Red Wire Bypass

[jrp]

From what I see on the wiring diagram, there is a single 10A fuse for the ABS system that is controlled by the ignition switch. That circuit energizes the relays for the other two 30A fused ABS circuits that are hardwired to the battery, and also drives a couple other ABS related functions. So there is an additional load through the ignition switch for the ABS system, not necessarily equivalent to the two headlights, but significant enough to warrant its own 10A fuse.

I stand corrected sir!

 

[jrp]

A recent charging system thread seemed to come to the conclusion that the alternator senses the voltage downstream of the ignition switch and tries to regulate that within a particular voltage range. As more load is put on the system, the voltage drop across the ignition switch increases (V=I*R), so the alternator is obligated to put out more current and raise the voltage at the battery terminals to keep the sensed voltage in the desired range. If you remove the headlight current load from the ignition switch path it will decrease the voltage drop across the ignition switch and the alternator will put out less voltage/current because the sensed voltage will be higher than typical for the actual current load on the battery. Not sure if this will cause the battery to drain faster or not, but its a possibility that should be considered.

One of my winter projects is to replace the black ignition wire coming from the fuse box (position 'D' on the Honda wiring diagram for my '98 ABS) with 14 AWG to a relay and then from the relay directly to the coils, so I have taken a closer look at this recently.

On my bike the sense wire is spliced into the black wire just downstream of the fuse box. So I'm planning to move the sense wire to the new wire and then splice in the existing black wire just ahead of that. Done this way, the sense wire is logically in the same spot as it was before.

Jeff

 

[Bill Carswell]

IMHO, yes, it's smart to do this mod.

Red Wire By-Pass Mod ( ST1100 ) *

Red Wire By-Pass Mod ( ST1100 ) *

www.st-riders.net

So,… I have been through this whole section regarding the “Red wire bypass” and thought that I would check my Canadian ‘94 ST1100 (78,00 Km/48,00 miles). No evidence of overheating. I think that, for now, I will leave everything alone but as recommended somewhere, I willcarry a fused jumper in case this happens. Here is what I found:

 

[George]

I did it all on STerling, my 2000 ABS. Added relays, 14ga wire, and LEDs all to reduce load. Bypassed the ignition switch, only load there now is to drive the added relay windings.

Also added additional grounds at the headlight connectors, though probably unnecessary with the LED headlights.

 

[John OoSTerhuis]

thought that I would check my Canadian ‘94 ST1100 (78,00 Km/48,00 miles). No evidence of overheating.

And no dirt! That’s the cleaneST looking ST1100 under the side cover I’ve seen! Wow

John