wiring in a new speedo for 81 gs1000

[charlesandhisbeard]

gday, first post.
im fixing up an 81 1000 shaft drive that was sitting in a paddock for a while. new battery, rust, clean carbs, patch the tank etc. must have taken a hit to the instrument cluster at some stage, tacho cables snapped and damage to cluster, some lights not operations also. 67k kms but runs ok, top end and gearbox good.

anyway, i picked up this off ebay,
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Motorcyc...161066?hash=item2ee79a8caa:g:mQsAAOSwl9BWKhHj

its small, cheap, and appears simple to wire in...
pic attached and the instructions it comes with are this:
Wiring Diagram：
Red--Backlight
Black 1--Ground（Power Negative）
Yellow--Turn Signals（2 Yellow Lines For Left & Right Turn Signal）
Blue--Headlight Indicator
Green-- Neutral Gear
Black 2--Negative Of Neutral Gear

ive been using the diagram in the gs1000e/s/l/g service manual and wiring diagrams from the gs1000g (80-81) (colour) from this guys page called bikecliff ive attached the pic to this post.

now, ive been able to get all the lights to turn on at some stage... however they wont all work at once in any configuration. ive followed the diagram so ive got (from the speedo to bike) green (neutral)-blue, yellows(indicators) to black and light green, red (backlight) -grey, blue (hi beam)-yellow and then one of the blacks-black with white stripe, and the other black im attempting to ground to the chassis. this last bit im not sure about.. i dont really understand the difference between as the ebay description says black1 is negative of neutral gear, and black 2 is the ground or "power negative", but thats how ive hooked them up.

the backlight works so does the hi beam, the neutral was working, and the indicators used to work too.....
But...
after a few mins of clicking things on and off and thinking how clever i was, I hit the indicators on, there was a click, and the instrument lights and the headlight died. since then, ive been able to get some lights to work, but whenever i click the indicators, it all dies again.
once it dies, to get anything going, i need to reset the key and wait for a while, or turn the bike over a few times without starting (no tank/fuel).

ive checked the flasher relay and its ok, sometimes it will do the clicking without signal lights for a few seconds then die. fuses are ok.
so im thinking, i bought a cheap piece of crap of ebay that wont work on my bike, or i have now broken it, ive broken a fuse or something on my bike that i cant think of/find/tell if its broken, but nothings fried, smelly, sparking and somethings tend to work for a bit. perhaps its got something to do with voltage? but i connected a good battery from my other bike and same probs.

i dont really want to go to the shop, id rather learn how to do it myself.
any ideas?

 

[CrawlingForward]

I guess the first question to ask is: Do you have a multi-meter yet?

If not, it's a pretty cheap tool that is one of the best investments you can make.

Once you've got that, you'll can check for power going to the red wire, yellow wires (when signals on), blue wire (when hi-beam is on), and green wire.

The way the neutral light typically works is there is a wire coming in with 12v (the green wire). It goes through the indicator bulb and then out to ground (black 2). The neutral switch in the transmisson is what actually completes the circuit to ground. So basically when you're in neutral, it connects with the engine (which is grounded to the battery) and completes the circuit, which turns on the indicator light.

The Black 1 wire is the ground for all the other functions. So it completes the circuit from the red wire and allows the gauge to be backlit. It is also the ground for when the blue and yellow wires send power and therefore light up your indicators.

Once you've checked the incoming wires with a multi-meter (or test light) you can decide if it's the gauge or the wiring.

To be honest, it doesn't sound like the gauge, but rather something being wired funny. I'll see if I can find a larger version of that diagram and come up with any insight.

 

[CrawlingForward]

Ok, I think I might have found the issue:

http://gsarchive.bwringer.com/bikecliff/images/GS1100G_1982_wiring.jpg

I'm going off of a '82, but I think the colors are the same.

The green needs to be connected to a 12v source, specifically the red/green wire in the diagram that feeds the kickstand indicator switch, neutral, and oil pressure switch.

Black 1 should be the black/white stripe and Black 2 should go to blue.

Although...I"m not sure how this would cause the symptoms since they don't relate to the signals, but I'll keep digging.

 

[charlesandhisbeard]

thanks! it all works perfect now! it was just the grounding of the neutral wire the way you explained. I thought it had to run to the chassis or something. works great now! thanks for your help. ive tried to upload a pic of the new gauge!

 

[CrawlingForward]

View attachment 46187thanks! it all works perfect now! it was just the grounding of the neutral wire the way you explained. I thought it had to run to the chassis or something. works great now! thanks for your help. ive tried to upload a pic of the new gauge!

Wonderful! Glad I could help.

Electrical is one of those things that seems so befuddling at first, but it so rewarding once you start understanding it.

If you haven't picked up a cheap multi meter yet, I highly recommend it. It's the best way to learn by far.