Wired my compression releases to my starter.

Energy One

badyellowvette

Active Member
Thought I would put this in a new thread so anybody searching could find it.
I had a hard bang from my starter that broke my starter shaft. After having it rebuild by Curtis I would still have the bang every now and again. Some of them would be pretty bad. It seemed that sometimes the CR's were not engaging. Nine out of ten times everything was fine but that one time the starter would sound like it was engaging hard and not turning over the motor. After reading threads and posting questions and talking to C.C.rider I decided to wire the CR's to the starter as some have done. Now when the start button is pushed the CR's are engaged.

The wires to the CR's come between the cylinder heads and go into the wrap under the tank. They are covered with braided steel. I have already at this point cut the wires and soldered the two green wires and two black wires together with another green wire to run to the starter and a black wire for ground. Used heat shrink tubing and then covered everything in liquid electric tape. Then I use some clear tubing and ran the wires down through the frame to under the seat.

I used a 15 amp in line fuse holder and soldered it in line, heat shrunk it and covered with the liquid tape.

I took the wrap off the wire bundle that holds the green starter wire and exposed a section of the wire to connect to. Maybe 8 inches from the end of the starter wire.

I wrapped my green wire to the exposed section and soldered.

Covered with the liquid tape then electric tape.

Put the wrap back around the wires used a hand full of cable ties on all the wires. Hooked the black wire I ran to the negative side of the battery, put the gas tank back on and fired her up. So good so far.

I use liquid tape for a little more protection from water. With the electric problems with the Big Dog it sure can't hurt.

When cutting the wires under the tank you end up with two exposed black wires and two green wires that aren't used that go to the EHC connector. I put heat shrink tubing on the ends of the green wires and liquid taped them. I didn't do anything to the black wires.

When soldiering wires I use a low heat pencil soldiering gun and electronic solder.

I made my connection to the starter wire in the wrap so the connection wasn't exposed to water or whatever.

Here is a link to my original thread.
http://www.bigdogbiker.com/threads/...unk-from-my-starter-is-there-a-problem.73644/
 
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bearman

Active Member
....When cutting the wires under the tank you end up with two exposed black wires and two green wires that aren't used, I assume go to the handlebar switches. .....

All the wires go back to the EHC connector.

Good Job.

You did it the way I would have, now there is no question if the EHC is reliably powering the compression releases or if the EHC is providing a good enough ground.
 

badyellowvette

Active Member
Well, I got the dreaded starter clunk again yesterday ): Second time I started it for the day and the third time, had a big bang out of the starter. Didn't happen the rest of the day. As I got more miles from home I was getting paranoid about breaking the starter shaft again so I had my buddy push the starter button as I held down the CR's. It's such a pain to get stranded and have someone come rescue your broke down ass, I didn't want to take the chance.
I have been checking the CR's all the time to make sure their free, have lubed them as well. Now I don't know what to try next. I will see what happens today I guess.
 

BWG56

Guru
Here's what I think Jim, we need to run the compression release's from a switchable fused source from the battery, turn the switch, to power them, then check that they are down, start and turn switch off. Mine did it once since last time we talked about 3 2-3 weeks ago. Sometimes when I hit the start button the starter hesitates about a second or so, and these CR are only activated for 1/2 second after pushing start button, I have started to pay attention to this and if the starter hesitates then I hit run/start again. Other times the starter is spinning immediately upon hitting the start button.
 

badyellowvette

Active Member
The same thing happened today at the same two places. Once at the gas station and again at my buddies house. After that I had him start it while I held the CR's down. My K9 always hesitated when pushing the start button and even now after wiring the CR's to the starter it still does it. Wonder if holding one CR's down would help any?
Met a guy with some stretched out black chopper that had a RevTech engine and it had manual CR's, he pressed them before starting. Wish I had that option. I guess the switch thing would work don't really know how to wire that with the BD electrical system.
 

BWG56

Guru
Didn't you wire them to the green starter wire? Just remove the wires from there and attach to a toggle switch and the other side of the toggle to a switched fused hot to battery.
 

Olde Man

Active Member
This might help a little. When you start the motor do it with the throttle plate closed. You can't build a lot of compression if the carb won't let the air in. You perform a compression test with the throttle plate all of the way open. Just saying.
 

badyellowvette

Active Member
This might help a little. When you start the motor do it with the throttle plate closed. You can't build a lot of compression if the carb won't let the air in. You perform a compression test with the throttle plate all of the way open. Just saying.
Are you saying hold the throttle open when starting I'm a little confused here.
 

DRBarnhart

Insert title here...
Are you saying hold the throttle open when starting I'm a little confused here.
He's saying DON'T hold the throttle open... at all.

A little tidbit out of the owner's manual, "IF THE THROTTLE IS OPENED WHILE ENGAGING THE STARTER, COMPRESSION WILL INCREASE DRAMATICALLY CAUSING THE STARTER TO KICK BACK, POSSIBLY PRODUCING A STARTER FAILURE."

Dennis
 
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DRBarnhart

Insert title here...
It was my understanding that twisting the throttle will turn off the CR's
I disagree with that. There's no electrical connection between the throttle and the compression releases. Right out of the manual..."The CR's are on for only one second regardless of how long the START button is held down. This allows the engine to get past the compression stroke for easier starting, but dumps the CR's after one second. This conserves battery power and allows the starter to crank faster, reducing current draw."

Dennis
 
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