What's the score with East German wiring?

[Linegeist]

Had a couple of minor electrical problems with the Skorpion over the weekend (turning the bars full left caused the ignition to cut out & the neutral light didn't always work as advertised) so, in view of the atrocious weather, decided to heat the workshop and get the Avo meter & soldering iron out (as well as fit the new cable driven tacho ).

After finding that the previous owner(s) were to electrics what Sitting Bull was to Wells Fargo (brass screw-on household electrical connectors in the main harness and gaffer-taped joints inside the headlamp shell) it came time to remake a whole bunch of connections by stripping back, soldering and shrink-wrapping.....which is when I found the big problem.

Wires aren't supposed to be green inside the insulation, are they? They're supposed to be a nice bright copper colour, right?

I finally managed to effect the repairs I needed to do by using plumber's flux to clean up the stripped ends, and then using standard multicore solder to re-join the broken wires (about 11 of 'em ) but a little voice in my head is telling me this is not a good place to be in ...........

I know from previous experience that old wiring can get a bit ratty, but is there a quality control problem with the old DDR electrical stuff? I haven't seen cable this bad (it's only a '95 bike) since I rebuilt a 35-year-old Velocette. What's the score here? Am I looking at a new harness (I'd rather make up my own - but then I'd rather not have to do the job at all) or is this par for the course on MuZ kit?

[handsomejackuk]

Lionegist,

Same here mate, The previous cowboy, (me )had chocolate blocked the mini indicators and some of the other connections. Due to lack of time.

Yesterday i spent a couple of hours replacing some of the loom with newer wiring from my dumped washing machine. The copper was badly tarnished and had to be replaced. 2003 Baghira. still not perfect, but will have to redo it again when i get my trailtech. all joints now soldered and shrink wrapped.

Good job i had a look behind the headlight, as my ignition barrel was about to drop out !

only one screw holding it in. Put in another screw and threadlocked it them in this time.

Check out my winter work .............

[Linegeist]

Check out my winter work .............

I have - you're a workaholic!!!!!

D'you want a job?

[DAVID THOMPSON]

have found the saxon tour wiring to be good to fair the rt125 sucks but is hanging in there
most of the green is in the connectors
find a german car in the breakers lot and get a piece of the loom that is about 6 foot long
that has the same colors and just rewire the thing
dave
recycled copper is just like recycled steel one is already rusted the other is already corroded
before they make the bike or car

[handsomejackuk]

dave,

great idea dave i salvaged my old washing machine a couple of weeks ago, and got loads of quality wire and stainless steel nuts bolts. Even dismantled the drum to use the stainless steel for my undertray. Motor to be used as a buffer, and the pumps will be used with 50p (boot sale) clairol foot washer (great vibrating action for agitating greasy parts in cleaning solution).. as a parts washer. hehehe
Jak

[Linegeist]

4

recycled copper is just like recycled steel one is already rusted the other is already corroded
before they make the bike or car

I'm puzzled here, because corrosion/oxidation needs an atmosphere to take place .... that's why it's called "Oxidation" - because it's a reaction with oxygen.

Given that the electrical wire is shiny(ish) when actually made (I'm sure they don't fit bikes with green wires ) -

1. How does atmosphere get right down inside the cabling when it's effectively sealed?
2. Why was the wiring on my classic '84 Citroen still shiny when stripped back?
3. Why does MZ wiring turn green when ordinary copper exposed to atmosphere simply develops an oxide coat and turns black?

Just curious like ........

[DAVID THOMPSON]

the wires are GREEN INSIDE THE PLASTIC COVERING on a 6 year old bike >>>because the copper is recycled crap .. not new copper

stainless steel nuts bolts

as some of you have noticed i am also into HAM RADIO

I had a friend call me up one day to help with an antenna his nephew had made....
they were having trouble getting it to tune properly so the radio was happy with it ..
i saw the problem when i got there most beautiful CB antenna i had ever seen made of stainless
and told them to start over as it was made of a grade of stainless that will not load up as an antenna...
3 weeks later 2 hams did the same thing with an 80 meter dipole all stainless

so if you bolt 2 wires together make the fitting copper to copper or alu to alu with a stainless bolt to hold it together and be careful where you put the locks and washers as some stainless will not work when used with electrical....

its ok to use a stainless bolt to hook up a battery just make sure the wire touches the lug of the battery so the
bolt only holds it together and does not have to carry the electric current

dave

[handsomejackuk]

not sure about the ham part do you have to use hams, as in bacon hams to make aerials what is this about ?

Hams ?

[DAVID THOMPSON]

there you go jack trying to pull my leg
your old enough to know
HAM RADIO is the same as amateur radio
http://www.arrl.org in the usa

http://www.rsgb.org/
in england

Louis Mountbatten though not a radio man was a big supporter of English amateur radio

dave

[handsomejackuk]

Dave,

nice one it worked, Funnily enough my Dear Father Passed away was a Radio Ham, He was only licensed for 144mhz 432 mhz not sure what the equivalent licence is in america. his call sign was GW8RDM.

I did attend Radio Class and passed my first part of the test, but failed on the theory at 14year old. My mate passed though 14 year old, and was licensed GW3 JZY

I sold my dads Yaesu FT101E a few years back, it was no good to me.

I spent many hours in his Radio Shack when he was contacting his mates. It was the time of oscar satellite don't know if you were arond then he used to track its its orbit on a 144mhz uplink an a 14mhz downlikn i think it was, i loved those days....

Pity he was not here now he would be amazed at the technology. He built the first T.V. around our area, and apparently we had all the neighbours in the living room to watch the coronation of the queen. He bought all the kit wound his own coils, and got it working he was a real clever guy.....

Hey nice one Jak

73's and 88's

cq cq dx

qsl and all that......

[DAVID THOMPSON]

get the book out and go for it jack its great and fun when its too cold to ride
made my first radio in 1951 with my dads help little crystal set
and was a shortwave listener on rtty radio teletype in 1958
got license in 1975 and ran rtty on 2 meters
upgraded license in 1977 and ran rtty and packet radio for years
you mite say i have been wired for years
worked 2 fellows last winter in england on 160 meters
thats just above the commercial am radio at 1.800 mhz
with 100 watts
and have the stuff out to rework the big and i mean BIG ANTENNA
this week end befor it gets to cold
dave

[handsomejackuk]

Dave,

good on yer, Not my bag really now. My main hobby is Motorbikes, i love working on them. Gotta get me some new ones this winter thinking about a lambretta, or a vespa. to do up.

Not got much room for them big aerials especially the 160 /80 meters jobbies. I do have a play around with satellite, and have two motorised setups. 1.2m and 1m dishes and a Dreambox 7000s if you have heard of that. Great to pick up some of the weak satellites. Very fasicnating. That is my winter hobby. I can get to 42.0 degrees east and 31.5 degress west with motorised setup from YL15F QRA....
gosh i still rmember that from my dads days.......

I surprise myself somteimes

Jak