Hitchcocks Forum

Hi, only lighting working on my bike is the indicators, nothing else at all is working. I have removed the instrument lights so it's just brake/tail, headlight and side lights that are broken. Horn works fine too!
I have had a look at the wiring in the casquette and under the seat but not seen anything obvious. Bike runs great otherwise. I have a 97 350
Do these all have a common earth wire? Seems strange they are all non functional. Would like a quick fix but am tempted to rewire the whole bike just for shits and giggles, why not!

It might be the Magura switchgear that's failing after 19 years if the horn is working but everything else has lost power.



I certainly would be tempted to a rewire with new switchgear. Also the pre-99 alternators weren't that good even when new, so after 19 years of magnetism-fade from the alternator rotor I'd further be tempted to add a new Lucas RM21 alternator or its Sparx equivalent, as well as a new regulator rectifier. Pricey! Are you planning on keeping the bike for a good while?



Tip: base your new wiring loom on 2m of 7 core trailer flex (the heavier duty stuff with the grey outer sheath is best). 10 and 13 core flex is available if you need more colour-coded wires.



A.

Don't intend to ever sell the bike. Since I had it I've dipped into the wiring a few times: adding indicators, fitting powerbox, removing instrument lights, fitting 50s style indicator switch and the horn/dip switch....

My wiring skills have improved and on reflection it could be some of my earlier cack handed wiring at fault. Seems strange it's the whole lot though. I still have the magura light switches fitted but with the horn relocated, maybe it's time to lose the magura parts altogether.

Alternator seems to work ok touch wood, checked It out with dmm and it gave proper readings.

Thanks for the wire tips, I just did my Ural top to bottom and uses the 8amp wire halfords sells, might be better to order some of what you recommended for this job

Oops, a reel of 8A black and a reel of 8A red is indeed a very good idea for the earth connections and the charging circuit, I should have mentioned I use that myself in addition to the multi-core stuff. Hours of fun!



Cue the psychedelic spaghetti monster...





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Holy moley!

Started to work on it this evening, not cut or removed anything yet but determined that no wiring diagram I can find matches what I have so I've started to make my own. I recently did this for a Ural as well which was much less intimidating, I think mainly because it used several earth points rather than having lots of wires running to the rear of the battery like on the Enfield. I am tempted to replicate this on the Enfield and add earth points in the headlight casquette and on the frame somewhere else to minimise wiring. Has anyone done this or can anyone see a problem with this...it might be better to just replicate what I have but tidied up with better connections.
Two additional questions: how do I make paragraphs? Two boxes under my seat, one is the flasher, does the othe turn ac into dc for the headlamp? Thanks

Hi,

my project is using a Puca Smiths electronic rev counter, which, with a few extra warning lights in the instruments complicates things somewhat, hence the 13 core flex used for the main loom. It's a bit tidier now.



Using a sort of ring main for the earth is a good idea, plus I'm using two of the thirteen cores as earth wires. You can also have a multiple earth post connected to the battery by just one wire.



As yours is a '97 bike it should be all DC electrics once past the regulator/rectifier, I think those are probably what's under your seat, though you mentioned that you fitted a Powerbox, which of course replaces the factory reg/rectifier unit(s). I'm assuming points ignition.



To get paragraphs, just type the characters in this graphic at the end of each one. Scalyback has somewhere posted a whole guide on how to tweak the HTML codes onthis forum.





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A.

I put the link below





Forum codes and photos

Thanks


Guys


I have decided to ditch the whole harness and start again, been reading the Pete Snidal article on it and think I have a plan, going to use light switch in place of key and hide a secret battery cut off switch somewhere instead!


one question though, with the headlamp running dc off the powerbox what do I do with the ac feed from the alternator? I understand that two go to the powerbox and the other to ground but what about the fourth wire that currently goes to the headlights?

OK, it sounds like you have the later 4 wire alternator fitted, a '97 would have had a three wire alternator. Hopefully, whoever swapped alternators also fitted Minda switchgear!



With a 4 wire alternator you should have a yellow and an amber/orange wire, and two purple wires, though these are sometimes red and black on pattern alternator stators. The yellow and the amber wires are used to power the headlamp directly, normally via an AC regulator. The yellow is the feed to the headlights via the AC regulator and switchgear, the amber is the return from the headlamp straight to the alternator, which serves INSTEAD OF an earth wire. That is all that half of the alternator does, power the headlamp and main beam warning light. It is self contained from the rest of the electrics. For some reason the factory started putting earth wires on this side of the system but they are totally unnecessary with a good return connection. NONE of the alternator wires should be earthed/grounded to the frame.



The other two wires off the 4 wire alternator should be purple, though you may also find red and black on pattern stators. These two connect to the regulator/rectifier to power the DC bits, ignition, horn, indicators, sidelights, instrument lights (EXCEPT the high beam warning light for the headlamp) and stop/tail lights. All this lot will be earthed normally.



You mention you have a Powerbox, this normally takes the place of the regulator rectifier for the DC part of the system, so I assume it is connected to the two purple (or red and black) wires coming off the alternator. The Powerbox also has a built-in capacitor so you can run the bike without a battery if the alternator is good, though that is a lot easier with points ignition. I suppose there is no reason you couldn't use it on the AC feed to the headlamp instead, but there's no need as the headlamp has its own rectifier and AC seems to work just as well. One thing I would recommend is not to use too big a wattage bulb for the AC headlight, I think the factory uses 45/50W, but you can also get 35/35W Quartz Halogen H4 bulbs which work fine.



If you want to leave a line between paragraphs, type the br thing exactly as shown, not just once.



A.

Thanks Adrian you've been a real help



New paragraph the project has taken one life of its own now, I am converting the headlamp to run off DC and I am getting rid of the ignition key so that ignition is turned on via the light switch, I think this is possible after reading the Pete Snidal article. Problem I am having at the moment is the 25a switches I have tried have melted like a few wires, I think this is because I tested without load from the headlamp which made resistance way lower than normal.




Has anyone on here ever done a similar conversion? Mine is the stator with red and black wires, based on where they went to before I have wired up red and black to ac input on power-box then orange to earth, yellow is currently unconnected as not sure what to do with it. I have had headlight, taillight and side light all going off dc and battery but can't test charging circuit without starting engine. When you say don't ground stator what's the reason for that?