Hi All,
After 30+ years without a bike('75 MT 250 Elsinore) I now have a 1968 Cub 50 that still has the original Calif. Black & Yellow plate.
The PO put a 88cc China motor in got it running then it sat for a couple years, then for a year after I bought it.
No manual on the China motor came with the bike. Did get a Haynes manual with it. I know that most of the electrical in tht manual will be out the window with the motor change and now being 12V.
Got it running pretty good with some carb cleaning and adjusting.
Now sorting out the wiring mess me left me. Funny part is he worked for a Shrink Tubing Mfg and there is not 1 single piece of Shrink Tubing on it.
Quick background: I've built several cars from the ground up, every thing except exterior paint, build motors & trans, all the wiring, etc. Hundreds of thousands of miles on the cars no issues. BUT working on bikes is a new realm so I know I could be doing plenty wrong and could use guidance.
My issue is getting the headlight working right and setting up wiring so it will charge the battery.
- Turn signals and horn work fine and are hot all the time as he wired them direct to the battery.
- Tail light and brake light work fine when bike is running. NOTE: the TL bulb is an LED.
- Ignition switch was likely changed as only has running and off modes and no Daylight running (no tail and headlights) mode.
- He had wired the headlight direct to battery. Yea,the non-charging battery??? So no bulb or pigtail in the light.
- I got a pigtail and bulb (12V incandescent) from Beatrice.
- Got rid of the direct to battery feed and tapped into the same wire running to the tail light.
- Headlight seemed to work good. Both Hi & Lo only when running.
- 1st ride got about one block smelled like some thing electrical burning and put my hand in front of the light and sure enough it burned out. The Hi beam is still working but I'm not using it as I suspect it will burn out too.
This is where I get confused:
- I suspected too much voltage to the headlight bulb and maybe the taillight doesn't blow because it's LED?
- Tested the voltage at the wire where I tapped into for the headlight.
- I've always used the DCV setting on my meter of car stuff and for some of the stuff on the bike. But, I could not get any readings using that setting checking the wiring to the tail and head lights.
- Tried the ACV setting on the meter and got readings.
- At idle 9.1-9.7, at cruising/running RPMs it increases to as much as 24+ at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle.
- The wire from the motor that is feeding the wire to the tail and head lights is a Yellow wire.
- Also would like to know how to wire up the battery to be charged when running.
- What's the correct wire to tap into for that and does there need to be some thing the control the voltage to the battery so I don't cause it to blow up?
Thanks in advance for help.
After 30+ years without a bike('75 MT 250 Elsinore) I now have a 1968 Cub 50 that still has the original Calif. Black & Yellow plate.
The PO put a 88cc China motor in got it running then it sat for a couple years, then for a year after I bought it.
No manual on the China motor came with the bike. Did get a Haynes manual with it. I know that most of the electrical in tht manual will be out the window with the motor change and now being 12V.
Got it running pretty good with some carb cleaning and adjusting.
Now sorting out the wiring mess me left me. Funny part is he worked for a Shrink Tubing Mfg and there is not 1 single piece of Shrink Tubing on it.
Quick background: I've built several cars from the ground up, every thing except exterior paint, build motors & trans, all the wiring, etc. Hundreds of thousands of miles on the cars no issues. BUT working on bikes is a new realm so I know I could be doing plenty wrong and could use guidance.
My issue is getting the headlight working right and setting up wiring so it will charge the battery.
- Turn signals and horn work fine and are hot all the time as he wired them direct to the battery.
- Tail light and brake light work fine when bike is running. NOTE: the TL bulb is an LED.
- Ignition switch was likely changed as only has running and off modes and no Daylight running (no tail and headlights) mode.
- He had wired the headlight direct to battery. Yea,the non-charging battery??? So no bulb or pigtail in the light.
- I got a pigtail and bulb (12V incandescent) from Beatrice.
- Got rid of the direct to battery feed and tapped into the same wire running to the tail light.
- Headlight seemed to work good. Both Hi & Lo only when running.
- 1st ride got about one block smelled like some thing electrical burning and put my hand in front of the light and sure enough it burned out. The Hi beam is still working but I'm not using it as I suspect it will burn out too.
This is where I get confused:
- I suspected too much voltage to the headlight bulb and maybe the taillight doesn't blow because it's LED?
- Tested the voltage at the wire where I tapped into for the headlight.
- I've always used the DCV setting on my meter of car stuff and for some of the stuff on the bike. But, I could not get any readings using that setting checking the wiring to the tail and head lights.
- Tried the ACV setting on the meter and got readings.
- At idle 9.1-9.7, at cruising/running RPMs it increases to as much as 24+ at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle.
- The wire from the motor that is feeding the wire to the tail and head lights is a Yellow wire.
- Also would like to know how to wire up the battery to be charged when running.
- What's the correct wire to tap into for that and does there need to be some thing the control the voltage to the battery so I don't cause it to blow up?
Thanks in advance for help.
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