New here, need some help!!

[Jim]

Okay - when switching back to capacitor how do I wirethe ignition,just replace the "batt" where the POS battery is on, to the positive capacitor? Is it that simple of a switch?

For this application, think of the battery and the capacitor as the same thing.... electrical storage devices.... treat 'em that way. A battery has a positive and negative terminal... self explanatory. If the capacitor has two terminals, connect it just like the battery. If it only has a single terminal, that's positive and it's case is ground (negative).

 

[Xs6502021]

Thanks guys! Thought that would be the case, but wanted to make sure. Have another question for you. Wiring up the headlights and I have a green wire, brown wire, and blue/white wire. It's a high beam low beam headlight.. I have no idea which one is what to attach it to on/off/on switch. I was assuming brown is ground. Was making middle of the switch power. Any tips as to how to wire this switch for the headlight now? Unless I just put both on one side if that works ?

 

[Xs6502021]

This is the headlight wiring - black yellow and white were the original. Black turns into brown, yellow turns into green, and white turns into blue/white striped.

 

[Xs6502021]

here it is. New wiring diagram. Rewired the whole thing, only thing I forgot to get was a battery. Everything is where it should be now, to my best ability! I'm quite proud. BUT, still won't start. Tried new switch and new ignitions. Gonna pick up a battery and try again tomorrow to mess w it.. but now I don't know what to do. How do I check fuel delivery? Would that cause it not to start? I feel so discouraged that this dude sold me a bike with everything and then some wrong with it.

 

[Team Junk]

Try hooking up the ignition switch up the way I drew it out. The way you have it hooked up the headlight is on when your kicking the bike. The headlight draws most of what little power the PMA is putting out at crank speeds.

Personally I wouldn't run a Pamco styled ignition on a capacitor. It is a crude device with no voltage regulation and this site is riddled with reports of fried Pamco's . The battery acts as a filter preventing voltage spikes and drops.

Have you checked your timing?

 

[Team Junk]

It would be better to run both the ignition box and coil wires to the terminal marked"acc", leaving the terminal marked "ign" as a place to connect the lights. Wired like that you can run with the lights on or off without a need for a separate light switch.

 

[Xs6502021]

Is there a certain battery I should get or just go to any parts store? Also what's the normal voltage for a xs650 batt? I really don't like the capacitor so not opposed to getting rid of it lol. So to double check: the ign will be the headlight/tail/brake etc. The acc will be the kill switch. Then batt will obv be the positive for battery. I did have your schematic downloaded and I overlooked it when wiring up the bike so I will fix that today! As for timing I have checked it before but not since putting on the electronic ignition because mikexs said it needs to be running on the website to time it.. but I do feel as though my advanced rod and weights don't snap back like most videos. I got new springs and might need to maybe cut a spring to tighten it. Don't know if I should invest in new advanced rod?

 

[Xs6502021]

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...p-size-btx14ahl-bs-210-cca-tx14ahl/16940004-P

Found this batt, only store I can find batt from. Seems small enough to squeeze into my build too. Gonna wait for payday tomorrow before I get it, bikes taking up alot of cash lol. Hate saying it but regretting the bike purchase, can't believe I feel for the "easy one thing fix" from the PO.

 

[XSLeo]

For testing the ignition,any 12 volt battery will be fine.
Hook this 12 volt battery to just the ignition. Leave everything else unhooked foir now.
Check the timing and for spark. Fuel delivery is very important, no fuel, no run.
With petcocks OFF, unhook fuel lines, run to a catch can, turn ON fuel. Fuel should run out of the line. If not igure out why, Maybe no fuel in tank.
If fuel flows out of line, Rehook to cabs. Open carb float bowl draian, turn ON fuel. Fuel should flow out of carb drains. Is not fine out why. p;robably the float valves are stuck shut. Plugged with crud, Floats not properly adjusted.
Might have to read through the carb guide and clean the carbs.
Once you verify fuel flow and get spark at the right gtime it should run. Once rfunning with the battery you can then try hooking the PMA to the reg/rec and then from the reg/rec to ground and basttery positive. Start bike and check for violtage at the battery terminals. At idle it may not read much more than battery viotage. Aound 12 t0 12.5 volts. Rev engine up to about 2000 rpms. The battery voiltage szhould rise up to areound 14.5 volts. If reved higher it should not go above the 14.5 volts. If it goes higher your reg/rec or grounds need checking.
Once you determine if the charging is working then you can start adding the other things. The head/tail brake lights.
Doing it this way insures you have the basics right before you add more complexity to the system.
Once you get it working with the battery and charging system you can ry swapping the cap for the battery. If evrything is right, then it should run with the cap.
One thing to remember is that your main 20 amp fuse goes between your power source, the PMA and Battery/cap and the main switch, After the main switch you can run the power to your other fujses. One fuse for just the igniktion, A 7.5 amp should be fine. One fuse to power the head/tail light. A 10 amp works here,
A 10 amp fuse to send power to the brake light swirches. If you have a elctric horn, yu can run it from this fuse.
If you want to add turn signals you can add another fuse.
Fuses should be placed as close to the source of power as you can. This protacets as much of the wiring from the fuse to the item as it can.
Leo

 

[Team Junk]

Was thinking more along these lines
https://www.walmart.com/ip/12V-5AH-SLA-Battery-for-Garage-Door-Opener-Standby-41B822/125697679

The smallest, cheapest 12v motorcycle battery will work. I like the sla batteries because they can't leak anything .

