Custom Wiring

swooshdave · Mar 28, 2010

So if you remember from my wiring diagram thread I'm going to try putting together my own wiring harness.

British Wiring has any color and size you could want.

I'm trying to estimate how much of each color to use. The bike is some 3ft or 2m long at the most. So if I estimate, for example, the taillight wiring at 3m am I going to be ok? Or should I up the factor for each estimate?

Since the wire is reasonable ($.65 -1.05 per m) is it just being foolish not ordering more than I think I need?

kwb210 · Mar 28, 2010

What is the reason you don't just buy a wiring harness? Do you have a lot of mods that need a custom harness? Plus I recall reading they are made by little old ladies, yeah,thats the reason I'd buy one...quite a selling point. I just finished my harness, took forever, but it does just the bare minimum that I wanted. i have 2 other stock harnesses, they look like a cluster F*** to me considering I don't need all the extra stuff, at least on this bike. I bought 3 meters of maybe 6 colors in 18 and 14 gauge plus the plastic tubing that the wires run inside, makes for a nice neat setup. I got the stuf from British Wiring, easy to work with and good product.
kurt

swooshdave · Mar 28, 2010

kwb210 said:
What is the reason you don't just buy a wiring harness? Do you have a lot of mods that need a custom harness? Plus I recall reading they are made by little old ladies, yeah,thats the reason I'd buy one...quite a selling point. I just finished my harness, took forever, but it does just the bare minimum that I wanted. i have 2 other stock harnesses, they look like a cluster F*** to me considering I don't need all the extra stuff, at least on this bike. I bought 3 meters of maybe 6 colors in 18 and 14 gauge plus the plastic tubing that the wires run inside, makes for a nice neat setup. I got the stuf from British Wiring, easy to work with and good product.
kurt

I'm trying to filter your post and can't tell if you recommend a custom harness or not. I don't need a stock harness and I'm not that scared of making my own. Just looking for some recommendations. I am trying to keep the stock color codes as best as possible. Also converting to positive ground.

How much wire did you have left over? A lot or just enough?

Diablouph · Mar 29, 2010

You say 3 feet or 2 m. Is that two meters? a meter is about 39", lets say 3 feet. Be careful or you will either have way too much or not enough.

I am going through the same stuff. I’m buying British Wiring wire (somehow that doesn’t sound right).

This is why I have to rewire:

Every time I pull more black tape off I find another hole. Because of my inexperience, I am buying 3 times what I need. 1 length for now, 1 for when I #$%%$%^ up, and 1 for when I decide to redo it in a couple of years because I will know more about how I really want it. The wire is almost cheaper than the shipping.

kwb210 · Mar 29, 2010

swooshdave said:
kwb210 said:

What is the reason you don't just buy a wiring harness? Do you have a lot of mods that need a custom harness? Plus I recall reading they are made by little old ladies, yeah,thats the reason I'd buy one...quite a selling point. I just finished my harness, took forever, but it does just the bare minimum that I wanted. i have 2 other stock harnesses, they look like a cluster F*** to me considering I don't need all the extra stuff, at least on this bike. I bought 3 meters of maybe 6 colors in 18 and 14 gauge plus the plastic tubing that the wires run inside, makes for a nice neat setup. I got the stuf from British Wiring, easy to work with and good product.
kurt

Click to expand...

I'm trying to filter your post and can't tell if you recommend a custom harness or not. I don't need a stock harness and I'm not that scared of making my own. Just looking for some recommendations. I am trying to keep the stock color codes as best as possible. Also converting to positive ground.

How much wire did you have left over? A lot or just enough?

I'd go for the homemade harness if you do not have all the stock equipment. In my case the PO stripped off most everything. He did his own harness, not a very good job, he was a top mechanic, a bit less skilled at electrics. So I made the harness, used an old door to lay it out. Couple of nails for the + and - battery, another nail for the key, made it easy to see what I was doing, a few pics of wiring on the wall. I also have 2 old harnesses to use as samples. Very helpful. If you want to borrow them it would be cheap postage to mail them, I won't be needing them for at least 6 months when start on the 1970 basket case. I had lots of wire left over. Can't think of any one run that was over 3 ft. everything starts from the battery box. I was also VERY careful in measuring, probably never cut more than an inch off as waste. Overall it was fun.
kurt

debby · Mar 29, 2010

I did my own harness on the 850. I tried to stick with the OEM color coding as much as possible, but I simplified a bit. The factory harness uses something like 17 different colors and I didn't feel like buying that much wire! Also I didn't need many of the circuits, such as the condensers and ballast resistor for example.

A friend gave me some left over wire and I bought some from British Wiring. They sell it by the foot (actually by the meter I think) so you can order what you need rather than getting stuck with a 25 or 100 foot spool.

I'd say make your best estimate on the amounts and then buy some extra. It tends to come in handy.

Debby

Jeandr · Mar 29, 2010

ludwig said:
If you go to a car salvage yard you can get loads of wire in all colours for almost nothing .

