Newbie needing help with wiring

[JLov]

Whats up guys!

I just bought my very first motorcycle and XS650 and in the process of building it.
With this being my first bike everything is new to me

i recently just purchased a bates style headlight and some turn signals for front and back and also a bates style taillight, I'm needing help on how to wire these together using the stock wiring harness? i have never done any wiring before this will be the first

appreciate the help,
Josh

 

[Brassneck]

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to world of motorcycles... And specifically the XS650!

As to wiring your new "stuff"...it would help to know what you're bike has on there now? If it's stock, there should be two wires to each turn signal (brown & black/ green & black if I recall correctly... Your turn signals should also have two wires, and you just swap them out on each side (and front/back). On the back they will be bundled on the rear where all the wires head back to the tail light (should be easy to find). On the front, the connections are in the headlight bucket.

For your brake light, if it had three wires, one will be running light, one brake light, and one ground. Again, just swap them from what's currently on there. If it only has two wires, then chances are they are both "hot" (one is running light, one is brakes) and the base of the headlight needs a ground wire added.

It's not too complicated, but you may also need a different flasher to have your turn signals work.

 

[fredintoon]

Whats up guys!

I just bought my very first motorcycle and XS650 and in the process of building it.
With this being my first bike everything is new to me

i recently just purchased a bates style headlight and some turn signals for front and back and also a bates style taillight, I'm needing help on how to wire these together using the stock wiring harness? i have never done any wiring before this will be the first

appreciate the help,
Josh

Oh Josh,
talk about jumping into the deep end.
Solder and shrink sleeve works better than automotive crimp terminals.
(If you had access to milspec wire crimping kit you most likely wouldn't need to ask how to wire things, eh?)
The wiring will be the same for the new lights as those shown for the stock lights on the XS650 wiring diagram although you'll most likely need to make up some adapters to go from the stock wiring terminals to whatever connections are on the new lights.
If you look at the diagrams you'll see that they get more complicated over the years so pick the diagram the same year as your bike.
The hard part will be to cram all the wiring that was inside the stock headlight into the Bates headlight.
Some folks give up on doing that or don't bother trying and put that ratsnest of wire and connectors into a separate container of some kind.
The next little bother will be that unless the new signal lights have 27Watt bulbs in them the stock flasher unit won't work them. A low cost 2-prong automotive flasher will fix that (plugs in 2 ways; one works, t'other don't) but you lose the self canceller.
And be sure and ground everything. Bad ground is the usual suspect in wiring problems.
On a related topic, get a decent horn. One powerful enough to need a relay to work it.
The stock horn's pathetic bleat plain ol' don't cut it.

 

[XSLeo]

The wiring varied a lot over the years. The colors not so much but they added a few things over the years that make it hard to be real specific. It's nice to know what year, model and any mods done to the bike.
If you look below where I'm writing you will see my signature. See how it describes my 75 with a few major mods done.
You can access your signature in your profile.
Leo

 

[Brassneck]

Whoops, misread that... Tail light, you wrote headlight. Sorry about that. For the headlight swap, it's simply taking everything apart (take pics/label everything) an then try and cram it all back into the new bucket... It's time consuming, and a tight fit. But not impossible.

 

[JLov]

Thanks for the help!

yea mine is an 1980 special everything was stock on it but it only had the tail light there were no turn signals with it

 

[650Skull]

Here is a thread or 2 on wiring and electrics. Do not skimp on any part of wiring or tools required for a good connection.

If you don't want to spend the money on the correct tools forget it and pay someone to do it.

Thread links.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18925&highlight=musings
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18305
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10561

The wiring may still be there for the turn signals but the signals you have you will have to work out which wire is the ground and which is the power. Ground wire will be connected too the indicator housing or bulb connector socket, the power wire will be connected to plate the bulb bottom pushes onto. It usually has a spring under it.

Wiring diagram for an 80SG. The B/W pic has a wiring schedule, use it for the colored pic. double click, download and print it out. Ch, is for chocolate, (very dark brown wire), and Dg is exactly that, Dark green

 

[Frodo Swaggins]

Hey guys just had a question about deleting my signals on my bike. I'm gonna pull off the stock bulky signals that are on there now, my question is how do I cap the wires so it won't drain my battery while the bike is off? I've had this issue before with broken wires in the controller on the left side of my bars.. Can I simply cap the ends of the vires with electrical tape in case I ever decide to put lower profile signals on in the future, or is there more too it. Thanks for any info, I'm new to electrical.

 

[weekendrider]

Just unplug the connections.

 

[Frodo Swaggins]

Where should I disconnect it at?? When I unplug the connecter that leads down into the head light it also disables my head light. Is there another connecter that will only disable my turn signals?

 

[Brassneck]

The easiest thing to do is to pull the signal wires from within the headlight...that's it.

(Each signal has two wires going into the headlight bucket, and are connected via bullet-type connectors to corresponding wires coming from the signal switch on the left-hand controls. to remove the signals, just disconnect those two wires. Nothing more to do.)

 

[Frodo Swaggins]

Perfect!! Thanks for the info, I'll disconnect and see if it works. I'm guessing I do the same thing for the rear signals too?

 

[Brassneck]

Yep...the rear's essentially the same thing, minus dealing with the headlight bucket.

 

[weekendrider]

Each turn signal is individually wired with bullet type connections.
Or that is how it came. What a PO has done I'd just be guessing at.
Remove or lift the seat for access to the rears. Remove the headlight bulb to access the front. The seat and rears may be the easiest to start. If you get the seat off(clip type) or lifted to the side(hinge type) and follow the wires from the turn signal it will be kinda self explanatory. If it isn't post some pictures of what you have and we can go from there.


Or what Brassneck said. Faster fingers and all that.

 

[Frodo Swaggins]

Is this the bullet style connecter that I need to disconnect?

 

[Brassneck]

Yes, that's it...so the black is the negative, the green will be positive. Disconnect, and pull the lights off.

 

[Brassneck]

And the other side will have brown/black.

 

[Frodo Swaggins]

I also have these wires that broke off in my turn signal controller on the bars.. I'm having to disconnect the plug that powers these wires and my head light. If I leave the plug connected it causes a short and drains my battery can I use electrical tape on the ends of these wires so I can connect the plug and have a working headlight? I plan to get them re-soldered but until I do is like my battery to not drain

 

[Brassneck]

Hmmm...I'd get those fixed as more of a priority. Likely it's one or all of the wires are touching or grounding at the bars which causes the drain and/or shorts out...so It may work to just tape them up temporarily. But I am not a fan of not fixing the broken solders.

 

[650Skull]

Hey guys just had a question about deleting my signals on my bike. I'm gonna pull off the stock bulky signals that are on there now, my question is how do I cap the wires so it won't drain my battery while the bike is off? I've had this issue before with broken wires in the controller on the left side of my bars.. Can I simply cap the ends of the vires with electrical tape in case I ever decide to put lower profile signals on in the future, or is there more too it. Thanks for any info, I'm new to electrical.

I suggest you start your own thread. This did belong to someone else.

If you actually read the links i posted then you will have your answer to post 18