It seems that I've bitten off more than I can chew. I ordered a headlight/minifairing/turn signal combo from England and kind of got screwed on it - it's much tinier than you'd think. Not to mention, there are no sort of mounting/wiring instructions whatsover, and the manufacturer is not helpful. Whatever. Thinking I could mount it by myself, I got ballsy, took off the stock headlight and pulled out all of the wiring and in the process, dismantled all of the connections. I managed to get all the harnesses snapped back together, but there are still a number of singles which don't seem to match up. Here are the problems and any help you pros out there could offer would be most appreciated!
1. I have the Clymer's manual, but I'm not really understanding the diagram so that doesn't help a lot unfortunately...there seem to be multiples of different wires so I'm not sure how to trace anything. Leading to...
2. At some point before I got the bike, someone totally ghetto rigged the wiring so it doesn't seem to follow the trails it should. Everything's a mess of electrical tape, all slapped together and I'm not certain if the harnesses are set up in the original config either but they are fine.
3. The fairing/headlight combo doesn't seem to have straightforward wiring in any case. The 2 headlights each have three - green, white and black, and they turn into a single set in a harness clip. I'm not sure what these three wires should ultimately hook up with in terms of the GS wiring. As for the turn signals, they each have a green and a black, which based on the stock signals would line up with black/ black and white.
I know I just babbled through this - but in a nutshell, would anyone be able to decipher the single wires I yanked out of the headlight? The harnesses look fine, but the rest - confusing.
I can get pictures if anyone wants to email. Thanks for any suggestions, other than "you're an idiot." :x
you know this whould have been alot easier to solve if you had done this about three months ago when i lived in Jacksonville. if it is all ready messed up like you say, the easy way is going to be, taking off most of the tape, and finding the wires that come from the ignition relay to the headlight/ turn signials. and splice into those. I doubt it was designed as a direct bolt on so you are probably going to have to cut and splice it in. and welcome to the wonderful world of electrical voodoo crap. :mrgreen:
You may want to buy a cheap digital multimeter since it will help you trace the wires, and check to see when they are hot.
Also a good time to buy a soldering iron(or one of those new COLD HEAT ones) and splurge on some heat shrink tubing. Elecectrial Tape is really not the greates means for connecting wires, even those crimps are not that great.
Quote from: sevenbuckssomeone totally ghetto rigged the wiring so it doesn't seem to follow the trails it should. Everything's a mess of electrical tape, all slapped together
believe it or not, if you open up the headlight housing on a brand new gs, it looks like ghetto rigged (lots of wire going in all different directions with plentiful usage of electrical tape). it's basically ghetto rigged from the factory. :dunno:
anyway, i just installed an aftermarket twin headlights on my gs. my bike did have a pair of open ended wires that weren't being used. also, tell us what year your bike is.
this might help...
ok, hopefully this link will work..
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/catalogue/product_detail.asp?PCODE=BIKHLUSFB&GRP=MCC05&PGRP=MCP019&CLS=MCYCLE&code=BIKLHLUSF&from=search
my bike's a '92.
OK if you want to drag the thing over to my house ... Charlotte NC ... I am nearly sure I can ghetto the thing back to where it was. ... and yea I have that fairing as well... but not fitting it on the GS anyway.
Cool.
Srinath.
Take them one at at time.
The stock (89) head light has three wires going to it.
Does the new head light have more than three?
Even on the 89 bikes, their fascination with black tape is amazing. Wiring harness technology has come a long way even though they did use some heatshrink tubing then.
The turn signals would have a common black/white wire. The right front is a green connecting to the black of the light. The left front is a black connecting to black.
Do a search for "Kerry AND Haynes" to find a color schematic from the Haynes manual. It really helps.
Srinath,
You know, I was just thinking 'I wonder how long till he jumps in?" and was wondering if you were riding near Wilmington anytime soon :cheers:
Quote from: starwaltDo a search for "Kerry AND Haynes" to find a color schematic from the Haynes manual. It really helps.
Here's a
direct link for the '90-'96 wiring diagram. The Haynes manual contains a separate diagram for the '89 US model if you'd like me to scan it in. I think you'll find that it's mostly the same.
YESSSSSSSS
Sweet! Thanks very much Kerry, I'll try this out tomorrow. Color makes all the difference.
A couple of stupid little questions to go along with the diagram, because I've never really been able to comprehend anything other than electric guitar wiring.
