starting switch wiring question

[PMKXS11]

Not necessarily, all that did was check to see if the main switching transistors were shorted/open or not. There could be other components in the electronic stream that are shot.
Unfortunately, checking by substitution is the easiest way to find out if it is shot. Get one that you know works, and install it. If that cures the problem, you have your answer. If it doesn't, then you find another reason for the malfunction.
Was Diver Ray's one that he had tested and knew worked?
Try DiverRay's suggestion, and let us know. The four wires that carry the pulses are in the small four pin right side connecter, the top two being one circuit, and the bottom two being the other. There is a connector down on the left side that connects the pickup coils and the neutral switch to the harness. Make sure it is clean, as it gets a lot of crud buildup in it's location.

CZ

Ray said it was a known working spare.

I can try testing the pulsar coils, I did it already with my digital meter and got said reading during cranking. I'll go see if I have an analog meter anywhere and double check the readings. All connections have be cleaned and I've done continuity tests on every wire, end to end, just to make sure nothing's broken inside and all the wires checked out good.

[crazy steve]

I'd also check for connections yet again. Even a small resistance can translate into a big voltage drop, particularly under load. Try checking between the positive battery post and the other end of your circuits. The closer to a zero reading you get the better. Any reading above zero is lost voltage, anything over .5 volt is too much IMO and means you either have a bad connection or too-small wire. I shoot for .3 volt or less...

[CaptonZap]

Did you take the wires and connectors out of the housing?
Rdmcguy had a connector that had the female slip connectors loose on the male part, which didn't complete the circuits. They can be tightened up by carefully bending
the curled ear portion back together. They should be taken out of the housing to do it.
Make sure that when you put them back in that the locking tab engages the housing, so they do not slip back out when you push the housing in.
Make sure that the bottom right wire in the 8 pin connector, as you look at the TCI, makes a good ground.
The TCI makes and breaks the current from the coils to ground to fire the spark.
CZ

[PMKXS11]

...Any reading above zero is lost voltage, anything over .5 volt is too much IMO and means you either have a bad connection or too-small wire. I shoot for .3 volt or less...

The wiring is from the factory harness, I would hope it's not sized too small.

I checked all connections yet again and not getting any significant amount of resistance. My meter leads to each other registers as .1ohm and that's what I'm getting across all the wires I try. Checked the ground as well on the TCI and all the other connections to make sure they're making contact at the TCI. I even unscrewed the top and resoldered the pin connections to make sure that was ok.

[crazy steve]

I'd still check them 'hot' and here's why; a meter puts no load on the circuit and a connection that reads good at no-load ohms may read worse under load. And while 'only' .1 ohm doesn't sound like a lot, that's .1 volt dropped per amp in that circuit. 5 amp circuit, that's .5 volt, 10 amps is a full volt. You only have 12 to start with....

[PMKXS11]

First off, happy holidays to everyone, hope they went well. I took a little break for the holidays, and now am going to jump back on getting this thing fired.

My readings are coming out great, everything looks to be as everyone suggests. I have 2 ideas I wanna try. First is finding an original right bar switch and hooking it up in "stock" form. If this does the trick I'll have to find a similarly wired switch that looks a bit newer. Second option is to find a full harness and wire the whole bike back to stock and pray that it works.

Before I attempt any of these, just wanted to make sure anyone had any other suggestions.

[jetmechmarty]

Mike's XS has new ones. You just have to reposition the wires in the connector for your application. I haven't seen these called out as junk on the XS650 forums. It's just another option.

[PMKXS11]

Alright guys, I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. A lot has happened to me in the last year (moved and opened my shop) and I have the time and space to jump in where I left off.

I have spent countless hours going through these wiring schematics in my head and in theory they all make sense to me. I bought a remanufactured starter just to eliminate that as a possible cause to my low cranking voltage. My next idea is to try this GM HEI module idea I see floating around here. My first of probably many questions is if it necessary to run the capacitors/condensers I see attached to the modules in the diagram, and if i do need them, where do I get them from?

Second question, in the write up, it says that he went to "the old style centrifical weights advance system with the vacume advance." Is this system present on my 79 or was this something that came on the 78s?

Here's some pics of the new shop, finally have room for all my toys and a place to work on customer bikes!

[Gmac]

Nice Shop Area

Lots of room for spreading projects out, congratulations!

[bikerphil]

The 78, 79, and 80's have the centrifugal advance system.

[PMKXS11]

So my modules came in and I wired them according to the write up and I'm getting as much of nothing as I did before. Still no spark. 12v at the coils and gray and orange leads. "Flashing" the signal wires against ground while cranking like previously discussed did not produce any spark this time though.

Anyone else have any ideas?

[PMKXS11]

Decided to check the pick up coils, are these the readings I should be getting for resistance?




And I also took a video of the AC voltage reading while cranking on the pick up for 1/4. Is this reading anywhere near where it should be? Highest reading was 0.044 VAC

[bikerphil]

Yes, your P/U coil readings look good, anywhere around 700 ohms is normal, cold temps will result in a slightly lower reading. Sorry I can't help any further with your ignition mod.

[Radioguylogs]

Condensers

Going back to post# 84, you do need condensers. Used stock ones can be found on eBay.

[motoman]

So my modules came in and I wired them according to the write up and I'm getting as much of nothing as I did before. Still no spark. 12v at the coils and gray and orange leads. "Flashing" the signal wires against ground while cranking like previously discussed did not produce any spark this time though.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Remove kill switch and clean contacts. Kill switch completes start/running circuit.