Today in the workshop .....

[Cato]

It's an option if I can't find any automotive cable

What lengths are the runs? If they're a foot or so you could use clear heat shrink over braided or copper earth cable.

7mm on Amazon for example.

 

[Cato]

Have a chat with the owner, they may decide to get it done properly all at once. How much would a new loom cost if available?

A loom's around the £80 - £90 bracket but the problem with that is that the labour to install will be in addition to sorting out the terminals & flying leads from various bits.

The cable/loom isn't that old and is in decent shape, it's the bodgery where it connects to stuff that's the issue.

 

[Farside]

We were well into a breakdown due to a PLC problem in the 80's when a suit turns up and starts getting in the way, one of the sparkies told him to eff off as he was hindering the job, which he did. We got the machine away then our foreman said "did you know that was the site maintenance manager you told to eff off" the manager came over and said he didn't mind as he knew tempers could get frayed due to the pressure.

Usually, an observation made to the air about there being too many chiefs here and not enough indians, gets the point across.

 

[Cato]

I think I've got to the bottom of why the AC stator output was bypassed.

It seems to have been wired such that the charging and ignition is positive earth, but the lighting is connected as negative earth. Dead short, fuse blows, so he bypassed the lighting AC output from the stator and fed from the battery charge coil.
Upshot being that the AC coil for the lighting is fubar and has no output now.

What a bloody mess!

 

[Robotstar5]

I found similar on my Bantam wiring, it's positive earth but previous owner must have had their negative earth hat on when connecting the output of the rectifier to the battery so the wiring shorted out the rectifier, luckily it tests OK.
You're looking at a new (expensive) stator

 

[Cato]

I found similar on my Bantam wiring, it's positive earth but previous owner must have had their negative earth hat on when connecting the output of the rectifier to the battery so the wiring shorted out the rectifier, luckily it tests OK.
You're looking at a new (expensive) stator

I suspect the easiest way round this is to change the charge wiring to positive earth so that the whole thing is 'conventionally' wired.

It'll still need a new stator as the lighting coil output is just a couple of volts at best, but at least that way it'll all be doing the same thing.

 

[Robotstar5]

At least the new stator will come with the full length of cable so you can do away with the current mess inside the housing.

 

[Red'n'Black]

The connectors and replacement reg/rec arrived for the 3TA so the stator, reg/rec and battery wiring is sorted and all in the right place now. Which means I can move on to the wiring in the headlamp cowl and to the switch.

First thing is to work out what in the name of Temu has been done. That meant dismantling the headlamp cowl, which means disconnecting the brake cable, head tensioner etc.

Once in I confirmed that the stator feed dedicated to the lighting was just cut (circled in blue) and taped up doing nothing. Leaving aside the various link wires and feeds for a moment, power for the head and tail lights has been picked up from the battery/general supply via the orange wire into terminal 11 (topside of switch) with an external link to terminal 8 topside.

The upshot is that there's one stator output going via the reg/rec to provide DC to the battery for charging. The other feed which should provide a direct AC to the lighting circuit isn't connected to anything. I have no idea why that would be the case other than it wasn't covered in the 'Fischer Price My First Electrics' instructions.

In theory it's remove the erroneous extra orange wire and connect the yellow stator feed. The concern is what else up/down stream has been changed, disconnected, bodged that's going to appear when I do. What fun!

View attachment 514034

The manufacturers don't help matters themselves sometimes, though.

When I was fixing up the DT50MX I bought for my daughter, one of the things it needed was a new headlight cowl. So all the wiring inside had to be dismantled.

It was all colour coded though, so I didn't make quite as careful notes as I should have. They'd reused the same colours for the kill switch and the headlamp main beam. Getting those mixed up didn't help either the ignition or the lights to work very well. Once I realised what I'd done, after several days of head scratching, it fired up first kick.

 

[Cato]

At least the new stator will come with the full length of cable so you can do away with the current mess inside the housing.

That mess has gone and already been replaced with a lovely new loom section. I couldn't test anything until I'd got rid of the solder blobs and shorts, and it wasn't feasible to do a temporary fix for testing.

Still, I must be getting close to finding all of the bodges now?

 

[Cato]

The manufacturers don't help matters themselves sometimes, though.

When I was fixing up the DT50MX I bought for my daughter, one of the things it needed was a new headlight cowl. So all the wiring inside had to be dismantled.

It was all colour coded though, so I didn't make quite as careful notes as I should have. They'd reused the same colours for the kill switch and the headlamp main beam. Getting those mixed up didn't help either the ignition or the lights to work very well. Once I realised what I'd done, after several days of head scratching, it fired up first kick.

I take loads of pics before dismantling or disconnecting anything. Partly to show customers what I found, but also so that I can put things back in the right order.

Didn't help much with this job though as the 'original' connections were the problem.

 

[Red'n'Black]

I found similar on my Bantam wiring, it's positive earth but previous owner must have had their negative earth hat on when connecting the output of the rectifier to the battery so the wiring shorted out the rectifier, luckily it tests OK.
You're looking at a new (expensive) stator

My step dad had two MF35s, which I got tasked with sorting out and selling when he couldn't manage them any more.

One was a 3 cyl diesel, with the original dynamo and control box, so positive earth.
The other was petrol/TVO, the original wiring got destroyed in a fire years back, and had an alternator grafted on, parentage unknown, so negative earth.

Both had knackered batteries, so needed a jump start. I had to really double check which one I was dealing with before I attached the clips! Never got them mixed up, fortunately.

 

[Cato]

My step dad had two MF35s, which I got tasked with sorting out and selling when he couldn't manage them any more.

One was a 3 cyl diesel, with the original dynamo and control box, so positive earth.
The other was petrol/TVO, the original wiring got destroyed in a fire years back, and had an alternator grafted on, parentage unknown, so negative earth.

Both had knackered batteries, so needed a jump start. I had to really double check which one I was dealing with before I attached the clips! Never got them mixed up, fortunately.

Keeps you on your toes doesn't it?

For all my moaning and whinging I love the mix I get to work on. One day it'll be some negative earth dinosaur with a carb, points and a mag. The next it'll be a fully ECU controlled sequential injection and spark with CAN bus.

 

[Cato]

In a rather surprising turn of events now that everything's wired in the same/correct order the lighting coil from the stator is starting to build an output!

 

[MattF]

Still, I must be getting close to finding all of the bodges now?

Got to love an optimist.

 

[Cato]

Got to love an optimist.

My strategy now is to stop looking.

 

[Cato]

Well that's the Meccano set completed.

I do have to say that for all its ills it starts nicely and runs sweetly.

 

[Robotstar5]

So you'll be getting rid of all the Jap bikes and getting yourself a pudding basin helmet?

 

[Cato]

So you'll be getting rid of all the Jap bikes and getting yourself a pudding basin helmet?

My view may be somewhat skewed based on what I see through the workshop, but I'd rather walk.

 

[Cato]

I emailed that bloke with the 3TA this morning to say it's done and give him the invoice, ask when he'd like to pick it up etc. He just rang and said
"I thought it'd be more than that with the state it was in."

FFS! You just can't win with customers.

 

[Cato]

Trying to get a bit more organised I've put together a list of the bikes/projects I own and categorised them as Build & Keep, Build & Sell, Sell as Projects, and Sell as Parts. I'm thinking now though that the Sell as Projects part of my list might have to expand because I no sooner think that I have some time to get on with my bikes (too keep or sell) than more work comes in.

I'm not moaning or complaining BTW, that's why I'm here after all. But I do think I need to be realistic about what I'm going to have time to do both in terms of hours in the day and also years left to be able to do it.