First, would a completed harness connection be indicated by the white double rectangles in the diagram?
And second, (keeping in mind that my wiring experience is minimal and may border on dangerous), to wire up the new headlight wires (see original post) would I just strip the yellow, b/w and white wires of the original headlight and twist them to the bare ends of the black, green and white of the new one, make sure they're the right connections, then tape over?
Thanks again
Blair[/code]
and to answer your question starwalt, there are three wires so splicing them to the existing wires I guess would be straightforward - but my new question is, what is the purpose of each wire, ie is one a ground, one hot, etc. and if I connect them wrong will I short out the bike or something?
Thanks for the help, I kind of wish it was light out now so I can try this all out.
Whatever you do, DON'T CUT THE BLUE WIRE! You can, but only if you want your garage to look like the Grand Canyon... :lol:
I'm not cutting a single wire, funny guy! I've seen enough bad Keanu Reeves movies to know not to cut the blue wire...or maybe it was the green one? Dammit!
Plus if the bike blows up, it's in a parking lot and my garage of power tools will be safe and sound
DC Electricity is really very simple. It is the math and theory that gets out of control.
The three wires of the 89 headlight could be labeled:
*Common (Black/White - a running theme in the GS line)
*LO (White) - Normal beam, running light, or low beam
*HI (Yellow) - High beam or bright.
Think of a "Y" where the long part going down is "Common" to each filament and it runs to the negative battery connection.
Your LO and HI switch puts the postive battery connection to the arms of the "Y" in turn.
Try to find some good connectors and avoid stripping and twisting. A clean wiring job is easier to follow and in a few years you probably will not remember what goes where. Wiring is part of my job and a good job is really easy to accomplish IF you have the right parts.
Now I wonder where Suzuki buys all their electrical connectors? :roll:
Doug, one more confirmation and then I think I have it figured out -
I'll strip a bit off the end of each wire in question.
I'll crimp a male connector on one end and a female connector on the corresponding wire end and connect them.
I'll wrap or cover the connection.
Done.
Are the connectors, or any of the parts I'll need to do this cleanly, available at Radio Shack or Lowes, or will I need to look up an electric supply store?
I was just looking the 89 headlight connector. It is labeled "Ground" , "Pass", and "Drive." I assume "Pass" means HI and "Drive" means LO.
Try to find male connectors the same size as the connectors on the stock headlight. Once crimped onto the new wires (you do have a crimp tool don't you?) you can then insert them into the stock headlight connector and have a labeled connector! No need for hacking into the stock harness.
Same deal with the turn indicators. They may be harder to find though. They are "bullet" type and subject to poor connection if cycled too much.
Radio Shack? Maybe. They did have a lot of automotive stuff in the past. Take the stock headlight with you when you shop. Also try Autozone, or Advanced Auto.
Browsing online I found a Calif. business that sells sets of Hitachi connectors "used on most Japanese bikes" that look like the 89 stuff.
It can make you crazy. I deal with stuff from all over the globe and often I have kept hacked off plugs from dead items just because they could never be found locally. If you are careful, you can remove and uncrimp the pins/connectors to reuse them and get a factory look.
I know. It is a disease! :)
Quote from: starwaltSame deal with the turn indicators. They may be harder to find though.
actually, lockhart phillops do make signal light connectors...one end plugs into the stock and the other is open. i got them (pair) for $3.99. part #L122-9654
Quote from: sevenbucks.......................
I'll crimp a male connector on one end and a female connector on the corresponding wire end and connect them.
...............
Do your self a favor and solder the crimp connections before you cover them up. :cheers:
Everyone, thank you very much for your help. Using the color diagram I managed to get everything matched up and the bike started properly, then focused on the headlight connection as the turn signals were easy. As it turns out, I had to clip the headlight socket off totally as the connections didn't match up. I took the loose wires of the included harness and got the right connections on the first shot! At the moment they are ghetto-crimped but when I get better at doing them cleanly I will redo the wiring. Now on to mounting the bugger, repainting the front fender and tail, and all is well.
Thanks again
Blair
Glad to hear it Blair. If any documentation was included, try to post it here. If you don't have a offsite data dump, email it to me and I'll put it in my webpage.
I clearly remember destroying my very first DC circuit many years ago. None of us is born with the knowledge and we can all learn from each other.
Take some pics of the finished product and show them off. (I intend to when finished with mine! :lol: )