I can't state how grateful I am for this. The whole channel, it's just an amazing demonstration of how sharing knowledge is a key concept of motorcycling. Cheers from Brazil!
I'm relatively new to bike repair/building, and I have been so frustrated by electrical issues on these old 70's bikes to the point that I feel like starting from zero & building a wiring harness might be easier than troubleshooting the problems on the existing harnesses. LMAO. So I came here to get schooled on the concepts & processes. I am COMMITTED to understanding & being able to apply this knowledge so I can troubleshoot & relatively easily destroy all these damn electrical gremlins. Thanks for the video guys!
I'm not "native Language" English, i'm Italian and i studied in Italy ...... Believe me if i say that this is the BEST lesson about elecricity i've ever seen!!!! No professors or teachers in my school career was so clear in the description!!! Thank You.
You guys are the Best! I'm currently rewiring my HD 1974 Ironhead sportster, the pre-owner wasn't that careful with it and i want to know where every thing is. At first it was very intimidating to me but i've learned so many things from your videos and now i feel ready and i'm going to buy your stuff to support you guys in the way i can! Greetings from Germany The Black Forest
I was very intimidated to start a rebuild on my Suzuki 1973 TC125, but watching Stefan and these Revival Cycle videos have given me such confidence as well. I bought the M unit Blue and wiring kit, I’ll let you know how it goes 👍🏽
Great Video! I started my chopper project about 2 years ago and have been dreading wiring since the beginning. This is a great introduction to knowledge I know I will need.
Another great video, thanks a lot for trying to help people's understanding. For alot of us we can get how mechanical things work but the electrics were always the dark arts.
Something I learned years ago, if P = power, I = current, and E= Voltage, (not sure how many people use these particular letter designations, I learned this from the Navy), the equation would be P=IE "Power is as easy as PIE" I hope that was useful and made sense
Mate you just really helped me out alot. I'm building a 1980 GSX 250, there's a bit more stuff to learn but I was wondering what all different symbols mean. Also as a fire sprinkler fitter I appreciated the water example.
That was a great overview and helps me better understand the wiring on my bike, a 1982 Suzuki GS1100G and I hope, a help to solving my problem. The grounding description was a big revelation to me as I've added some extra power connectors for plugins for a battery tender, horn and a usb port for charging electronics and I always run the ground back to the battery negative terminal. I was replacing the rectifier/regulator and now I have no current as a result of something I've done or not done. This will get me back to the basics of what to look for. Thanks.
Thanks William, Be sure to check out our Tech Articles page on our site. We go into more depth there and you'll find diagrams for Reg/Rec integration that may help you sort out your issue. technicalarticles.revivalcycles.com/hc/en-us
I'd love to see a video going over different motorcycle wiring diagrams. I've got an 80s Era yamaha and the wiring diagrams for it are kinda hard to follow at times.
Thanks Stefan for another great video. I enjoyed watching it even though I almost know all these details. I forwarded it to some friends and they really liked the way you simplify things.
Thanks for the video, super helpful even 7 years later!! 25:47 I'm not sure I understand, why do this? Why don't we just run a cable from the light to the negative battery? If the electricity is flowing through the frame, don't I risk getting electrocuted?
17:15 this is probably based on the exact same logic as shotgun round pellet sizes (also measured in 'gauge'). The basic idea is this: take a ring of a certain diameter and then see how many wires you can fit through at the same time --> if the wire you're trying to put through is almost as thick as the ring's diameter, then you can fit 1 wire through, so let's call that wire's thickness "1 gauge". If you use a bunch of thin wires you can maybe fit 20 of those into the ring at the same time., so let's call those wire's thickness "20 gauge". That explains why "smaller gauge means thicker wire" and vice versa.
P. S. in case you're curious about the shotgun pellet sizes --> the archaic way this came to be was: take a ball of lead that weighs exactly 1 lbs. Now divide that ball into small, equal size balls. Depending on how many smaller, equal sized balls you divided them into is the "gauge" of those small balls. I. e. if you divided the big ball of lead into two balls, those were "gauge 2". If you divided the big ball of lead into 50 small balls, those would be "gauge 50".
You guys are awesome This is very helpful in showing me how the electrical system works Please continue keep making videos how to wire bikes Have a 1982 kawasaki 650 I'm starting to wire from scratch and your videos are very helpful if please show a video If you could please Make a video how to wire from scratch there will be very helpful it's my 1st bike and could use all the help videos on that
Love these videos. Can you do one on jetting? I.e. Rejetting for pods/velocity stacks/exhaust mods? Maybe going through the plug chop concept with plug color and carb theory? I see the "I just got pods and my bike won't run right, what jets do I need to buy?" question on forums a lot, would be cool to link them to a video with deeper explanations of things.
That's a great suggestion, and we will add it to our list. I know jetting is much more of an art than a science (really its all science but its an applied art for most home builder) still we can cover some basics, and give a process and platform for learning the art.
You can look up "AC43.13-1B wire gauge chat" for a diagram of voltage/amperage/wire length to have a quick reference for what gauge wire to use. I keep one in my tool box.
