Wiring help

I'm slowly getting my race bike onto the road and I need to make a complete wiring loom. I'm reasonably happy that I understand the principles, but a little advice would be helpful

I have made this mounting board for the fuses, regulator/rectifier and relays. It's rubber mounted so should be OK.



I have a live feed going from the battery to the ignition switch and back to the fuse box where it needs to be distributed 6 ways for various circuits. What is the accepted way of splitting that wire into 6 different circuits? Are there junction boxes available or should I use a couple of butt joining crimp connectors with one big wire going in one end and several smaller wires coming out the other? Some places sell a fuse box that has one live rail that distributed the current to several fuses, are they the way to go?

Any thoughts welcome

john

" Some places sell a fuse box that has one live rail that distributed the current to several fuses, are they the way to go?"

My limited knowledge tell me thats the way to go... I was in BCF today looking for a waterproof toggle switch and noticed the same as above.... One live bar, several appropriate fuses......... Cant go wrong..

olChris said:

" Some places sell a fuse box that has one live rail that distributed the current to several fuses, are they the way to go?"

My limited knowledge tell me thats the way to go... I was in BCF today looking for a waterproof toggle switch and noticed the same as above.... One live bar, several appropriate fuses......... Cant go wrong..

Click to expand...

BCF? Sweet . There's one just around the corner. I'd have never have thought about looking there. It does mean that the one in the photo is redundant, but hey.

It good to have options!!

olChris said:

" Some places sell a fuse box that has one live rail that distributed the current to several fuses, are they the way to go?"

My limited knowledge tell me thats the way to go... I was in BCF today looking for a waterproof toggle switch and noticed the same as above.... One live bar, several appropriate fuses......... Cant go wrong..

Click to expand...

One hot rail is cleanest, most reliable way to go. For tips making wire harness, see my post under "electrical power distribution", Oct 12, 2013 @ 10:30 am. There is lots of good info by others in that thread.

Slick

The live rail option would be the best and most simple to use. Will also have the benefit of being in one place so future fault finding will be easy if ever needed, which on racer will be bonus as any repair time track side will be quicker.

Ok, quick qestion and maybe a dumb one.

Looking at that mounting board. Could a guy take the red and black wires from the rectifier and run them directly to the fuse box instead of the battery???

I just ordered an easternbeaver pc-8 myself.

flashbackk said:

Ok, quick qestion and maybe a dumb one.

Looking at that mounting board. Could a guy take the red and black wires from the rectifier and run them directly to the fuse box instead of the battery???

I just ordered an easternbeaver pc-8 myself.

Click to expand...

That's a question I'd like to hear the answer to. It might neaten the whole thing up a bit.

I can't see why I couldn't get the black wire onto the live feed to the fuse box and the red to a good earth nearby. Obviously I'd have to get the battery negative to the fuse box too.

pommie john said:

flashbackk said:

Ok, quick qestion and maybe a dumb one.

Looking at that mounting board. Could a guy take the red and black wires from the rectifier and run them directly to the fuse box instead of the battery???

I just ordered an easternbeaver pc-8 myself.

Click to expand...

That's a question I'd like to hear the answer to. It might neaten the whole thing up a bit.

I can't see why I couldn't get the black wire onto the live feed to the fuse box and the red to a good earth nearby. Obviously I'd have to get the battery negative to the fuse box too.

Click to expand...

The "power feed" wire to the reg/rec (whether neg or pos as the case may be) really needs to be before the key (constant power connection). In your first post, you state you have only switched power to the fuse box, so it is "after the key".

The effect would be the same as connecting and disconnecting the reg/rec while the bike is running (effectively). Almost certainly a recipe for a greatly shortened life of the component.

The earth wire can of course be connected to any convenient earth point (again whether neg or pos).

You could run (assign) 2 (power feed) wires from the Master switch to the fuse box, one being piggy backed onto the brown/blue (or equivalent) terminal (for the reg/rec) and the other being the usual white (or equivalent).
Switching the lights from the key is not really essential if you have the headlight toggle switch (obviously).

Just some thoughts.

NorComCycles said:

The "power feed" wire to the reg/rec (whether neg or pos as the case may be) really needs to be before the key (constant power connection). In your first post, you state you have only switched power to the fuse box, so it is "after the key".

The effect would be the same as connecting and disconnecting the reg/rec while the bike is running (effectively). Almost certainly a recipe for a greatly shortened life of the component.



Just some thoughts.

Click to expand...

Useful thoughts. Thanks

The PC-8 I ordered has two unswitched circuits. Sounds like that may work then, maybe. Plus it is fused before the battery.


..... sorry if I am stepping on your tread........