I hate electrics

[billyvan]

I've got a problem with the electrics on a 1980 Suzuki TF185 I have been rebuilding.

Basically I cant get any of the lights, horn, indicators or anything other than the ignition to go.

I have had to make a few changes due to a wire that appears to have got hot at some stage, it of course had to be one that ran the whole length of the loom!!

So off a donor TS185 I got the whole loom, nice easy swap but none of the accessory bits work.

None of it did before either so I am stumped as to where to look next, I have the wiring diagram for it but it's being stubborn!!!

Any tips on things to check into would be great!

[surfer]

I've got a problem with the electrics on a 1980 Suzuki TF185 I have been rebuilding.

Basically I cant get any of the lights, horn, indicators or anything other than the ignition to go.

I have had to make a few changes due to a wire that appears to have got hot at some stage, it of course had to be one that ran the whole length of the loom!!

So off a donor TS185 I got the whole loom, nice easy swap but none of the accessory bits work.

None of it did before either so I am stumped as to where to look next, I have the wiring diagram for it but it's being stubborn!!!

Any tips on things to check into would be great!

Try this for starters first before you pull bits off the bike; should keep you busy for a while.

Have you done the obvious and looked at the fuses? and then the fuse holders to ensure that they haven't melted inside and covered the metal contact plate? The contact plates should be free moving and usually sprung loaded (depends on fuse holder).

Look at the wiring diagram and find out where all the electrical bits are and make sure they are all connected up correctly.

Have you got a multimeter and done a continuity test on the wiring that you have going from the switches on the handle bars to the various electrical components? This is a check to ensure that the wires are not broken. Likewise do a continuity test on the switches themselves to make sure they are working when you turn them on.

Good luck. Let us know what happens. There is more to come.

[billyvan]

Try this for starters first before you pull bits off the bike; should keep you busy for a while.

Have you done the obvious and looked at the fuses? and then the fuse holders to ensure that they haven't melted inside and covered the metal contact plate? The contact plates should be free moving and usually sprung loaded (depends on fuse holder).

Check, Another reason I got the other loom was the original had no fuse in the line, now its swapped over it's in place, and I have had the fuse out and checked the carrier.

Look at the wiring diagram and find out where all the electrical bits are and make sure they are all connected up correctly.

Check, Backwards and forwards I have been through that wiring diagram, all the colours even match!!!!

Have you got a multimeter and done a continuity test on the wiring that you have going from the switches on the handle bars to the various electrical components? This is a check to ensure that the wires are not broken. Likewise do a continuity test on the switches themselves to make sure they are working when you turn them on.

I have tried to run the multimeter over it while it was running to try to isolate if power is being generated where it should, that didn't work so well as the readings were jumping all over the place, so will now run through the continuity test as suggested, Cheers!

Good luck. Let us know what happens. There is more to come.

[NotaGoth]

Just had the exact same problem with my little RG150.. We were lucky enough to sort the problem.. Found and repaired a broken earth wire...

Replaced fuse even though old fuse wasn't showing any obvious signs of damage... Also check how your fuse is sitting in the actual piece that you clip it into... Had been told to replace the whole holder that it sits in (the metal piece)

Did a few other things due to bike not running right..

Now everything works fine.. And I have my lights, horn, indicators, and display lights back (display lights were faint) and working well...

Our next process was to check the regulator after reading through some books of mums, process of elimination really... Start with the small simple and silly things...

Goodluck I hope you get it sorted.... Can be extremely stressful...

*kit*

[surfer]

I know this might sound a bit dumb but does the horn and the lights etc actually work? Have you checked them?

The wire that got hot and melted is this in the wiring that is currently on the bike or on the old loom that has now been replaced? What wire melted exactly?

Just a thought as you have replaced the loom have you checked the connectors that it clips onto? Put a continuity test either side of the connectors and see if a current is able to pass through the connectors for the circuit that is not working.

Next step go to the wiring diagram and see if everything is on the same circuit. If it is it may be that you have an earth or a power supply problem. Your continuity test should tell you whether there is a break in the circuit somewhere so it will be a case of tracing it back to the faulty part. Check the connectors as well, don't assume that they will pass a current through them (I've been caught out on this one before).

Yep, agree with XxKiTtiExX do thorough check and even consider a replacement for the fuse holders. May well be a poor earth connection.

Let us know what happens next.

[billyvan]

OK,update time.

I started with the easiest non working item, which was the kill switch, the ignition switch had been working fine for turning the bike off, but the kill switch would not work.
I mean how hard could it be, it was just two wires, that either provided a open or closed circuit.

It only took me about half an hour of test, check, wiggle, test, adjust, curse, test, check, think about replacing, adjust, test and hey presto, it works.
It was a tab on the body of the switch which was not applying enough pressure to the side of the carrier so it could make contact.

YAY, I beat it!!!!!!!

Next onto the rest of the accessories on the other control block, I stripped it off to trace all the wires and test for continuity on all the switches.
Everything checked out ok after a clean up.
So back together it all went and a test was in order, flicked the head light on and got a very bright lamp that lasted all of 5 seconds before it blew.

