TOPIC:

I appreciate your commitment to helping people like me figure out wiring. I have recently picked up a 1980 KX750G twin; it's best to assume that we're starting over electrically. I'd like to go no-battery, but use a key in the same way you arranged for "1980 KZ 1000 E@ Shaft drive No Battery for Rockabillybobber". One question I have is what to do with the oil pressure and neutral wires? do I just cap those off or can I include them? I appreciate your help and other's advice in advance.

rift.sawn wrote: I appreciate your commitment to helping people like me figure out wiring. I have recently picked up a 1980 KX750G twin; it's best to assume that we're starting over electrically. I'd like to go no-battery, but use a key in the same way you arranged for "1980 KZ 1000 E@ Shaft drive No Battery for Rockabillybobber". One question I have is what to do with the oil pressure and neutral wires? do I just cap those off or can I include them? I appreciate your help and other's advice in advance.

I assume you mean a Kz750G twin. Correct?

The bike should be perfectly tuned before you try to get rid of the battery. If it has any difficulty starting on the first kick, removing the battery will just make it harder to start. Also, be aware, all of the lights need to be off when starting, especially the headlight. That single kick has to charge the capacitor fully and fire the ignition. It will not be able to do it with the lights on. I use a relay to automatically shut off the lights when the motor stops. In this diagram, it is done with a 3-position ignition switch. But if it stalls, you have to remember to turn the ignition switch back to acc position to turn the lights off in order to re-start. It usually helps to bump the idle up a tiny bit to prevent stalls from irregular takeoffs, like if someone steps in front of you when you are leaving from a stop sign etc.

Open the image in another page to see it full-size, or maybe download it first.

1980 Kawasaki Kz750G1 twin for rift.sawn, batteryless.


EDIT 1/15/2019:
Mattylight Barebones Bare Bones Wiring Diagram
1980 Kawasaki Kz750G1 twin batteryless for Rift_sawn
Kz750G Kz750 G1 Kz 750 G 750G1 750G

Yes - a KZ not a KX; still having problems letting go of my dirt bike...
Would substituting LED lighting have some of the same effect as a slightly faster idle?
In any case, this is very helpful. Thank you.

Yes, using less current for the rest of the bike will free up power for the ignition. But this is only an issue when you accidentally let the rpms drop to like 500 or even lower. That is not normally a problem. But being in a city, all sorts of unexpected stuff jumps out at you while riding, so it's not always possible to keep the rpms normal. I'd say the bike stalls about once every few years due to a pedestrian or car suddenly materializing from hyperspace.

Thanks again. As I look for parts to piece this diagram together, I see regulator rectifiers for the '80 KZ750G twin that have only four wires: two from the dynamo/stator, a black to ground, and a red/yellow. The brown seems to be missing. Since we'd be splicing the brown into the red/yellow in the diagram, is it safe to go with one of these 4-wire regulator/rectifiers?

rift.sawn wrote: Thanks again. As I look for parts to piece this diagram together, I see regulator rectifiers for the '80 KZ750G twin that have only four wires: two from the dynamo/stator, a black to ground, and a red/yellow. The brown seems to be missing. Since we'd be splicing the brown into the red/yellow in the diagram, is it safe to go with one of these 4-wire regulator/rectifiers?

Yes, but get a new one, or a very recent used one. 35 year old reg/recs might not have much life left in them. They can fail in a gradual way, which means it can strand you miles from home with no battery to get you back.

Most Kaw factory reg/recs, that I have looked into, have the brown wire. So if you want a new-ish 4-wire one, it will probably be aftermarket.

Make sure it is a regulator & rectifier, and not just a rectifier. And make sure it is for a permanent magnet alternator.

1977 Kawasaki Kz1000 for AssemblyRequired

EDIT 1/15/2019:
Mattylight Barebones Bare Bones Wiring Diagram
1977 Kawasaki Kz1000 for AssemblyRequired
Kz 1000

1984 Kawasaki Zn1100B1 Ltd. for Badmonk, with corrected coil wiring.




I have removed the original diagram and substituted this corrected diagram in the original post. Please do not edit this post else the attachment will be lost. Thanks Bill KZQ

1982 Kawasaki KZ1000P police bike for MDSBLCK
Due to its width, you may have to download it first, and open it on your computer to see it full size.
Or open it in a new window.


