[ritchie-t]

Pulling my hair out with this. Hoping somebody can help.

Had my new race engine running nice in my road bike to make it easy to test on the road. Transferred it over to my race bike and noticed the Gray wire is showing 12v. So somehow there is a short in the ignition switch. Not problem I thought because I am nearly finished building my race loom which does away with the key.

I have a whole bunch of 100 ohm resistors to take the voltage down to 6v for the gray wire. As a really simple test I have unplugged the ignition switch and just looped a wire with spade connectors between the white and brown and then jumped from the brown to the gray wire with a 100 ohm resistor. When I test with a multimeter I still get 12v.

Just to make sure nothing got in the way of testing that the resistor worked I put the multimeter negative to the negative battery, the multimeter positive to the end of a resistor held in one hand, the other end of the resistor to the positive of the battery and I still get 12v. I can only assume my logic of how this needs to be wired is incorrect?

Any help would be appreciated as I need to get this running by the weekend. I can see myself buying a 6v battery at this rate to get it started!

 

[ritchie-t]

If it helps to visualise the loop test I am doing then I have done a quick and dirty diagram

Obviously this is just to prove that the resistor works keeping things as simple as possible and I will wire in something proper with an actual switch.

At the moment it does not drop the voltage using a 100 ohm 2w resistor:

 

[ritchie-t]

Ok so a bit of research later. My limited electronics knowledge may have led me astray. Seems you need 2 resistors of equal resistance to half the voltage. The cdi needs to sit between them. There must be another resistor in the cdi I assume. The fact I get 12v with the key turned on down the gray wire must mean that the problem is further down.

 

[Pyke13]

dont know much about it but i do know theres a right way to wire in a resistor. as in the way the current flows thru it. theres a input end and an output end.
its late im tired its been a long day but i hope that makes sense

 

[motocon]

Can you try the ignition from street bike and plug it into the track bike? Pop off the triple and plug it in......

 

[ritchie-t]

A resistor has no polarity so can be installed either way round. Although I won’t deny I did try swapping it just because the option was there and I was misinformed.

Good idea - I will have a go at swapping the barrel off my road bike. It will rule in our out the barrel as the problem.

 

[Pyke13]

A resistor has no polarity so can be installed either way round. Although I won’t deny I did try swapping it just because the option was there and I was misinformed.

sorry for the misinformation, have always been lead to believe there was a right way round to install them

 

[ritchie-t]

So sorted it in the end. The resistors I was trying to use would work, but I was testing for 6v with no CDI plugged in. You need two resistors for the voltage to drop between them so the other must be within the CDI itself. I was getting 12v because I was only testing one

http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/How-to-reduce-voltage-with-resistors.php

Bike starts now finally!

 

[Bike #14]

Hi I got same problem
Your saying there's another resistor in the cdi? ?

 

[ritchie-t]

Hi I got same problem
Your saying there's another resistor in the cdi? ?

Yep, it must be built into the unit. In order for you to get 6v you need two resistors and you will only get the 6v in between them. One we know is in the key barrel, the other would have to be in the CDI itself.

This should not hamper your testing of the wire from where the barrel plugs into the loom with a multimeter, as long as the CDI is plugged in. Mine wasn't when testing originally, but I was getting a 12v reading on the meter because I still earthed it effectively just bypassing the CDI to close the loop.

 

[keepitgreen]

Thats a good bit if info to know ritchie.
I'm waiting for this problem to hit me and have already started looking for a new ignition switch to start with. Probably good to have one on hand anyway..

 

[Bike #14]

Hey Ritchie your right! The used cdi I just picked up you can see the cap on the bike side

 

[Bike #14]

And it dosent even matter its the same crank and no start bought this thing to give me peace and when it runs it does I?m ready to drive my Hummer H2 over this thing!
According to the Kawasaki service manual one must use the Kawasaki hand tester to measure resistance and it states any other device will not be correct in its measurements. Im wondering if just our regular DMM has falsely condemned most of my components... smh

 

[Bike #14]

Damn I posted threads all over hahaha trying to get this thing fixed. Smh...we gave up and then one last desperate attempt...
And we found it!!! Burnt connector coming right out of the alt! This connector is inside the alternator. The main harness from the fuse plugs into it. Replaced it and the bike fired right up

 

[ritchie-t]

Damn I posted threads all over hahaha trying to get this thing fixed. Smh...we gave up and then I just had this it?s a damn wire issue thought that won?t go away
And we found it!!! Burnt connector coming right out of the alt

Glad you got it sorted in the end

 

[Bike #14]

Thank you Ritchie I appreciate the help from all you guys! Who would have thought to look inside the alt jeez this thing kicked our ass

 

[kherewego]

Thanks for the help .My 2004 mean streak 1600 Kawasaki is driving me nuts .But if someone can help me out .I have a cranking motor But no Spark at all 4 plugs .I replace the wiring harness due to it had melted wires when I bought it .It had spark but ran pretty good but I figured with the good used Harness that had no melted wires & did not have any hacking would make her run better . But now no spark .I also took the key switch apart & the wires were melted big time in the switch .So I cut all away & soldered 5 new wires on the key pad & put a new plug in in other end .I getting now 12 volts on 4 wires & 6 volts out Gray wire . is this correct ?