Strange wire issue

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E.Marquez
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Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 1:27 pm

Strange wire issue

Post by E.Marquez »

You blokes that ride year round in wet perhaps you have seen this...

My bike took a crap while warming up today, ran beautifully yesterday, 480 miles. Starter a treat today,,,then just shut off.

Had body work off installing new radiators so took a few min to get off the what did I di now, kick and dig in and do a proper diagnosis, No spark led me to no power at the converter but power at the ignition fuse. So that means someplace between fuse and converter....that would be kill switch (or bypass I dont run a switch) and a bit of wiring.

So start cutting into the outer cover heat shrink tube and I find,,,,, water , cut into the paired wires heat shrink tube and I find...water.
Cut into the kill switch wires and I find.....corrosion and a broken wire.
32079547_10215957468983152_5663954139818754048_n.jpg
OK well sure, water intrusion can do that....But I got curious about the other wire spliced in....
IMG_8517.JPG
YUP, both sections of wire spliced in, the entire add on length, corroded and trashed.
The OEM wire soldiered too was fine other then right at the connection.
So its just the aftermarket wire, which was supposed to be decent quality
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VTRDark
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by VTRDark »

As it's the ignition cut the wire could be the remains of an old alarm or hidden switch that as been reconnected to the other side of the ignition cut. :think: That's what comes to mind first.
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E.Marquez
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by E.Marquez »

VTRDark wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 10:02 am As it's the ignition cut the wire could be the remains of an old alarm or hidden switch that as been reconnected to the other side of the ignition cut. :think: That's what comes to mind first.
No nothing like that..
The harness was in factory state before I removed the factory kill/start buttons and added different ones, then later removed the kill switch.
The corrosion seems to have started at the "bottom" and wormed its way up the wire.

An educated guess is, water was driven in the triple protected wiring by wind and water pressure while riding in the rain.

Looks like I did not use adhesive lined tubing on the individual wires, which is weird as I always do.. I have 8 storages boxes of the stuff and use it on every wiring job I do..... All my heat shrink tube was in the same 60L container ..I must have grabbed the wrong type tubing in yellow and red when I did this job.....Picking non adhesive lined by mistake.

I have since organized the heat shrink tubing to 8 storage containers and 7 rolls. Its seperated by type, color and size now.

That's about 2/3 of what i keep on hand...
Heat shrink tubing.jpg
Heat shrink tubing.jpg (82.68 KiB) Viewed 1851 times
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agentpineapple
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by agentpineapple »

that looks a tad grim mate, at least you have everything at hand to make it right again..... :thumbup:
i must admit to having a wiring fetish these days..... :lol:
I just bought a power hub from Germany, it will run up to 4 accessories with each one having it's own relay.
it wasn't until recently that I started using accessories on my bike, about a year ago I added a usb power lead for my phone, and earlier this year I was gifted a bike specific satnav.
I've also decided to add extra led running lights and a voltmeter.
so that'll be my 4 accessories. the power hub will sit under the seat and I hope I can get a fairly neat install. I've bought some ribbed wire protector, so all the leads running to the front will be triple insulated.
I also want to renew the wire protection on my stick coil conversion, as that was only covered by insulating tape.
i'll post up some pics when I get round to doing it....📸
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sirch345
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by sirch345 »

I think you were lucky Erik the bike didn't let you down when you were out on your 480 mile run,

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E.Marquez
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by E.Marquez »

agentpineapple wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 5:10 pm that looks a tad grim mate, at least you have everything at hand to make it right again..... :thumbup:
i must admit to having a wiring fetish these days..... :lol:
I just bought a power hub from Germany, it will run up to 4 accessories with each one having it's own relay.
it wasn't until recently that I started using accessories on my bike, about a year ago I added a usb power lead for my phone, and earlier this year I was gifted a bike specific satnav.
I've also decided to add extra led running lights and a voltmeter.
so that'll be my 4 accessories. the power hub will sit under the seat and I hope I can get a fairly neat install. I've bought some ribbed wire protector, so all the leads running to the front will be triple insulated.
I also want to renew the wire protection on my stick coil conversion, as that was only covered by insulating tape.
i'll post up some pics when I get round to doing it....📸
Ive been useing a Fuse Block by FZ1 http://www.fuzeblocks.com/ for about 8 years now....Installed dozens of them. Each circut can be selected for key on or constant power by fuse position
Let us know how the power hub works for you. Adn if you will, a link to that product
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agentpineapple
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by agentpineapple »

here's what I've bought.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173304912994 ... 3304912994
I got it from Germany via ebay. way cheaper than anything else I've seen, I mean the denali powerhub 2 is a great piece of kit. but it's pricey.
what I've purchased cost me £38 delivered.
i'll let you know how I get on.
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E.Marquez
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Re: Strange wire issue

Post by E.Marquez »

agentpineapple wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 11:04 pm here's what I've bought.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173304912994 ... 3304912994
I got it from Germany via ebay. way cheaper than anything else I've seen, I mean the denali powerhub 2 is a great piece of kit. but it's pricey.
what I've purchased cost me £38 delivered.
i'll let you know how I get on.
If 4 circuits total gets you what you need, and no circuit drawing more than 90 watts works for what you want to run, the only question will be reliability..

The instructions http://www.cosmo-accessories.com/images ... nglish.pdf do not spec a main fuse size and I very much doubt the device will handle the 30 amps of all four circuits drawing max amps ..So you might want to ask what the input amperage limit is at 14.8vdc (or what ever your VTR is charging at the battery) I suspect they will say 20 amp fuse or so, but could be lower.
Also ask if their device will handle 14.8vdc (or what ever you VTR is) It should, but I would not leave it to chance.
Lastly, if those are standard spec Mini ATO fuses, install the appropriate size (up to 7.5 amps) for the device your powering. Like the USB outlet is only drawing about 24 watts or a bit more if it has an LED.Say 30 watts ..so it only needs a 2.5~3 amp fuse
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