Electric connectors and vibration

Yesterday I had at least the third breakdown I have had with my roadster caused by connectors vibrating off. This time it was the spade connectors from the main circuit to the ignition switch vibrating loose and completely stuffing up the Boyer ignition; backfiring and running like crap; I thought the Boyer had died and limped along until it completely died, and I eventually found the problem. Thank goodness I had some long nose pliers and thanks to the brotherhood of bikers - specifically Tony who offered to get his trailer to get me home.

A few months ago the top of a spark plug vibrated off (the little cap that screws off and attaches to the spark plug cap) and a while back the wire connecting the coils vibrated off.

I have reattached the connectors to the ignition switch after winding some insulation tape around them - they had shorted and wrecked the insulation. And I have kind of crimped them onto the spade connector on the switch - they
may have a limited life now given what they have been through.

Is there any tip to attaching spade connectors to minimise the risk of this happening?

Oh man oh man does that touch a nerve with me and my buddy Wes. You will get the whole scope of making connections from others soon so just saying that blade connectors are a temporary secure connection that seem to loose their clamp holding temper and rise your own. Some places space limited for screw together variety if not using good ole bullets, long as they don't corrode crumble. I've shrink wrapped some blades but tedious and risking fracturing the wire entry if having to slice wrap off to access again. Best solution I've found for alternator to reg/rect is house hold wire nuts, in small size so easier to conceal. A number of my head light connections just wire nutted too. Its does help is ya apply some the conduction anti-oxidation helpers out there, till wire just falls off of course. On my special I think I'll find lowest melt temp solder I can and shrink wrap over. If solder makes entry into a connector too stiff guess what follows. Diddling carbs for looseness and feeling for bad coil connection to stop misfiring and not get shocked or burnt is not covered in manuals.

I am going to assume that, from the tone of your post, you have the original wiring harness, and many of the original electronics.

You can only put so much lipstick on a pig. Maybe time for an electrical update.

My rule with spade connectors is that if you can pull them apart with your bare hands without it hurting a little, they are not tight enough.

I put a little "bow" in the spade part.. make the fit firmer on "older" conections...

In fact I have a new harness; and new ignition switch, so it isn't age that has done this - I got sick of electrical problems that I could not solve so have steadily upgraded. I am guessing that I just need to "put in a bow" into those spade connections that I still have, and go thru a routine of checking all before and after each ride. Hobot's solution sounds attractive where practical, or maybe changing to another type of connector like the screw together ones that I have used for the alternator and fuse.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281500


http://www.xj4ever.com/crimping%20my%20style.pdf

Your bike should not be producing vibration which will disconnect electrical connectors. Having said that female spades do require a light crimp sometimes to create the required interference when pushed onto the male blade. Apart from that you should have no problems. I use 'jap' connectors on a home made harness. Plug caps coming off does point to excessive vibration.

Chris T said:

I am guessing that I just need to "put in a bow" into those spade connections that I still have, and go thru a routine of checking all before and after each ride.

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You shouldn't have to check all of your connections after each ride. Could be you had a loose one to begin with. As other's have said, spade connectors should be tight...you should be able to "feel" it when you slide them on. Tighten them up and ride.

If my spade lugs don't go on tight, I tighten up the female end with pliers until it is. And I'm still using the original harness.

Yeah man have I crimped and bowed blade connectors time after time to find they somehow lose their rigid temper so terminal resistance and location heating and vibration too soon loosen again. I am a fan of just wrapping wires together and shrink wrap over or wire nut w/o solder, which each time parted removes some length till must scab in a wire section to reach again. In points/mag trigger area I found the screw together connectors fit under cover and don't injure the wire ends and leaves bare wire ends to pass in/out of TS cover wire hole. Almost any clip together automotive climate sealing connectors are to big to fit in very well in most locations. Its hard to beat the good ole Lucas bullet connectors for secure compact connections but soldering/crimping the male ends into male terminal requires Lucas manufacturing tools or extra tedium soldering and clean up, so wondering now about conductive epoxy that heat would soften up again if needed to replace after a couple more decades decay. Lucas sold special tools to insert and part good ole bullet connectors w/o injuring the junctions as much as hand pulling/pushing. Someday will have wireless connections.

