Missing wire?..

[Morinijen]

Hi Everyone.
I am in the process of getting my 3 1/2 K1 Sport ready for it's MOT test.
It has been off the road on a SORN for several years.

Anyway, I fitted a new regulator/rectifier as the old one was not working, and NLM re-wound the yellow coil on the alternator.

Last week I fitted a new (good quality) battery and was delighted to find that everything was working o.k. apart from the pilot light bulb but that was because the bulb itself had blown.
Also the indicators were working front left/back right, and front right/back left, which was a bit weird but I just swapped over the wires on the rear indicators and that seemed to do the trick.

The next day I fitted a new pilot light bulb, but was dismayed to find that the battery was very flat.

Having spoken to a few people, today I went over the bike looking for bad connections or shorts etc.. (By the way, I am currently working away from home during the week and so have limited time for sorting things out).

Anyway, I went around generally cleaning things up, and then connected the freshly charged battery. I connected the Positive lead first, and when I connected the Negative lead I heard the starter relay go 'click'.

The ignition key wasn't in the lock, and the lock was in the 'off' position. Should the starter relay go 'click' in these circumstances?

I took off all the electric start gubbins years ago and now I'm wondering if I should have left the thick wire running from the starter relay down to where the starter motor was, so as to be an earth connection?

Here is a picture..


I confess I know diddly-squat about electrics, but anyway.. Out of curiosity, with the ignition still switched off, I ran a wire from that empty terminal down to a bolt on the frame.. and was rewarded by a shower of sparks which scared the hell out of me!

So, I'm wondering if I should run a wire from the terminal to earth, and if so, how thick a wire would it need to be?

Thanks in advance, and my apologies for being a bit of an idiot with electrics..

Best Wishes,
Jenny.

[3potjohn]

Hi my similar bike has a working electric start now.I have had the thing on and of about 6 times this year. I am certain the main feed to the starter motor is not normally active until the key is switched to the "on" position but have been bl**dy careful not to touch it to earth as it is so fat.Assuming you have not removed and replaced the wires running to the ignition switch,it sounds as though the switch is bad.You have a permanently live circuit. I think the red lead to the switch supplies the current, so if this is disconnected you should not flatten the battery (but this needs to be confirmed,I've only had the bike 1 year)
I have a spare switch, which I replaced because it did not retain the key once switched on but worked fine. You are welcome to try to swap this in.I have no experience of cleaning them out with some type of cleaning spray-maybe a lost cause.
The indicators will certainly work as you found if the wires are swapped around.
Anyhow if others think the switch is also the likely culprit assuming the fuses box is wired up right, I will happily lend you my spare. I take it you have seen the colour wiring diagrams from this site. Better than nowt I think.

[hendre]

I think the relay is not connected correctly. The small terminals one should ground to the frame, one to the starter button on your left handle. The big fat terminals one should connect to your battery directly with a thick wire, one directly to your starter motor. Hope this helps...

[EVguru]

If the starter relay is clicking when you connect the battery, that would explain the battery going flat.

You can see the wiring diagram at; http://www.morini-riders-club.com/thebi ... 50wire.gif

The starter button may be stuck on, but should only be active with the ignition switched on. The starter button is fed by the brown wire and may have been moved to the wrong position in the fuse box. The best thing would be to disconnect the black wire and tape the end up.

[Morinijen]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

Unfortunately I don't seem to have made any progress.
The starter relay still clicks when the battery leads are connected.

I have disconnected both the brown and the black wires which come from the electric start switch and it's still the same.

As far as I can tell all the wires going to the fuse box are in the right place. I'm pretty sure I've connected the new regulator correctly, even though it doesn't match the MRC diagram.

I checked all the wires coming from the ignition switch and they all seem to be o.k. although I've no idea if everything is alright inside the switch, although the bike will only run with the switch in the 'on' position.

If it's alright with you 3potjohn, I'd like to take up your kind offer of having a go with your spare switch. I'll send you a p.m. It'd be good if I could receive it by this friday as I only have friday evening and early saturday to get things sorted as it is booked in for it's MOT on saturday morning.

Having said that, I suppose I could just put in a freshly charged battery and hope that it passes the test before the battery goes flat!

I don't mind disconnecting the battery between rides if it comes to that, but without the MOT I won't be able to go to the Festival Of 1000 Bikes, and I'll be well cheesed off if that happens.

Sorry if I sound like I'm whinging!

One good thing is that my friend Roy, who some of you will know, has very kindly said that he'd be willing to come round and help me out with the bike either late friday or early staurday. It's an amazing offer as it's quite a schlep from Leighton Buzzard to South East London.

Still, I'm working away for the next few days but if anyone has any more suggestions to offer in the meantime I'd be glad to hear them.

Best Wishes,
Jenny.

[EVguru]

Make it simple, disconnect the relay.

Remove the heavy red wire from the battery to the relay and transfer the thinner red wire from the relay to the battery.

[Jem]

Be warned! The fusebox in the wiring diagram is upside down compared to the actual bike!
This makes the diagram simpler, with fewer crossing wires, but confusing when trying to troubleshoot. Also there are two leads which go nowhere - one from the regulator which looks like it's an earth connection (blue) that isn't on earlier non-electric start models and one from the fourth connection from the left on the bottom of the fuse box (on the diagram) which looks like it should be the red (I'm red-green colour blind) connection to the alternator.

I always fancied redrawing the wiring diagram the right way up and in layers so that in something like Powerpoint you could separate out the charging circuit, the ignition circuit, the main lighting, etc. I've but have never found the time.

[Morinijen]

Hi Everyone.
Thanks again for all your replies and for all the help I've received.

The very wonderful Roy did come down to my place last night and ran a few tests. It seems that Paul's suggestion to disconnect the starter relay was the right one as we found that that was the problem.

Anyway, the good news is that the bike passed it's MOT test, and I even managed to get a new tax disc this afternoon, so now I'm a proper Morini Rider again and will be off to the Festival Of 1000 Bikes next weekend!

Whoopee!

Here is a picture of my bike today, complete with shiny new tax disc.



Best Wishes,
Jenny.

[3potjohn]

Glad it is sorted. Wiring is alway a worry.
Time to fill the switchgear with silicon grease judging by the howling gale outside at the moment.
I noted a clip on the BBC website showing bog snorkelling on pushbikes yesterday.There may have been some useful tips for next weekend's do at Mallory. I thought this global warming thing sounded to good to be true........