Question about a full custom wiring set up

[reesea17]

Okay, so heres the idea.

I want to do a very minimalistic set up on my CB450 build. The components I want are as follows:

• Headlight
• Electric Start
• Horn
• Break light
• LED lit Speedo and Tach
• Engine kill switch

I would like to locate the starter switch on or near the battery box underneath the seat along with the engine kill switch. Where can I get the information necessary to understand the process towards doing this. I am good with electronics but need help understanding the wiring and what everything needs in order to work. Thanks for the help on this, I understand it is quite vague.

 

[alec.korver]

Doing this right now. My recommendation is rip out your old wiring harness for starters and rewire exactly what you want on its own terminal. Have all of it run through a relay and separate your power feeds in terminals. Not too terrible. Just takes some thinking through.

 

[reesea17]

Yeah thats the thing, I am trying to figure out what all is actually needed and what needs to be hooked up to achieve the things I want. I found a website for someones 350-400 wiring harness and plan on using it to base off of. But then again I don't quite know what all I need for it in the first place to make everything work. Still haven't figured out what the rectifier is for. I'm guessing the regulator is simply to make sure that the battery is producing a constant DC voltage to all the components that require it.

 

[alec.korver]

The rectifier converts the current from the alternator to something that can charge the battery. THe regulator is used to regulate the voltage to the battery. I believe also that at some point, when the battery is full, the rectifier dumps the excess voltage to a ground. You will need a crimp tool, heat gun, solder iron, solder, heat shrink, 14/16/18 gauge wire, crimp ends, zip ties, digital multimeter, automotive relay, 15 amp in line fuse, terminal block and some other doo dads. That will get you started though. Just start by wiring up a main power feed and ground from your battery. The main power feed needs to pass through the automotive relay "which is just a fancy electromagnetic switch". From there it can be spliced into multiple outputs to switches, such as the ignition, coils, headlight, taillight, etc.... You will also be running a main power line from your battery to your starter solenoid. Battery can be grounded anywhere on your frame. Just remember every component you hook up needs a positive feed and a ground. If you are going to install any switches, they can either be linked on the positive feed or the ground. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thumb through the last two pages of my build thread to see what I did.

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=36806.msg398243#msg398243

also you don't need to wire up the reg/rect until last. So don't worry about it until later. All your lights/turnsignals can be easily hooked up with a little bit of thought. Just think of them as lightbulbs with pos/neg feeds that can also have switches somewhere along the way.