Aviation specs are great, but I wasn't able to find that exact document easily...maybe I need to go practice google some more. But also, on the moto's pretty much all the wire runs are less than 6 feet and that makes the chart less necessary...and that is why I just stick to the rule of thumb. Oh and that is for the over current protection, not what the circuit is actually consuming. 22ga -5 amps 20ga -10 amps 18ga- 15 amps 16ga- 20 amps 14ga- 30 amps 12ga- 40 amps
Revival Cycles fair enough. Looks like I can't spell anyway. Thanks again for taking the time to make these videos! I'm gonna send the link to this the next time a friend calls me and wants me to wire their bike for free.
So does the electrical potential (V) drop at each point that work (A) is done along the circuit? Im referring to the end of the video where you explain that the circuit has equal potential after the battery, and then equal again after work is done powering lights? But its not equal to what it was when it left the battery ie before the work was done? Damn I thought I understood this. If I'm right wouldn't that mean the more times you splice in to run more lights you would end up running out of V to power the last bulb? Or it would be dimmer than the others? I think I know lol that it has something to do with wiring in series and parallel, I can remember doing this experiment in science with the globes in the wooden board but that was so long ago. I think this is what the control m board thing is doing isn't it? Because that all made sense as you drew the wiring diagram for that bike. But the end of this one you said we just have to know where to splice in on the circuit for that component, somewhere that it has equal potential, I think thats what you said lol, I tried to get my head around that and seem to have been going around in circles sincd lol. This whole post probably doesn't even make sense lmao. I dont think I have the potential needed, my bulb is definitely running dim lol
I = current Intensity. V could actually be E (electromotive force) or W=EI. Feel free to just change it to W=VA. Variables can be whatever you want so long as they're calculated correctly.
Thank you very much for this amazing lesson. Only thing that would have been nice to hear about are the components that make a motorcycle's electric circuit. It's really just the m-unit that I heard about, but I don't know where it fits in.... I'm guessing at the start, but not sure. Still, thanks alot for the knowledge. Always appreciated
Glad it was helpful. This video is for an outdated m.Unit and left here for a general reference. There are updated guides and diagrams for the m.Unit Blue on our knowledge base. technicalarticles.revivalcycles.com/hc/en-us
I have a KE125 1976 (Canadian model) 6 volt . I am getting 17-19 AC volts at the headlamp and its blowing the bulbs instantly ? There is no regulator fitted on this model just a small 2pin rectifier to deal with the battery charging . The stator coils have all been tested professionally as working OK . I am baffled to understand why the AC currant is so high to the headlamp?? Any ideas ???? Regards David
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and I would like to try to do this with a 1975 Honda gl1000 and a 1980 GL 1100 Honda don't know if we can do this or not they have so much wiring I don't even know where to begin with it I would like to take it all off and then redo it with your guyses system and help can it be done but once again thank you for sharing your knowledge there is still a lot of good people out there
Claire Lensegrav He’s done a good job with the video, however for wiring up an entire motorcycle youll need to research a lot more. This is more of an “ELI5” version of electricity. It’s serious, you could fuck yourself up or the entire electrical system.
I just found this video and it's great! Clear and concise! Super helpful! I'm starting my first project soon so I'll take all the info I can get. I was just wondering how or what do you do to ground the wires? it's the only part of the video I don't really understand.
On most bikes the entire metal part of the frame/engine/handlebars/etc is "ground". Basically anything metal that touches the frame. This is why there is a large battery cable that goes from the battery negative terminal to the frame or the engine. Although you can simply connect each device to the frame/engine/etc to ground it, experience shows that this is not as consistent or reliable as it could be. For this reason, we will actually run a dedicated ground wire to each device so there is no doubt that the connection is secure.
I can't tell you how long I've waiting to hear something like this (and now the question that begs to be asked is why I waited so long to find out). Thank you very much for this. Ques: Why do we ground instead of running the wires back to the battery to complete the circuit? Is it just a question of practicality? Thank you.
Excellent and informative but I got a little lost at 24.03 . Your diagram shows for example a positive wire going into bulb but other side of bulb is ground? How can you splice into that for positive? Probably me been stupid :-) also how does the ground work through different metals i.e. Aluminium? Cheers for anyone's help
I'm not sure I understand the first question, in that section of the video i'm mostly explaining that the voltage is the same anywhere along the wire between components. So in the example you mentioned above, if you splice into the positive wire near the bulb it is the same as splicing into the wire at the positive source. As far as grounding aluminum is a very good conductor, but many times it will have anodizing as the outer skin and that is a non conductive surface. So if you need to conduct through aluminum make sure you get a connection to bare aluminum. It is not uncommon for us to find issues with ground connections through handlebars because the bars are powder coated or painted or anodized. Also, there can be issues trying to conduct large amounts of current through steering neck bearings, and this is why we recommend running dedicated ground connections and not just relying on the frame. That said, fundamentally there is no issue with different metals, and the majority of metals on a motorcycle conduct very well, and that is why many manufactures will just use the chassis as the ground connection. Lastly when running grounds through the chassis, there is the possibility to increase galvanic corrosion across the interface of dissimilar metals, but this is getting deep into the minutia and is negligible for most applications.