https://www.google.com/#q=conductive+epoxy

Building coustom wireing harnesses , you custom squeeze every connector for firm grip .
Should only come of if your high heels snag them , or the LOOM is incorrectly installed -
putting the weight of the harness on a wire pulling , or steering lock shifting things .

There should be a bit of resistance whenn tugged . Tight they could need a screwdriver tip to shift
so you dont tug the CONNECTION inside the bullet . Another owner orchestrated failure .

Pulling a tight ancient stuck connectin , with your fimgers holding at the end of the sleeve ,
with a sharp edged bullet inside , you only do once ( or twice ) as clean sharp 5/32 dia
grooves plowed in the palm of the fingers is messy and tingles a bit .

Any chance the female spades on the new harness are low cost Chinese made stuff? Is there enough slack on the harness so it isn't pulling? :?:

After making sure the spade, built or whatever type of connector is tightly connected together I wrap them in self vulcanizing rubber tape. It keeps the dirt an water so hopefully reduce the chances of corrosion of the terminal an the problems that brings. But it also helps keep them together

My cheap fix to help keep the spade connectors together is to put heat shrink tube on over the entire connection and shrink it down.

Never heard of this self- vulcrinizing rubber tape. Use BIg heat shrink tubes cut to fit ,so far so good ,but curious...

Look it up, self vulcanizing silicone tape. Interesting, probably a good thing. About $10 for 10", but stretches too.

For goodness sake, don't forget this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LUCAS-Replaceme ... 89&vxp=mtr

A BIG help on crimp connectors is to buy a ratcheting crimper,did not learn this myself until recently but am now completely sold on them, a crimp (properly) applied with them is stronger than the wire itself...a quality crimper is not cheap but definitely worth the $$$ and should last many years for a hobbyist

bluto said:

A BIG help on crimp connectors is to buy a ratcheting crimper,did not learn this myself until recently but am now completely sold on them, a crimp (properly) applied with them is stronger than the wire itself...a quality crimper is not cheap but definitely worth the $$$ and should last many years for a hobbyist

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THEY MAKE A RATCHETING CRIMPER!!!!!!!!!!!!! You mean I rewired my bike TWICE, my hand about to fall off each time, and there was a crimper out there that ratchets? Why didn't anyone tell me?

Heck, nobody tells me nothun.

Thanks for all the input. The reference to the site stating the difference between open crimping and closed crimping was informative - that is probably the reason why the wire I made up for the coils failed: wrong type of crimping using wrong tools and cheap - but the only easily purchased - connectors. The more recent failure of the spade connector between harness and ignition is different as I did not make he connector; although it might be that I put it on wrongly; it is possible that when fitting female over male I either did not fit it firmly enough or just slipped the insulation over the male rather than the female connector. Or maybe one of the new items (harness female connector or switch male connector) is made to a metric measurement and is too big - both are new parts bought within the last few years by me; and the most recent reconnection made within the last few months after repainting the side panels.

In hindsight of the three breakdowns the most surprising is the one where the top of the spark plug vibrated off its thread ; as well as being hard to diagnose on the side of the highway once found I had to extract the top of the spark plug (it is threaded and screws off) from inside the cap where it had jammed in the clip that connects the plug to the cap. I eventually levered it out with a small Allen key.

I am now thinking that the most essential tools to take are electrical - and long nose pliers that can reach into hot places. Thinking about whether spade connectors such as the switch - which needs to be disconnected every time I take off the side cover can be replaced/supplemented by a more secure form of connector like the screw on ones that I have elsewhere on the bike.