Haste Makes Waste

I finally got things back together and have the headlight in the shell using my own approach. The headlight is a standard Halogen Sylvannia light for a car. It still has the ring from the fairing attached to it, but this is not going to work with the standard shell....what to do?

The ring fits inside the shell, but there is some space around it. Here's my idea. I bought some felt weatherstripping and placed a length of it around the outside of the headlight shell and secured it with electrical tape. that extended the edge of the shell with a flexible, soft felt ring. I did the same for the headlight and magically the two rings of felt nest inside each other "pretty good". I then wrapped the joint in more tape. Looks great, works fine.

Only problem was that when I was doing all this, I did not disconnect the headlight from its connector. I did not know it but one of the connections was pulled out and I did not know I did not have a headlight until I was all suited up and ready to ride this morning (30 F).

Well, I fixed it enough for the ride and bought a new $2.50 connector at PEP Boys. Another little project for another time.

Troubleshooting the Flasher Relay

Reference: Troubleshoot Turn Signal Relay - Turn Signal works, indicator flashes once and turns off. Hella DOT TBB 26 1-4x21W-12V 4DB 002 479-08 (A)71315 See Standard Troubleshooting Disclaimer on Main Page


Odd thing. I finally think I had one of those experiences we were told we would someday have. It was like the scene in Red Planet when Val Kilmer says (trying to figure out their way to the Mars Habitat Shelter before their air runs out) :"This is it. That moment our teachers said that someday algebra would save our lives". I now know a bit more about the flasher relay than I would like and I think physics saved me $59.

Removing the fairing was pretty simple actually. As to the turn signals, they used to be up on the fairing and had two wires each - a hot and a ground. The ground went back to the 31 block (the brown one on the bottom - brown as ground). So when the light was on its circuit was fairly clean although connectors can create some resistance. Lets just consider this the 'normal state' of that circuit.

How does a turn signal work? There are several good sites - check out the Vespa repair site. It has a fine explanation.


Basically for this troubleshooting you need to know that there are two magnetic coils in the relay that serve to interrupt the circuit. One is associated with the lights and one acts in parallel and runs the little turn signal indicator light in the instrument console.

When I went to the stalk lights I increased the resistance on the circuit since they are now grounded through the frame and not the block. This affected the behavior of the capacitor in the relay. It apparently had enough juice to pull down its own coil repeatedly, but after the first discharge it failed to provide adequate amps to the second coil (indicator on instrument cluster) to allow it to repeat. So when you turn on the signal it works, but the indicator blinks once and then does not blink again.

I opened up the relay by spreading the base of the cap and examined the relay. Be VERY GENTLE. These things can bounce around all day, but there are some very fine parts that if touched roughly can damage the entire piece. After a couple of days learning about relays and looking at this problem I did the scientific thing of...(See Standard Disclaimer)...placing my fingernail behind the bar that completes the signal and push it about 1/64th of an inch closer to its coil. Bingo! It started to work just fine. So I could either 1) adjust the rest for this bar and bend it closer and reduce the travel distance...or 2) adjust the spring tension and and make it easier to move the bar. I did 2) since it looked like the spring was designed to have its tension adjusted. That's it... a $59 replacement avoided. Clean it up with electronic parts cleaner, grease it with some dielectric grease to preserve and clip it back into the bike. Good riding!

Wiring Chart for R100/7

I have finally removed the Vanguard fairing from the bike. It is a period piece made in England and frankly looks pretty good, all considered.


So in the process of removing it I made some notes on the wiring . Below is a chart explaining how the wiring harness was connected for the fairing. The middle image is a view of the wiring harness half that was connected to the bike's connector block in the headlight. It shows the connectors and the wiring color codes of the harness wires. On the right is the mirror image of the fairing connector, the female end that is attached to the fairing. It is a mirror image of the male end naturally. The fairing only has a few connections:

1. Common to the light relay - acts as ground for light circuit (connector 2)
2. High Beam (connector 1)
3. Low Beam (connector 3)
4. Turn signals (connector 5 Right and 8 Left)
5. and a ground for the turn signals (connector 4)ow beam as well as the turn signals which need ground.
   

Finally, on the left is where the wiring harness on the bike side connects to the appropriate circuits on the wiring block in the headlight. These are color coded and also are associated with specific circuits.

So, the diagram below shows the headlight on the left (wiring block), male harness in the center (bike side) and female harness (fairing side) on the right.
The diagram below shows more detail and explains the wiring block in the headlight. If you read a wiring diagram in a Haynes manual, you understand the circuits, but that diagram is not "real world 100%. This diagram shows you what that connector block in the headlight looks like, what circuits are attached to what set of connections and finally where do I connect those wires from the bike side male wiring harness? That is easy, they are numbered as well as color coded.

Note that some of these blocks have unused terminals. They are shown as white. Now there is a white block....so I colored it off-white in this diagram.


The fairing headlight is a sealed beam auto type. Okay, I'll work with that and try to figure out how to mount it in the headlight shell.

2007 December Maintenance Log

Must be the end of year..Santa is Here! Actually my wife. After much deliberation I realized it was time to face up to getting a new tire. Now I think I can ride over 30mph without white knuckles. I also ordered a Thunderchild diode board, mounting studs and fixed voltage regulator.

• Pulled the front tire. (30min) Not too bad. Had to lightly drift out the axle as it was a long time since greasing. Dropped it off at Adventure BMW in Chesapeake, Virginia.
• Removed fairing (2hrs) Only difficulty was documenting the wiring as I disconnected it and having to briefly disconnect the clutch cable. It had been routed inside of one of the fairing mounts.
• Pulled the diode board
  

2007 November Maintenance Log

2007 October Maintenance Log

2007 September Maintenance Log

Squeaks and tweaks