If I have some better looking and guaged speaker wire just laying around could I use it on a project bike instead of the old crusty stock wires !? I'm rewiring the whole thing anyways just wanted to know before ordering any ?
Speaker wire is gernerally not rated for the same harsh conditions of heat, moisture and fuel that automotive wire is rated for. Ideally you want TXL or better wire.
is there one of these to help urgent electrical professor electrician electric technician my case : ( when i connect the multimeter red to red the + / and black probs ) . gives reading as continuity important notes : 1 - NO BATTERY 2 - multimeter ON Diode mode " continuity" - is that normal - ?!?!?!
The mechanic here reconnected the radiator fan after it stopped. And then I got an F1 sign, I don't know what to do. And the mechanic also told me he didn't know how to fix it. Where can I get this computer test from, please help me
Hi, I have a 2001 Triumph Bonneville and would like to get the Motogagdet Blaze Pin lights Do I have to get the board or can I just wire them up.(do I need a relay?) I am new to this wiring.haha
You can wire the m-Blaze Pins into the factory harness, but you will also need to replace the factory turn signal flasher relay with a relay designed for use with LED's. There are many direct fit replacements that you can probably find information about on the triumph forums, but I typically just install an m-Flash because I am more familiar with them and I know they work. I've had problems trying to use some of the direct fit type. The m-Flash is easy enough to install, just crimp some 1/4" spade terminals on the wires and plug it into the socket where the old relay was. The red wire needs to be connected to the positive power source and the black wire feeds the turn signals.
What situation do you need a lock to hold your seat on? I imagine it might happen in LA or NYC but I've never heard of someone rummaging under a bike seat. If someones serious about stealing your bike there's no seat lock that's going to stop that.
The rivera primo is the only headlight we've used that has integrated turn signals, we've shot a video for it, but its still being edited. In general I'm not a fan of turn signals in the headlight because they don't really work as turn signals. This is because they are over powered by the headlight and even if you do notice the signal you end up having to look directly at the 1000 lumen headlight. BUT if you are just trying to meet an inspection requirement they might do the trick. While the integrated headlight turn signals may not be effective turn signals, they could be effective for passing inspections. Either way, this is a matter of preferences, and if you like em, the rivera primo headlights are reasonably well build, and have models to fit a standard 7" or 5-3/4" shell.
...I agree....some cars even have the turn signals right in the headlights.....this seems pretty ....uhm.....stupid by the design engineers....maybe they don't drive at night?
I cannot imagine that removing the turn signals would have any affect on the running performance of the engine. There might be a chance that what you are hearing is a rattle due to something being loose after removing the signals. But electrically they are un-related. It is very unlikely that removing the signals caused an issue with the stator.
Once blinkers plugged back in it stops. Disconnect it starts immediately. Nothing is loose. Shop around here said could be stator. And found a forum about also saying stator or electric on these Yamahas
The hardest part of my Speed Triple project is trying to figure out how the circuits route through the ECU. Seems like the vast majority of the connections are + with only a few ECU harness wires to the chassis ground.
Yea, that is the part of EFI bikes that makes re-wiring a challenge. Make sure you have a good wire diagram and make sure you have a clear understanding about how it all works before starting. The ECU's are sensitive and if you put +12V or ground to the wrong pin it can brick the whole ECU. In my experience many of the controls in ECU's are sinking which means they are switching to ground when they are turning a component on. This is in contrast to sourcing which is where they provide +12V to an activated output. For most electronic design, sinking is simpler and more robust, BUT I've seen ECU's that have both. Just double check everything, and then triple check it again.
Revival Cycles What I've been doing on my wiring diagram is edit it in photoshop with layers. First I marked out all of the connections with their component layers. Then, I went through and eliminated the lighting and power relays so they're always on. Now I'm going through and running those positive side wires to the m-unit. The hard part will be figuring out which connections on the ECU are okay to run the 15 amp AUX to safely. Really should have used a multimeter to check the draw on those circuits BEFORE cutting the harness to pieces. :|
That sounds like a good method for reworking a wire diagram. And it must be nice to be able to turn off a layer or two so you can see the circuits clearly. For ECU fuses you can also trace the circuits back to the fuses that had been protecting the ECU using the original diagram, then if that fuse is greater than 15 amps, you are good to go, but if its less you could consider adding a fuse just for the ECU. But also remember fuses don't protect devices from damage, fuses are there to protect the wires when components fail. So really the fuse should be sized based on the wires that are feeding the components.
I do love your videos but I think your explanation of splicing in new circuits is slightly incorrect but I'm not sure. I think you need to splice before an electrical component as I think the potential is reduced if you splice in after it. I'm not sure but I feel it will be reduced in voltage as it drops on the first component. Maybe someone can confirm if that's correct or maybe I've miss understood Stephen.
