General Category > General Discussion
determine wires + or -
Dukedesmo:
Voltmeter/Multimeters are cheap enough and useful for many other applications.
Or, touch the wire to the frame - if it sparks it's positive. :shocked:
guzzisteve:
Never did say what model or what color the wire were.
wirespokes:
My 70s and 80s guzzis are grounded to the frame. I'm sure there are places on the frame to mount some of them. And on my bikes, the wires aren't long enough to reach where they shouldn't go. In your case, though, I'm trying to figure out how to tell which goes where and haven't come up with a solution. Touching a wire to the frame wouldn't work since the power isn't hooked up. Things like heated grips will work either way but the accessory and USB outlets need the correct polarity. I think there's only one way and that's to figure out where each wire goes and sort it out from there. Normally red is positive and black negative, but it sounds like that's not the case with you. Please let us know what bike this is and what colors the wires are.
bacongrease:
2004 Stone Touring. I have it sorted. All wires are black.
I haven't connected all accessory wires as the units are yet not attached to the bike but I know now what the individual wires are for. Thanks for all suggestions.
My neighbor, the original owner hit a deer and went down. With 4 rugrats to consider, and a wife, he sold the bike to me cheap.
However, no gauges or tailights. No problem, but a slight wiring challenge.
It runs great, I like it a little more than my FXR.
Dukedesmo:
Quote from: wirespokes on August 12, 2026, 10:38:49 PM
Touching a wire to the frame wouldn't work since the power isn't hooked up.
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I was, of course being facetious about touching to frame as that won't do your battery (or frame paint) any good.
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Really you should hold the frame with your hand and stick the wire on your tongue - shock = positive, no shock = negative. :shocked:
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Seriously though, a multimeter is an essential tool for anyone working on bikes and you can, surely get a perfectly useable one for less than $20.
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