I ordered a set of left and right controls from eBay that I knew were going to be pretty cheap controls (I think I only paid about $15 for both controls shipped). When I received them, I was surprised that they were a bit sturdier than I expected but on the down side, there was absolutely zero documentation with them.
My buddy Mike and I went through the wiring diagram yesterday and I have to say that he has done a marvelous job with it. To finish it up though, we needed to know the wires for these controls and which wires were for which control. So I sat down last night with my multi-meter and sorted out which wires go where. I have read a lot of threads with people questioning their wiring for the their controls and how to wire them up so I thought I'd post a quick update on how I figured out my wires for these controls, in the hopes that it might help someone else out at some point in the future. One caveat is that I'm no wiring expert so please forgive my ignorance if I say something that sounds stupid.
First things first is that I want to check for continuity on the wires to determine which wires make a continuous connection whenever a certain button is pushed or is in a certain position. To do this, your multimeter has a setting that will make an audible tone when you have continuity across 2 wires. On mine, the symbol looks like a little speaker with waves coming out of it. If you're not sure if you have yours on the correct setting, place it in the one you think is right and then touch the two probes together....you should hear an audible tone as long as they are touching and the tone should stop when the connection is broken.
Next, here are the controls I'm working with:
Ride Side Controls
Left Side Controls
So to begin, these controls are similar to the way that OEM Honda controls connect to the handlebars. They have 2 pieces that separate to allow you to put it onto the handlebars and then they're connected via screws that go through one side into the other. Well, we can use this to get a glimpse into the controls and see which wires go to which control switches. I wasn't able to see all of the wires and I didn't want to take the switch apart (which would be the simplest way to determine the wiring, by the way). But I didn't want to do that because these are cheap controls and I didn't want to do potential damage by taking them apart. But I can look at those wires and that gives me a hint as to which wires I should test for the different control switches.
Anyway, to begin, take a piece of paper and use it to make notes of your findings. Place the multimeter into the appropriate setting and begin by touching the black probe to one wire and then move it to touch each & every wire until you hear a tone or not. Continue this until you've gone through all of the possible permutations. Then, move the control switch you're testing to the next position and repeat these steps, writing down your findings each time.
Here's what I found regarding my controls:
Left Side ControlsTop Switch - (High & Low Beam Switch)Low beam (bottom position) - Dark Blue/White & Dark Blue wires
High beam (top position) - Dark Blue/White and White wires
Middle Switch (Turn Signals)Left Turn - Orange & Gray wires
Right Turn - Gray and Light Blue wires
Middle Position - no continuity
Bottom Switch (Horn button)Dark Green and Light Green wires
Right Side ControlsTop Switch (not sure what this is for; I'm assuming it is for turning on/off the headlight with a 3rd position for just having the running lights on when parked...I don't know what their real purpose is but this is how I'm going to use it)Bottom position - Brown/White, Black and Brown wires (I'm going to use this for just the running lights being on...for use when parked on side of the road, etc)
Middle position - No continuity (I'm going to use this to enable turning the headlight and running lights off)
Top position - Blue/White, Black and Brown wires (I'll use this for headlight and running lights all on)
Middle Switch (Engine run (ie kill) switch)Off position (left) - no continuity
On position (triangle on right) - Gray, Light Blue and Orange wires
Bottom Switch (Starter button)Black and Yellow/Red wires
Anyway, I hope this simplistic explanation helps someone. I just sent an email to Mike with the details and I'm hoping to post the wiring diagram either today or tomorrow. I received notice from McMaster-Carr and Vintage Connections that my packages have shipped, so I should be putting this to use on the bike soon.