Happy to give it a shot but this is such a broad question that I wouldn't know where to start. If you want to send us an email to techsupport with a detailed description of the work you've done. What you've done to try and fix it, As well as a legible OEM wire diagram and your custom wire diagram I'll see what I can work out.
If the regulator is integrated with the CDI then it is a system I am not familiar with. The best recommendation is to get a copy of the factory wire diagram and then isolate the charging system by tracing the wires that are connected to the reg/rec. Then you can also isolate the ignition system, by tracing all the wires that are connected to the CDI.
Sorry this ends up so long, and I had to repost here coz I realised I posted in someone else's comment. So does the electrical potential (V) drop at each point that work (A) is done along the circuit? Im referring to the end of the video where you explain that the circuit has equal potential after the battery, and then equal again after work is done powering lights? But its not equal to what it was when it left the battery ie before the work was done? Damn I thought I understood this. If I'm right wouldn't that mean the more times you splice in to run more lights you would end up running out of V to power the last bulb? Or it would be dimmer than the others? I think I know lol that it has something to do with wiring in series and parallel, I can remember doing this experiment in science with the globes in the wooden board but that was so long ago. I think this is what the control m board thing is doing isn't it? Because that all made sense as you drew the wiring diagram for that bike. But the end of this one you said we just have to know where to splice in on the circuit for that component, somewhere that it has equal potential, I think thats what you said lol, I tried to get my head around that and seem to have been going around in circles sincd lol. This whole post probably doesn't even make sense lmao. I dont think I have the potential needed, my bulb is definitely running dim lol
Be sure to check out the tech articles page linked in the description. This is a good overview but also really dated, this m.Unit V.2 is no longer available.
..It is always good to have a ground wire/connection between the front fork, and the frame....this prevents current from flowing through the neck bearings, which can damage them....
Excellent advice, and we agree, it is always good to run a ground between the front end and the frame. There are many reasons for this, and with conventional wiring the damage to the steering bearings is a big one. But with the m-Unit there isn't any current that goes through the bars. Because the m-Unit only uses signal level current from the bars to the m-Unit, and then distributes the power directly from the battery to the devices, there is no risk of damaging the bearings. BUT, it is still a good idea to run a ground so that you always have a strong signal from the bars to the m-Unit.
When you talk about hooking up something light a light bulb, you talk about having a wire going to the frame being a ground because the negative battery terminal is connected to the frame. Then you talk about having a "power" wire going to the positive battery terminal. What drives me nuts is that in a battery the electrons flow from the negative terminal to the positive. Isn't your explanation backwards?
Thanks for that insight Ernest, you are of course correct that electrons flow from the negative pole towards the positive. This is what happens when you allow a Mechanical Engineer to do the job of an Electrical Engineer. Luckily, our lapse in judgment has no practical impact when installing an m.Unit on a motorcycle.
I can't state how grateful I am for this. The whole channel, it's just an amazing demonstration of how sharing knowledge is a key concept of motorcycling. Cheers from Brazil!
Great explanation
I'm relatively new to bike repair/building, and I have been so frustrated by electrical issues on these old 70's bikes to the point that I feel like starting from zero & building a wiring harness might be easier than troubleshooting the problems on the existing harnesses. LMAO. So I came here to get schooled on the concepts & processes. I am COMMITTED to understanding & being able to apply this knowledge so I can troubleshoot & relatively easily destroy all these damn electrical gremlins. Thanks for the video guys!
I'm not "native Language" English, i'm Italian and i studied in Italy ...... Believe me if i say that this is the BEST lesson about elecricity i've ever seen!!!! No professors or teachers in my school career was so clear in the description!!! Thank You.
You guys are the Best!
I'm currently rewiring my HD 1974 Ironhead sportster, the pre-owner wasn't that careful with it and i want to know where every thing is.
At first it was very intimidating to me but i've learned so many things from your videos and now i feel ready and i'm going to buy your stuff to support you guys in the way i can!
Greetings from Germany The Black Forest
I was very intimidated to start a rebuild on my Suzuki 1973 TC125, but watching Stefan and these Revival Cycle videos have given me such confidence as well. I bought the M unit Blue and wiring kit, I’ll let you know how it goes 👍🏽
Great Video! I started my chopper project about 2 years ago and have been dreading wiring since the beginning. This is a great introduction to knowledge I know I will need.
Learned a bunch of new stuff, feel more comfortable reading wiring diagrams now, refreshed on a bunch of things. Thanks so much Stefan!
Glad to help!
@@RevivalCycles Dude you are awesome. Made it very easy to understand this. I Will show my friends this video.
I freaked out when I opened up the headlight of my 1988 Sportster... I've calmed down after watching this. Thanks, great explanation.
Great Great Great. Simple, plain, to the point and enlightening. Thankyou.
I had some knowledge, but this was a great overview and I learned something new as well! Thanks so much!
How is it that you don’t have a million subs? Love everything you guys do!! Please keep it up!!
my bike is going to be so much better thanx to these videos
Awesome explanation. Very thorough and easy to understand. Great job!!