EDIT 1/15/2019:
Mattylight Barebones Bare Bones Wiring Diagram
1982 Kawasaki Kz1000P for MDSBLCK
Kz1000 P Kz 1000 1000P

loudhvx, you're a beast. So fast. Thanks so much. This looks waaaay simpler than what I was tinkering with myself. I'll head to the garage in a minute and try to make sense of it all, so I can start ordering wire and connectors and stuff.

Anyone have a preferred vendor for all the supplies? I was recommended Cycle Terminal for terminals and connectors, and Rhode Island Wire for the wire...

I use point-to-point wiring rather than the sectioned harness from the factory. So basically the whole bike is one big harness, with a couple subharnesses, like for the pickup plate, and handlebar area.

I use generic, 1/4" crimp spade terminals. This greatly reduces the supplies I need to carry when I go to rewire a bike. Large connectors are needed if you have a more complex wiring. I usually do bare-bones stuff so it's pretty easy to just memorize it.

Crimped connectors seem to last longer, in my experience. Soldering weakens the copper and sometimes promotes corrosion. I will solder a T joint in the harness as long as I know it's going to be supported by other continuous wires, and will be taped over to keep out moisture.

I use a really good, ratcheting crimper, and try to get decent Panduit connectors.
www.harborfreight.com/ratcheting-crimping-tool-97420.html
I think I up the crimp pressure one notch from normal.

This is the stripper I use, but there should be a decent cheaper one available,
www.amazon.com/Ideal-Industries-Stripmas...ripper/dp/B000RFSWF8


So with all that, I just use automotive wire available at auto parts stores. Pep-Boys had a pretty good selection of sizes and colors.

Basically, I keep things simple and make sure my supplies are easily available, since I will often end up rewiring a bike on the fly. It's often faster than trying to troubleshoot a hundred other wiring problems. And usually, when I pull and old harness, and dissect it, I find many places where the harness has failed is is about to fail.

You can get the stripper from Depot. Excellent tool. I've used it for years "roping houses". Unlike other strippers, it doesn't nick the wire. With solid wire, that can cause it to break while pushing the receptacle into the boxes thus avoiding opening them all up to find one broken wire.
I wouldn't use anything else.
Steve

loudhvx wrote: I use point-to-point wiring rather than the sectioned harness from the factory. So basically the whole bike is one big harness, with a couple subharnesses, like for the pickup plate, and handlebar area.

I use generic, 1/4" crimp spade terminals. This greatly reduces the supplies I need to carry when I go to rewire a bike. Large connectors are needed if you have a more complex wiring. I usually do bare-bones stuff so it's pretty easy to just memorize it.

Crimped connectors seem to last longer, in my experience. Soldering weakens the copper and sometimes promotes corrosion. I will solder a T joint in the harness as long as I know it's going to be supported by other continuous wires, and will be taped over to keep out moisture.

So with all that, I just use automotive wire available at auto parts stores. Pep-Boys had a pretty good selection of sizes and colors.

Basically, I keep things simple and make sure my supplies are easily available, since I will often end up rewiring a bike on the fly. It's often faster than trying to troubleshoot a hundred other wiring problems. And usually, when I pull and old harness, and dissect it, I find many places where the harness has failed is is about to fail.

Just so I'm sure I understand correctly... You just run the individual wires where they need to go, instead of bunching everything up neatly and wrapping it in tape or tube? Or do you still have the thick "core" harness of cables running the length of the bike, the difference being that you run the wire for each individual part to where it needs to go, rather than connect it to a main harness via a multitude of connectors? looking at the original harness from this bike and all the different connectors gave me an instant headache...

And when you just use the generic spade terminals, how do you waterproof it? Do you use marine shrink wrap around the connections or is there a trick to it, so you can still "unplug" the individual connections without cutting anything?

Also - just one fuse? The original harness had, I think, 8 fuses, and most other diagrams I've seen has one 30amp fuse for the wire going to the ignition switch and back + one 10amp fuse for each circuit for lights, ignition and aux. Is that just making things more complicated? One 20amp is enough? Does it need to be a different wire gauge when doing it that way?

When all is said and done, I end up with a main harness trunk running the length of the bike, and just branch out wires as needed to the various components. It's much simpler than the factory harness and far less redunadant. Having fewer wires makes it much easier to hide the wires behind frame tubing. The harness should be supported everywhere, and only the bare minimum allowed to "float". The most difficult spot is between the frame and fork area. Keep the harness as close to the pivot as possible so it moves as little as possible when the steering is moved. In that area, you will have to let the harness have a little more freedom.

