Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Antique Automotive Resistors

Status
Not open for further replies.

tedstruk

Jan 7, 2012
476
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
476
I need to be assured of your intellect before I continue to post here....
I also need a resistor pack for my 1981 XS1100 Yamaha.
I have read that if you seen one resistor pack you seen them all, but these motorcycle packs are sealed in a case that is near on impervious.. I don't have one or I would take it apart ... so...

The internet has returned that a 1.5ohm 10w resistor is the spec.
I have in my hand... a 1952 Ford customline resistor that measures out steady at 1.6ohms.
Now this connects to the thumb kill switch and when you toss the switch... the engine dies right...?
wrong... it just continues to run. So this 1 tenth of an (&%$#%*) isn't working...? not what I am looking for.
sincerely lost in a motorcycle electronics system somewhere....
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
6,901
Joined
Oct 5, 2014
Messages
6,901
I do believe we have been down this road previously.

May be time to investigate your problem further as it appears your conclusion about the resistor is incorrect.
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
5,364
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
5,364
What does the kill switch do? does it short the ignition to earth. If so, I would look to see if the switch is working.
Measure the voltage at both sides of the switch relative to chassis and again when the switch is 'tossed'.
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
6,901
Joined
Oct 5, 2014
Messages
6,901
What does the kill switch do? does it short the ignition to earth. If so, I would look to see if the switch is working.
Measure the voltage at both sides of the switch relative to chassis and again when the switch is 'tossed'.

x2 for that.
The resistor referred to is an ignition ballast resistor for the coil, nothing to do with the kill switch.
What does happen in these earlier models is, because they require a ground through the handlebar, either with a bad earth connection there or painted bars, the earth is no longer available.
Later models had a dedicated "extra" earth wire run to the switch casing.
 

tedstruk

Jan 7, 2012
476
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
476
sorry for the intellect involved....

Early motorcycles were simple, had everything connected to ground, pull the power side, check for current, test the device, if that's ok, thats not the problem. next device.

Newer machines, the ones made between the 70's and the 90's were built in a state of change, that is between solid state and chip technology. They incorporate three phase 12v circuits and solidstate processors.. the predacessors of modern CPU's, the circuitry is breadboard at best, and the diagrams are about as complex as they come, most have second and third charts that if you don't know they exist, you just don't know how to fix the problem(i know, motorcycles are different) but how many XS1100's do you see running around today? back to the subject--- If you were a racing team(this machine took all the races in '81) how would you wire a kill switch into a TCI system?
I will go out to the shop and trace the circuits.. if that will help...
I believe the circuit runs from the battery to the TCI and through the TCI to the rest of the systems. The kill switch is not a ground interuption. It has 2 contacts and 2 wires that come from the main power to the TCI, when the TCI is cut from power, the system dies. The resistor is installed with two wires that connect into a 3way splice on both wires. The regulator is new... and I don't want it burned out. It cost me plenty. I hate to be monotonous.(electronics is monotonous) lets see, I either need a OEM resistor pack designed for the system, or some kind of primer on custom motorcycle electronics....
still not getting to the point.
 

tedstruk

Jan 7, 2012
476
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
476
The splice I made looks like something out of frankenstein.
Its just like the diagrams say, the resistor pack goes across the leads between the switch terminator, and the source... I don't know what to do? what am I doing wrong?!!
 

dorke

Jun 20, 2015
2,342
Joined
Jun 20, 2015
Messages
2,342
"I need to be assured of your intellect before I continue to post here...."
So you do,do you?

That saying deserves putting you on my ignore list,
Consider yourself ignored!
 

duke37

Jan 9, 2011
5,364
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
5,364
It would help if you gave information that would help to solve the problem.

TCI, The nearest I could get to motor cycling was Touring Club Italiano.

If it is a custom motorcycle, i.e. one made specially for a customer, then you have little chance of finding the quirkes which have been incorporated. Return it to standard.
If you find electronics boring, then go horse riding, you need a charger:)
My intellect is limited and is ebbing away. Yours is limited also or you would not be asking questions. I have sufficient nous not to meddle with things I do not understand.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
I need to be assured of your intellect before I continue to post here....
Not sure how you plan to do that, so maybe you should take your problem over to http://xs11.com where you can find a LOT of Yamaha XS1100 expertise. Then try http://xs1100.com to find the ballast resistor you need.

@duke37 TCI = Transistor Controlled Ignition. An early attempt to "improve" on the Kettering ignition system by using a transistor instead of "breaker points" to control ignition coil primary current.

The Kettering system, developed for automobiles, consisted of an ignition coil, a set of distributor cam-operated breaker points, and a spark timing advance mechanism operating off the engine cam shaft controlling the opening and closing of engine valves, usually with a combination of manifold vacuum and engine rpm controlling spark advance. Breaker point positioning with respect to the cam lobes on the spark distributor determined the "dwell" time, the interval allocated to building up a magnetic field in the primary of the ignition coil before a high lobe on the distributor cam opened the breaker points, collapsing the magnetic field in the ignition coil, and thereby creating a high-voltage pulse, routed to the appropriate spark plug via the distributor. The use of a transistor instead of a breaker point switch to control the primary current in the ignition coil allegedly had some advantages that I won't go into here. The TCI control box was mounted in front of and above the tail-light assembly of the Yamaha XC1100 motorcycle:

images


This image can be found using the Google search string: "Yamaha XC1100 motorcycle TCI ignition kill switch schematic" and also on this page with further text discussion.
 

kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
6,514
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Messages
6,514
I need to be assured of your intellect before I continue to post here....

...yet we have a failure to recognise an ignition ballast resistor and the purpose/action of the 'kill switch' from the OP :rolleyes:

We return the question

"We need to be assured of your intellect before we continue to post here"....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top