need some help with electrical.

[FiveStarSky]

Hey guys, I'm not the best when it comes to electical stuff, but i'm wanting to add some type of headlight to my YSR. (would prefer some kind of small light, does not need to be bright enough to pass a motorcycle inspection, but one that can still see in front of you.

I currnetly do not have a battery on the bike.

I do have a full wireing harness, so i could probably buy a stock ysr headlight and use that.

The ysr uses a 6v system, so that may or maynot be a problem.

I heard that some of you guys use a "total loss system" for that, do you pretty much need a battery, a light, a switch, and some wire?

like i said, i dont know much about wiring, so if you guys could help me out.

[FS211]

1.you can run a total loss system separately from the ysr's electrical since its a 6v system.
2.ive read of people converting over to a 12v system, i presume it has something to do with the stator?

total loss system can be run with merely a battery, the light, relay/or wiring and switch.. and of course a trickle charger to keep the battery holding some juice.

[FiveStarSky]

alright, well for a total loss system, all i need is a light, I can steal a battery off my enduro, and i have the battery tray for the ysr i can bolt back on, I guess all i really would need is a light and switch?

Is there any stores where i could pick up a light to make work? or would i have to buy something online?

If i can find one cheap enough, i may just get a streetfighter style thing with the built in lights and mini windscreen. It would be cheaper making a streetfighter look than a full fairing lol.

[FS211]

alright, well for a total loss system, all i need is a light, I can steal a battery off my enduro, and i have the battery tray for the ysr i can bolt back on, I guess all i really would need is a light and switch?

Is there any stores where i could pick up a light to make work? or would i have to buy something online?

If i can find one cheap enough, i may just get a streetfighter style thing with the built in lights and mini windscreen. It would be cheaper making a streetfighter look than a full fairing lol.

an autoparts store should have a bunch of sized headlights and bulbs for lights, fog lights, daytime lights for cars that you could make fit.

[Unproracer]

im in a similar situation w/ my mid, figured id put a lithuim rechargable batt. pack w/ super bright LEDs inside light lenzes. LEDs req. almost no current to power, there bright and arn't vibration/jaring sensitive, and no modification of the stock system is required, parts are cheap, and wiring is straight forward. Plus you go home and plug the battery in and your good to go. 4-5 LEDs will run off a AA batt. for hours if not days. Bet theyd run for weeks/mo straight on a good lithuim battery pack.

[FiveStarSky]

an autoparts store should have a bunch of sized headlights and bulbs for lights, fog lights, daytime lights for cars that you could make fit.

oh yeah, good idea, I bet i can find some cheap-o bold on ones, there are two different places on my way home from work. Now, does the battery voltage matter? i'm not sure what Volts my battery on my enduro is. I know how to wire everything up, i just dont know anything about voltages and things like that.

[FiveStarSky]

im in a similar situation w/ my mid, figured id put a lithuim rechargable batt. pack w/ super bright LEDs inside light lenzes. LEDs req. almost no current to power, there bright and arn't vibration/jaring sensitive, and no modification of the stock system is required, parts are cheap, and wiring is straight forward. Plus you go home and plug the battery in and your good to go. 4-5 LEDs will run off a AA batt. for hours if not days.

That would be slick, if i can find a LED one that will work, i'll go for that.

Wouldnt you have to make a special re-charging system if your going to use a lithium battery though? (heck, if you had an old laptop, jack the battery out of that, and stick it back in the lptp to charge it)

I'm not needing anything uber bright, just something where other cars can see me when i'm out riding. if i can buy a set of two, i'll use one up front, and another in the tail and make it so its red, I dont have the rear brake light activators on the handlebars or rear brake, so i cant make a brake light unless i findsomething that i can rig to work.

[Unproracer]

all youd need is 2 flasher relays, a 3 position s/w(flasher control L/off/R) 6-7 Bright LEDs, RC lithium battery and charger, brake master that has a s/w or fabricate a momentary s/w to it. Master s/w and light gauge wire. Its all DC current, so its a fairly simple design. Battery & light assemblies weight virtually nothing and will last forever, power and lifespan wise.

