Warning Light Assimulator

I'm rewiring and updating the electrical system on a '74 850 Commando. The whole electrical system is being fundamentally changed with the addition of a Boyer igntion, Dyna coils, and a Podtronics rectifier-regulator. I see from the Podtronics instructions that the Zener diode and selenium retificer are eliminated with the installion of the new regulator-rectifier. My question is, is the warning light (charging light?) assimultor supposed to be retained and, if so, what are the wire connections that should be made? Is that warning light even an important item to retain with the new system?

The wiring diagram I'm using is for the '72 and '73 models from the factory workshop manual and appears to be incomplete or wrong in at least a couple of places. Is there a better wiring diagram for the '74 model located somewhere else?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have on the subject.

Jim

Assimilator is seperate from the other components.

Jim Malm said:

The wiring diagram I'm using is for the '72 and '73 models from the factory workshop manual and appears to be incomplete or wrong in at least a couple of places. Is there a better wiring diagram for the '74 model located somewhere else?

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There's no '74 wiring diagram, as far as I know?
Could you say what you think is either wrong or incomplete on the '72/'73 diagram?

Jim Malm said:

I'm rewiring and updating the electrical system on a '74 850 Commando. The whole electrical system is being fundamentally changed with the addition of a Boyer igntion, Dyna coils, and a Podtronics rectifier-regulator. I see from the Podtronics instructions that the Zener diode and selenium retificer are eliminated with the installion of the new regulator-rectifier. My question is, is the warning light (charging light?) assimultor supposed to be retained and, if so, what are the wire connections that should be made? Is that warning light even an important item to retain with the new system?

The wiring diagram I'm using is for the '72 and '73 models from the factory workshop manual and appears to be incomplete or wrong in at least a couple of places. Is there a better wiring diagram for the '74 model located somewhere else?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have on the subject.

Jim

Click to expand...

I can send you a color coded wiring diagram with all the Interpol stuff removed and modified to suit your setup i.e Podtronics Reg/Reg and Boyer igntion.

What do you think is wrong?

The warning light lets you know that your alternator is functioning. It is up to you if you want to keep it . If not you can safely remove it and tape up the connections.(Not joined)

I'll chime in on this one.

For one thing, there is a white/purple wire which is not on the diagram, but, I am told is for the electric start. I connected it to the kick lever, but I have been having trouble getting it to work. The ignition switch in the diagram is wired (counter-clockwise, looking at the back) 1-2-3-4, but the switch is labeled (correctly) with tiny little numbers, half way under the terminals 1-3-2-4.

This may explain why I found several blade terminals half melted.

Several people have provided excellent diagrams in the forum, but they usually are for only one section of the entire circuit. Great way to learn the electrical system if you are a newbie like me.

Suspect all wires, grounds, and terminals. Triple check everthing.

I 'll chime in to.

With what you are doing, your electrical system is going to run cleaner and more effecient. If you want to keep originality, keep it. But then I guess you would have to put the point, zener and rectifier back on too.

IMHO, you just do not need it anymore.

Along with less power needed to start and run your bike, the capacitor can go too(the other blue can by the battery). These items act as weak links in the system rather than taking care of it. Getting rid of them cleans up the system and help the bike run even more effecient and less troublesome.

You can reconfigure your lights on the headlight shell to your liking. I have left lite red for left turn and right lite green for left turn. Center is amber for highbeams.

Not much help for you, but pertinent for anyone else considering an upgrade: I considered the Podtronics unit, but ultimately opted for the Boyer Powerbox as it is available with integral charge warning light, thus getting rid of yet another 'can of worms'.

Thanks for the responses to my questions. Doesn't sound like that light is that important, but I'm going to keep. I'm using the factory workshop manual wiring diagram in Figure J11 "1972 and 1973 wiring diagram. All models". Errors that I found included the left and right handlebar switches being incorrectly labeled; all the horn connections are shown as Interpol circuits; and the tail light (?) circuit is unlabeled. Nothing really major, but a little disquieting for those of us who aren't well acquainted with wiring mazes.

I intentionally did not mention the 2MC Capacitor in my original message since I decided to not use that component in the new system.

Thanks again for the assistance!

Jim

Jim Malm said:

Thanks for the responses to my questions. Doesn't sound like that light is that important, but I'm going to keep. I'm using the factory workshop manual wiring diagram in Figure J11 "1972 and 1973 wiring diagram. All models". Errors that I found included the left and right handlebar switches being incorrectly labeled; all the horn connections are shown as Interpol circuits; and the tail light (?) circuit is unlabeled. Nothing really major, but a little disquieting for those of us who aren't well acquainted with wiring mazes.

I intentionally did not mention the 2MC Capacitor in my original message since I decided to not use that component in the new system.

Thanks again for the assistance!

Jim

Click to expand...

Do you mean the handlebar switches appear to be on the wrong side?

Jim Malm said:

I'm using the factory workshop manual wiring diagram in Figure J11 "1972 and 1973 wiring diagram. All models". Errors that I found included the left and right handlebar switches being incorrectly labeled;

Click to expand...

Yes, according to a Norton service release, the factory reversed the switch units in late '72, (although it appears some or all US dealers were already doing it? by that time) they took care to re-draw the relative change-over of the switches and wiring on the diagram, but apparently forgot to swap the "L/H" & "R/H" labels, which was all that they really needed to do!

Jim Malm said:

all the horn connections are shown as Interpol circuits;

Click to expand...

Yes, Interpol circuits are shown as broken lines on the diagram, although only part of the wire to horn is shown as a broken line.

Jim Malm said:

and the tail light (?) circuit is unlabeled.

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For some reason the words "REAR LIGHT" were omitted, as they are on the '71 drawing? Although as the other circuits for R/H & L/H direction indicators and stop light are marked, then the unmarked circuit has got to be the tail lamp circuit, so hopefully it doesn't cause too much confusuion?

Another omission is the White/Violet wire between the ballast resistor and the coils is left unmarked.

Diablouph said:

For one thing, there is a white/purple wire which is not on the diagram, but, I am told is for the electric start.

Click to expand...

There would normally have been a "white/purple" or "white/violet" wire between the ballast resistor and coils, and I believe someone said they found a white/purple in a replacement harness?
However the MkIII electric start model harness is quite different to the earlier harness, but the MkIII harness still has its white/purple between the ballast resistor and coils, although there is an additional white/purple ballast resistor bypass wire between the coils and starter solenoid.