Guys with trouble starting their older Monsters in here

[Stangman]

I recently completed the installation of the Powerlet wiring upgrade kit on my Monster and though I would give some info on it.

Last fall and this spring I noticed even with a fully charged battery my bike seems to turn over slowly and it always seemed to take a bit to get it started.  I have Dynacoils and those did definitely smoothed out the idle and low end and maybe even helped it a little with the starting, but it still was not great.

I noticed Desmotimes had these Powerlet wiring upgrade kits and so I figured I'd give one a go.  I am sure you could make cables like these if you had the materials or have a local place do it, but after calling a few local places and not finding anyone who would whip up a set for less than $100 I gave these a go.

There are 3 new wires: the new ground wire, the new positive to soleniod wire and a new solenoid to starter wire.

Here is a comparison shot so you can see how much thicker they are than the stock ones.  The ring terminals are about twice as thick as the stockers too.



My first install attempt was a frustrating one... The new positive in the kit was way too short.   

I emailed the guys at Powerlet though and gave them the correct length I needed and within 4 days I was opening a package with a new cable in it free of charge.  Thank you Powerlet!

A few notes on this upgrade:

1) The new tips are not bent like the stockers and when you close the tank they will be stressed by the weight of the tank unless you bend the tips at about 45 deg angles with pliers before installing.

2) Small hands help, you need to remove the starter soleniod from inside the frame and there is very little room in there (even less after you bolt on these new bigger wires)  Be prepared for some swearing and some bloody knuckles.

3) The "instructions" (no pictures and no real instruction) tell you to transfer the boots on the tips from your original set to the new set.  This turns out to be a huge PITA as they really don't fit unless you almost break your fingers getting them over the new wires.  If I had to do it over, i would just buy some new tip boots from a marine supply store or something.

So, do they work?

Hell Yes they work!   

I am happy to say there is a very dramatic difference in the way the engine turns over when I hit the starter button now.  Even on a freshly charged battery I used to get a wimpy slow turn over sound and a dimming headlight as I held down the starter to start the bike for 3-4 seconds.  Now I am able to start the bike by pressing the starter for about 1-2 seconds and on the very first try.

A closeup of how thin and tiny the original Ducati connector for the positive to solenoid wire is:



A shot of the new positive to solenoid setup.



They are not all the perfect length, I sent some pictures along with some measurements to Powerlet so they may update the kit per my suggestions.  As is the new positive is a tad long as is the new solenoid to starter which makes them stick out farther than they really need to, but the bike starts much easier and that's the important thing. 

[weemonster]

mine does that i wondered why and now i know.

i'll add that to the list.

[drew.bradshaw]

yea this looks like a needed mod for me.  how much was the kit if you don't mind telling?

[erkishhorde]

2) Small hands help, you need to remove the starter soleniod from inside the frame and there is very little room in there (even less after you bolt on these new bigger wires)  Be prepared for some swearing and some bloody knuckles.

Oh yeah. I remember swapping out my started solenoid. That thing was a PIA! 

[oliver dicicco]

Did the same mod to my bike [98 m900], got 6 ga. high flex battery cable from McMaster-Carr, they sell it by the foot, soldered on some ring lugs, put some shrink tube on the connections, and re-installed the rubber boots, worked great, for about a quarter the price of the powerlet product.

[Stangman]

Did the same mod to my bike [98 m900], got 6 ga. high flex battery cable from McMaster-Carr, they sell it by the foot, soldered on some ring lugs, put some shrink tube on the connections, and re-installed the rubber boots, worked great, for about a quarter the price of the powerlet product.

  As I mentioned in my original post I am sure you can make these yourself, and or find them cheaper locally. 

yea this looks like a needed mod for me.  how much was the kit if you don't mind telling?

I paid $40.  For the most part I am happy. They are not a perfect fit but they do what I wanted them to. Powerlet seem like a great company, I received email replies within an hour and I got a real person on the phone when I called.  I wish the ring terminals were bent to fit the battery better. 

This "kit" doesn't really seem to be made specifically for the Monster, more like it was originally made for another bike and they altered the lengths so that it works on a Monster.  The ring tips really need to be different for great fitment.

[Drunken Monkey]

Nice mod, glad someone's finally making a "kit" of sorts for this.

On the flip side, the thread topic reminds me of a viagra spam I got earlier today 

[weemonster]

i, being tight and  miserly.
Had a dig roun my garage and found the left overs from my teenage ICE install.  you know what i mean the $5000 stereo system in the $500 car.

I've got some nice juicy thick clear red  amplifier power cable which will do this job.

[the_Journeyman]

Interesting.  I might need to give this a whirl.  My '99 has always been a bit sluggish on startup ~

JM

[junior varsity]

OK! Found this thread. Just in time. I'm in the midst of this. The negative battery terminal to ground wire was no-brainer.

HOW DID YOU DO THE POSITIVE BATTERY TERMINAL LINE?!?

And, also, i dunno where the 3rd wire goes. pretty please explain me. frustrating is correct, i see lots of cables, hoses and wires lurking under my carbed monstrosity's tank.

[Stangman]

No problem, yeah you reall need to replace all 3 to get the full effect.  I can snap some better pics for you but really what you are talking about is this:

The factory positive splits into 2 seperate leads, one goes back to the fuse panel under the seat and you need to leave that one as is.  Follow the other lead from the postive, it goes under the battery to your starter soleniod.  (the little black box with 2 wires coming out of it).  You need to pull back the boots and remove the nuts on both wires with a socket.  You will be removing the factory wire that split off from the positive and went to the solenoid. (Throw it in a box or something, you no longer need it.)  The other wire that comes out of the starter solenoid runs down to your starter under your motor.  That wire needs to be replaced also with the new better thicker one.

Seriously this upgrade makes such a huge difference, I wish I had known just how bad the stock setup was years ago...

[junior varsity]

how do you replace the lead that goes down to the plastic splitter? Here's my pictures and confusion. I even have included..."Notes" on the pics.

Let it be know that I really am not sure what I'm doing, and while I see something lurking below the battery box with what looks similar to spark plug leads going into it (starter?) I dunno which is the solenoid and which is the starter. If somebody could kindly indicate which is what or where I should be looking, I would have that "oooooooh" moment and maybe make some headway.

[Stangman]

The solenoid is the device this cable was plugged into, the starter you really cant see much of its at THE VERY BOTTOM of your engine if you follow the other cable out of the solenoid.

[junior varsity]

Genius. I will try again tonight. Or tomorrow. Whenever I go to the store and buy some beer. HA

[junior varsity]

Ok, so it seems that I will be connecting two wires to the battery's positive terminal --> Got an email back from Powerlet:

Here be the text:

First, I want to confirm that you received the WKT-004.  Second, according to your pictures, it looks pretty standard to me.    You should disconnect the lead going in to that Plastic Box from the starter solenoid.  You will then run the appropriate lead from the solenoid direct to the battery in addition to the existing Positive lead.  The remaining (long) lead will go from the solenoid to the starter.  If this does not work for you, please give us a call at the Toll free number below so that we can get you taken care of.