[FiveStarSky]

yeah, i still have the track in mind, so i dont need a full system. maybe later on though

[Unproracer]

yeah, i still have the track in mind, so i dont need a full system. maybe later on though

hence why mines not going to be integrated. So i can unplug 2-3 connectors, 2-3 bolts and a mirror, your ready for track. Plus ill be able to equip it on my dirt bike for any dusk/low light situations.

[boogerboy722]

add a 12v regulator to run the extra stuff?

[FiveStarSky]

Okay, I bought a light from autozone, and here is how retarted i am come to electrical.

I copied the Diagram as it is on the instructions.
(SEE PICTURE #1)

The switch is labled as shown (1, 2, 3)

I know that the #3 prong is wired (red)to the positive (+) battery point.
the #2 (white) is connected to the white wire on the lamp.
the #1 is a ground (its a light up switch) and just connect that to the frame.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM.

What are you supposed to wire the (black) wire from the lamp to?
What do you connect to the Negative (-) battery point?

[FiveStarSky]

here is the light mounted, It fit perfectly where the stock key lock was, I have another, and if the single one isnt bright enough, I can add the other one right above/blelow it pretty simply.

They had some LED ones, but they were long bar ones, and the round halogen that i got seemed the best option since they had the swivle plate.

In other YSR news, i found a place that does fully carbonfiber gastanks, custom plastics (like the custom ones in my ysr thread) and other really cool items for ysr/nsr's. not cheap though, the 2008 nsr plastics are about 600 for a tail upper and lower, and you can get it either CF wrapped, or fully CF for additional cost.

[FS211]

Okay, I bought a light from autozone, and here is how retarted i am come to electrical.

I copied the Diagram as it is on the instructions.
(SEE PICTURE #1)

The switch is labled as shown (1, 2, 3)

I know that the #3 prong is wired (red)to the positive (+) battery point.
the #2 (white) is connected to the white wire on the lamp.
the #1 is a ground (its a light up switch) and just connect that to the frame.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM.

What are you supposed to wire the (black) wire from the lamp to?
What do you connect to the Negative (-) battery point?


both wires, negative battery terminal, and black wire on lamp need to be grounded to the frame.

[FiveStarSky]

both wires, negative battery terminal, and black wire on lamp need to be grounded to the frame.

okay, so make a wire from the negitve terminal to the frame, and the black wire from the lamp on the frame too? do they need to be connected at all?

[Unproracer]

okay, so make a wire from the negitve terminal to the frame, and the black wire from the lamp on the frame too? do they need to be connected at all?

nope, use the chassis as a common ground, batt - terminal to GOOD CLEAN chassis ground, battery and switch also to GOOD CLEAN chassis ground, make sure there is metal to metal contact, no grounding stuff to paint.

In general make grounds short as possible.

Not sure what kinda light that is, but if it draws a lot of amps, and/or the light s/w gets hot during operation, you need to incorperate a relay or the s/w could melt/burn up.

[FiveStarSky]

nope, use the chassis as a common ground, batt - terminal to GOOD CLEAN chassis ground, battery and switch also to GOOD CLEAN chassis ground, make sure there is metal to metal contact, no grounding stuff to paint.

In general make grounds short as possible.

Not sure what kinda light that is, but if it draws a lot of amps, and/or the light s/w gets hot during operation, you need to incorperate a relay or the s/w could melt/burn up.

its a fog light you bolt onto a car bumper.

noob q's:

does s/w mean switch?

whats a relay do?

[Unproracer]

its a fog light you bolt onto a car bumper.

noob q's:

does s/w mean switch?

whats a relay do?

s/w is switch and the purpose of a relay is if you run it though a s/w, the s/w has to carry the current, the internals of the s/w can't always carry that much current/amperage w/o melting, so you put a relay. You can control the relay w/ a s/w, and the relay controls the current carrying circuit, look it up on the internet.

