custom wiring harness vs oem stripped

[Jonaven]

i just got a 78 xs650 and want to do full minimal wiring, im running a battery and a boyer red box , headlight , tail light and a tach, im thinking it may be more simple to just make my own harness ground up instead of tearing apart a oem new one , what's everyone's thought son this any tips or help is greatly appreciated

 

[Jim]

Never really understood tearing apart a harness to make it minimal. It's pretty simple... take the complete harness and hook up just what you want on the bike. Once it's running and everything works, take a pair of dykes to any wire or connector left over. Tape the cut wire ends into the harness and done. A one of a kind, minimal harness... with a lot less work.

 

[Jonaven]

Never really understood tearing apart a harness to make it minimal. It's pretty simple... take the complete harness and hook up just what you want on the bike. Once it's running and everything works, take a pair of dykes to any wire or connector left over. Tape the cut wire ends into the harness and done. A one of a kind, minimal harness... with a lot less work.

how do you know which wire in that bundle of wires is for which part of the bike , very new to this thanks

 

[rsor]

What part of Alberta are you located?

 

[Jonaven]

What part of Alberta are you located?

edmonton actually lol

 

[toglhot]

Either will work. I don't understand anyone who would just cut the ends off any unused wires and leave the wires in the main harness, that's about as rough as it gets!

 

[toglhot]

how do you know which wire in that bundle of wires is for which part of the bike , very new to this thanks

Either will work. I don't understand anyone who would just cut the ends off any unused wires and leave the wires in the main harness, that's about as rough as it gets! If you want a wiring diagram, just Google it, there must be hundreds available on the web

 

[Raymond]

FWIW, my XS650 had wiring which was in a poor state due to POs having cut the standard harness about to add things like Boyer Bransden ignition. And it was clear there are lots of things you don't need like self-cancelling indicators and reserve lighting unit. So I started from scratch - took the wiring apart, noting every component and the wires that fed it, just kept the components I needed, found a simplified wiring diagram in the Tech section, and re-wired the whole lot.

Here's the simplified diagrams: https://www.xs650.com/threads/61

It took a fair bit of time but gets easier as you go - you gradually get an understanding of the whole system and for me that was one of the benefits of doing the job that way instead of buying a new harness and trying to work out or guess which wire goes where. I now have reliable electrics, a much simpler system and one I can trouble shoot if that becomes necessary.

 

[gggGary]

Off topic, maybe.
The guys that build your own harness: Lets see the color coded wiring diagram of your actual AS BUILT wiring harness not just the diagram you started from. In a year or two you will not remember how the harness is routed or why you "did it that way".
There are some prebuilt simple harnesses on the market. IMHO unless you have some sort of hands on electronics background, the odds of a home built harness being reliable as a stocker aren't that good. Routing, bundling, terminations, connectors all require some expertise to work properly in a harsh environment. A classic DIY error is not using the factory color coding, cuz well finding all those wire colors is neither easy or cheap. Another is; well those scrawny little wires are tacky, I'll just use all 12 gauge from the electronics store, creating a bulky balky harness.
I've worked with about every imaginable type of as the PO left it harness. Sure is nice to have a factory diagram to use to locate and fix any issues or just find the wires that "component X" needs to work. My main squeeze XS650 Madness has a custum harness built by a Marine electrician. It was very well built but yeah, no diagram, non standard colors, so every time I'm trouble shooting, or changing a component it's an easter egg hunt, finding what goes where, tracing, unwrapping, doing the unhook, apply voltage, see where it shows up, testing.
I've yanked and tossed many a customizer's "harness creation", replaced it with a good stock harness, correctly routed, and went riding.
Full disclosure; I'm not the guy that buys beautiful ready to ride customs, I usually am either grabbing a neglected, has issues factory bike or a failed project. If I'm lucky it was INSIDE the shed or back of the garage.

 

[Paul Sutton]

I made my own harness and at every connector there is a label shrink wrapped to the wire to say where it goes. I also have circuit diagrams to help explain what lies hidden. Even so, 2 years later I had to make a modification and was left scratching my head like gggGary mentions above. In future, if available, I'd buy a harness with the correct colors like Jim mentions above and trim if necessary. Then I can always refer back to the Yamaha wiring diagram and know what's what.

 

[willis]

On my ‘78 build I made a custom harness from the factory unit. I too wanted to utilize the factory color coded wires. It was a stripped down set up for starter, turn signals, factory key, head and tail lights and Pamco ignition. There a plenty of diagrams to choose from in the tech section here. But what I did, many many times, was create a diagram with colored pencils. I bet I made 10-15 diagrams and kept modifying it until it matched what I had on the bike. Once I had a finished hard copy, I had it laminated at work and kept it in my files for future reference. Make note, that wiring is not my thing. I took it slow and broke it down into individual systems for different components. I made factory style bullet connections, and made each system so it could be unplugged for servicing /replacement. Doing it this way really helped me understand how everything worked. I will say that a lot of preplanning went into this, as I used expandable sheathing and heat shrink. I learned a lot, and the new owner was very pleased to have that laminated diagram when I sold the bike!! I may have been a bit OCD on it, but it made me understand how the systems worked and looked very nice.

 

[Raymond]

Gary is of course correct and I might adopt that approach in the future.

