M
Matchless
Guest
Again Hi psyguy,
As you said you want to know more about the electrics, hope this gives you a better insight into the issue.
That voltage drop will become even more significant as more current is drawn on that feed. With headlights on and brake light on, check the voltage at the battery again and at the the coils and headlight. Also try and blow the horn at the same time, it may have trouble. Do your flashers flash at the same speed when headlight and brake light is on?
A small part of the drop is a design factor and will be over the total length of the wire and allowed the designers to use the minimal diameter copper that would do the job. Thereafter age and other gremlins, like owner doing some funny things to the electrical system, starts taking their toll and if you are the persistant type you may be able to localise each drop and maybe even clean a contact to give minimal or no voltage drop, but then you land up with your 28 year old wiring and they may have a more significant drop and you again can clean them, but may find them worn and hard to get as new.
The relay mod does two things, it provides a completely new and heavier supply wire with brand new connectors for only that circuit, such as the coils or headlight, with its own fuse (new type) and removes the heavy current from the old thinner supply wire. It also routes the wire carrying the load via a relay with brand new contacts that are gold, paladium or platinum plated and uses a direct path instead of going via numerous other connections, such as the original stock wire did. A relay coil is not so sensitive to a slight voltage variation and also requires very little current to operate.
In theory the negative or earth wire should be used at all terminating points, but should be earthed to the frame at that point as well and then taken further, but one sometimes sees a negative wire that is only earthed at the start of its run. This puts the return path of all the battery operated items on the full length of the negative wire, where the frame could have helped to beef up the ground conduction path. In other cases one sees a negative picked up from the frame, but the earth wire to frame is a long way off and that connection is corroded and could even be hot to the touch.
This all just means that any electrical path needs a good positive and negative feed to make it work properly and manufacturers seldom run extra wires or thicker wires or add extra relays, the cost, the bulk and space can affect profits and they hoped you will buy a new bike every few years and not refurbish you old one 28 years down the line!
Very similar issues can be found on older motor vehicles and if you search on Google you will find many such modifications as these were an older technology, many manufacturers copied each other and kept it simple in those days. Once computers and electronic fuel injection started taking hold all vehicles have undergone radical changes to the wiring and fitting of components. For example the connectors used in many motor vehicles today are a major improvement.
Hope this helps a bit.
As you said you want to know more about the electrics, hope this gives you a better insight into the issue.
That voltage drop will become even more significant as more current is drawn on that feed. With headlights on and brake light on, check the voltage at the battery again and at the the coils and headlight. Also try and blow the horn at the same time, it may have trouble. Do your flashers flash at the same speed when headlight and brake light is on?
A small part of the drop is a design factor and will be over the total length of the wire and allowed the designers to use the minimal diameter copper that would do the job. Thereafter age and other gremlins, like owner doing some funny things to the electrical system, starts taking their toll and if you are the persistant type you may be able to localise each drop and maybe even clean a contact to give minimal or no voltage drop, but then you land up with your 28 year old wiring and they may have a more significant drop and you again can clean them, but may find them worn and hard to get as new.
The relay mod does two things, it provides a completely new and heavier supply wire with brand new connectors for only that circuit, such as the coils or headlight, with its own fuse (new type) and removes the heavy current from the old thinner supply wire. It also routes the wire carrying the load via a relay with brand new contacts that are gold, paladium or platinum plated and uses a direct path instead of going via numerous other connections, such as the original stock wire did. A relay coil is not so sensitive to a slight voltage variation and also requires very little current to operate.
In theory the negative or earth wire should be used at all terminating points, but should be earthed to the frame at that point as well and then taken further, but one sometimes sees a negative wire that is only earthed at the start of its run. This puts the return path of all the battery operated items on the full length of the negative wire, where the frame could have helped to beef up the ground conduction path. In other cases one sees a negative picked up from the frame, but the earth wire to frame is a long way off and that connection is corroded and could even be hot to the touch.
This all just means that any electrical path needs a good positive and negative feed to make it work properly and manufacturers seldom run extra wires or thicker wires or add extra relays, the cost, the bulk and space can affect profits and they hoped you will buy a new bike every few years and not refurbish you old one 28 years down the line!
Very similar issues can be found on older motor vehicles and if you search on Google you will find many such modifications as these were an older technology, many manufacturers copied each other and kept it simple in those days. Once computers and electronic fuel injection started taking hold all vehicles have undergone radical changes to the wiring and fitting of components. For example the connectors used in many motor vehicles today are a major improvement.
Hope this helps a bit.
