motorcylce

This all started because the battery wasn't charging. Jim wrote back with instructions on what to check. I did, wrote down the numbers my multimeter gave me and then lost them. Oops. All I remember is this: they weren't Jim's numbers. Then the numbers the multimeter gave me stopped making any sense. I started looking through the shop manual for the SV paying particular attention to the mystifying wiring diagram that has never helped me figure out a thing. Ever. So I took a step back and tried to come up with a plan.

The battery is relatively new, bought within the past two years. Most folks suggested the next step would be to check the rectifier, but when I tried to line up the 1999 rectifier with the wiring diagram, it didn't match: there were some wires that had been spliced on.

Having ZERO experience with wiring (I had to go find out what the blue connectors were, and thereby found out what a Hitachi crimp was) this was not immediately apparent to me. And all the numbers from the multimeter were confusing. I didn't understand, but I did have one thing going for me: I had a spare SV in the basement.

The one I ride is a combination of one I bought new in 2001 (blew the motor on it) as well as a crashed 1999 with extensive cosmetic damage. I spliced the bikes together a few years back and have had no troubles to speak of.

I dug through the plastic tubs I keep in the basement to store the extra parts to look for the rectifier from the 2002 (blown motor) and compare it to the rectifier on the 1999 (donor). They were definitely different. I didn't take a picture of the rectifier on the bike as I found it. I wasn't sure it was a big deal yet and knew I had some reading to do.

This is the 2002 (blown motor) when I put it on the bike and removed the after market Hitachi style crimps that were added on.


and this the connection I cobbled together


This is what the 1999 (donor) looked like.


The extra red and black wires ran to the battery. I felt like I knew enough to know that this was not good.

I did happily seem to figure out which wires went from the harness to which wires on the 2002 rectifier. Did I finally decipher the wiring diagram? No. I pulled out my spare wiring harness.



I compared them and found the right connector for the rectifier and copied that.


Then I went away for a few days and read about electricity, electrical circuits. Leyden jars. Ohm's law. Lots of good stuff out there, but I was surprised at how hard it was to find motorcycle specific write-ups. Then I built a work table in the garage.

The original reason I started dicking around with the electrical system was to install an aftermarket FIAMM horn. I didn't know what a relay was or how you wired one up. Now i think I understand well enough. And here it is. This is the mount:



I mounted the relay beneath the seat



and ran the wiring like so



And I read the manual for the multimeter, puzzled over the inexplicable gobbledegook I saw on the screen, replaced the fuse in the multimeter, breathed a sigh of relief, blew the fuse immediately, lost a day waiting for Kragen to open so I could buy another fuse, and this brings us to today.

I check the battery: 12.7 volts solid. Turn the ignition key: nothing. no lights. no nothing. Clearly I have a long way to go before anyone comes asking for my sage advice.

So... help.