electrical help needed

[paolo1]

hi guys so here is my issue.i have a 78 xs1100 standard and wired up round soecial gauges to it.hooked up the battery and all light functioning.so i have 2 issues......1 the brake fail light stays on could this be caused by the fact my rear caliper and brakes are off the bike whle i rebuild it cause i know i have front brakes or do i have a wire crossed some where?......2 i installed new rask adjustable bars which are powder coated black when i hit my starter button nothing happens and i know my starter is good and wires are intact so do i just run a ground wire from starter button to a common ground as i suspect the powder coating is interfering with it seeing ground when pushed and i don't want to scrape any powder coating off the bars....i don't know if this matters but i do not have headlight hooked up or signal lights and no ignition switch as i opted to use a hidden rocker switch for ignition purposes

[fredintoon]

Hi Paolo,
the Clymers wiring diagrams say the XS11 does not have a brake fail light.
For sure my XS11SG don't have one.
OTOH, the XS650 does have that feature so I have to ask, where did you get the round gauges?
And yeah, bars must be grounded or stuff don't work.

[paolo1]

here is a pic of the gauges i bought them on ebay and they were listed as 79 xs1100 special gauges....if they are off a xs650 what would be the remedy to turn the light off and does that mean my tach /speedo will be off also?

[DGXSER]

As to the starter button, yes, you need a ground wire added. The early model bikes did not have a ground wire to that switch and depened on the handle bar connection. Perhaps in 80 but I know in 81 that switch became four wire with one being the ground. I'd push a black wire up through the sheething if you can and put a terminal on it to mount to one of the internal switch screw mounting the starter button to the switch body. The other end, connect to any ground source.

That light cluster is not the one from an XS11 Special. The Special model lights have the turn indicators int he top and therefor is sort of a rounded T shape wrapping the guages at the top. Not to familiar with the XS650, but you could check for others for sale to see if your lights are the same, then get a wiring diagram and cross reference to match wires with the XS11.

[fredintoon]

here is a pic of the gauges i bought them on ebay and they were listed as 79 xs1100 special gauges....if they are off a xs650 what would be the remedy to turn the light off and does that mean my tach /speedo will be off also?

Hi Paolo,
the speedo is a US model 55mph unit and could be from any XS series bike as they all have the same drive ratio.
The tach has the XS11's 8,500 rpm (faded to white) redline.
If it's electric it's from an XS11 as all the others are mechanical.
The centre light cluster in the photo is XS650/750.
The top amber light is the single signal indicator which flashes to say the signal is working but don't say which one.
The bottom white light is the headlight failure warning that tells you one filament has failed and it's been automatically switched to the other.
The red light in the middle is labeled oil/brake/tail.
The XS11 is not wired to show brake and tail light failures so ignore the label. Wire the light to the oil pressure switch and it will work just fine for that.
BTW, the dual flasher indicator central light cluster from an XS11 Special will most likely bolt right onto your instrument bracket.
See if Andreas has one.

[fredintoon]

[QUOTE=paolo1;299574] - - - the brake fail light stays on - - -

Hi Paolo,
I just re-read your original post with more care.
As per my previous post, the red light that's marked brake/tail is also the low oil pressure warning light.
If the red light goes out when you start the engine, you are golden. If it don't (and the previous one did) you are looking at a wiring change. You might be anyway to make that single flasher indicator work.