 

[Xs6502021]

Team junk, would that be permanent batt or just for testing purposes? Feel like 15 bucks is too good to be true lol. And yeah I agree,don't wanna deal with leaks and crap everywjere! Xsleo holy crap you just hooked me up lol. Thanks man! So first step I want to make sure I understand when you say unhook everything and just leave batt to ign, do you literally mean to unhook everything such as headlights/tails on acc, and unhook kill switch/coil/ignition from ign, and leave just the battery(my batt is attached w regulator/20amp fuse which then connects to PMA so side question can I leave this attached or should I get a separate wire and just attach plain old battery to batt on key switch?) Then check timing? Im not savvy with this website yet so I have trouble finding forums on here.. how do I check timing with an electronic ignition without it running? Everything on YouTube etc is a with it running. Then once i check timing if it's all good then I'll move to fuel delivery because I haven't checked most of that stuff, stuck with electric because PO said it was "all only electric problems" which seems to be more and more of a lie every day lol

 

[Team Junk]

From looking at the pictures a electrical problem probably was the original reason it quit running. Who knows.
Don't get discouraged
I know all this is a pain in the arse but you have to remember that these things are 40+ years old based on designs from the 1930's. A little tinkering involved to keep them ticking over.
Once you excise the ghost of owner past I think you will have a pretty cool scooter.

Battery
You have no electric start so the battery can be much smaller. I run the small SLA on several bikes so yes it can be the final battery if you like..

As far as testing goes leave your kill switch etc. connected. that should be the only thing connected to the key switch acc post. Bat post hooked to the battery through a small fuse 5-10 amps so if you cross wires there will be no damage.

Leave the lights horn etc disconnected. Disconnect the red wire from the regulator from the battery .

Now you can set the timing and confirm operation of the Pamco.

Carry on.

 

[Xs6502021]

Ugh I don't understand why the website keeps logging me out!! And then I don't get the notification right away blah. But anyway, yeah your right.. it is an old design and who knows what else the PO did to it so I'll try to stay optimistic! So since it's kickstart that Walmart batt should work overall, which is pretty awesome since it's cheap lol. So basically the pamco only needs that to run? Not necessarily stay running and be rideable etc but just to initially start. One thing I'm worried about too I should add, is it possible I ruined my pamco already? I mean it doesn't even try to kock over so I figured it should be fine since sparks were originally weak etc but read on a forum here it's easy to blow up pretty much. But don't know how I'd know if I did lol

 

[Team Junk]

Testing the Pamco is where were headed.
Once the ignition is wired up correctly enlist the help of a friend to kick the bike over while you point a strobe at the timing marks. The timing mark on the rotor should be close to the | F | mark.
The engine does not have to be running to check the idle timing setting.

 

[Xs6502021]

Really not understanding the point of it asking me if I want to stay logged in if it logs me out anyway lol. But okay good thank you, I think maybe it said it needed to be running bc of the capacitor and not battery since capacitor doesn't hold the charge etc? Now stupid question maybe, since I'm putting the kill switch/cpil/ignition onto the acc, do I start the bike on that position then? I have this key. Or do I still do the normal on towards the start?

 

[Team Junk]

In the ACC position. The on position when your finished will turn on the headlight.

BTW there are no stupid questions. The collective knowledge here results from questions asked.

 

[Xs6502021]

I appreciate that last part actually. I've been on forums (not necessarily for bikes though) and it's amazing how mean people are!

So turn it to acc, kickstart it. Then I can use that in the daytime (no need for headlights) and then use the ign/acc during night. Okay that makes so much sense now and I don't know why that confused me so much. Now the brake is all associated with headlight/taillight/etc so does that mean the brake lights don't work on acc during the day?

 

[Team Junk]

Now the brake is all associated with headlight/taillight/etc so does that mean the brake lights don't work on acc during the day?

Brake light's power source should come from the ACC terminal so when the bike is on the brake lights work.

 

[Xs6502021]

Okay so I left some of the original wiring on the bike here is a pic of one of the attachments to the key switch. It's the brake, headlights, taillights. All on the same one... is this okay to stay like this? Obviously this only really matters more once it's running because I don't need lights with it in my garage lol but in general if I didn't have to change it I'd prefer not to. Once it's running, can I leave it like this and just keep it on the acc part of key switch, even if that means headlights/taillights are on all the time?

 

[Xs6502021]

Forgot the pic lol