Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Wiring harness from scratch. A few questions.

The bike we're talkin' about here is the chop in the 'Thompson's build' thread. First off, lemme say that I don't know squat about wiring a bike. On the other hand, I don't want to pay a shop to rape my wallet to do it either, so I'm going to do it myself. I've got a book ('Advanced Custom Motorcycle Wiring' by Jeff Zielinski), a friend who knows basic bike wiring, & all the resources I've collected online - yes, you guys are one of them. I've got a multimeter that I have to learn to use and a heat gun with nozzles to do the heat shrink once the harness is assembled.

I'd like to keep everything as simple as possible, but being in NY, I've got to run turn signals and a speedo, which will complicate matters somewhat (for me anyway!). As far as those turn signals go, I'm going for an old school look so I'm really trying to stay away from LED's. I've got a few sets picked out, but won't make a decision on them 'til I've got the bike downstairs with all the parts mounted. Probably gonna end up using mini bullets.

Earlier today I was going over the wiring diagram for our bikes trying to make a list of the items I need minus the wiring. I already have the starter motor & Nology coils. The plug wires will be copper braided lines made by Namz (Copperhead brand) & the battery will be bought locally. Other than that, the list is long. Alternator, regulator/rectifier, ignition, ignition control unit, starter switch, clutch switch, 2 brake switches, oil pressure switch (don't need this as I have an engine mounted oil pressure gage), kill switch, neutral switch, starter relay, turn signal relay(s), & a headlight cut-out relay. Some of these I can get at Pinwall cycle parts used from either an '02 or '03 America - rear brake switch, starter relay, reg/rectifier, engine ground, 2 pc. relay set, and diode for $112 before shipping which will save me a lot. OEM parts ain't cheap. Is this a good idea?

As far as the other parts, where can I find the O.E.M. electrical specs for each so I can be sure what I buy is compatible? And what in God's name is a pickup coil?

As far as the wiring itself, I'm gonna get sufficient lengths with extra of the correct gauge, colored per the wiring diagram. I won't know what length's I need till most of the hardware's on the bike & I decide where to mount the elec. components. I saw the A.W.G. wire gauge table on this site, but that's not gonna do me a lot of good, cuz as soon as ya' start throwin' formulas & decimal points at me I tend to get stupid real fast. Mental block. Or maybe, just mental... My book will list the correct gauges I need.

I could use a few opinions on what connectors to use. I've heard a lot of good about Deutsch, but Hitachi's are listed on this site & they're cheaper. I could also go with AMP MultiLock connectors.

I can get by with a 6 position fuse block, right? Something like this with the relay kit so everything turns off when the ignition's off:

http://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=5255

For my keyed ignition, if I get a 3 position switch (off/on/spring start) will this bypass the starter relay and eliminate the need to wire a start button on my right handlebar?

I'm not going to use a throttle position sensor (disconnected), alarm, carb heaters - I's too old to ride in the cold. I'm not going to run a tach either. Di-electric grease will be used on fuses and connectors.

Any thoughts would be helpful & very much appreciated.

This might help: http://www.shop.lcfabrications.com/product.sc?productId=11&categoryId=4

Thanx bud. That looks like it'll be a lot of help.

Let me know what you think if you get that. I've been curious, partially because of my electrical issues last year and partially because I'd like to build a hard tail bonnie bobber someday using their rigid tail section.

have a look at this wiring harness

Maybe I'm missing the point here, but if you're going to buy some used electrical parts from Pinwall, why not buy a used harness as well? You'll get everything the proper length, all the proper connectors, and it will match the wiring diagram in the manual. Then you could remove what you don't need (alarm, accessory outlet, light bar wiring, etc.), replace sections with heavier wire where you desire, and so on. Just an idea - if the cost is right.

Thank you Grzegorz for the link but the good Friar had already turned me on to that site.