Or go to an electronics store and buy a few lenghts of multi conductor stranded cables, you will have many colors and wire sizes to play with by opening them up. The old ethernet AUI cables were really good for that, 16 gauge, teflon insulation and 15 meters, hard to strip though.

Jean

acadian · Mar 29, 2010

Having recently rewired my TR7 with a purchased harness, and considering how much of that rather expensive harness I actually used, I'd say a DIY harness for the commando is the way to go for me.

rvich · Mar 29, 2010

All I know is that it is never quite a direct line from A to B, you use more wire than you think when you route it the cleanest fashion, you ususally discover a better method during the work than you thought up while planning and nothing sucks more than being a couple inches short when you get there.

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

ludwig said:
If you go to a car salvage yard you can get loads of wire in all colours for almost nothing .

Maybe, if I want to spend what little free time I have to strip down a wiring harness.

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

kwb210 said:
If you want to borrow them it would be cheap postage to mail them, I won't be needing them for at least 6 months when start on the 1970 basket case. I had lots of wire left over. Can't think of any one run that was over 3 ft.

Just which part of Washington, the state are you in? :mrgreen:

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

Diablouph said:
You say 3 feet or 2 m. Is that two meters? a meter is about 39", lets say 3 feet. Be careful or you will either have way too much or not enough.

Sorry, I meant to say the bike is about 7ft long or about 2m.

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

debby said:
I did my own harness on the 850. I tried to stick with the OEM color coding as much as possible, but I simplified a bit. The factory harness uses something like 17 different colors and I didn't feel like buying that much wire! Also I didn't need many of the circuits, such as the condensers and ballast resistor for example.

A friend gave me some left over wire and I bought some from British Wiring. They sell it by the foot (actually by the meter I think) so you can order what you need rather than getting stuck with a 25 or 100 foot spool.

I'd say make your best estimate on the amounts and then buy some extra. It tends to come in handy.

Debby

wiring-for-super-dummies-t5603.html

I'd like to keep it as simple as possible yet still have all the lights.

debby · Mar 29, 2010

swooshdave said:
I'd like to keep it as simple as possible yet still have all the lights.

I think I used 6 or 7 colors. I have everything except turn signals now. Two more colors would do for them if I tagged the left and right wires.

I bought one of Greg's relay kits. That saved a lot of time and I have a nice bright headlight now, not a feeble yellow glow as on my 750.

Debby

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

debby said:
swooshdave said:

I bought one of Greg's relay kits. That saved a lot of time and I have a nice bright headlight now, not a feeble yellow glow as on my 750.

Debby

Click to expand...

Link or is it in a forum post?

kwb210 · Mar 29, 2010

swooshdave said:
kwb210 said:

If you want to borrow them it would be cheap postage to mail them, I won't be needing them for at least 6 months when start on the 1970 basket case. I had lots of wire left over. Can't think of any one run that was over 3 ft.

Click to expand...

Just which part of Washington, the state are you in? :mrgreen:

I'm in Bellingham, zip is 98229.
kurt

debby · Mar 29, 2010

swooshdave said:
debby said:

swooshdave said:

I bought one of Greg's relay kits. That saved a lot of time and I have a nice bright headlight now, not a feeble yellow glow as on my 750.

Debby

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Link or is it in a forum post?

There's some info on his website, decentcycles.com. There should also be some forum posts you could dig up in a search. Or PM him for info. The kits are made by Eastern Beaver and are good stuff.

(Greg, you can send my endorsement check to the usual address! :wink: )

Debby

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

kwb210 said:
swooshdave said:

kwb210 said:

If you want to borrow them it would be cheap postage to mail them, I won't be needing them for at least 6 months when start on the 1970 basket case. I had lots of wire left over. Can't think of any one run that was over 3 ft.

Click to expand...

Just which part of Washington, the state are you in? :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

I'm in Bellingham, zip is 98229.
kurt

Way up there. :mrgreen:

norbsa48503 · Mar 29, 2010

Debby, You are a sly one.

(Greg, you can send my endorsement check to the usual address! )

I tried to help Dave with the saga that became wiring for Dummies but I and others just didn't seem to get through in a meaningful way. By the time he took everyone’s advice and than drew a stock harness well I just lost all rational thoughts. That thread needs some heavy editing and it started so good. Dave seems bent on doing it himself so more power to him. Dave, if fast and right will work I can help.

swooshdave · Mar 29, 2010

norbsa48503 said:
Debby, You are a sly one.

(Greg, you can send my endorsement check to the usual address! )

Click to expand...

I tried to help Dave with the saga that became wiring for Dummies but I and others just didn't seem to get through in a meaningful way. By the time he took everyone’s advice and than drew a stock harness well I just lost all rational thoughts. That thread needs some heavy editing and it started so good. Dave seems bent on doing it himself so more power to him. Dave, if fast and right will work I can help.

Actually I posted the stock harness to show how confusing the switch diagrams were. If that made you crazy then it didn't take much. :mrgreen:

Here's the actual "final" design:

I won't use the large junction thing in the middle and I still might tidy some things up but it's more or less right.

Custom Wiring

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