that on my Shovelhead. If there is a cover that goes over the coil make sure none of the wires are coming into contact.

My shovelhead was wired by someone I knew pretty well. Those damn crimp connectors suck! You may have a loose connection or two!

When I wired my Duster I cut every one of those damn plastic/vinyl insulators off. I then used a ratchet crimper and heat shrink on every connection. Something you may want to consider on your bike. You could also you some silicone sealant prior to heat shrinking.

Here is a cycle terminal website I just found. I like how the terminals and the and insulators are separate. http://www.cycleterminal.com/bullet-terminals.html

Here is a complete wiring harness from JP cycle. I have no experiance with it but it seems pretty decent. This may be a good way to get rid of the wiring issues once and for all! http://www.jpcycles.com/product/381-001

Good Luck!
 

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scuba0331 said:
Are you coils in the center of your engine? I had something like that on my Shovelhead. If there is a cover that goes over the coil make sure none of the wires are coming into contact.

My shovelhead was wired by someone I knew pretty well. Those damn crimp connectors suck! You may have a loose connection or two!

When I wired my Duster I cut every one of those damn plastic/vinyl insulators off. I then used a ratchet crimper and heat shrink on every connection. Something you may want to consider on your bike. You could also you some silicone sealant prior to heat shrinking.

Here is a cycle terminal website I just found. I like how the terminals and the and insulators are separate. http://www.cycleterminal.com/bullet-terminals.html

Here is a complete wiring harness from JP cycle. I have no experiance with it but it seems pretty decent. This may be a good way to get rid of the wiring issues once and for all! http://www.jpcycles.com/product/381-001

Good Luck!
Click to expand...
My coils are like mounted like yours but I lost the coil cover when I moved. A lot of the bike was soldered. Where there needs to be connectors I will be using Weatherpack connectors. I have a pair of open barrel crimp pliers that I am not to fond of, the replacement ratcheting Delphi pliers are in transit. The company that made the harness has yet to get back to me about a manual, they do not know which harness I have. I am going to connect an unused LED by the tach into the ignition circuit. The wiring from the power module is good. As long as the power is on the LED should be lit. What I am suspicious of is the circuit breaker for the ignition is tripping for some reason. This circuit is what is supplying power to the kill switch, which then sends power to the start button and the coils. If this breaker trips it will take the power from the coils as well as the starter.....and the led that I am wiring in.
Every time it crapped out the other day the starter was dead for a few seconds as well so....

Thanks for the links. I very well might be replacing the harness soon just to get rid of the disaster that is on there now.....
 
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