[alebal]

View attachment 94599

 

[DannoXYZ]

For a year now I have been trying to redo these cables, but I haven't even been able to find the cable here, there are no competent or equipped workshops that can make them within hundreds of kilometers.

Today after DannoXYZ talked about telephony I saw a little man on the telephone antenna next to my house, I went to ask where I could find cables and terminals and he gave me some.

So now my entire arsenal for redoing cables is this.
View attachment 94598

Scissors, pliers and a small soldering iron, tomorrow I will try to disassemble them and see how many and which ones I can redo, probably positive and negative, for the starter motor cable I need to at least find a thermal sheath first.

I would like to be able to at least come up with a temporary solution to understand if with new cables the bike starts or if I also have to change the battery or look for further problems.

Then I would really like to get in touch with DannoXYZ customers to create more serious and definitive cables (here it's hell to find people or workshops, they don't have websites, yellow pages, nothing, either you know them or you'll never find them), but I fear they will have to send me the material because both positive and negative have other cables connected and I don't know if I can remove the one from the circuit breaker. Santo Domingo is not close but here they ship everything with the guagua (small bus).

P.S. Today I removed the battery and also cleaned the contacts on the battery, nothing changed, but I noticed that in an instant the cables for about ten centimeters also heat up, both positive and negative.

That looks like good starting point... heh, heh....

You'll still need to find thicker 0-gauge cable in order to transmit required power. You can re-use old cable by removing terminal and carefully sanding off corrosion from every single strand of wire. Another method to increasing current-capacity is to join multiple smaller wires together. You need at least 4 of smaller wire you posted and crimp them all into 1 solder-lug (ignore right side of photo).

Also need cigarette lighter or small torche to heat up solder-lug. Soldering iron won't provide enough heat since large size of solder-lug will suck heat away too quickly. Don't use those ring-terminals, they're too small.


There's 3 different requirements for good joint, they're not interchangeable:

1. mechanical strength - good crimp that shrinks OD of solder-lug inward and squeezes all air out. Cannot use solder or any other method​

​

2. electrical conductivity - replace air between wire-strands and terminal with solder. Increases contact-surface area around wire and reduces heat and corrosion.​

​

3. corrosion resistance - solder will help prevent wicking moisture from wire-end, but there's still expose area past solder-lug. Adhesive heatshrink tubing works best here​

​

Here is good example of crimp with good 1. mechanical strength.

 

[alebal]

so, I'm a bit stuck, I've done some tests with the cables with the tools I have, with disastrous results, I really risk doing a much worse job than what there is, and to do that I have to destroy the cables I have.

iIn the meantime, however, a friend lent me a tester (voltmeter), the problem is that I don't know how to use it... I managed to measure the battery and it seems good to me, but more than that I don't know how to do.

Can you help me understand how to use it at least to identify in more detail or in which cable or electrical component the problem is?

 

[DannoXYZ]

That's good testing with multimetre. After 24-hrs resting, 12.61 volt resting is ok. You want to make 2nd test of battery-voltage during cranking. Difference between these 2 measurements will tell lots.

You want to see 13.5v fresh off trickle charger, you need one of those. To charge up battery after many cranking sessions. Battery will get destroyed if you drain it too low and not charge it right away.

You also need good squeezing crimpers that squeezes terminal inwards to remove air. Smashing terminal does not squeeze OD inwards and does not make strong joint for mechanical strength. Nor does that remove air from between wire-strands for more contact surface area for electrical conductivity. Here is basic hex squeezing crimper. I prefer hydraulic, but costs more.
https://www.icrimptools.com/product...-duty-copper-wire-lugs-battery-cable-ends-from-awg-8-1-0-ground-lug-cimper-tool
Or you can us 2 of these in vise, but ends up costing more than crimper
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/American-Autowire-500665-Crimping-Tool-Battery-Cable,373883.html

You will also need some soldering-flux to prep cables for soldering into lugs. Can use plumbing flux for copper.

Let me contact people in Santo Domingo to see if they can recommend electrical supply house for you to get required tools and cable. Unfortunately, tools and equipment to properly make cables will end up costing many times the cables themselves.

 

[alebal]

Today's test, battery while starting the bike.

i don't know... right or wrong? How bad? What could it be?
(the smoke was made by the negative cable which melted the plastic of the battery as it heated up)

For the cables, I don't just need a decent pliers, the cables I found are too small for the terminals, there could be three in the terminal, a despair.

 

[DannoXYZ]

You are dropping way too voltage from battery when cranking ~5v. Want to see no less than 10v for carby or 11v for EFI bikes. Less than that and there won't be spark to ignite mixtures. You have combination of two possible causes:

1. weakened battery due to too many cranks without adequate charging in between. You need to connect trickle charger to battery ASAP.