[FiveStarSky]

Okay, I figured it out (mostly) I got the light working, but not the light for the switch (dont mind though)

It wont turn on when the battery is off the charger, but the battery has been sitting for a while, so it probably just needs to sit on the charger for a while.

I mounted the battery on the original battery tray, modded a few things for it to fit, and now its all good.

I couldnt find a good place to mount the switch, so i mounted it to the mud flap i made awhile back, just reach under the seat and flip it.

Now another question for the smart people, can i make my motor charge the battery i have or not because its a 6v system (i dont know the difference between 6 and 12) and if so, how would i go about wiring it up? Somepeople on ysr50.com told me that you dont need a battery to run the lights, the only thing the battery did on the ysr was for the blinkers, not sure how that works? :dunno:

and can anyone point me in a direction for a trickle charger that i can wire in?
(i currently only have a big charger that has the giant clips, bottom left of pic)

edit: the bulb is rated at 55 watts accoring to the box, I have another lamp, should i hook that on too? will it make it any brighter? (or just make each half as dull as a single one?) It would look kinda goofy, but i can mount another on top of the current one, possibly beside it if i make a bracket for them.

[Unproracer]

Yea, small size batteries dont have spit for amps when there drained, they have to charged for a while to start working properly, i wouldnt sweet that.

I believe youd need a 12v magneto/rectifier to charge a 12v system. You can run it directly off whatever output is constant 6v w/o a 12 v battery, but if your rpms drop, your light dims... lots of the battery tenders come w/ harnesses you mount to the battery for easy charging.

i believe the batt. is require for flashers because most flasher relays work off 12v systems these days.

[FiveStarSky]

okay, the people on ysr50.com told me the wires that connect to the headlight, so i'll attempt to hook up that other light tomorrow i guess and see how that works out.

another stupid question, for a light to run off the motor, couldnt i just wire it to the two wires that connect to the CDI? or would that be bad and take away power meant for the spark plug?
(althought RPM's would affect the brightness)

[Unproracer]

yea i wouldnt do that. The RPM is relative to the speed of the magneto/stator speed. The CDI needs as constant and consistent power as possible, specially at low RPM where amperage is low, and you need strong spark to accelerate. avoid that route at all costs.

[FiveStarSky]

yea i wouldnt do that. The RPM is relative to the speed of the magneto/stator speed. The CDI needs as constant and consistent power as possible, specially at low RPM where amperage is low, and you need strong spark to accelerate. avoid that route at all costs.

sweet, note taken.

[FiveStarSky]

okay yesterday i have had the charger on the battery for 24hrs, and so i took it off, and the battery still does not have enough juice to light up the lamp. is it a battery issue, or is it just because the battery was fully drained and needs to charge longer?

[Unproracer]

okay yesterday i have had the charger on the battery for 24hrs, and so i took it off, and the battery still does not have enough juice to light up the lamp. is it a battery issue, or is it just because the battery was fully drained and needs to charge longer?

6 volt battery? They take forever to charge. If its 12v. 24 hours trickle charge for a dead battery, after that if it doesn't hold a charge, it probably needs to be replaced.
Go to radio shack and buy a 5 dollar digital volt. & ohm meter(DVOM) and youd be able to know for sure. Testing the terminals on volt. setting, should be 14-12v on the charger, off the charger it should at least hold 11.5+v. If it doesnt, or it does but drops off noticablly over time, its probably done for. Might be able to add water to it if it isnt maintainace free but thats kind of a bandaid fix...

[FiveStarSky]

okay, its a 12v. I have a current tester at home, if the battery is dead, i'll just toss the lights on my enduro and run them off the motor. Dont fell like shelling out anymore $ just to have lights.

[stuntnx7]

shouldnt this be in your other thread :dunno:

[FiveStarSky]

shouldnt this be in your other thread :dunno:

yeah, but it was a more general question than a ysr specific one.

[The Nutty Professor]

Five it's not as hard to build a harness for a bike as you might think. It does get hard when you start adding kickstand shutoff switches and electronic gauges. And you can change the 6v to 12v...maybe someone mentioned that already?