How To: Wire Your Bike (Kick Start)

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Poulsen8r

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Anyways browsing this forum and needing to do it myself has shown me that alot of people seem to have problems with wiring their bike. Most users just tell people with wiring problems to find a diagram and get over it, but some people may not understand these diagrams or how to go about getting the wiring right and that is why i'm writing this tutorial. Let's get into it!

Difficulty Rating (Out of 5): **
Skills Required: Basic wiring knowledge, ability to use a soldering iron.

**UPDATE** This Tutorial does not apply to motor fitted with an aftermarket IRK or ORK, although you may still find it useful if you have the wiring diagram that came with your IRK/ORK.

**UPDATE** It has also come to my attention that some people worry about "the third wire" (the green earth wire) from the Stator/Magneto. I left this out to simplify things as your bike will run with or without it. I totally removed mine from the stator by de-soldering it as i did not want to use it and it was very long... If your earth is on a short wire with a neat terminal i would suggest that you attach it.

**UPDATE** I have been thinking about "the third wire" and the only reason i can think of why you might need it connected is if you have a charging circuit. I'm pretty sure the output in the 2 yellow wires of the stator is AC voltage... The regulator turns this to DC but i don't think it can without "the third wire" earthed. Therefore if you have a charging circuit i think you should earth this connection.

First of all the electrical system on any kick start bike will consist of the following. I think the best way to know how to fix anything is to understand how it works so i've written a brief description on each part's job and how they work together (I know its a bit of a read but please read it, If you can learn to understand your ignition system it will become easier to fix than changing a spark plug...):

CDI - Stands for Capacitor Discharge Ignition. Its like a cars ECU. It controls when the coil sparks and how much to advance the spark.

Stator/Magneto - Generates Power for the Capacitor in the CDI and tells the CDI when to Spark.

Coil - Basically a step-up transformer. It increases the voltage to a huge level so that it can jump the spark plug gap.

Kill Switch(es) - Pretty Self explanatory. But technically, The spark jumps because it wants to find the fastest way to earth (just like lightning). A kill switch provides a shorter route for the spark to get to earth and therefore the spark doesn't jump the spark plug gap.

And Probably lots of messy wires.

So while the flywheel spins the capacitor inside the CDI charges and when the Magneto/Stator tells the CDI to Spark the voltage stored by the capacitor is sent to the coil (via wires) where the voltage is increased to an extraordinary level then this travels down the lead to the spark plug where it jumps the gap to get to ground.

Ok, thats all the parts you will have and how the ignition system works from my experience.

Now to fixing/putting together your ignition system, basically:
The Stator connects to the CDI and the CDI connects to the coil. Easy as Pie...

I have found the best way to assemble your electrics is to go from the spark plug backwards.

1. So we begin with the coil. For most coils there will be two wires coming out of the coil. One will most likely be green or black with no stripes and the other wire could be black with a yellow stripe or similar (usually with a stripe). If you have a coil with two terminals, then the base of each terminal will be a different colour, most likely black and green. In both cases one wire needs to go to earth and the other must go to the CDI. Green must go to earth in both instances. To earth a wire simply attach it to the chassis of your bike. I earthed my wire by crimping and soldering a ring terminal on then placing the ring terminal under the nut which holds the coil to the bike. As for the other wire it should have some connector on the end which will go to the CDI (More on that Later). Here is an image of mine (Notice the wire colours and connector for the CDI):
Coil.jpg


2. Next in line is the stator, Very easy this step, just ensure you have two wires coming from the stator one will be blue with a white stripe and the other will be black with a red stripe. Make sure there are connectors on the end. Both these wires will connect to the CDI.

3.Where you choose to mount the CDI is up to you but remember if you are mounting it far away from the stator or coil you may need to add more wire. You can do this by soldering more wire in. Remember to always cover any exposed solders or joins using heat shrink tubing or electrical tape. Also when routing the wires along the bike be sure not to pass the wire near any pinch points or anywhere the wire may rub. If a wire becomes exposed during a ride , it is unlikely it will cause severe damage but it will almost certainly end your day of riding fun and cause much frustration while you are looking for a tiny bit of missing insulation causing an arc on the frame...

At this stage we have 3 wires which must connect to the CDI wiring harness:

Black with Yellow Stripe from Coil
Blue with White stripe from Stator/Magneto
Black with Red Stripe from Stator/Magneto

Hopefully you harness will have the connections which will plug directly into these three wires. If the connectors do not match it is a simple job to solder matching connections onto the wires. To simplify things i made this diagram showing the wires when connected correctly to the CDI wiring harness.
Wire-Diag.png


4. At this stage your bike is very close to being able to start, but first we must add a kill switch. As you have probably guessed this is what the remaining two terminals in the CDI wiring harness are used for. Wiring in the kill switch is pretty easy. As can be seen in the diagram simply take the wire from the middle terminal in the and connect or solder it to the switch then take the other wire from the switch and earth it to the chassis. If you are wiring a kill switch on the handlebars ensure you leave enough wire slack to be able to turn the handlebars without breaking the wire. With the final remaining terminal you need to earth it to the chassis. For all my earths I simply used crimped and soldered ring terminals.
Wire-Diag2.png


5. Now you need to plug the CDI wiring harness into the CDI and mount your CDI in place. Finally you should double check all you connections and ensure that there are no bare wires or left over wires or wires that could rub or break.
CDI-DONE.jpg


Hope I helped Someone...
If You Guys like this tutorial I can do another for electric start bikes and i was thinking of doing a tutorial on how to add/remove your starter motor (and Battery).
Please Post Any Questions and Feedback on My Tutorial as Well as any Errors I have made.

Thanks
 
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exellent poulsen8r, much better than your first attempted diagram, nice to see youve gone in depth!
 
wha do you mean about earthing the green wire how do you earth it
 
So you mean the green wire from the coil? Well "earthing" a wire is basically attaching it to the chassis (or even the motor if you have to). As I said in the tutorial, put some sort of connector on it, i used a ring terminal and put the bolt for the coil through this terminal, but you can attach the ring terminal anywhere you would like on the bike.
 
foolsp33d:Alright! for the sticky :p
Dabomb:
exellent poulsen8r, much better than your first attempted diagram, nice to see youve gone in depth!
You saw that crappy diagram? lol :p
 
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great tutorial, think Ive got a engine that has electric start, eagerly awaiting next tutorial.
so far have id'd a rectifier (think it used to have lighting and battery etc) want to remove that if possible and looks like its also got a coil haning by two wires.
At least it gives me something to keep me busy at night ;)
good stuff dude
 
so just the green wire you screw to the frame
 
so just the green wire you screw to the frame

yer mate,theres 2 ways of earthing the coil.

1. the green and yellow wire goes to the chassis.
2. the metal core of the coil gets bolted to the chassis,acts as ground and a good mounting point!
 
can'ti just tie the green and yellow wire to the frame instead of bolting it. Why do you have to mount it to the frame anyway.
 
how u know how to wire a 110cc lifan auto electric start with no kick start
and this there a way that i can remove the battery while riding
 
it doesnt have a kickstart? buy one and put it on the kickstart spline.
if not ur gunna have 2 roll start, electric start is ghey.
 
ok thank you but where is accessories on a bike??? and just checking the tacho i got has no white wire but its got a yellow the the same?
 
first of all, does ur bike have a battery and or a key?
its impossible to tell, show me a photo of ur tacho
 

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