Any idea what the extra brown wire on the ltd b3 is for?

Hey everyone. I was noticing several posts on fuse box updating which I think I will do since my main fried out the plastic. Also my ignition switch is getting worn out and sometimes gets stuck if I inadvertently turn it more than the ignition into parking light mode.
Was wondering if that extra brown wire makes changing from my ignition 7 wire to the older six wire ignition not an option. Or is the extra wire for the tail light to turn on when I put the key in the park mode? I don't know if the older bikes had that feature.
Neither Z1 nor redline carry these new replacements and I don't see the point in spending 60+ dollars on a used ignition switch or fuse box. Especially when I can update the fuse box to the square fuses.
Are the older switches compatible with the newer ones?
I don't like messing with electrical stuff at all. I don't think a fuse box mod could be all that hard but the ignition switch gets me.

One thing for sure. If i give the wrong answer someone will jump in and help you out.
I also have a "79" LTD and i had to buy a ignition for it.
I bought one of those replacement ignition you find on eBay for buy it now $19.99. They are built to replace the older switches that have +1 wire or-1 wire. (i forget)how many wires mine has.
I'll look and see if i can't find where i bought it. Roy

After my accident I got a gauge cluster from ebay with ign switch included. My ign switch is worn out so I used the "new" one. Upon starting either the lights came on but nothing happened when hitting start button or the opposite. I don't remember, I had to reinstall old switch with the infamous brown wire, starts fine now. But I'm curious what the brown wire does too. I've looked at the wiring diagram for my bike but I really don't know what I'm looking at. :huh:

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2008/03/08 09:49

seems to loop back through the blue wire to your ignition switch,also ties into voltage regulator;)

However you wire it, make sure the brown wire on the regulator gets power when the bike is running. Without power on the brown wire you will melt your electrical system. The brown wire is what the regulator uses to sense the battery voltage, and if it's not there, the regulator puts out full, unregulated power which will melt everything.

Ok so the regulator wire is brown. That makes matters interesting. I am going to wait and see if perhaps I can still buy this part new if not I will live with the switch the way it is I guess. I just have a feeling that the ignition switch is making the main wire hot. As far as the original fuse box should I change it out to the newer style square fuses. I have heard many of you guys have done this and said that it works much better than original.

Post edited by: saxjonz, at: 2008/03/08 14:12

loudhvx wrote:

However you wire it, make sure the brown wire on the regulator gets power when the bike is running. Without power on the brown wire you will melt your electrical system. The brown wire is what the regulator uses to sense the battery voltage, and if it's not there, the regulator puts out full, unregulated power which will melt everything.

Thanks a million for the info. I certainly don't want to melt everything. That would be bad and I certainly don't want to lose another garage for faulty wiring. Happened once and oh never again. I lost two cars and a cherry zr1100. In a crazy way I am glad I lost the bike as now I ride my z which is in another league as far as I am concerned.

You can replace your fuse box with multiple fuse holders like this, pick it up at the auto store, Walmart, RadioShack, and just cut out the box and solder these in line.



Or get one of these at the auto store too, it's more expensive. Make sure if you buy this kind that each circuit is separate like the one in this picture.
Some types have one power lead going in and you branch out...don't want that kind.



Post edited by: OKC_Kent, at: 2008/03/08 15:44

My experience is that "fuse block" problems are usually corrosion problems, which would naturally be addressed with replacing the box, but I don't really think one kind of fuse really performs better than another. However that is not to say there are no advantages with blade fuses. For one, they are smaller. But if you're not wanting to do a bunch of wiring and your connections look good, you should be fine with your stock box.

I still have my original fuse box, I pulled each fuse and put a little dialectric on and reinstalled them. I may still install new blade type box anyway in the near future.

saxjonz wrote:

Ok so the regulator wire is brown. That makes matters interesting. I am going to wait and see if perhaps I can still buy this part new if not I will live with the switch the way it is I guess. I just have a feeling that the ignition switch is making the main wire hot.

I had a similar problem: my 1979 KZ750 uses the oddball five wire setup instead of six. I bought one of the six wire switches when my switch failed. It plugged right in, but did not work right. Ignition was not powered in the "first position", but all the electrics were. In the "parking light" position, I got the ignition without any lights.

If you have a diagram, do this:

trace out the wires going in and out of the ignition switch. remove the wires from the old switch so you can make all necessary connects on the new one when you plug it into the harness.

Use an ohm meter and trace out which contacts on the new switch connect at the first position, then the second position. Remove the new sires from the new switch, and solder on the old plug and wires. Connect the leads going in and out of the switch so the same circuits as before get power on first position, and the park lights get poweronly at the second.

You should do as before, ie run only one 10A circuit through each set of switch contacts. Yours may also have the 20A main line run through the switch as well (use a separate set of contacts).

take your time, if you have a diagram you can figure it out.

Post edited by: bountyhunter, at: 2008/03/08 21:15