mickeysolis
XS650 Member
I'm new to the forum but have been reading threads for the last couple years.
Finally got the chance to do an xs build myself after a friend with a garage sold me an '81 Special motor with an accompanying hard tail frame. I was stoked. I dug right in but due to work, rookie mistakes, and other life events, it's taken me a year. But I got it up and running this month. Here's the skinny:
Hugh's PMA, Complete Standard w/Advance from Pamco (swap from CDI ignition). I'm only running a standard headlight, brake & tail light. A starter solenoid to a momentary push button for the starter. And an antigravity lithium battery. That's it. No blinkers no gauges no cell phone chargers or neon signs...
But the thing is I couldn't find a simple diagram that wasn't for running a capacitor (apparently capacitors are all the rage, maybe i should just do that but i like options) or if it were a diagram with a battery and solenoid, the diagrams included a bunch of relays and switches for parts i've stripped. Now maybe it's my dyslexia, or my lamentable ignorance of even the most basic electrical principles, but these diagrams befuddle me when I try to apply them to my situation.
It may also be the mental scar of paranoia that some of these threads have left me with after reading all the warnings about frying the coil with the pma, and how common these wiring mistakes are, and how apparently if i do it wrong, i'll need a bomb squad to rescue me...
Through web research, a few back and forths with Hugh, and asking around, I'm finding out I'm not a special kind of dummy, just your average one - I read the threads including Pamco Pete's treatise on the mishaps of running pma swaps.... Now, like i said earlier, I just want to get it right. Spring is here and I've been teased:
I really wanted to do it right, and it seemed it was possible to keep it very simple, but I'll confess to y'all right now that after wiring and testing my set up on my own and riding and starting great for about a week, I'm now back in the garage with a bike that won't start. At some point near the end of the week the battery stopped charging (When i checked the battery after a no-start it was around 9Volts). After recharging it, the bike was still a no-start so i start snooping around. I find my coil tests considerably high in the ohms (around 26), and the left spark plug is not firing when grounded (but arcs a current when pulled 1/16th to 1/8" away from the engine case).
I thought, "Bad ground?" "I've knocked something loose?" or "I didn't get this right. Period."
Admittedly, I almost certainly fumbled some wiring and the grounds (the frame was powder coated just before the previous owner abandoned it, and I was not thorough about solving for that when I did the wiring). I was only using one 30 amp fuse off the battery. However the battery never tested at high voltage (15V or over), and I never had any issues with spark/ignition until suddenly after the day the battery died and I went to test a new battery in its place.
I pulled my wiring out last night, the battery is fully charged, and a replacement coil is on the way. I'm poised to rewire from scratch. But I need help. I could really use a visual reference.
Please, if anyone is running a set up like mine, or is aware of a simple diagram they can point me towards that includes the battery and none of the other stock charging system, or can explain to me what to do when not running a capacitor and using the stock key switch for lights, ignition, and hhb pma.... I would be very very grateful
Finally got the chance to do an xs build myself after a friend with a garage sold me an '81 Special motor with an accompanying hard tail frame. I was stoked. I dug right in but due to work, rookie mistakes, and other life events, it's taken me a year. But I got it up and running this month. Here's the skinny:
Hugh's PMA, Complete Standard w/Advance from Pamco (swap from CDI ignition). I'm only running a standard headlight, brake & tail light. A starter solenoid to a momentary push button for the starter. And an antigravity lithium battery. That's it. No blinkers no gauges no cell phone chargers or neon signs...
But the thing is I couldn't find a simple diagram that wasn't for running a capacitor (apparently capacitors are all the rage, maybe i should just do that but i like options) or if it were a diagram with a battery and solenoid, the diagrams included a bunch of relays and switches for parts i've stripped. Now maybe it's my dyslexia, or my lamentable ignorance of even the most basic electrical principles, but these diagrams befuddle me when I try to apply them to my situation.
It may also be the mental scar of paranoia that some of these threads have left me with after reading all the warnings about frying the coil with the pma, and how common these wiring mistakes are, and how apparently if i do it wrong, i'll need a bomb squad to rescue me...
Through web research, a few back and forths with Hugh, and asking around, I'm finding out I'm not a special kind of dummy, just your average one - I read the threads including Pamco Pete's treatise on the mishaps of running pma swaps.... Now, like i said earlier, I just want to get it right. Spring is here and I've been teased:
I really wanted to do it right, and it seemed it was possible to keep it very simple, but I'll confess to y'all right now that after wiring and testing my set up on my own and riding and starting great for about a week, I'm now back in the garage with a bike that won't start. At some point near the end of the week the battery stopped charging (When i checked the battery after a no-start it was around 9Volts). After recharging it, the bike was still a no-start so i start snooping around. I find my coil tests considerably high in the ohms (around 26), and the left spark plug is not firing when grounded (but arcs a current when pulled 1/16th to 1/8" away from the engine case).
I thought, "Bad ground?" "I've knocked something loose?" or "I didn't get this right. Period."
Admittedly, I almost certainly fumbled some wiring and the grounds (the frame was powder coated just before the previous owner abandoned it, and I was not thorough about solving for that when I did the wiring). I was only using one 30 amp fuse off the battery. However the battery never tested at high voltage (15V or over), and I never had any issues with spark/ignition until suddenly after the day the battery died and I went to test a new battery in its place.
I pulled my wiring out last night, the battery is fully charged, and a replacement coil is on the way. I'm poised to rewire from scratch. But I need help. I could really use a visual reference.
Please, if anyone is running a set up like mine, or is aware of a simple diagram they can point me towards that includes the battery and none of the other stock charging system, or can explain to me what to do when not running a capacitor and using the stock key switch for lights, ignition, and hhb pma.... I would be very very grateful
