SuzukiSavage.com - Wiring advice needed

dasch Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 1137	Wiring advice needed 09/27/08 at 12:04:03 Finally got some time to start modifying wiring. Is there any good reason why I should not ditch almost all ground wires and pick up grounds as needed from the frame itself??
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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28884 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Wiring advice needed Reply #1 - 09/27/08 at 12:24:44 Probably not a major issue as we only have a CDI box. L it's good enough for arley. and we never have an issue with the current ground wire
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Charon Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1811 Harvard, NE Gender:	Re: Wiring advice needed Reply #2 - 09/27/08 at 12:33:27 If you do that make sure you actually use the frame. Do not count on a ground from the handlebar/fork assembly to the frame unless you use a wire. Remember without a wire the only electrical contact between the fork and the frame is through the greased steering head bearings.
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Paladin.

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #3 - 09/27/08 at 16:56:49

dasch wrote on 09/27/08 at 12:04:03:

Finally got some time to start modifying wiring. Is there any good reason why I should not ditch almost all ground wires and pick up grounds as needed from the frame itself??

Which will you trust to provide your ground return that will allow horn, lights, ignition to work.... a solidly connected copper wire -- or a connection via bolted together parts, the aforementioned greased bearings ??

You know all those cars you see where the turn signal dims the running light on the other side -- faulty ground.

But I have a most excelent reason for YOU to trust chassis ground -- you are not ME.

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T Mack 1 - FSO

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #4 - 09/27/08 at 17:26:54

Re-wiring...hmmm... really, really hope you have a wiring diagram and fully understand how everything interacts.
I have a Electronics tech degree and it took me a bit of tracing to understand how the side-stand-diode works by "sinking" the ground.

As for frame grounds, "half a dozen of one, six of another". All the stock connections are push together conectors that can corrode over time..... Key is having good ground straps (not just std wire, use the braided ground strap stuff). Frame to forks, forks to hndlebars.... frame to rear fender.... etc etc. And remember that any electrical part that has mounts with rubber bushings would need grd'ing too.

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thumperclone

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #5 - 09/27/08 at 18:50:19

out on a limb here.....
harleys switch the "ground" on their bikes
savage switches the hot....
you can reinvent the wheel but will it be better? round works.on the savage more ground points work...
remindes me of my electrican days was giving a fellow worker a ride home and he told me how when he was doing dishes at nite he get a "tingle" at the sink...
when we pulled up to his abode i saw the situation..
he was renting an old(lucy and rickey)type trailer with the axle removed and up on blocks.there was some zip(lamp) cord coming out of a hole drilled by the front door to a jelly jar porch light...
who ever wired this modern convenience didnt take into consideration
they were dealing with 110v ac not 12 volts dc and used one of the sheet metal screws holding the aluminum skin to the trailer as a point for the "ground"....which is not "ground" at all its the grounded conductor in ac circuits..SOOOOO the whole metal fabric and any other metal(plumbing pipes) had 110 volts (less the resistance of the 60 watt bulb)potential when the porch lite was on..
i unscrewed the bulb and told him to find a new place to live..

id leave the harness as designed..but thats just me Roll Eyes

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #6 - 09/28/08 at 04:29:33

The LS650 is one of the most reliable and longest running production models out there. At the price of copper today, Suzuki would have plenty of incentive to eliminate redundant ground wires if the frame was just as good, but the new models still have copper ground wires.

Design engineers commonly use a technique called FMEA, or failure modes & effects analysis to determine the consequences and risks of design changes. I'm betting this one did not pass the test of changes that were worth the risk.

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #7 - 09/28/08 at 06:11:07

Ive seen U-joints on cars go bad because current was passing thru. Well, I guess I cant really say that, Ive seen cars that had juice in the driveline & failed Ujoints. Can I know it was currentflow thru bearings that caused the failure? no,,, I dont unnerstand all the hassle, I dont see wires poking out. Maybe if I was gonna get all "minimalistic" I might give it a go..

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dasch

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Re: Wiring advice needed
Reply #8 - 09/30/08 at 11:20:25

hmmm, thanks all. I do have the schematics and I am pretty good at low voltage electrics. To clarify; I am not ditching *ALL* grounds. Actually, I am not touching anything past the seat and forward. Just the rear end. Turn signals, tail light, few other things...

When I checked on the actual bike (versus the schematics Sad

), it seems there's not too many ground to "minimalize" anyways. Thanks again for sane reasoning.

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