81' xj650 aftermarket speedo wiring.

Guy I can not figure out for the life of me how to wire the DimeCity cycles after jet speedo to the original wire harness please any help would be great

 

Can you post a link to the speedo - I think i did this one.

 

If it's this one

http://www.dimecitycycles.com/2-5-i...with-black-face-and-led-indicator-lights.html

then it's....

Display blub -- -- Harness wire --- speedo-wire
——————————————————————————————————————
Turn —— Dark-Green--diode----yellow
Turn —— Choc-Brown--diode---yellow
Turn —— Any black ground ----- yellow&black
Oil —— Red&White --------------- Red
Oil —— Black&Red(or any black-ground) ---- Red&Black
Neutral —— LightBlue(Sb) -------green
Neutral —— Brown ----------------green/black
Back-light —— Blue ---------------Orange
Back-light —— Black ------------- Black
Hi-Beam —— yellow ---------------- blue
Hi-Beam —— black ----------- blue&black

Check the Neutral one when you do it - this is the only one I’m not sure on - might need to flip those but I think it’s right.

Anything on the harness side that says black is ground so any black wire should work.

The factory unit has diodes built into the turn display and two wires for left and right. One the DimeCity unit there’s only one + wire for turn thus you have to connect both sides to the same wire and put diodes in series on each side. Check out this thread.

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=60093.msg680807#msg680807

Edit: I messed this up when I first posted it - fixed. If you printed it - reprint it

 

Same on just white face, helps a lot where do I get diodes from?

 

no worries. glad to help. I got the diodes at radio shack. They worked without issue for about 8 months and then one of them died/burned out. I replaced it and then had the same issue 4 months later ( just last week ) with both. I think i must have had some kind of electrical surge cos I blew a fuse too and this was right after doing some work on the bike where I re-coupled a few loose connections.

I've just replaced them with these now which can handle a little more amps and also some surge and work just as well. Same install method.



One thing I'm glad I did was to make the little separate "bullet" for the diode so you can swap it out easy. These things are like $3 for 2 so I'd recommend buying at least 6. That way you can mess-up 2 and them make 4 good ones, thus having 2 spare "bullets" on the shelf ready to go just in case. If you find a better way to do it let me know

 

Edit: I messed up the wiring guide when I first posted it and just fixed it. If you printed it - reprint it

 

Ribo, I made a couple of more changes, see if you agree.

Best way to wire, add spade terminals that fit the main harness connector and plug into correct wire on main harness, use heat shrink tubing as required to insulate?

Oil light must connect to Black/Red, "^^^ or any other ground the oil light will be on all the time."

^^^^ neutral polarity incorrect

 

Everything seems simple other the the diode part I have never had to deal with that before. Also on the 3 pin connector on the harness I see we are not using white/green wire. What do we do with it?

 

Rooster is correct on the oil light. red&black has to go to black&red.

The white&green wire is for the reed-switch which is part of the self-cancelling circuit for the turn signals - it just measures distance I believe. If you go xxx feet with turn flashing it cancels them. I just tape'd it off on the harness cos you don't have this on the new speedo.

Adding the diodes is a bit MacGiver but it's pretty easy, although I've worked with electrics a fair bit. Invest in a good wire crimper and lots of electrical tape and you'll be fine. Just takes a bit of practice but hey you'll learn something too .

The diodes have a black stripe on them at the "cathode" end - face that towards the speedo. You'll see in the post from www.dotheton.com I used bullet connectors on my bike - but the spade ones work too. I just prefer the bullet ones as they are more enclosed albeit harder to get in USA.

Feel free to PM me if you need help getting the diodes set up.

 

Ribo posted as I was writing, posting this just to restate some of what he said:

That was there just for reference in identifying the correct connector on the main harness. On the original speedometer that wire was used for the self cancelling signal. You can just leave it open as your new speedo does not have the internal reed switch. You will have to manually operate your turn signals to turn them off.

