Final electrical issues HELP!

[Coyote]

There is no B/W wire in the switch harness. Therefore it must ground through the handlebar. The horn works on the orange wire and being manually grounded. The schematic does show a B/W wire at the button, but that wire dies not exist. I think I may have found the problem. I checked the green wire between the switch and the horn. The wire checks to be open - no continuity. So even if the switch is grounding, the horn doesn't know it.

[tz375]

What's equally interesting is that the plug at the end of that left switch has nine possible connections and only 8 are used. I pulled one switch completely apart and another partially and on the partial strip there is a short length of wire which is presumably the B/W that's shown, but it stays inside the switch.

Those were both on-off and Hi-Lo switches so they were "early" style like the wiring diagram.

[Coyote]

What's equally interesting is that the plug at the end of that left switch has nine possible connections and only 8 are used.

I noticed that too. Whats even stranger is the recipient plug has all 9 wires. Sure enough, the missing one goes to a B/W wire

[markush]

Hi!

If there is a B/W ground wire in the switch cable, it is connected inside the switch to the metal switch body. The Horn button connects the green wire to switch body.
If the wire is not there, the ground current must come through frame, steering bearing and handlebar. Unlikely that this connection is not working but, is the frame grounded properly?

I checked the green wire between the switch and the horn. The wire checks to be open- no continuity. So even if the switch is grounding, the horn doesn't know it.

Then probably the green line is the cause, not the ground connection.

Markus

[Coyote]

HOORAY! The horn works! When I checked the green wire to be open, I was on the wrong green in the switch. Son came over and tore the switch completely down. Thar's when I found the correct green wire. Put it back together. No joy. Took it apart again and pulled the button assembly completely out and apart. The contact points were dirty and a little corroded. Touched them up with a little 400 grit paper. Put it back together and it works like new. All that messing around and testing and it turned out to be the button itself.
So that's 2 down and one to go. It's usable the way it is if you leave the hill switch in the run position. I still have the problem of kill switch off and then the key, the neutral light stays on. Does not stay on is you switch off in the run position. I still think it has something to do with that open orange wire.

[Suzukidave]

This is looking like you would be doing yourself a favor in the long run to take the time to disassemble the switch and right hand control and clean them up like you just did the left switch assembly .

[bill in okc]

Maybe the neutral light problem is another LED thing. It looks like the coil primaries are connected to the same line that powers the neutral LED when the kill switch is off. Maybe a regular bulb would bleed the coils down quickly and the more efficient LED does not? You could test when you work on the turn signal lamp.

[Coyote]

Hmmm. A little tougher to get to, but worth a shot

[Coyote]

Bill, I just got done studying the wiring diagram. Your guess on the LED looks like it may be exactly right. It looks like that wire is also involved in the brake switches. One of the ways I can make the N light go out is to activate either brake switch.
The light eventually goes totally off by itself. I made the lamp stay on by keying on and off with the kill in the off position. Even though the N light is on, It starts to slowly dim. This time I waited 15 minutes, turned the room lights off and could not see any light at all. Then I hooked up my voltmeter. While reading I flipped the kill switch to on, and there was no change in the reading. It's gonna be tough to get to the neutral lamp socket, but I seriously think that's it.

[Coyote]

Well then, maybe not. I unplugged the coil wires from the electrical panel to take them out of the picture. The problem remains.

[Alan H]

Another part of the circuit is the regulator and generator rotor.

[tz375]

It almost sounds like a slight "leakage" of voltage through the regulator/rectifier.

You can test that by doing what you were doing and then pull the R/R plugs and see when the light goes out. The rectifier is connected directly to the battery and my guess is that there's some "leakage" through a diode. The LED will light with much lower power than an incandescent lamp and there may just be enough to light it up. LED's are polarity sensitive so you need an electrical guy to tell if my theory holds water. Though water and electricity don't go well together..

[Coyote]

I'm cashing in for the night. Thanks to all that are helping me through this. I'll pull the plugs on the regulator and rectifier in the morning. I know the rectifier has diodes. I didn't know there were any in the regulator.

[tz375]

There are no diodes in a conventional regulator* - just points and a coil, but who knows which is "leaking" until it's tested.


Fixed. Duh

[Alan H]

There aren't any diodes in the reg or genny, but there are 6 in the rectifier as it's a three phase unit.
A rectifier is a diode. I think tz may be thinking the wrong way about and mixed up rectifier and regulator.
It gets late 'early' over your side of the pond! Or does it get early 'late'? I forget........
It appears that tbere is a bit of residual electricity 'somewhere' that just takes a little time to dissipate when the key is turned off, it could be the condensor (capacitor) on one set of points - switched off when the kill switch is ope9rated, or some small charge in a coil somewhere. The amount of current to light a led is so small - why we use them nowadays - it will take a time to 'use' the residual power. I wouldn't worry about it.