Another great video, thanks a lot for trying to help people's understanding. For alot of us we can get how mechanical things work but the electrics were always the dark arts.
Best explanation I've ever heard,, well done makes perfect sense
Love all of these videos, I hope there are more over time, they've helped my understanding a great deal. Thank you.
Best professor ever
Great video Stefan, thanks again for making these!
Something I learned years ago, if P = power, I = current, and E= Voltage, (not sure how many people use these particular letter designations, I learned this from the Navy), the equation would be P=IE "Power is as easy as PIE" I hope that was useful and made sense
Thank you Sir!
Cheers for the Revival team!
5 min in and i must say this is a really good way to explain it.
Mate you just really helped me out alot. I'm building a 1980 GSX 250, there's a bit more stuff to learn but I was wondering what all different symbols mean. Also as a fire sprinkler fitter I appreciated the water example.
Awesome video. Awesome brand. Nice work Stefan.
That was a great overview and helps me better understand the wiring on my bike, a 1982 Suzuki GS1100G and I hope, a help to solving my problem. The grounding description was a big revelation to me as I've added some extra power connectors for plugins for a battery tender, horn and a usb port for charging electronics and I always run the ground back to the battery negative terminal. I was replacing the rectifier/regulator and now I have no current as a result of something I've done or not done. This will get me back to the basics of what to look for. Thanks.
Thanks William, Be sure to check out our Tech Articles page on our site. We go into more depth there and you'll find diagrams for Reg/Rec integration that may help you sort out your issue.
technicalarticles.revivalcycles.com/hc/en-us
What a great explanation!
Even in English, I can follow it.
Thx!
Thanks for your amazing videos as always!
ps. the current symbol "I" comes from the French "intensité du courant" e.g. current intensity :)
I is used for current because it was developed by André-Marie Ampère who used the French term intensité de courent (current intensity).
Thanks for the clarification on that.
I'd love to see a video going over different motorcycle wiring diagrams.
I've got an 80s Era yamaha and the wiring diagrams for it are kinda hard to follow at times.
Thanks Stefan for another great video. I enjoyed watching it even though I almost know all these details. I forwarded it to some friends and they really liked the way you simplify things.
Thanks, your presentation was very helpful in understanding the practical theory in the work I've been doing on adding a new horn and control switch.
Dude you are awesome, thanks for explaining everything in a simple way!!!
Thanks for the video, super helpful even 7 years later!!
25:47 I'm not sure I understand, why do this? Why don't we just run a cable from the light to the negative battery?
If the electricity is flowing through the frame, don't I risk getting electrocuted?
This was absolutely excellent.... thanks much...
Thank you very much for taking the time to explain this.
Awesome video. Thanks for the explanation. It's definitely helping me on my home build.
I really appreciate this. I'm pretty capable (or know I could be) in every aspect mechanically but electrical stuff is a big fuzzy haze.
Great teacher. Most I knew, going to watch more vids👍
17:15 this is probably based on the exact same logic as shotgun round pellet sizes (also measured in 'gauge').
The basic idea is this: take a ring of a certain diameter and then see how many wires you can fit through at the same time --> if the wire you're trying to put through is almost as thick as the ring's diameter, then you can fit 1 wire through, so let's call that wire's thickness "1 gauge".
If you use a bunch of thin wires you can maybe fit 20 of those into the ring at the same time., so let's call those wire's thickness "20 gauge".
That explains why "smaller gauge means thicker wire" and vice versa.
P. S. in case you're curious about the shotgun pellet sizes --> the archaic way this came to be was: take a ball of lead that weighs exactly 1 lbs. Now divide that ball into small, equal size balls. Depending on how many smaller, equal sized balls you divided them into is the "gauge" of those small balls. I. e. if you divided the big ball of lead into two balls, those were "gauge 2". If you divided the big ball of lead into 50 small balls, those would be "gauge 50".
You guys are awesome This is very helpful in showing me how the electrical system works Please continue keep making videos how to wire bikes Have a 1982 kawasaki 650 I'm starting to wire from scratch and your videos are very helpful if please show a video If you could please Make a video how to wire from scratch there will be very helpful it's my 1st bike and could use all the help
videos on that
Amazing video series! Thank you Steph! This all makes so much more sense now.
Love these videos. Can you do one on jetting? I.e. Rejetting for pods/velocity stacks/exhaust mods? Maybe going through the plug chop concept with plug color and carb theory? I see the "I just got pods and my bike won't run right, what jets do I need to buy?" question on forums a lot, would be cool to link them to a video with deeper explanations of things.
That's a great suggestion, and we will add it to our list. I know jetting is much more of an art than a science (really its all science but its an applied art for most home builder) still we can cover some basics, and give a process and platform for learning the art.
Revival Cycles cool!
sweet! can't wait for this one!
excellent suggestion!
what an utter load of shit Bruce you cockwomble
This is very good teaching.
Great video, well explained and very informative thank you.
You can look up "AC43.13-1B wire gauge chat" for a diagram of voltage/amperage/wire length to have a quick reference for what gauge wire to use. I keep one in my tool box.
