Electrical

thos539 · Post by **thos539** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:01 am

Hi folks, For the MOT I had to repair the Lucas dual Light/ignition switch that is mounted in the headlight. On reasembly I reatatched the wires as per manual and found one or two that were not connected in the first place.
The thing is that the bike is a 59 with alternator and has been converted to 12volt. The ignition is also converted to electronic.
Would this mean that the Emergency start function on the switch would be redundant and the wires not connected as a result?
Every thing works fine with the wires dissconected.
What do you think ?
Cheers
Tom.

Groily · Post by **Groily** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:35 am

If it's been converted to 12v Tom then there will only be 2 wires coming from the alternator stator and there should be less spaghetti at the switch, including the loss of the original emergency ign bit. That's because the switch no longer controls which alternator coils are supplying juice according to what loads are on - the alternator is supplying full power all the time, and is either having excess output wasted through a zener diode or it's being regulated by a modern bit of kit somewhere under the seat, in a toolbox (or elsewhere). Often, people leave bits of redundant spaghetti hanging around after making the conversion to 12v and that's what you're almost certainly looking at. Messy, but probably OK.
Have a read of itma's latest right here on the forum on basic wiring, as that's all you need!

thos539 · Post by **thos539** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:09 pm

That's spot on, I managed to repair the switch but there was just the issue with the spare wires. What you say makes sense and I have taped and insulated the loose ends.
Many thanks.
Tom