2. some battery power is converted to heat on way to starter from cable corrosion. Robs power from starter and it runs too slowly.

Yes. you need larger cables. If you have sufficient length, you can cut those wires into 3rd or 4ths and combine all segments into single terminal to triple, quadruple current capacity and lower heat. Along with proper crimping and soldering.

 

[alebal]

I have some updates...

a supposed mechanic came with a battery, we tried to start the bike with his battery but no change, then he connected the positive on the starter motor and (he says) tested the starter motor, the verdict was "it's the starter motor".

I took out the original starter motor of the bike (changed about a year ago because of another mechanic that changed parts randomly), to my great surprise I found a starter motor cable tucked into the flaps of the box (about twenty years younger than mine).

I tested the two starter motors and indeed the original starter motor seemed to be a little "cheerful" than the one on the bike.

I changed the starter motor and cable, tried to start, but nothing, it doesn't start, the original starter motor seems to make a couple of turns more than the other, but the bike doesn't start.

I also tried adding a new cable in parallel next to the positive, but no change.

I've also asked everyone that work with cables for new cables and terminals, but nothing, no one seems to even know where to buy a piece of cable around here, they use what they find in the hardware store.


Trudy doesn't turn on, and I don't know what to do anymore

 

[OldGuy79]

I have a suzuki 800 intruder ,the battery leads are #6 gauge wire, try to buy on amazon, or look up #6 gauge strander wire on line , buy connector,replace positive and negative leads, then charge battery 12.8 volt-13.2 good, then try to start taking voltage reading from positive terminal to ground. if voltage drops below 10.5 volts ,battery is shot,replace battery. If you don't replace leads you are wasting your time,as DannoXYZ has be telling you. Best of luck

 

[RogerC60]

Today's test, battery while starting the bike.

i don't know... right or wrong? How bad? What could it be?
(the smoke was made by the negative cable which melted the plastic of the battery as it heated up)

For the cables, I don't just need a decent pliers, the cables I found are too small for the terminals, there could be three in the terminal, a despair.

I noticed at the end of your video you could move the negative cable around by hand. This very loose connection of the cable to the battery terminal is also a very high resistance connection. Battery connections need to be tight and provide low resistance. The heat and smoke were caused by that loose connection.

 

[DannoXYZ]

Did you measure mechanic's battery? Might be just as dead as yours if starter's behavior is same as yours. Let's add one more test to verify where problem lies:

1. battery power with everything off, volts=???​

2. battery power when cranking, volts=???​

3. power at starter +pos terminal when cranking, volts=???​

Post photos of this new hidden battery cable you found. Is it connected to anything?

 

[alebal]

I'm not entirely sure I understood what you asked, so I filmed everything, before, after, during, everything...

This is the starter cable I found (softer than the old one).

To redo the other cables is a bit of a mess... they are not single, the circuit breaker also goes into the positive cable, the negative is 3 cables, one with a faston terminal, the other bullet terminal... I have no hope of being able to redo them here (I can't find cables, terminals, pliers, nothing...)

I could order just two single cables on Amazon and then rebuild the others with another cable and terminal, but even ordering from Amazon is a mess, there is no postal service or addresses here, everything has to be sent to delivery services in Miami and then transported and sorted in the Dominican Republic, and half of the objects are lost and the other half are stolen, and the costs are random and always different (I had to buy headphones for the helmet 3 times before I managed to get one)

DannoXYZ, you told me that you have contacts with the Dominican telephone companies, can we contact them to at least understand if they can and if they want to try to make the cables?

 

[DannoXYZ]

Again, dead battery! Dropping to 5.84v when cranking is no good! You want to see 13.8v fresh off charger. You've got multiple problems. Fix battery first, otherwise nothing you do with cables will work. Also needs these other measurements to separate battery from cable problems.

2. battery power when cranking, volts=???​

3. power at starter +pos terminal when cranking, volts=???​

These measurements would've have pinpointed problem to solve problem in 5-minutes. You've wasted more time than that chasing your tail in circles.

Also why is this nut not tightened?

Remove tape and let's look at this splice.

Perfect equipment will not work without proper installation and good battery.

 

[alebal]

2. battery power when cranking, volts=???3. power at starter +pos terminal when cranking, volts=???

Aren't they in the last video? They are video clips but they are in chronological order: battery, battery connected to the bike, battery starting, starter cable, battery disconnected after testing.

Also why is this nut not tightened?

I just took the picture while I was unplugging it

Monday i go looking for a new battery, the less chinese as possible...

