Another turn signal problem.

[psycoreefer]

I don't have a box at all, I have wires hanging out the side of my bike with chip fuses connected to them. I did find the inline fuse holders to be cruddy, so I cut em off, threw some flat female connectors on the end of the wires, and plugged the chips directly on to those.

You know you can order the TC fuse box for like 9 bucks or something like that right? Looks real nice, and makes it easier to check your fuses and prevent shorts!

Plus you've already done half the work because your wires now have the female spade connectors on them.

[Yard Dogg]

Yeah my headlight acted really weird yesterday. First low beam went the last time I rode it. I had it down for repairs, then I rode and had no headlight or gauge lights. I tried to bypass the headlight relay but had no power going to the wire, traced it back directly to the fuse holder, fixed that, had power to bypass the relay, so I plugged the relay back in but it still doesn't work. Now it's going to be permanently bypassed. That and the strange way my turn signals acted when I put the switch back on the bars is leaning me towards a charging system short. All I can do at this point is take my whole wiring harness out and mend everything. I'll bet if I do fix it I won't even know what I exactly I did.

[Larrym]

Getting to Know You..

Getting to Know...All.. about You.

That is the wiring harness and all that's connected to it. I see the wiring harness only as complicated as it has to be in order to make everything work. Not a single wire or connection which is "extra." Truly a "minimalist" approach done by the factory. After 30 years it's likely that age and the actions of the PO's have been focused only at the endpoints or other easily accessible areas. Pulling it off completely might give you a satisfying memory of what it looked like off the bike but then the action of putting it back on, routing it, and ensuring that each endpoint goes to the right component can be quite a challenge. (Especially if one relies on memory instead of tiny little labels on each connector..)

That being said, I second installing the Fusebox upgrade. It's not just a protection device but it also serves as a distribution/junction node where your "discovery of all things electric" can begin. The adventures in troubleshooting can take you upstream or downstream from there.

I also second the notion that something wonky happened directly at the switch itself or the wires/connections leading to it.

Hopefully after spending time in the wiring maze one day you'll be able to ride without having to "hold your mouth just right" every time you wanna indicate which way you're gonna turn.

[cywelchjr]

Yeah my headlight acted really weird yesterday. First low beam went the last time I rode it. I had it down for repairs, then I rode and had no headlight or gauge lights. I tried to bypass the headlight relay but had no power going to the wire, traced it back directly to the fuse holder, fixed that, had power to bypass the relay, so I plugged the relay back in but it still doesn't work. Now it's going to be permanently bypassed. That and the strange way my turn signals acted when I put the switch back on the bars is leaning me towards a charging system short. All I can do at this point is take my whole wiring harness out and mend everything. I'll bet if I do fix it I won't even know what I exactly I did.

You either have a bad relay, or you have a bad diode (which is what triggers the relay. I'm not sure where it is on these bikes (I do know where it is on an 80 XS400 as I've had to replace it twice), but if you can find it it's actually easy to replace, and I like the idea of nothing having the load of the headlight on the battery until the alternator is putting something out.

IIRC, you can test the relay by momentarily adding voltage to one of the pins and see if the light comes on and stays on while the key is in the on position, but I don't remember which pin it is. I would personally try to retain that function because of the lower load while starting.

[psycoreefer]

To test your relay, you should add power to the "yellow" wire's terminal according to the factory manual.

[cywelchjr]

Thanks Crazy Steve and xjok2play, your the man. If you were here, I'd probably give you one of those, " I love you man, beer drunk sloppy hugs." It's a good thing your not. I'm brooding.

I can't say it was all well before. I felt the electrical gremlins coming on. Believe it or not, I'm a pretty decent mechanic, I actually enjoy electrical troubles. I have not checked how much voltage my charging system is putting out. I have quite a bit of equip and tools but not the stuff for that. I need to pull my wiring harness and do a much more thorough check of things and everything it entails. The thing I'm most confused about, is I realize most systems will not blink at idle, and to blink with only the ignition is almost a thing unheard of, but mine did. When I fooled with the switch I got it all working again, perfectly, and damned bright too with only the ignition turned on. Then I screwed the switch back on and started the bike. It all went right bakc to where it was. I looked for a pinched wire on the switch when I screwed it back on, I know it wasn't that. I bypassed the hazard switch that didn't fix it.

Maybe I need to check out my voltage regulator. Do you think it's possible the battery may have been slightly over charged after my ride, then it got weaker after I sat and fooled with it turning the ignition on and off messing with things, then when I cranked the engine again it went back to weaker charge and screwed up what I had fixed?

Sounds like the switch has a short to the switch pod housing in it and when you put it on the bars that gives you a short to ground. Check to make sure NOTHING has a path to the switch pod housing from anywhere in the switch, as it shouldn't and that may be your problem.

[Yard Dogg]

I just went to my local bike shop "The Rats Nest" where the owner treats me real well. He sold me like new Harley controls for $60. The switches are much better quality then my old controls. They have a blinker switch on each handle bar instead of both on the left side, kind of cool. The blinker switches are power switches, just means I have to run an ignition power source to them. Piece of cake. The only trouble is they are for 1" bars. But i'll use a piece of electrical conduit for spacers on my bars, then they should clamp tight. I'm gonna get to work on this wiring harness.

