Mystery wire identification

[herrbongo]

I have one of those "grey-market" Indian restored 500s, so I can't really offer any model year to help, the bike is a mishmash of parts.  There is a wire hanging loose behind the battery-box that terminates with an eyelet.  The way it is bent, it looks like it would have been attached to the front seat bracket bolt, or some other frame connection near there.  Can anyone help me identify this wire?  It disappears into the main harness bundle going to the front.  Thanks!

[The Garbone]

Does everything work?

It could be a ground.  Hook it to the frame and if your harness does not melt and/or catch on fire and everything works  you should be good.   

A picture may help..

[Arizoni]

If you have a volt/ohm meter, checking to see if the wire is powered before attaching it to the frame might save the bike from the meltdown The Garbone was mentioning.

If the wire is not powered when the ignition key is on and something isn't working it might be the ground wire.

If everything is working and the wire is not powered when the key is on it might be just one of the many mystery's the middle east is famous for.

[herrbongo]

Last night I did some checking.  The wire had continuity to ground, zero resistance.  With it not connected, voltage across the battery terminals while running bounced wildly showing 12v, 0v, 30v... skipping constantly.  When I attached the mystery wire to a good ground point on the frame, voltage across the terminals stabilized varying only from 12V to 15V, and never showing less than 12v.  It seems to me to be a charging system related wire, but weird that it goes into the harness heading towards the front of bike, when my regulator and rectifier are under the seat.  Is there a ground for the ammeter that must be hooked up for proper charging, or is that grounded simply from being mounted to the metal nacelle?

[baird4444]

on the orig. setup, all power goes thru the amp meter...   if wire cums off meter
the bike dies. Hot from key to ignition also goes thru the meter.
that wild 30 volt swing may not be good. I think I'd go ahead and go to ground.
    "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain..."  - Mike

[Arizoni]

The widely varying voltage with the wire loose indicates it is a part of the charging circuit that needs to be grounded.

[herrbongo]

Wire is grounded now, and so far so good.

[herrbongo]

All is not well, actually.  Still not charging.  I have a new question: is my headlight AC or DC?  I have a 4-wire stator that is hooked up to 4 wires of the same color from the harness.  I also have a AC regulator on the back fender with two yellow wires to it.  This all indicates I have an AC headlight.  The weird part is I have a bright full headlight with key on and engine off.  I thought that meant a DC headlight.  Is it possible to have it wired for both?  Again this is an Indian restored bullet, so likely would have been a DC headlight originally.  The stator and harness are all brand new, so this is all rewired.  It likely won't follow the rules for anything the factory ever did.  Last ride it ran great with a bright headlight (night ride).  After a 10 mile run, shut it down and read 9V at the battery!  Charged it up and it holds at 12.7 with no loss over a couple days.

[D the D]

Yours is DC.  If your headlight only worked with the engine running it's AC.  Your tail light and gauge illumination should come on with the key on, engine off.  Since they are DC, they will run off the battery. The AC headlight won't.  AC headlights will also dim at idle and flare bright with rpm.

[herrbongo]

I wonder if the two yellow AC leads from the stator are sending current to anything?  The AC rectifier for headlight is wired up, but as you pointed out I obviously have a DC headlight circuit. I'd like to parralel the two yellows into the battery charging system since my headlight is drawing off the battery, so it likely needs the boost.  I don't want to smoke the rectifier/regulator in the process though.

[Scottie J]

I wonder if the two yellow AC leads from the stator are sending current to anything?  The AC rectifier for headlight is wired up, but as you pointed out I obviously have a DC headlight circuit. I'd like to parralel the two yellows into the battery charging system since my headlight is drawing off the battery, so it likely needs the boost.  I don't want to smoke the rectifier/regulator in the process though.

Hold Up!  Usually the 2 yellow wires on just about any rectifier are your inputs from the stator.  You need to test your stator to see if it's putting anything out or not.  You can usually do this with a multi meter by connecting any 2 of the wires coming off the stator to the leads at your multi meter.  Most bikes should read somewhere in the 80 volt range at around 2K RPMS.  Go back and forth and test all the variations between connecting the different wires until every write has connected with each other.

Scottie

[D the D]

Scottie J is right. Don't hook anything up until you've metered and know what is on those wires! You might fry some expensive stuff.