Deon, you might be onto something there insofar as using the connectors from a pinwall wiring harness, but only if suitable new connectors come to more than the cost of said harness with shipping ($104.28). As far as modifying the stock harness to work on this bike - odds are that very little will line up as the assorted electrical components on a stock bike won't necessarily be anywhere near where the best place for me to mount mine are on a full custom & the thought of jury rigging it to work is enough to cause nightmares for this wiring newbie.

Wire & connectors are cheap. Once the bike is together & the elec. components are mounted, it's a simple matter of running the correct wires for each connection (4 gauge, battery negative to ground post, 4 gauge batt. negative to starter motor, 4 gauge batt. positive to starter motor, etc.) one at a time along the approximate path I intend to follow then cut to length with a couple of feet xtra just in case. I'll label each wire clearly, put the correct connectors at one end only (to make routing the harness easier once the frame/tins come back from the painter) and move on to the next one. As the wires begin to add up, you hold them together temporarily with tape or zip ties until you're finished with all the connections at which point the new 'custom' harness can be removed from the bike and shrink wrapped. I figure as long as I do only one connection at a time, how can I screw it up? Yeah right... brings to mind that saying about 'the best laid plans of mice and men'.

As far as picking up some electrical components from Pinwall, I can get an O.E.M. regulator/rectifier there with less than 3k miles on it for $49.95 compared to $314.70 new at Bikebandit.com. What would you do?

The problem is that I don't know which parts from a stock bike I need & those that I don't. I ordered the 'Modern Triumph chopper style wiring diagram' from LC Fabrications that FriarJohn & Grzegorz supplied the link for. Sounds like it oughta do the trick.

Time will tell.

This may help also...he has a few wiring diagrams depending if you want switch like a car or push button start. Also an insteresting battery...which I may do
http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/97875-serious-re-wiring-job.html

Another resource he talks about wire gauage and where to buy different color wires...my self I used 4 colors with wire tags from home depot and used the stock color code

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~matt_l/bar-wiring.htm

I get your logic regarding the harness.... As far as a regulator/rectifier, you may want to check out this thread - upgraded regulator .

It's a few shekels more than a used one from Pinwall, but if it delivers as promised it would be worth it.
As a matter of fact, I ordered and received the kit already. When it finally gets above freezing and I can install the thing, if it works out as promised, you can have my stock one for free if you still want a stock one.

How's that for a deal?

Thank you all for your help. Old Roadie for the pick up coil info. SDKimo for the links - they were very informative.

Deon, that is a sweet reg/rectifier upgrade. I may have to jump on one of those myself. I'll keep your deal on the back burner, but I don't know that it's gonna get above freezing anytime soon in your neck of the woods.

I spent a good part of the day researching. I'm learning.
Time to sit back and wait for the chop wiring diagram from LC Fabrications & see what it has to say.

I'll let y'all know how it's goin' once I've assembled the components & actually start the wiring. I'll take alot of closeups.

Thompson please post an opinion or any comments you have about the LC diagram. I shortened my stock harness acouple years ago (what a pain in the a$$). There wasnt a diagram available then. I would really like to do it all from scratch. thanks guys for posting that link.

I would suggest you draw up a wire digram, similar to the stock digram, so you get an idea what will be in the handle bars and what will be in the main harness. The LC one will look similar to the digrams on the other site. Anyways that was what I did when I re-wired the handle bars/lights..

One other suggestion, if you don't go with the multi color wire, you can get red, blue, yellow, black and green from the local auto parts...so you split the colors up to say red is all primary power, blue could be headlight, yellow could be turn signals and other (idiot lights, Black would be ground (typ for most motorcycles)..then use wire labels to mark everything

Thompson, I woulod like to know what you think of the LC Diagram. It seem like a lot of money for it to me, unless it is something special. Let us know how hard it was when you get finished. Bob

For those of you interested in the wiring diagram from LC Fabrications, it's quite a bit like this one that was posted earlier in this thread minus the kill switch, horn, & turn signals.

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-technical-talk/97875-serious-re-wiring-job.html

It does show how to wire the ignition control unit (O.E.M.) however, something the one in the link doesn't.

Was it worth the price? For someone like me, perhaps. For those of you who know a bit about wiring, I doubt it.