82' kz550 ignitor and rectifier wiring

Well i'm now wiring the bike and have a few questions. Just to make sure i have everything correct before i put power to it i would like a for a few others to check to make sure i have the correct wires going to ground and power.



^click the image to get a better look at it.

Ignitor :
D/G - coil ground (what cylinders should this coil fire?)
B - coil ground ( same Q as above ^)
R/Y - 12v source
Y/B - Ground

Rectifier :
R/W - 12v source ( back to the B+ termial since i think this is the charging wire)
B - Ground
Br - 12v source

Correct or not?

Thanks,
-Nelson

nelson8708 wrote:

Well i'm now wiring the bike and have a few questions. Just to make sure i have everything correct before i put power to it i would like a for a few others to check to make sure i have the correct wires going to ground and power.

^click the image to get a better look at it.

Ignitor :
D/G - coil ground (what cylinders should this coil fire?)

Green fires the coil for cylinders 2&3.
On KZ550 it's normally the left hand coil as you sit on the bike.

nelson8708 wrote:

B - coil ground ( same Q as above ^)?)

Black fires the coil for cylinders 1&4.
On KZ550 it's normally the right hand coil as you sit on the bike.

For these wire color conventions to hold true, the advancer rotor has to point the right way. It can go on in two ways. The tip of the rotor should point toward the "Tec" logo on the advancer, instead of away from the logo.

nelson8708 wrote:

R/Y - 12v source
Y/B - Ground

Rectifier :
R/W - 12v source ( back to the B+ termial since i think this is the charging wire)
B - Ground
Br - 12v source

Correct or not?

Yes, correct, but the R/W is to a permanent 12v source. It actually should go to the starter solenoid connection which has the battery cable on it, or directly to the positive of the battery itself.
The Br wire gets a switched 12v source. It's only on when the ignition is on.

Do the coils care which primary terminal gets 12v and which one gets ground? I am running a pair of 1998 vulcan 1500 coils and i am getting conflicting anwsers on which terminal gets 12v and which is the ground/ignitor trigger.

thanks,
-Nelson

nelson8708 wrote:

Do the coils care which primary terminal gets 12v and which one gets ground?

No.
Sometimes the coils have a + and - labeled on them, but even then I doubt it matters. I think it was just so the wiring would be uniform. If you see the + and - labels, you would use their convention to be safe, but if there are no labels, it does not matter.

No + or - labels. Just a black terminal and a green terminal. So unless i find a solid anwser on which is (stock wiring) terminal is power and which is ground/trigger, as long as i have them matching it should be fine?

Thanks,
-Nelson

I can't say for sure on Vulcan coils, but I've never seen a regular coil that cared which terminal was positive.

Can you look on a Vulcan wiring diagram? It should tell you which terminal typically goes to the ignitor.

i haven't had any luck finding one online to DL and find what i need. I found a pic of a smaller (750 i think) vulcan coils and the positive went to the green terminal so for now that is what i'm going with. Even though its a different size bike they use the same TEC brand coils and i would assume that they dont switch terminal colors. Of course this could be the making of a 60$ mistake :blush:

I might make a trip to a local kaw dealer and see if they can help me out. I finished wiring the bike today. So when ever i am able to work up the balls to do so i can attempt to start her.

Heh, yeah. What you really want to do is drop in some 81-83 GPZ cams and get some top end out of that thing! :laugh:

Perhaps I overlooked this info, but have the Vulcan coils been ohm-checked to assure the resistance is appropriate for whatever ignition system is presently fitted?

Good Luck!

yeah, the vulcan coils measured out to be 2.8 ohms i believe. I checked before i bought them.

Cams.... :laugh: .....how bout we get this thing running and on the road. Maybe over winter since i have to remove them to change the valve clearance anyways.

One other quick question....the three yellow wire that are coming from the alternator don't have to go to a specific yellow wire on the regulator right? I mean.....their all yellow so it shouldn't matter.

nelson8708 wrote:

Cams.... :laugh: .....how bout we get this thing running and on the road. Maybe over winter since i have to remove them to change the valve clearance anyways.

Good plan


nelson8708 wrote:

One other quick question....the three yellow wire that are coming from the alternator don't have to go to a specific yellow wire on the regulator right? I mean.....their all yellow so it shouldn't matter.

You are correct, sir.

The questions just keep coming. Now that i finished wiring i might have to go back and change some stuff. On another forum a guy pointed out that the r/y wire isn't a 12v wire. He said that the r/y wire might produce its voltage from the ignitor when the engine is running. Maybe the pick up coils provide the voltage. I went and traced that wire and it doesn't go to a power source.

Ideas?