 

[alebal]

new battery, no improvement

 

[DannoXYZ]

FULLSTOP!!! You're skipping way,way too many steps and wasting time. DO NOT do anything except steps below. If you do anything else, you'll suddenly find tin-foil in your micro. Your kids' teeth will suddenly need braces. Your wife will suddenly gain 25.7kg and you'll start losing hair!!!

Start over again from very beginning.

What is background history of bike?
When was last time bike ran perfectly?
What happened to bike between then and now?

I should have insisted you do these before messing with batteries and cables. Burning may just be side-effects/symptoms of real problem: stuck engine. This causes too-high load on starter and it spins slower and draw more current. This leads to heating of any connection that has higher-than normal resistance. Higher current-draw also loads battery more and causes it to drop voltage during cranking. So do these other steps you skipped previously (remember kids' braces and losing hair).

Let’s verify your engine doesn’t have extra drag.

1. gearbox in neutral
2. remove flywheel cover
3. spin engine forward with wrench on crank

Does engine spin freely with intermittent rubbery resistance from piston’s compression? Or does it require lots of force when spinning by hand?

Then we start from beginning with test measurement on new battery. All previous measurements are old battery and are not useful.

I suggest hooking up a voltmeter to the battery check voltage as you crank the engine over and see how much voltage the starter is requiring while cranking sounds to me like a bad starter drawing to many amps.

We need OP to do a voltage drop test to see what is going on for sure, I would first clean all those cables, open up that electrical tape and see what is going on there

I have a suzuki 800 intruder ,the battery leads are #6 gauge wire, try to buy on amazon, or look up #6 gauge strander wire on line , buy connector,replace positive and negative leads, then charge battery 12.8 volt-13.2 good, then try to start taking voltage reading from positive terminal to ground. if voltage drops below 10.5 volts ,battery is shot,replace battery. If you don't replace leads you are wasting your time,as DannoXYZ has be telling you. Best of luck

You'll want to make same 3 measurements with new battery.

1. battery power with everything off, volts=????
2. battery power when cranking, volts=????
3. power at starter +pos terminal when cranking, volts=????

You measured #1 & #2 with earlier battery. Dropping to 5.51v when cranking showed mechanic's battery not charged or no good. Note, test everything in as-used configuration. Bolt down battery terminal firmly. These needs to be on tight 20 NM, same with starter-solenoid nuts. This is required to get sufficient clamping on both sides of terminals for maximum contact surface area and conductivity (you may notice these terminals and wires are larger than anywhere else on bike? why?). Then touch probes to TOP of bolts and hold with your 3rd & 4th hands.

Or use alligator test leads. DO NOT change anything on bike when measuring. It should be in as-used configuration. Otherwise, you'll have to use 5th hand to hold battery under bike while riding.

3. You also need to do #3 and measure how much of battery's power is reaching starter. Important number is difference between #1 battery full-power vs. #3 power that actually arrives at starter. Leave blk/neg probe touching battery -neg terminal. Touch red/pos probe to starter's power-input terminal, then crank engine.

4. Finally, remove tape from this junction and see what it looks like. This may another problem all along. If joint is bad, it is not good ground connection and definitely causing bike starting problems.

5. Do you have battery trickle/tender charger? Have it connected to battery full-time until we have this problem fixed. Weak battery probably is start of all this. Solution would've been to just charge battery and starting-problem would've been fixed right away.

Again, answer to ALL your problem is measuring and looking at numbers. They would've told you from very beginning that problem was weak battery. All that messing around with cables may have caused damage and bad cables was just side-effect or result of all this removal and re-installation. This is bad battery, DO NOT do anything else until we have battery that stays > 11v when cranking.

For example, here's good battery with everything OFF and during cranking.

Until you get battery that performs properly, your bike will never start again.
BTW - new battteries DO NOT come charged. Did you charge up "new" battery for at least 24-hrs before using?

 

[DannoXYZ]

NOTE: background on physics. Contact surface area is what transmits lots of electrical current across connectiton. ALL terminal joints needs to have bolts firmly attached. The more contact area touching, the better. Otherwise if you transmit only across tiny area, it will overheat, corrode and burn. Electricity is not binary or digital like today's kids. There's many, many shades of gray and you want to look at contact surface area, square-mm of contact, and amps per sq.mm. The more contact area, the less heat develops for any amount of power/current transferred across.

Similar to this:

If you lay on board with only 1 nail, what would happen? Will it be able to support your weight?

 

[alebal]

So...

On Friday I went around all the shops, hardware stores, Chinese shops in the city again, and I didn't find anything (no cables, no terminals, no dragon clamps, nothing...), so two pieces of cable will be the dragon clamps.

In the meantime the new battery (already poor) that I had bought on Thursday died, it went down to 9V and in two days of charging it didn't go back up from 9V. Today they changed it, I did the tests with the new one.