Aviation specs are great, but I wasn't able to find that exact document easily...maybe I need to go practice google some more. But also, on the moto's pretty much all the wire runs are less than 6 feet and that makes the chart less necessary...and that is why I just stick to the rule of thumb. Oh and that is for the over current protection, not what the circuit is actually consuming.
22ga -5 amps
20ga -10 amps
18ga- 15 amps
16ga- 20 amps
14ga- 30 amps
12ga- 40 amps
Revival Cycles fair enough. Looks like I can't spell anyway. Thanks again for taking the time to make these videos! I'm gonna send the link to this the next time a friend calls me and wants me to wire their bike for free.
So does the electrical potential (V) drop at each point that work (A) is done along the circuit? Im referring to the end of the video where you explain that the circuit has equal potential after the battery, and then equal again after work is done powering lights? But its not equal to what it was when it left the battery ie before the work was done? Damn I thought I understood this. If I'm right wouldn't that mean the more times you splice in to run more lights you would end up running out of V to power the last bulb? Or it would be dimmer than the others? I think I know lol that it has something to do with wiring in series and parallel, I can remember doing this experiment in science with the globes in the wooden board but that was so long ago.
I think this is what the control m board thing is doing isn't it? Because that all made sense as you drew the wiring diagram for that bike. But the end of this one you said we just have to know where to splice in on the circuit for that component, somewhere that it has equal potential, I think thats what you said lol, I tried to get my head around that and seem to have been going around in circles sincd lol. This whole post probably doesn't even make sense lmao. I dont think I have the potential needed, my bulb is definitely running dim lol
Excellent simple video. Thank you!
I = current Intensity. V could actually be E (electromotive force) or W=EI. Feel free to just change it to W=VA. Variables can be whatever you want so long as they're calculated correctly.
Thanks so much for this!!! This is incredibly helpful!!!
Excellent Video and explanation well done.
Thank you very much for this amazing lesson. Only thing that would have been nice to hear about are the components that make a motorcycle's electric circuit. It's really just the m-unit that I heard about, but I don't know where it fits in.... I'm guessing at the start, but not sure. Still, thanks alot for the knowledge. Always appreciated
Thank you. You are very good at explaining.
You are an excellent teacher. Thank you for the video!
Glad it was helpful. This video is for an outdated m.Unit and left here for a general reference. There are updated guides and diagrams for the m.Unit Blue on our knowledge base.
technicalarticles.revivalcycles.com/hc/en-us
The conventional symbol for current is I, which originates from the French phrase "intensité de courant," meaning current intensity.
Awesome! Thanks for clearing that up, always love knowing why things are the way they are.
You still know more about motorbikes than me :-)
Excellent video, well done
Many thanks!
I have a KE125 1976 (Canadian model) 6 volt . I am getting 17-19 AC volts at the headlamp and its blowing the bulbs instantly ? There is no regulator fitted on this model just a small 2pin rectifier to deal with the battery charging . The stator coils have all been tested professionally as working OK . I am baffled to understand why the AC currant is so high to the headlamp?? Any ideas ???? Regards David
Thanks for your sharing your knowledge.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and I would like to try to do this with a 1975 Honda gl1000 and a 1980 GL 1100 Honda don't know if we can do this or not they have so much wiring I don't even know where to begin with it I would like to take it all off and then redo it with your guyses system and help can it be done but once again thank you for sharing your knowledge there is still a lot of good people out there
Claire Lensegrav He’s done a good job with the video, however for wiring up an entire motorcycle youll need to research a lot more. This is more of an “ELI5” version of electricity. It’s serious, you could fuck yourself up or the entire electrical system.
I just found this video and it's great! Clear and concise! Super helpful! I'm starting my first project soon so I'll take all the info I can get. I was just wondering how or what do you do to ground the wires? it's the only part of the video I don't really understand.
On most bikes the entire metal part of the frame/engine/handlebars/etc is "ground". Basically anything metal that touches the frame. This is why there is a large battery cable that goes from the battery negative terminal to the frame or the engine.
Although you can simply connect each device to the frame/engine/etc to ground it, experience shows that this is not as consistent or reliable as it could be. For this reason, we will actually run a dedicated ground wire to each device so there is no doubt that the connection is secure.
Awesome video! Thank you for the lecture!
I can't tell you how long I've waiting to hear something like this (and now the question that begs to be asked is why I waited so long to find out). Thank you very much for this.
Ques: Why do we ground instead of running the wires back to the battery to complete the circuit? Is it just a question of practicality?
Thank you.
Great video guys.
I need a way to make an electronic ignition conversion kit for my old 81 KZ305
Excellent and informative but I got a little lost at 24.03 . Your diagram shows for example a positive wire going into bulb but other side of bulb is ground? How can you splice into that for positive? Probably me been stupid :-) also how does the ground work through different metals i.e. Aluminium? Cheers for anyone's help
I'm not sure I understand the first question, in that section of the video i'm mostly explaining that the voltage is the same anywhere along the wire between components. So in the example you mentioned above, if you splice into the positive wire near the bulb it is the same as splicing into the wire at the positive source.