Just connect them as shown. The cathodes tie together (white stripe on diode) and connect to the Dime City yellow wire. The other end (anode) connects individually to the appropriately colored wire as designated.

Don't use the diodes in that post, those are zener diodes and actually conduct in both directions as specified by the zener voltage. Best just to use the rectifier diodes as Ribo referenced above.

 

I connected everything other then the turn signal ones because I have to get diodes for those. My question is turn the key on only thing that lights is oil sensor and neutral does the bike have to be running for the back lights to come on? Just want to make sure before I take it all apart again. I also have the matching tach for this speedo it just has to wires red and black anyone know where they hook up to ?

 

Yes, the output of the headlight relay powers the back light. So, they will only illuminate when the headlight is on.

What model number is the tach? Just guessing it is a mechanical tach and those are back light wires. You should have another 3 pin connector on the main harness with just two wires (blue and black) that went to the OEM tach. Connect the Dime City red wire to the blue wire and the black wire to the black wire.

 

Yep the back-lights won't come on till it fires up along with the headlight. This is so the battery power is all reserved to help start the bike.

The oil sensor should not be on though until you crank when it will flash and then go off once bike has started. This could be the issue that Rooster pointed out.

edit - on the tach those are the backlight wires so yes connect them as rooster said.

 

FYI - you can connect up the turn signals without the diodes just to check that everything else is correct. You should see both left and right blinkers come on when you flip the switch in either direction and the bulb on the speedo. Once you add the diodes it will stop the current that's coming up one side to the speedo from going back down the other side.

 

Guys I really appreciate all the help so much. I learned some new stuff never really did electrical before I do like it tho. I like learning about it. So thank you guys again

 

No worries man, I learned most of what I know on this forum so I like to pay if forward

 

about to wire in my aftermarket speedo. So this is a very useful post since it lists the harness colors. My question is about the diodes. What is their purpose?

 

Diodes allow current to flow one direction but not the other, basically an electrical one way street.

 

If you think about it you have two separate ccts - one for the left blinkers and one for the right - in order for the display bulb to work those two ccts need to connect to the same bulb - if there weren't diode on each side of the bulb it would create a bridge between the two ccts effectively making them one cct and all you lights would flash at the same time. The original display unit has built-in diodes.

 

The original turn signal dash light doesn't have diodes (the systems monitor on the 750s do, but those are part of the monitoring system and have nothing to do with the turn signals or the diode block).

The turn signal system relies on the resistance in the dash light to prevent the bleedover voltage from activating the other turn signal circuit (those XJs with separate dash lights have no electrical connection between each "side" of the signal circuit).

The XJ diode block is for controlling the voltage flow in the safety circuits, headlight relay, and the oil level warning light.

 

I stand corrected. thanks Moe - sorry for any miss-information.

 

hey all I think its best to kick this thread back up than start a new one....I plugged everything in. Got it turn over, was feeling good, started cutting cords from the old dash to wire into the new gauges, test one, Neautral light, found lights on old dash cut them wired them in worked for a second then stopped. Wouldnt do anything at all. So do these bikes require a complete circuit to work at all? Can I make my own harnesses? Is there someone that sells harnesses that slim down the factory and allow for easy wiring of accesories?

 

You probably broke the kill cct. Look at the wiring diagram and follow the cct that goes through the kill switch.

Good guy from speedmoto is on here and will make you a bas-ass harness and fix any electrical thing you have and haven't thought of.

http://www.speedmotoco.com/

 

Do you know his username? Or what he's charged in the past for the basic harness

 

Someone is working without having a service manual....

 

Pretty much. Got Haynes manual and all the wiring schematics I can print online but it's old im growing tired if it. f***ing hate wiring. Idk If I ever asked my question or if it's gotten bypasses. Does this electrical system require a complete circuit or can I just wire up starting components?

 

All electrical systems require complete circuits; otherwise the electricity won't flow. Are you asking about the safety circuits and how to bypass them?

