CDI questions
- Thread starter Deoodles
- Start date
OUCH! I installed the harness. I blew the fuse twice and think I may have blown my tach. All that and I didn’t start it yet. The issue is in the wiring to the handlebar cut off switch and the tach. They both use the coil B/W wire. I’ll figure that out. All the lights,indicators,signals,digital speedometer, etc. work fine. This is going into another day. The tach thing annoys me. I have spares. They were cheap.
Day 2. I found the short. It was a 12v feed in the right handlebar switch for the starter. I removed it. The tach may be okay. I would like someone to confirm what wire I get the signal from. I think I got that wrong. I think I wanted B/R at the CDI and took B/W instead. It’s going to be a real pain to fix that but I might as well do it while the gas tank is out I also put a new coil in and started the bike. I verified I’m charging and the set point is 12.8v. I think tomorrow I should be able to button it all up just need to know if my tachometer is bad or I got the wrong signal?
I've never heard of a tach that uses the CDI exciter lead for a signal source. Most use the primary lead. I have seen a few that take signal from the HT lead, via inductive pickup. What do the tach installation instruction say? I know it's a Captain Obvious question, still have to ask.
Frustration is a little high but I found the wire I need. I used a posi tap connector when I had the old harness in the bike. I searched the old harness for the witness marks from the old connector and found it. B/Y off the CDI to the ignition coil. I’ll give it a go tomorrow. Thanks!
I should have known not to panic. I ran a wire from the coil feed to the headlight bucket inside the harness I confused it with black white which turns the motor off. Once I realized the two wires were switched it was an easy fix my tach is good my kill switch on the handlebars works everything works now. I just have to button it up and take it out and see how it does I used Molex connectors for everything except signals. They are bullet. Everything is soldered and all pins inspected for proper fit into the connectors. It was work but my hope is that it now lasts as long as I have the bike. Amazing what you can do by simply walking away from an issue.
Anyone who really learns the electrical systems of these bikes goes through this, ask me how I know. Even the Honda schematics + color codings have some ambiguities to master...the hard way. If it helps, think of this as M.E. class...without loan debt.
I’m adding this addendum for someone in the future. It still didn’t seem to be running properly. It ran really well during testing. Pat helped talk me through possibilities. Turns out it ran better without the tachometer. I did notice the motor had a miss and the electrical system missed with the motor. It was even visible when watching the tach.
Turned out to be the tach causing the miss. It had to be interfering with the HT coil signal. I replaced the tachometer and everything is as good as I hoped it would be Very pleased with this upgrade.
Turned out to be the tach causing the miss. It had to be interfering with the HT coil signal. I replaced the tachometer and everything is as good as I hoped it would be Very pleased with this upgrade.
I wanted to share the results. This was a big job, all LED 12v full wave but I also wanted a system that mimicked newer motorcycles. I hand aimed the LEDs on the lightbulb before I install the bulb. There is no flashing even at idle. I parked under a canopy of trees for this video so that I could verify my headlight wasn’t shining up into the sky.
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