As far as grounding aluminum is a very good conductor, but many times it will have anodizing as the outer skin and that is a non conductive surface. So if you need to conduct through aluminum make sure you get a connection to bare aluminum. It is not uncommon for us to find issues with ground connections through handlebars because the bars are powder coated or painted or anodized. Also, there can be issues trying to conduct large amounts of current through steering neck bearings, and this is why we recommend running dedicated ground connections and not just relying on the frame.
That said, fundamentally there is no issue with different metals, and the majority of metals on a motorcycle conduct very well, and that is why many manufactures will just use the chassis as the ground connection.
Lastly when running grounds through the chassis, there is the possibility to increase galvanic corrosion across the interface of dissimilar metals, but this is getting deep into the minutia and is negligible for most applications.
Like with airplanes and boats you can really cut down on amount of wires by switching your negative wire as well as archs
Great video thanks guys
Love the vid man really helped me out
If I have some better looking and guaged speaker wire just laying around could I use it on a project bike instead of the old crusty stock wires !? I'm rewiring the whole thing anyways just wanted to know before ordering any ?
Speaker wire is gernerally not rated for the same harsh conditions of heat, moisture and fuel that automotive wire is rated for. Ideally you want TXL or better wire.
is there one of these to help urgent
electrical professor
electrician
electric technician
my case :
( when i connect the multimeter red to red the + / and black probs ) . gives reading as continuity
important notes :
1 - NO BATTERY
2 - multimeter ON Diode mode " continuity"
- is that normal - ?!?!?!
The flasher can for the indicators is a thermal resistor.
The mechanic here reconnected the radiator fan after it stopped. And then I got an F1 sign, I don't know what to do. And the mechanic also told me he didn't know how to fix it. Where can I get this computer test from, please help me
That was an amazing explanation thank you
i would also like to say thanks youer show and vedieos are going to be a big help to my beld thank you
Hi, I have a 2001 Triumph Bonneville and would like to get the Motogagdet Blaze Pin lights Do I have to get the board or can I just wire them up.(do I need a relay?) I am new to this wiring.haha
You can wire the m-Blaze Pins into the factory harness, but you will also need to replace the factory turn signal flasher relay with a relay designed for use with LED's. There are many direct fit replacements that you can probably find information about on the triumph forums, but I typically just install an m-Flash because I am more familiar with them and I know they work. I've had problems trying to use some of the direct fit type.
The m-Flash is easy enough to install, just crimp some 1/4" spade terminals on the wires and plug it into the socket where the old relay was. The red wire needs to be connected to the positive power source and the black wire feeds the turn signals.
Unbelievably useful. thank you.
What situation do you need a lock to hold your seat on? I imagine it might happen in LA or NYC but I've never heard of someone rummaging under a bike seat. If someones serious about stealing your bike there's no seat lock that's going to stop that.
AWESOME VIDEOS FELLAS!! Quick question; is there a headlight that you would recommend that has turn signals integrated into the headlight?
The rivera primo is the only headlight we've used that has integrated turn signals, we've shot a video for it, but its still being edited. In general I'm not a fan of turn signals in the headlight because they don't really work as turn signals. This is because they are over powered by the headlight and even if you do notice the signal you end up having to look directly at the 1000 lumen headlight.
BUT if you are just trying to meet an inspection requirement they might do the trick. While the integrated headlight turn signals may not be effective turn signals, they could be effective for passing inspections. Either way, this is a matter of preferences, and if you like em, the rivera primo headlights are reasonably well build, and have models to fit a standard 7" or 5-3/4" shell.
...I agree....some cars even have the turn signals right in the headlights.....this seems pretty ....uhm.....stupid by the design engineers....maybe they don't drive at night?
Everybody below who said "than you" ...they are right ;-) Thank you!
Fantastic, and great channel.
Link to video your referring to
Really helpful, many thanks!
Thanks this video
I disconnected my front blinkers & now my Yamaha raider is making a weird noise while it idles.. maybe the stator? Idk..
I cannot imagine that removing the turn signals would have any affect on the running performance of the engine. There might be a chance that what you are hearing is a rattle due to something being loose after removing the signals. But electrically they are un-related.
It is very unlikely that removing the signals caused an issue with the stator.
Once blinkers plugged back in it stops. Disconnect it starts immediately. Nothing is loose. Shop around here said could be stator. And found a forum about also saying stator or electric on these Yamahas
Can someone please give Stefan a TV show. I will be his clueless sidekick.
The hardest part of my Speed Triple project is trying to figure out how the circuits route through the ECU. Seems like the vast majority of the connections are + with only a few ECU harness wires to the chassis ground.
Yea, that is the part of EFI bikes that makes re-wiring a challenge. Make sure you have a good wire diagram and make sure you have a clear understanding about how it all works before starting. The ECU's are sensitive and if you put +12V or ground to the wrong pin it can brick the whole ECU.