[Yard Dogg]

Screw those Harley controls, they would be real nice, but adapting them is another story. I might alter them later so there is a positive connection push button type switch underneath the button instead of their digital switch. Should be easy enough, there's a metal bracket inside I can weld to.

For now I've done all I can do with my existing turn signal switch. I eliminated my hazard function, but I will fix that as soon as I go buy a flux pen so I can solder something better.

The headlight. I found the diode was indeed fried. I couldn't find where it was in any threads so I'll mention it in this one. The headlight relay diode can be found by tracing the white wire from the headlight relay into the main wiring harness. It is an in line thingy that converts the alternator power from dc to ac or something like that. It is important which way you hook it back up too. I could've bought one at radio shack but I wasn't sure which size. I don't trust those funky things so I bypassed the relay, and the reserve lighting unit. I won't have the low beam failure indicator light anymore, but who cares, I could probably find a relay to make it work again, but for now I can do without. I found a bar mount toggle switch so I can optionally turn off my headlight if I'm fiddling with things or need cranking power and don't want to drain the battery. It's a nice looking switch and looks as if it belongs. I admit I hate hacking up my wiring, and the headlight relay is a nice option, I just think it will be more reliable with manual control and a more positive trouble free connection to power. I can't pull my wiring harness on the road if it burns out again. Besides I ride alone quite often.

I have my wiring harness out and am bypassing the things I want to and making sure the connections and everything is all good, checking for worn spots on the wire sheaths and all is looking great. I'm going to clean the living crap out of my bulb sockets, make sure I have the right bulbs and grease em when I put em back in. I'll test my turn signal switch for continuity with it mounted on the bike to see if it's grounding wrong. If none of this fixes it, it must be the flasher.

[randy]

but I will fix that as soon as I go buy a flux pen so I can solder something better.

Flux pen? Just use rosin core solder!

[Yard Dogg]

Flux pen? Just use rosin core solder!

I tried, but the rosin wire wouldn't stick to the copper. It seemed to help alot when I kept my solder iron nice and clean. But the solder still wouldn't bond with the copper. The flux pen looks like a paint marker, and it applies more of the stuff that makes the rosin core solder flow over the metal. I might just have crappy solder. I though I wasn't heating it enough, but I was reading a thread on soldering and it was unanimous to use the flux pen to help the rosin core solder flow over the metal better.

I was trying to resolder the wires to those little contact nodes inside the switch. Pain in the neck.

[randy]

Make sue the copper is super clean first before trying to solder. Use a small brass wire brush or very fine sandpaper and get it bright. Then solder. And the reason it helps to keep the iron tip clean is because a clean tip transfers more heat to the work. You may not be using enough heat. Heat the work with the iron, keep the tip on the work, then apply the solder where the iron meets the work. If you're trying to heat and drip the solder onto the work, it'll just roll off.

[Yard Dogg]

I've cleaned the things I was working on. I might just have some crappy solder. That's okay, I just went and bought some lead free solder paste with non-corrosive flux. It should go like a snap now, I'll repost in a few and let you know if it turns out.

[Yard Dogg]

Make sue the copper is super clean first before trying to solder. Use a small brass wire brush or very fine sandpaper and get it bright. Then solder. And the reason it helps to keep the iron tip clean is because a clean tip transfers more heat to the work. You may not be using enough heat. Heat the work with the iron, keep the tip on the work, then apply the solder where the iron meets the work. If you're trying to heat and drip the solder onto the work, it'll just roll off.

You know your soldering Randy, but I think your gonna want to add some of the lead free solder paste with non-corrosive flux to your arsenal. I just dipped the ends of the wire in it, smeared it around on em, tied it together. I held the iron on it for maybe 3-4 seconds, hit it with the the rosin core wire and it just flowed in there REAL NICE LIKE. Life is easier now.

[morticiaann]

Mine never worked properly.

I bought 4 automotive flashers [2 terminal type] and installed them on each of the turn signal leads (+ towards the power and L towards the light). I also removed the flasher relay that is under the right side panel and unplugged the stock flasher. Get 4 of the same kind so they flash at the same rate; they are electronic and cost ~ 6 - 10.00 apiece. http://www.google.com/products?q=2+t...c+flasher&aq=f - some examples are on this page

[Yard Dogg]

I bought 4 automotive flashers [2 terminal type] and installed them on each of the turn signal leads (+ towards the power and L towards the light). I also removed the flasher relay that is under the right side panel and unplugged the stock flasher. Get 4 of the same kind so they flash at the same rate; they are electronic and cost ~ 6 - 10.00 apiece. http://www.google.com/products?q=2+t...c+flasher&aq=f - some examples are on this page

I've got it ironed out for now. I was having troubles with the switch. I ended up getting rid of the hazard circuit from within the switch until I can buy a new switch. The headlight is fixed too. It was the in line diode. I got rid of it and the headlight relay and have a nice bar mount switch to turn my headlight on and off. Automation is nice, but I trust what I have much more now.