For Miss November, my approach similar to Willis, though probably not to the same standard. Used coloured tracer wires, kept a diagram with the colours as used and made a few A3 sized photo copies once the job was complete. Had previously done something similar with a Triumph TR6 - never seen such bad wiring on a bike - and the chap that bought Fanny was very pleased that I included a wiring diagram, which I believe he passed on to the next again owner.

 

[peterg]

Here's my wiring diagram. I tried to keep to the OEM colour scheme as much as possible.

 

[ippytattoo]

I know that when someone gets my bike after I die they will be cursing me for sure. The wiring on my bike has gone through several iterations. When I got the basket case it had no harness at all. The current, and longest running, is an ex500 harness with a few mods. I have a ex500 wiring diagram printed out and laminated for reference

 

[Jonaven]

FWIW, my XS650 had wiring which was in a poor state due to POs having cut the standard harness about to add things like Boyer Bransden ignition. And it was clear there are lots of things you don't need like self-cancelling indicators and reserve lighting unit. So I started from scratch - took the wiring apart, noting every component and the wires that fed it, just kept the components I needed, found a simplified wiring diagram in the Tech section, and re-wired the whole lot.

Here's the simplified diagrams: https://www.xs650.com/threads/61

It took a fair bit of time but gets easier as you go - you gradually get an understanding of the whole system and for me that was one of the benefits of doing the job that way instead of buying a new harness and trying to work out or guess which wire goes where. I now have reliable electrics, a much simpler system and one I can trouble shoot if that becomes necessary.

Do you by chance know of the wiring for the panco unit and a boyer are similar, so I xouldbjust follow one of those diagrams

 

[Raymond]

Do you by chance know of the wiring for the panco unit and a boyer are similar, so I xouldbjust follow one of those diagrams

No, but both do a similar job so they might be much the same. The Boyer box has five wires - two for the rotor, two for the coils and a link with the kill switch.

I've posted my wiring diagram for Miss November in a coupla places so rather than take up space in this thread, have a look here:

https://www.xs650.com/threads/miss-november-xs2-tribute.55057/post-632045

 

[Jonaven]

No, but both do a similar job so they might be much the same. The Boyer box has five wires - two for the rotor, two for the coils and a link with the kill switch.

I've posted my wiring diagram for Miss November in a coupla places so rather than take up space in this thread, have a look here:

https://www.xs650.com/threads/miss-november-xs2-tribute.55057/post-632045

Thanks for linking that , I'll probably end up using ur diagram, appreciate everyone's help!

 

[Jim]

Either will work. I don't understand anyone who would just cut the ends off any unused wires and leave the wires in the main harness, that's about as rough as it gets!

Oh dear me... we seem to have upset the grumpy Aussie's sensibilities.
Let's work this through....
Here's a harness I hacked for other reasons.

So... we'll loosely attach the harness to the bike and hook up everything we want to work on the bike. Satisfied everything works as it should, wrap a piece of masking tape on the wires and connectors we don't want to keep. Pull the harness back off the bike... or not. It can be done in situ... and using your best hackery... dyke them suckers off.

Cut the wires staggered so as not to have them bunch in one place. Grab your electrical tape and tape the harness back together.

... and done. A one of a kind custom harness. Quick, simple and looks just like the original factory harness.... minus the junk you din't want. Backyard hackery at it's finest.

Wanna get real fancy? Grab your braided harness covering material and start by covering the individual connector wires...

You can get real fancy and fasten it with different colored tape.

Fold it over, slit it where it goes into the main harness and work it into place... taping it off when you're happy.

Rinse and repeat as required until all the harness is covered... tape or zip tie all the ends in place... and here we are... a right fancy lookin' factory harness that we didn't have to spend hours and hours makin'.

I really should have used a black zip tie on that.... but I was too damn lazy to go hunt one up... my bad.

So here's the bottom line... the OP isn't experienced in making harnesses or he never would have started a thread askin' how. Here's a viable alternative to "rolling your own."

Have a look on FB, Craigslist... or your favorite site for bike hunting. On any given day you'll find an ad....

For Sale: Bobber project.
I started this about 5 yrs ago, figured out I was in over my head and it's sat in my garage ever since. I just want it gone so I have my space back. $400 obo. Call blah blah blah.....

How 'bout we make it easy on the kid so he can actually finish his project huh?



Edit: Took me about 10 min to run through all that. If you take a little time at it, you can make it look much fancier.

 

[toglhot]

Grumpy Aussie or not, I wouldn't want to buy a bike off you if that's an example of your work. That's as rough as guts, something you'd find on a rat bike. Since your unwrapping the harness in spots, why not remove the wires that aren't used altogether. At least you'd have a decent harness.

Using a stripped down original harness is a pretty good idea, at least you get to retain the colour coding. Just make sure the wires are still OK, not hardened, not broken through, not frayed, it is a 40+ year old bike, the plastic in the harness sitting on top of a hot engine.

So, how do you move from inexperience to experienced? That's easy, by doing! But at least you should start off by doing it properly!

So Grumpy Aussie eh? Well, lets remember who got upset here - you! So much so you had to explain your rough hack in detail. Which, incidentally, doesn't make the 'hack' look any better!

How'bout we give the kid decent advice so he doesn't end up with a POS, huh?

 

[Jim]

So Grumpy Aussie eh? Well, lets remember who got upset here - you!

False assumption much? Takes a lot more than a grumpy ol' bastard like you to upset me.