In my experience many of the controls in ECU's are sinking which means they are switching to ground when they are turning a component on. This is in contrast to sourcing which is where they provide +12V to an activated output. For most electronic design, sinking is simpler and more robust, BUT I've seen ECU's that have both. Just double check everything, and then triple check it again.
Revival Cycles
What I've been doing on my wiring diagram is edit it in photoshop with layers. First I marked out all of the connections with their component layers. Then, I went through and eliminated the lighting and power relays so they're always on. Now I'm going through and running those positive side wires to the m-unit. The hard part will be figuring out which connections on the ECU are okay to run the 15 amp AUX to safely. Really should have used a multimeter to check the draw on those circuits BEFORE cutting the harness to pieces. :|
That sounds like a good method for reworking a wire diagram. And it must be nice to be able to turn off a layer or two so you can see the circuits clearly.
For ECU fuses you can also trace the circuits back to the fuses that had been protecting the ECU using the original diagram, then if that fuse is greater than 15 amps, you are good to go, but if its less you could consider adding a fuse just for the ECU.
But also remember fuses don't protect devices from damage, fuses are there to protect the wires when components fail. So really the fuse should be sized based on the wires that are feeding the components.
Very awesome video. Thank you.
I do love your videos but I think your explanation of splicing in new circuits is slightly incorrect but I'm not sure. I think you need to splice before an electrical component as I think the potential is reduced if you splice in after it. I'm not sure but I feel it will be reduced in voltage as it drops on the first component. Maybe someone can confirm if that's correct or maybe I've miss understood Stephen.
What a good video, thanks
Hi please advise me. I have a 2004 Kawasaki zx10r with no spark.
Happy to give it a shot but this is such a broad question that I wouldn't know where to start. If you want to send us an email to techsupport with a detailed description of the work you've done. What you've done to try and fix it, As well as a legible OEM wire diagram and your custom wire diagram I'll see what I can work out.
@@RevivalCycles email address please
Super helpful, thanks man.
great videos! thanks!
LOVE IT. THANK YOU !
awesome. thanks stefan.
can u give me a regulator to CDI to Relay wiring? or wiring diagram with that accessories...
If the regulator is integrated with the CDI then it is a system I am not familiar with. The best recommendation is to get a copy of the factory wire diagram and then isolate the charging system by tracing the wires that are connected to the reg/rec. Then you can also isolate the ignition system, by tracing all the wires that are connected to the CDI.
Sorry this ends up so long, and I had to repost here coz I realised I posted in someone else's comment. So does the electrical potential (V) drop at each point that work (A) is done along the circuit? Im referring to the end of the video where you explain that the circuit has equal potential after the battery, and then equal again after work is done powering lights? But its not equal to what it was when it left the battery ie before the work was done? Damn I thought I understood this. If I'm right wouldn't that mean the more times you splice in to run more lights you would end up running out of V to power the last bulb? Or it would be dimmer than the others? I think I know lol that it has something to do with wiring in series and parallel, I can remember doing this experiment in science with the globes in the wooden board but that was so long ago.
I think this is what the control m board thing is doing isn't it? Because that all made sense as you drew the wiring diagram for that bike. But the end of this one you said we just have to know where to splice in on the circuit for that component, somewhere that it has equal potential, I think thats what you said lol, I tried to get my head around that and seem to have been going around in circles sincd lol. This whole post probably doesn't even make sense lmao. I dont think I have the potential needed, my bulb is definitely running dim lol
I dought anyone will ever read it tho. So now I'm basically just msging myself lol
seriously thank you so much for this
Be sure to check out the tech articles page linked in the description. This is a good overview but also really dated, this m.Unit V.2 is no longer available.
Excellent explanation. But need some louder sound quality.
12:21 'I' as in 'Intensity' as in 'Intensity of Current'
..It is always good to have a ground wire/connection between the front fork, and the frame....this prevents current from flowing through the neck bearings, which can damage them....
Excellent advice, and we agree, it is always good to run a ground between the front end and the frame. There are many reasons for this, and with conventional wiring the damage to the steering bearings is a big one. But with the m-Unit there isn't any current that goes through the bars. Because the m-Unit only uses signal level current from the bars to the m-Unit, and then distributes the power directly from the battery to the devices, there is no risk of damaging the bearings. BUT, it is still a good idea to run a ground so that you always have a strong signal from the bars to the m-Unit.
U should be a professor in college 🤗 thanks for the simple analogies. 👍
Great video, thanks
Brasil here friend .very good your lesson.show show ...I like very much
When you talk about hooking up something light a light bulb, you talk about having a wire going to the frame being a ground because the negative battery terminal is connected to the frame. Then you talk about having a "power" wire going to the positive battery terminal. What drives me nuts is that in a battery the electrons flow from the negative terminal to the positive. Isn't your explanation backwards?
Thanks for that insight Ernest, you are of course correct that electrons flow from the negative pole towards the positive. This is what happens when you allow a Mechanical Engineer to do the job of an Electrical Engineer. Luckily, our lapse in judgment has no practical impact when installing an m.Unit on a motorcycle.
Thanks for the explanation. From now on I will try to go with the "flow."
Brilliant! Simply brilliant?