Groud Wire on 05 Sporty
Groud Wire on 05 Sporty
Hey all, I recently installed new tail lights on my 05 custom 1200. I also had to replace the battery. ( After only 1800 miles) When I put the new battery in, my alarm signal came on. My front signals stayed lit up, and did not blink, and my rears did not work at all. Thanks to this site, I was able to trace the problem to the wiring in the rear signals. ( I checked them when I installed them and everything was fine, but after replacing the battery and getting it out on the road, they shorted.) I tore them down today, and they would work, but occasionaly would get a spark between the struts, and strut cover. Weird!!! I was just wanting to check and make sure the ground wire was intact, before replacing the signals again. I know someone will tell me to RTFM, and if I had one, I would. I am winging it, so I can get some riding in before the rainy season. I bought the bike w/o an oners manual, and am trying to find a site where I can download one. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. This is my first Harley and I bought it last November. This site has been a great help to me and I enjoy looking at all the slick rides and reading the stories.
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
RE: Groud Wire on 05 Sporty
I don't know that I understand your question but here goes. You want twelve volts to go through the circuit staying at 12volts until your 'load device', then the ground return should be zero volts or darn clost to it (.1v or .2v One or two TENTHS of a volt) If you measure the ground side with the circuit on and get say 3v this denotes a bad ground. You have too much resistance in the ground return that is alowing a voltage drop so less is available to the "load device" bulb, starter, ighnition etc. Typical voltage drops over switches on an operating circuit are again quite low line .1v a tenth of a volt. If you have a voltage drop of 4.5volts over a switch it means there is increased resistance in the switch drawing off voltage that is not available to the 'load device" (the switch is bad) This is voltage drop testing and it is the easiest way to find a fault. It has to be done on an operating circuit. For more info read Tracy martins book "how to diagnose and repair motorcycle electrical systems". www.amazon.com It is worth its weight in gold. Before reading it I was pretty poor at fixing electrical things, since reading it I have been able to find and fix everything that has been thrown at me. It is pretty cheap too!
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Ele...560&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Ele...560&sr=8-1
RE: Groud Wire on 05 Sporty
I appreciate the info. I will check it out. I was mainly wanting to know where the ground wire was located on the frame so I could first check it. The rear signals have 2 positive wires, so I wanted to check the main ground.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
