Fixing Earthing Problems - Why and How

[John Vreede]

Yeah the different model sure are different.
A Uly has the battery turned 90deg and the rubber strap goes in the same direction as your hose clamp. The connections are on top and vibration doesn't loosen them.
Also the computer ground lug on a Uly has 2 wires crimped into the same lug, one fat wire and the other thinner, whereas all yours appear to be single wire per lug
The battery tray is actually just getting in the way of the grounding (Edit: Not so. The passive zinc or cadmium plating eases the corrosion potential - but it needs to be clean!) as they're all trying to make electrical contact into the aluminum. People need to clean&protect the joint in between the battery tray and the Al sub-frame
At 0.2 Ohm your lug connection is OK
BTW all your connections look to be dry, If you don't coat them with some protectant, then they'll degrade again.
Thx for the pics, its clear now.
Will put some measurements and pics in the checklist. - jv

[mmcn49]

Today I ran a 16 AWG jumper from one of the coil's mounting bolts to the Tie Bar. I had already installed a 4 AWG cable from the Tie Bar to battery's negative terminal. Years ago I had run a 16 AWG jumper between both subframe wire junction points. Today I pulled the bolts, ran a tap down the holes, squirted in CRC 2-26, coated the bolts with neverseize and reassembled. Also coated the ecm pins and connectors with 2-26.

This is a PITA task but your credibility is high based on last weeks performance. Didn't go for a run today but the bike started instantly. Faster than usual.

[mmcn49]

Earth Ground.jpg If all else fails we can go with a good old Earth Ground!

[John Vreede]

NASA and the military have produced documents and MIL-STD's about Galvanic corrosion of metals in electrical contact (which is what earth joint corrosion is).
In an offline discussion, Gabby_duck from BadWeB showed me a NASA paper on electrical bonding (many thanks Alan!).
It has a table showing which metals can be in contact with which, and what to do when they are. (see attached)
The bullet points under the table are good background info - jv

[mmcn49]

Since completing the electrical bonding as outlined by John, I've taken the Buell's on several long runs, (300-500 miles). In addition to a noticeably smoother running engine and better throttle response, mileage has also increased.

I'm consistently getting 51+ MPG. Prior to bonding I never hit 50. MPG varied but was usually around 47-49 MPG.

[Bergmanov]

New to Forum. Looking at buying an XB12SS today but a bit scared of the electrical issues... this helped Thanks

[Outlaw]

Buells have electrical issues?

[Cooter]

Just ebb and flow Outlaw, no need to go looking for problems you don't have. You've been around long enough. Do you remember The Great Oil Debate? The Tuning War? Its just the latest Buellizm hyper-focus but not wholly Buell specific. The info here is good, and can be applied to any DC circuit (including the ones NASA builds ), but 'in my experience' Buells aren't any worse off than any other V-twin motorcycle for ground path circuitry. IMO even the 220cca OE recommended battery is still marginal at best.

Better ground paths aren't going to hurt anything, so have fun in the garage. I'm going to go riding

[Outlaw]

Yep

[user_deleted]

Buells have electrical issues?

i don't know about any of that tough guy but i know that if you install WidowMaker "One-Percenter" model drag pipes on an XB it won't run worth a damn and nobody on here will help you and nobody will send you a tune program and nobody will help you fix your burned exhaust valves and nobody on here helps and you and everybody else on here sucks!!!


Love always,
FabioDriven
Quincy, MA