So I did some checking on the donor bike and found I was missing an item.



So I have now swapped it onto the TF but it still seems to be reading really high on the volts, I have followed how it was connected on the donor bike, but seeing I don't know if the electrics ever worked on that, I am trying to make sure I have connected it correct before I try frying things again!!!

I have a wiring diagram but am having trouble posting it at the moment, so keep an eye out tomorrow if you think you may be able to help.

Cheers

Alex

[sizzlingbadger]

Sounds like the regulator could be knackered. This may also account for the 'burnt' wire in the old loom.

[billyvan]

Sounds like the regulator could be knackered. This may also account for the 'burnt' wire in the old loom.

I was thinking the same thing, my next question is how does the system normally regulate for 6V? is it internal, or should it have a regulator?

Here is a pic of the wiring diagram, I couldn't see mention of the regulator anywhere, I am picking the one I have got off the donor bike may be a fix for an internal regulator failure, happy to be corrected



I took the one I have fitted to it now off a donor TS, which is what the case that's in it now came from, so unless my luck is absolute crap and I robbed a knackered internal and external regulator, I thought it should be fine.

What I am also trying to work out is where in the scheme of things my current external regulator should be, I just plugged it back into the corresponding colour wire in the loom, as the loom and the regulator came off the same donor bike.
Tracing through the wiring diagram the grey wire it is attached seems to do nothing other than dash and warning lights for the console?????

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[surfer]

I was thinking the same thing, my next question is how does the system normally regulate for 6V? is it internal, or should it have a regulator?

Here is a pic of the wiring diagram, I couldn't see mention of the regulator anywhere, I am picking the one I have got off the donor bike may be a fix for an internal regulator failure, happy to be corrected



I took the one I have fitted to it now off a donor TS, which is what the case that's in it now came from, so unless my luck is absolute crap and I robbed a knackered internal and external regulator, I thought it should be fine.

What I am also trying to work out is where in the scheme of things my current external regulator should be, I just plugged it back into the corresponding colour wire in the loom, as the loom and the regulator came off the same donor bike.
Tracing through the wiring diagram the grey wire it is attached seems to do nothing other than dash and warning lights for the console?????

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Without a regulator the current would rise high enough to damage and fry the wiring, which sounds like is happening. If the regulator is damaged and non functioing you will nedd to get a new one as usually these are sealed units.

It may be the second diagram is wrongly printed as it doesn't show the regulator; there is a space for it but it is not printed. The other difference is the add on front brake light switch. The wiring diagrams seem basically the same to me.

To run with a rectifier, which is essentially a diode limits the current flowing both ways which is all well and good in an AC output only power source from the alternator, as it effectively cuts the current in half. Your machine has a battery as well so I reckon you need to wire in a regulator. If you have done this and the lights still blow, it may be that you need to make sure this circuit is in place on the bike and connected up.

Be interesting to learn what others reckon to this one.

[billyvan]

It may be the second diagram is wrongly printed as it doesn't show the regulator; there is a space for it but it is not printed.

Where are you seeing the place for it in the wiring diagram?

[surfer]

You might want to consider if you are swopping a part over from the other bike to make sure it is a working part. You may have transferred over a dodgy regulator.

[surfer]

Where are you seeing the place for it in the wiring diagram?

Bottom right on the bottom diagram, same place as the top diagram.

[billyvan]

Funny how you miss something right in front of you sometimes

I am picking you might be right about the dodgy regulator, does anyone know how I can test it to confirm that before I replace it?

To recap so we are up to speed, the original wiring on the TF was fried, I think it was the horn wire from memory, it looks like it may have been caused by the fact that it didn't actually have a regulator on it when I got it, I replaced the whole loom from a donor bike, regulator included, but still have no accessory items, like horn indicator lights etc.

Hope this makes sense.

[avgas]

Diodes determine direction of current and in rectifier form, rectify to DCish rather than AC signals (off the alternator).
Regulators, regulate the voltage (make sure its stable), however inside bike and car regulators (the box) they have Current-Limiting-Resistors, which either just straight up limit the current in series or with black magic feedback current to limit the current on the output.
If your wires are getting hot, find what current is going down the wires (watch out for the multimeters fuse), also check that the fuses are in series on that wire. As i have seen cases where a 5A line had a 30A fuse and no current limiting resistors.
Also watch out for putting Doubling Regulators instead of standard ones. 6V lights don't like 12V supplies.

[billyvan]

also check that the fuses are in series on that wire. As i have seen cases where a 5A line had a 30A fuse and no current limiting resistors.
Also watch out for putting Doubling Regulators instead of standard ones. 6V lights don't like 12V supplies.

haha, it only has ONE fuse in the whole system.

Thank you for the tips and explanations, I will continue digging over the next few nights and see how it goes, plenty to check into.

And I reiterate my initial topic, I HATE ELECTRICS, but on the up side when you get it working it's a great feeling to be able to let the bike know you beat it.