I forgot to mention, make sure to get some non-adhesive tape (which is what the factory used). That is the best thing to wrap the final harness when it's all laid out and in place on the bike. You can get it on ebay as a large roll. It costs more than adhesive electrical tape, but adhesive tape soon becomes a huge mess if you ever have to work on the harness again. You will use small bits of adhesive tape to hold the harness together before you wrap it, and that's fine, but the main wrap should be non-adhesive. If you have a wire junction in the harness, (you will have several for the power wire) the actual exposed junction on that wire should get a bit of adhesive tape so it stays in place.

By having only one fuse, you reduce the redundant wires used for power, so you greatly reduce the total number of wires running back and forth. The factory system is designed for ease of assembly allowing large sections of bike to be put together quickly using the big multi-pin connectors. With a simplified system, being wired by hand, you can eliminate a lot of the redundancy.

The factory system is a zoned power distribution, whereas the bare-bones wiring is more of a bus system. That is, the power is distributed on a switched 12v bus wire. This means you can branch the power wire off to where it needs to go instead of running multiple wires from the fuse box. The schematic I made is drawn as a bus-system. Notice the top line of the diagram is switched 12v, and the bottom line is ground. All other devices basically connect between those two wires.

However, your diagram is not exactly bare bones, so you could make an argument for a separate lighting fuse. Fuses are to protect the wiring from a dead short. A single main fuse does that. Having separate fuses are more for troubleshooting, and in some cases may let you limp home without lights or other accessories. If the main fuse blows, in a one-fuse setup, you would disconnect all of the lighting, and non-essential devices and try to start the bike. If it still blows, then the bike would be dead regardless of how many systems were fused. If you carry spare fuses it should be fine to go with one fuse, but if you are nervous about shorts, then you might want to install a couple other fuses.

Since you are not running all of the police accessories, you won't need a 30A fuse. 20A is pretty standard for most KZ's, which have the same basic lighting and gauges you will have.

The basic spade terminals are not waterproof, but neither were the factory connectors. If you want to go waterproof, you will need to go to expensive, sealed automotive connectors, with rubber seals for each wire. That is the only way I've seen successful water-tight connections. The factory used boots over the connectors, and I'm sure they helped, but they were not really waterproof. You can do much the same by wrapping the junction with the non-adhesive tape. I don't tend to ride in rain as much as I drive cars in the rain so it has never been an issue for me.

This is great. Thanks so much! I actually think I'm ready to give it a go

Oh, was just thinking - will the odometer work as-is or would that need some sort of wiring? I took apart the gauges to look at the wiring and currently it looks like a light green and a red wire goes to my odometer, is that right?

Also, where would be the best place for a light circuit fuse on this diagram, if I were to decide to do that?

Thanks again. Really appreciate all the help here!

MDSBLCK wrote: Oh, was just thinking - will the odometer work as-is or would that need some sort of wiring? I took apart the gauges to look at the wiring and currently it looks like a light green and a red wire goes to my odometer, is that right?

Also, where would be the best place for a light circuit fuse on this diagram, if I were to decide to do that?

Thanks again. Really appreciate all the help here!

According to the factory diagram, that light green wire and red wire, in the speedo, are for the self cancelling turn signal unit. They detect distance traveled to automatically cancel the turn signal. (It must be some combination of distance and speed, actually, since turning from a stop, you'd want to cancel it after a short distance, and on the highway, for a lane change, you'd want to cancel after a much longer distance.) You can just leave them unconnected.

Here is an optional fuse for the lighting. I think 10 amps should do it.
The horn is not fused since it might pop a 10 A fuse.
You don't want the brake lights fused, for safety reasons.



EDIT 1/15/2019:
Mattylight Barebones Bare Bones Wiring Diagram
1982 Kawasaki Kz1000P for MDSBLCK
Kz1000 P Kz 1000

As always, many thanks, sir!

1981 Kawasaki Kz550C2 Ltd. for GENEVAN1116
LD 12/2/16



EDIT 1/15/2019:
Mattylight Barebones Bare Bones Wiring Diagram
1981 Kawasaki Kz550C2 for GENEVAN1116
Kz550C Kz550 C2 Kz 550 C 550C2 550C