Can anyone identify these wires / relay?

[gog]

There was a strange little taped box with wires coming out of it cable tied to the handlebars when I got the bike. I didnt know what it was but knew nothing about electricals so I assumed it was needed, but relocated it to under the tank. I forgot all about it until I started taking it apart for winter maintenance.

This is it where it is now. It was on the handlebars so Im assuming it used to control something up there. Bike is 1987 R80RT unfaired mono.

The wires come from the box and then split off. A couple of them go back to this relay:

and the rest go in to this plug:

the other end of that plug then feeds back in to the main wiring loom under the main frame tube.

Can anyone shed some light on what this is? Im trying to get rid of all unneccesary wires.

 

[Voyager]

I don't know what it is, but I would remove the sticky tape and see if there is anything written on it that might give us a clue.

Bob.

 

[gog]

That would make sense, bob. I took the pictures really for myself, thinking that I would easily be able to identify it using the wiring diagram in the haynes manual, but I cant. Ill go to the garage and take off the tape tonight and update the post.

 

[cookie]

blue/red, blue/black and green/yellow are colours for indicator wiring on airheads if that's any help.

 

[gog]

thanks cookie. i thought that, as the wiring diagram shows these colours as indicators, and when I wired up my acewell it was those colours too. Front and rear indicators currently work fine on the bike, and that green relay isnt (AFAIK) the usual flasher relay as I replaced that recently with an LED tolerant one.

Did the RT originally have some sort of hazard lights switch that flashed all the indicators, controlled maybe by that green relay? Really must see whats in that little taped box. I just assumed it was a relay but for all i know it could be the remnants of a switch. That might explain the indicator wires going in there...

 

[gog]

I suspect that this is what is under the tape:

The bike is a TIC - looks like the police bikes had the hazard warning stuff installed as standard. I think that sorting out the main loom is going to be more interesting than I had expected - TIC looks to have some differences to standard

 

[cookie]

i've re wired a few airheads recently (and fitted acewells) , and found RTs with extra wires that presumably fed extra indicators etc. i just stripped them out of the loom or tied the flying lead back in as required.

 

[gog]

Yep, I think thats the plan of action. Strip it out and tidy up whats left. Looks like these wires feed back in to the main loom which is wrapped in really grotty old tape. Time to strip it off, remove whats not needed and wrap it back up.

 

[cookie]

i cut the main loom insulation off. you'll probably find it all gets a bit sticky under the tank where wires will likely be welded to the sleeving. i generally leave the spurs off to the brake switches etc. unless they need repairing. clean everything with wd40 then brake cleaner. make any alterations, then tape up again with non adhesive tape fixed at the end with normal sticky insulation tape. looks ok.

if you can, don't use those red/blue crimps, it always looks so amateurish IMO. get the jap style crimps and the proper crimper from VWP

 

[gog]

How did you know I have been using those crappy red/blue connectors?

I agree, they do look crap. Ive got a fair bit of rewiring to do so VWP have an order incoming. They seem to have a lot of useful stuff at decent prices, cheers.

 

[cookie]

nearly bloody everybody uses them.

generally they use blue or yellow crimps on a wire gauge suitable fro red as well. they also appear to crimp them with their dentures


done properly, they are just as good as the ones i suggest, but they tend to shout "bodge job" very loudly.

 

[gog]

Getting the bullet ones you suggested, I agree they look more professional. I did always use the correct colour for the guage of wire though and do have a proper crimp tool (which I bought after realising that teeth / pliers didnt work so well)

 

[Steptoe]

That is a loom/socket for the old airhead hazard switch, a big plunger type switch about the size of a disposable lighter.

 

[gog]

Cheers Neil. I doubt I would keep it even if I could find a switch that would operate it, so I think its going to go.

 

[Steptoe]

Cheers Neil. I doubt I would keep it even if I could find a switch that would operate it, so I think its going to go.

I've a brand new "still in it's box" switch and wiring..

 

[gog]

Appreciate the offer but I removed the wiring lastnight. I dont think I would have had anywhere suitable to house the switch anyway!

One of the wires coming from the flasher relay (blue with yellow stripe) went in to the big green hazard relay, and I had to snip it. It was the only 'hard' wired part of the hazard loom. On my wiring diagram there is no blue/yellow wire going in to the flasher relay. The battery is disconnected so wasnt able to test the indicators are still working, but with only 2 wires now in the relay im guessing im going to have to do some figuring out.

 

[Steptoe]

Appreciate the offer but I removed the wiring lastnight. I dont think I would have had anywhere suitable to house the switch anyway!

It's a BMW. Things are made specifically to fit in their own place, not just cable tied or clamped in place - The switch fits into it's own special aperture that has a blanking plug fitted on the pad that covers the handlebar clamps

 

[gog]

Bike doesnt have that pad, or a fairing any longer (before my ownership) so it would still be homeless