When I first joined this forum I of course did some searching concerning Champion Escort sidecars and remember someone with a question about how the wiring color codes. Of course I was interested, but the answer was never given.
I have a Champion Escort connected to a Honda GL1800. This sidecar is about ten years old and had been connected to a 1500 before the GL1800, but the wiring color code from the sidecar should be the same.
If anyone needs this info, the following pic shows what I found:
I should add that I am changing how the sidecar wiring is connected to the bike. I will be using a fuse box & relay and nothing from the sidecar will be directly wired to the bike's battery.
I decided to use the "Power Center 8" fuse panel from Eastern Beaver Company, http://www.easternbeaver.com/ This will allow me plenty of fused circuits for any accessories. This fuse panel uses the ATM mini blade fuses which is the same type my Goldwing uses, and has 2 unswitched circuits, 6 switched circuits, 8 ground outputs. I will be splicing into a wire from the bike's headlight relay to trigger the relay for the new fuse panel, which will cut power when the starter is used.
I saved a copy of it for future reference, but should warn you that it may not be carved in stone. For a while I had two Motorvation Formula II's. The only common colors were the tail and turn signal. All the other wires were different colors.:)
Dang, why would they have to do that and change color codes? At least it isn't too difficult to figure out what colors are used, but a standard color code within the one company sure would be practicable. Thanks for the heads up.
WinginCamera - 11/8/2009 2:29 PM Dang, why would they have to do that and change color codes? At least it isn't too difficult to figure out what colors are used, but a standard color code within the one company sure would be practicable. Thanks for the heads up.
I think it has to do with what is left on the shelf. It isn't only sidecars. Near the end of my first career, that of an auto mechanic, I worked in a repair shop that was part of a large salvage yard. One of my areas of expertise was electrical work. I was getting ready to wire a Model T street rod, so I went out to the yard to scavenge some wire. We had just purchased three 1979 Ford 3/4 ton vans from a Plumbing Company. I crawled under each of them and clipped the main harness under the driver's seat and again at the rear bumper. Absolutely no pattern to the wire colors. Each one was different in some way even though the three trucks were identical.
That's why I've always liked the English. I've never seen an English vehicle, car, truck, airplane, or motorcycle, where the brown wire wasn't hot and the purple wire switched hot, the yellow wire wasn't charging system and the white wire ignition.
This is getting a little off topic, but I went to your web site, you have some pretty good pictures. My first sidecar was a Ural mounted on a 74 Moto Guzzi Ambassador 850. I liked your page concerning Lucas electrics. My second bike was a brand new 69 Norton 650. They used two six volt batteries wired to make 12 volts. I had to replace the handlebar switches from ones from Japan, and of course a single 12 volt battery. I hear Lucas has greatly improved since then.
Actually, Lucas made good stuff back then as well as junk. The problem is they would build to the buyer's spec. In 1979, Jaguar wanted a dash switch for under $2. That's what they got! We would have them break while prepping the cars for delivery.
