New guy from San Diego - 85 FJ1100

[fadingfastsd]

Cool, lets talk about it! What are the common electrical failures on this bike?

[Pat Conlon]

..... I noticed brown sludge dripping all over the left fairing above the air intake.
 I want to keep riding in the meantime, so a rag tied around the master cylinder should suffice for now.

Are you sure you want to do this? You know the DOT 3/4 brake fluid eats your paint and the ABS plastic...right?

[racerman_27410]

regulator..... the FJ is notorius for overcharging the battery.

undersized wiring supplying power to the headlight and coils


thats about it.



KOokaloo!


Frank

[fadingfastsd]

..... I noticed brown sludge dripping all over the left fairing above the air intake.
 I want to keep riding in the meantime, so a rag tied around the master cylinder should suffice for now.

Are you sure you want to do this? You know the DOT 3/4 brake fluid eats your paint and the ABS plastic...right?

Sorry I made it sound worse than it is. The leak is not that bad. I rode this morning with a rag on the MC, and no drips at all. 

[fadingfastsd]

regulator..... the FJ is notorius for overcharging the battery.

undersized wiring supplying power to the headlight and coils


thats about it.



KOokaloo!


Frank

I will build regulator replacements for sure. Already looking into this.
What about a headlight relay kit, so headlight current is not running through the switch? Power the bulbs off a relay should brighten them up a little. Thoughts?

[racerman_27410]

lots of guys have already done the headlight relay mod.... its really  necessity for anyone who ever rides at night.

we have a very nice writeup in our files section....

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?board=24.0


and there are several companys like Eastern beaver already selling some nice pre made kits.

however dont let this deter you from thinking outside the box and bringing something
new and or better to the table for fair money.


KOokaloo!

[moparman70]

Welcome to the group Evan, I am up in Oceanside -- check out this post

fellow members Mike and Mark came down from LALA land and we went a riding --met member Terry K enroute

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=5451.0

Stevecc

[SlowOldGuy]

Coil relays are also a good idea.  Something premade/packaged for the FJ might be worthwhile.

DavidR.

[rktmanfj]

Coil relays are also a good idea.  Something premade/packaged for the FJ might be worthwhile.

DavidR.

+1, David... GMTA

The only reason I don't have one is that I haven't had time to bulld one.

I guess now that I have a real garage, that could change, though.

[fadingfastsd]

Sorry I haven't been on here, busy weekend.
I've got components on order for my new prototype of the FJ regulator. This should be an awesome improvement, with a much more efficient and hotter regulator.
It will be priced under the Electrosport part, and much better.  I'll have it built and tested next week, and hopefully available the week after (assuming all the prototyping goes well).
They'll be available through me at RaceTech Electric (www.racetechelectric.com), and Radeuchel Motorsports. Had a great talk last week with Randy there, great guy and he gave me good insight on electrical issues with the FJ's.  I also got my clutch master & slave rebuild kits on the way from Randy! (should be here tomorrow)

I'm also going to do relay mods for the coils & headlights, probably tomorrow. I will be taking measurements for harness length, and should have a nicely priced exact fit kit for relay modding the FJ's. You guys will be the first to know when I have these parts finished.

Didn't really get any riding in this weekend, but my girlfriend got me an awesome new helmet! A new Icon Alliance Rat helmet. Great helmets if anybodys thinking about one.

Evan

[racerman_27410]

Good news Evan,

I had a feeling you were a bright fella.


when my regulator went bad it went really bad.....  My negative battery terminal got so hot it literally melted and my onboard voltmeter was reading super high voltages.... like in the high 20's!

someone riding without a voltmeter could have really wasted the entire wiring harness pretty quick.


Looking forward to seeing your design...even though mine is new it's not against my personal policy to replace a part with a much better part.   


KOokaloo!

[fadingfastsd]

Good to hear Racer, cuz I'd love to get you running our new regulator! haha

I'm also planning on having the new regulator drive a charging system status LED that will be included with the regulator kit.
More details on this to follow next week as I get the prototype built....

[Pat Conlon]

Evan, I was thinking (after all, it is Xmas) how about a relay kit designed with expand ability in mind?
To start, the basic (2) spst relays we use for our headlights, then have the option to add a 3rd additional relay (via plug) for our coils and perhaps even a 4th relay for those God awful 120db horns....hell, maybe even a 5th relay for driving lights?
Each relay having it's own 15/20/30amp fuse adjacent to the relay....along with a master 40/50 amp fuse and disconnect at the battery.
Throw in some LEDs adjacent to the fuses, to indicate power flow would help in visually checking the fuse status and LED's adjacent to the relay to check relay status. (on secondary side of relay output)

That way we need only to route 1 home run with 2 big conductors back to our battery
A 5 relay plug base, with the relays and fuses/LEDs readily accessible, tucked up under the fairing, with the ability to add relays as we need them?

Oh yea, everything to be waterproof....

[racerman_27410]

I like the way you think Pat!

KOokaloo!

Evan, I was thinking (after all, it is Xmas) how about a relay kit designed with expand ability in mind?
To start, the basic (2) spst relays we use for our headlights, then have the option to add a 3rd additional relay (via plug) for our coils and perhaps even a 4th relay for those God awful 120db horns....hell, maybe even a 5th relay for driving lights?
Each relay having it's own 15/20/30amp fuse adjacent to the relay....along with a master 40/50 amp fuse and disconnect at the battery.
Throw in some LEDs adjacent to the fuses, to indicate power flow would help in visually checking the fuse status and LED's adjacent to the relay to check relay status. (on secondary side of relay output)

That way we need only to route 1 home run with 2 big conductors back to our battery
A 5 relay plug base, with the relays and fuses/LEDs readily accessible, tucked up under the fairing, with the ability to add relays as we need them?

Oh yea, everything to be waterproof....

[RichBaker]

There is a company making fuses with indicators built-in.......

http://www.designnotes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AFU15L&Category_Code=cfwil

Amazon sells them.....  But, a relay harness designed to use them is a good idea.