 

I guess so yea....for instance. I can trace all the wires that make the bike start...can I plug JUST those in and have it start or do all the plugs on the harness need to be either grounded out or used?

 

Oh. You want this: Minimum wiring diagram

 

hell yes! THAnk you! Ive seriously seen at least 5 different "XJ" minimal wiring and none of them are as easily understood as that one. I know what im doing tomorrow

 

so I think the plan is to strt from the rectifier and regulator, follow those wires out until I a plug and then snip, then custom in the rest of the wiring per that diagram. Sounds like itll work right?

 

I recently installed the same speedo and tach and followed your instructions. Fantastic by the way.....but my high beam indicator light is always on. What do think I did wrong? 81 XJ550RH SECA

 

This thread was addressing the XJ650 with the Dime city speedometer only. Since you mentioned speedo and tach perhaps you have a different version. If you could provide links or wiring diagrams to the aftermarket gauges that you purchased that would be helpful.

 

I used the same Dime City diagram on page 1 of this thread. The tach only had an instrument back light that I tied into the back light wires on the speedo.

 

Well, not sure that means you have the same gauge, but if so then yellow (bike harness) to blue (aftermarket gauge) should work. Is the high beam switching on and off?

 

Ok thanks. I will give it a try...thanks

 

I installed the dime city speedo and tach last year on my 83 xj650, using the wiring diagram on page 1 of this thread. 2 things aren't working: 1 - speedo backlight - I wired the black to black and orange to blue (left the green and white disconnected) just like the diagram shows, but it doesnt work.
2 - The bike has to be in neutral to start. No idea why, or if this is even related, or if something came loose when I was fighting with the birds nest.

Any ideas?

 

1. Back light power is provided by the head light relay, so the back lights won't illuminate until the bike is started.

2. Changing to the Dime City components should not affect the safety circuit, so it would be normal that the bike would only start in neutral, or if in gear with the clutch pulled in and the side stand up.

 

The back light for the tach comes on as soon as I turn the key. Speedo back light does not turn on ever, even when the bike is on.

I can start the bike if it's in neutral, but not when it's in gear, with the clutch pulled. I used to be able to start it in gear (with clutch pulled) prior to switching the speedo and tach. I'm thinking something else got disconnected while I was doing the wiring.

 

What wire did you use for the tach? In the stock configuration the tach and speedometer back lights should tie to the same wire, which is a switched output of the head light relay. Is your head light illuminating when the bike starts?

Could be, there is a 3 pin connector in the head light bucket that should be connected. Follow the wires from the clutch perch to the connector (usually green) in the head light bucket to find the 3 pin connector. It should be a B/Y and L/Y wire and make sure it is connected. You can install a jumper on the main harness side as a troubleshooting aid shorting the two wires or do a continuity test on the clutch switch.

There are also different versions of the speedometer, so if none of the above solves the problem a link or verification that you are using the same one linked on page one may help.

 

I would have to take it apart to know for sure, but I think the new tach only had 2 wires, which I connected to the 2 wires that the old tach was connected to. I could split these and tie the speedo back light into it, but than they would both be on as soon as the key was turned (not after the bike starts like they should be). Headlight works fine. Turns on after he bike starts

The 3 pin connector is definitely still connected. I know I checked that. I did replace the clutch handle about the same time I did the speedo, so it's possible the new handle isnt engaging the switch.....

I am pretty sure it's the same one. The colors all matched, and everything else works. Strange that the backlight is the only thing not working...

 

Hey Guys, I'm new to this and I'm trying to put the same gauges onto my 1981 XJ 650

I can't post an image or link to the Dime City Tach i bought, but it's called: 2.5" Black Mini Tachometer w/ Black Face

On the back of the dime city tach, there is a spot for a screwed in tach wire (same as the speedo type). So I don't have 2 screw in wires on my bike

My old tach is this one and the tach itself has 3 wires - orange, black and brown. Any ideas on how i can wire this?

Thanks