New battery (not connected)

Battery connected to the bike

Battery with key on

Engine start

Positive on starter motor

Engine start, cable on starter motor
- YouTube

And... it drank the whole battery...
9 giugno 2025

Now the new battery is charging, let's hope it comes back to life...

Over the weekend on youtube I stumbled upon some videos of old suzuki (not intruder vs700) with a problem that seems similar to mine, due to something called MMM (a starter relay, I think). All I know about relays is that they are the square ones, and Trudy has several... I have no idea if I have a starter relay or if so which MMM is, but could I have it? Could it be MMM's fault?

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

The story of the bike is endless, it is 40 years old and every mechanic who has touched it here in the Dominican Republic has done damage.

However, problems similar to the one I have now started about a year ago, the starter button cable decided to come off 100km from home, the mechanic I left the bike with destroyed the button, and destroyed solenoids, battery and who knows what else...

Change battery and solenoid, I started the bike by connecting the starter button cables and took it home, then replaced the starter button with the horn button (which Trudy hadn't had for 20 years anyway)

On the way back I stopped to pee, after finishing the pee Trudy didn't start... exactly like now, a few very slow turns of the starter motor and nothing else, I started it by pushing and took it home.

The next day I changed the button and tried to turn on Trudy, and it turned on in an instant, I thought I had solved it... but then it happened again, returning from a trip Trudy did not turn on and I realized that the problem only occurred when the engine was warm.

But I did not have time to think about the problem, because that same day returning home a piece of metal left in the middle of the road opened a hole in Trudy's engine.

I took the engine out and then for 8 months I looked for someone capable of plugging a hole in the aluminum alloy of Trudy's engine crankcase, after 3 attempts with 3 different morons incapable of welding and who use sunglasses instead of welding masks, the hole seems to be plugged.

I put the engine back in, reconnected everything, and here we are... Trudy didn't start even when cold... I was hoping for a slow connection and that by disconnecting and reconnecting everything properly the problem of starting when hot would also be solved, but no... in fact after being off for 8 months it doesn't start even when cold...

And I'm really in trouble... because the idea is to make Trudy work well, sell it and with Trudy's money buy a plane ticket and escape from this idiotic country where everything is always 100 times more stupid and difficult than it should be...

-----------------

Update: the battery I bought yesterday (after being charged all night) seems to be definitely dead...

 

[DannoXYZ]

You have bad charger, need to see >13.5v before using. You’re killing new batteries by draining them too low with constant futile attempts at starting bike. Like with testing solenoid & charger, measure before and after.

1. measure new battery before charging, volts=???
2. measure new battery with charger connected, volts=???
3. measure new battery right after disconnecting charger, volts=???

Only criteria for functional battery is voltage, not "new". I wouldn't trust buying "new" underwear from street vendor.

But I did not have time to think about the problem, because that same day returning home a piece of metal left in the middle of the road opened a hole in Trudy's engine.

I took the engine out and then for 8 months I looked for someone capable of plugging a hole in the aluminum alloy of Trudy's engine crankcase, after 3 attempts with 3 different morons incapable of welding and who use sunglasses instead of welding masks, the hole seems to be plugged.

I put the engine back in, reconnected everything, and here we are... Trudy didn't start even when cold... I was hoping for a slow connection and that by disconnecting and reconnecting everything properly the problem of starting when hot would also be solved, but no... in fact after being off for 8 months it doesn't start even when cold...

I suspected you had mechanical issue from very beginning. Now we know for sure bad engine is cause of all this. Burning cable-ends and solenoids were just symptoms or results/side-effects of stuck dragging engine. Need to do following tests to verify status of engine.

Let’s verify your engine doesn’t have extra drag.

1. gearbox in neutral
2. remove spark-plugs
3. remove flywheel cover
4. spin engine forward with wrench on crank bolt

How much torque is required to spin engine?

Do these tests before anything else. This is where cause of all your wiring & solenoid burning starts. There‘s several possible causes of stuck difficult-to-turn engine drawing too much power to spin. Hopefully it’s one of easier problems to remedy.

1. engine case distorted from "repairs", if this is true, your engine is destroyed.
2. case bolts installed way way too tight.
3. list torque used for every single bolt on engine re-assembly.

If you can't list specific torques for every bolt, you need to go borrow torque-wrench. We're gonna completely disassemble engine and re-assemble it with specified torque from manual. If engine is still difficult to spin even after re-torquing all bolts, it's definitely distorted from heat of welding and completely destroyed.

Fill out form as you go starting from "Piston Rings" and add all engine case-bolts. Connecting-rods installed too tight or with bearings reversed will definitely suck up extra power fromn starter.